While international migration and development are oft-discussed topics in global governance, the nexus between the two receives far less attention. Not so for Jonathan Crush, the newly-appointed CIGI Chair in Global Migration and Development, our guest this week on Inside the Issues. He argues against the notion of economic development "stopping migration," saying that the relationship between flows of wealth and people are not so straight-forward in today's complex global arena.

With an increasingly integrated (and sometimes chaotic) international financial system, how can growth and productivity in the world economy be sustained? With the proliferation of crises in the past 20 years, we ask Jim Haley, CIGI's director of global economy, to explain how better governance structures could contribute to economic stability and worldwide financial prosperity.

As states seek to better protect their mainland territory from the threat of illegal migration, outlying islands are increasingly being used to create buffer zones against would-be human traffickers and refugees. Canada Research Chair in Global Migration Studies, Alison Mountz, suggests that detention centres are a populist overreaction to the actual threat posed by maritime incursions.

Though the appetite for North American integration has been in flux for the past 100 years, Robert Pastor argues that closer cooperation is not only possible, but an easier than many think. The author of The Idea of North America and professor at American University, Pastor describes the opportunities and challenges facing the emergence of a common continental identity.

In this week's Inside the Issues, the program welcomes David Dewitt, vice president of programs at CIGI and noted expert on international affairs.

Following the 9/11 attacks and others across Europe, domestic responses to international terrorism have increased in both scale and perceived importance, but how well are they working? In North America there has not been a significant terrorist event for over a decade, but as Veronica Kitchen tells us in this week's Inside the Issues, that doesn't mean that national security efforts are necessarily functioning as optimally as they should.

In this week's Inside the Issues, the program focuses on constitution-building in Iraq (or lack thereof) with Sven Spengemann, visiting scholar at the Balsillie School of International Affairs. Having worked in Baghdad since 2005 and, from early 2007 on, as the Senior Constitutional Officer for the United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq (currently on leave), Spengemann discusses the challenges involved in building a legitimate federal system within a country of competing sectarian interests.

In her third appearance on Inside the Issues, CIGI senior fellow and Middle Eastern economics expert Bessma Momani discusses the state of the so-called 'Arab Spring' one year after the uprising began. She says that democratic progress is likely to proceed in fits and starts across countries that have experienced regime change, while economic dynamics are likely to preserve the reign of rulers in Syria and the Gulf states.

In episode10 of season two, Steven Mock discusses the complex topic of nationalism and its effects on domestic and international politics. As the author of the upcoming book, "Symbols of Defeat in the Construction of National Identity," Mock goes on to explain how symbols of unsuccessful historical events have been mythologized to strengthen states' conceptions of their national narrative. In the global arena, nationalism may seem irrational and even mystical at times but must be taken seriously as a vital political force, Mock argues.

In episode 9 of season two, Mark Raymond discusses the longer-term, macro-level changes to international governance and social movements that have occurred over the past 1,000 years. As the co-lead researcher of the Ideational Conflict Project at the Balsillie School of International Affairs, Raymond explains how and why institutions have changed so dramatically, and where they might be headed in the future.