A Year in Review (2016-2017)

By Dylan Lamberti

 

Looking back at my initial post as editor in chief is a little surreal. Even then, I knew that the next twelve months were going to be tumultuous. The rise of far right rhetoric around the world hasn’t slowed down, and armed conflict seems to be skulking in the shadows, on the verge of exploding across the world stage.

I don’t want to sound fatalistic. I think it’s generally accepted that we’re at a turning point in history, not in a rhetorical sense but in a practical one. The neoliberal dream is dying, for better or for worse, and the implementation of a new global ideology will necessarily come with a certain degree of instability.

Though I may be biased, I’d like to think that the work that MIR’s staff has done this year has provided at least a modicum of fair and clear discourse in a chaotic period. I came into this position fairly wet behind the ears, and I had to learn quickly in order to accomplish a lot of the goals that I had initially set out. The online edition’s staff this year topped 80 people, and we hit a number of milestones that I think are a testament to the dedication and talent that each one of those individuals brought to the table:

  • 117,329 people have read our articles since May 3rd, 2016 (which represents 45% of our total readership since our founding in 2010)
  • Nearly doubled our Facebook presence from 1,100 to 2,000 likes
  • Cited by Yale’s School of Agriculture and Forestry
  • Cited by the University of Southern California’s Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism
  • Cited by University of Toronto’s McLaughlin Centre for Molecular Medicine
  • Cited by Foreign Policy
  • Referenced by a senior oil and petroleum advisor for the Saudi Arabian Government
  • Referenced by the Taiwanese embassy in Canada
  • Produced MIR’s most viewed video, Rosa Rupert’s short documentary Port of Solidarity
  • Published MIR’s most viewed article of all time: You’re Wrong, but Thank You: An Open Letter to Donald Trump by Pauline Werner
  • Published MIR’s second most viewed article of all time: Crossing Arms: The Plight and Protest of the Oromo in Ethiopia by Alexandra Yiannoutsos
  • Nominated for Publication of the Year by SSMU

This list may seem like bragging. It is. MIR’s team this year worked harder and better than I could have ever asked of them, and the results are real and tangible. On a personal level, my work with MIR has changed my career and post-graduate plans, and I can’t thank everyone who has been involved in this year’s crazy schedule enough.

I’ve been working very closely with Ben Aloi, the incoming editor in chief for next year. That handoff will formally take place on May 1st, at which point MIR’s summer team will kick into gear and continue the outstanding work that we’ve done this year, but Ben’s already been working behind the scenes to set up what already looks to be MIR’s best year yet. He has my complete confidence, and I know that he will continue to hold MIR up as McGill’s (if not Canada’s) best source for international analysis.

 

Dylan Lamberti

Dylan Lamberti is a fourth year English Literature and International Development student at McGill. He has a deep interest in US foreign policy and domestic politics.