Willow is a Junior Research Fellow at the NATO Association of Canada, and is a Charter Member of the Youth Atlantic Treaty Association having served as the Events and Special Projects Coordinator on the association’s national executive board. Willow holds a Master of Arts degree (2017) in Political Studies from Queen’s University where she specialized in Security Studies. In 2019 she also completed a Master of Public Administration degree at Queen’s University. In 2016 she completed her Bachelor of Arts Honours degree at Queen’s. It is comprised of a major in Political Studies (International Relations, Security Studies and Political Theory), and a minor in Philosophy (Continental Philosophy and Phenomenology). Her major research interests include nuclear deterrence and nonproliferation, security, alliance politics, civil-military relations, and most recently Canadian defence procurement. Willow is also a martial artist with over 15 years of experience, a martial arts instructor, and active proponent of both youth and female engagement in politics. She is currently pursuing employment as a public servant and can be reached by email at willowsrhillman@gmail.com and www.linkedin.com/in/willow-hillman.
Mainstream media fixates on the 2% of GDP benchmark for defence spending among NATO allies when it comes to determining their commitment and contribution to the alliance as a whole. Willow Hillman discussed why focusing on this specific measure distracts allies from pursuing capability-based measures of alliance contributions.
