The summer news cycle has been dominated by international stories: Ukraine, Gaza, Syria and Iran. Will this change how Canadians vote in 2015? Not if conventional wisdom is right. According to the pundits, elections are won on domestic issues like jobs or healthcare. But I'd like to challenge that.We live in a post-modern world that is deeply interconnected, physically and emotionally. For their part, Canadians are more informed on international events than ever before. They follow stories in the news, talk about them through social media, travel widely, and many of us have family, friends or business interests in other countries.But if the world feels more and more like a global village, peace is elusive. Alarming events are now threatening our security and well-being, from Vladimir Putin's support for insurgency in the Ukraine to Iran's nuclear program.In a thoughtful essay, the Globe's Mark MacKinnon argues that these are the product of a new cold war, and Russia is once again on the other side. But while MacKinnon makes a good case that realignment of some kind is underway, I think he misses something very important.The Cold War was a battle over ideologies. Even Ronald Reagan, who notoriously thought the Soviet Union was an “evil empire,” saw communism as a system of ideas. That's why he could sit down with his Russian counterpart, Mikhail Gorbachev, and discuss ways to work together to change the world. The Cold War may have been a tense and dangerous time, but constructive engagement was always a possibility.If realignment is underway, the new post-modern order promises to be quite different. Although it will be shaped by ideological conflict, it will also bear the stamp of a far less rational force: terrorism. This poses a threat of a different kind.Terrorism is not a misguided ideology, but a moral pathology—a willingness to sacrifice the respect for human life to achieve a political goal, whether out of devotion to Allah, hatred for an enemy or a tyrannical lust for power.Thus in using its own people as shields against Israeli missiles, Hamas has opted for a terrifyingly simple moral calculus in which the end wholly and completely justifies the means. There is no middle ground, no grey areas to discuss. We are in a world of black and white where either you have taken the moral plunge or you have not.Nor is terrorism confined to regions or spheres of influence. Acts of terror can happen anywhere and at any time. Everyone is a target; everyone is vulnerable. That was the traumatic realization that first exploded into North American consciousness with 9/11.It changed how we see international conflicts. We now know that, wherever they are, we are always at risk. We try not to dwell on this—that would only leave us feeling powerless—but our emotions have been rewired to alert us instantly to danger.Thus when reports on Malaysia Airlines MH17 flooded in, it was more than a horrific news story. It was a global reminder of the savage and unremitting nature of this threat and of everyone's vulnerability to it, whether we are flying over the eastern Ukraine or running the Boston Marathon.Terrorism and the anxiety it causes over our personal and collective security are game-changers. Once respect for human life has been abandoned, there is little point in reflection and debate. This, in turn, hardens our hearts and changes how we want our leaders to deal with such enemies, tilting them toward clarity and strength, rather than dialogue and accommodation.Such feelings were intensely clear in the aftermath of 9/11 but, notwithstanding the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, they receded over the last decade. If realignment is underway, they may be surfacing again. Gaza is a case in point. Tom Mulcair and Justin Trudeau feel barely able to question Israel's use of force, for fear of showing sympathy for Hamas. Stephen Harper has gone even further, simply granting Israel unwavering support.What does all this say about the claim that foreign policy does not win elections?That view is outdated and far too simple. While it is true that foreign policy rarely forms the ballot question—the 1986 Free Trade election and the 1917 conscription election being exceptions—a leader's credibility tends to be at least as important in winning elections as the issues.And we know that a leader's performance on the world stage can be a factor in establishing his/her credibility. Think of Lester Pearson and the Suez Crisis, Pierre Trudeau and relations with China or Brian Mulroney and apartheid in South Africa. If realignment is real, it will have an impact on federal politics.So, while I agree that the next election is unlikely to be fought on foreign policy, it is far from clear that international relations will not provide an important backdrop—possibly even a decisive one—against which the leaders' credibility will be assessed.Of course, much depends on how key conflicts play out in the coming months. Will Putin intensify support for Russian insurgents in the Ukraine? Will Israel continue to bomb Gaza? Will the Syrian government collapse? Will Iran continue its nuclear program? Will another airliner be shot down? While we can hope for a positive turn in such events, we cannot count on one. We must wait and see.In the meantime, we should recognize that such conflicts no longer appear to us as distant abstractions. The experience of 9/11 has been seared into our consciousness. It connects us to signal events around the world in a direct and personal way—and brings them to our doorstep.The more anxious Canadians feel about such events, the more they will look for someone they can trust to ensure their security and well-being. And that, certainly, could influence how they vote, perhaps even enough to change the outcome.Dr. Don Lenihan is an internationally recognized expert on democracy, public engagement, accountability and service delivery. Since 2009, he has been Senior Associate at Canada's Public Policy Forum in Ottawa. From October 2013 to April 2014, Don served as Chair of the Ontario Open Government Engagement Team. The views expressed here are those of the columnist alone. Don can be reached at: [email protected] or follow him on Twitter at: @DonLenihan