UBC Press Canadian Foreign Policy book Hardcover 272 pages

Canadian Foreign Policy, as an academic discipline, is in crisis. Despite its value, CFP is often seen as a “stale and pale” subfield of political science with an unfashionably state-centred focus. Canadian Foreign Policy asks why.Academics from both inside and around the field were asked “Where do our ideas about CFP come from?” This starting point led to a nuanced exploration of the ways in which scholars come to think of themselves as participating in CFP as an academic project – or not – and what that has meant both for their intellectual trajectory and for the development of the field. How were they taught to think about Canada? What impact has that had on their interpretation of this country’s place in the world? And, perhaps most significantly, how do they teach the subject in their classrooms? Their inquiry shines a light on issues such as the casualization of academic labour, the prospect of Indigenizing the field, and the relationship between study and practice.Canadian Foreign Policy is not only a much-needed assessment of the boundaries, goals, and values of the discipline but also a guide to its revitalization.