Divided Discipline?

Abstract

(ProQuest-CSA LLC: ... denotes text stops here in original.)The centre of gravity for the academic discipline of relations is located in the United States, but Canada boasts a vibrant academic community of relations scholars.' Through their teaching, research, and consultations with policymakers, Canadian IR scholars influence how Canadian citizens and policymakers think about world politics, and sometimes directly affect the practice of Canadian foreign policy itself. federal Liberal party's recent leadership race came down to a choice between two former academics: Michael Ignatieff and Stephane Dion. Prime Minister Stephen Harper is associated with the so-called Calgary school of conservative scholars in the University of Calgary's political science department/ However, the views of Canadian IR scholars and their influence on public opinion and foreign policy have not been a subject of systematic study.This article reports results from a survey of IR faculty at Canadian universities conducted in 2006.' survey extends a study of US college and university IR professors originally conducted by scholars at the College of William and Mary in 2004 and repeated in 2oo6.4 biennial teaching, research, and politics (TRIP) survey consists of questions in four parts, dealing with teaching practice and curricula, the academic discipline of relations, issues related to research-including theoretical perspectives employed, methodologies, and topics studied-and views on current and historical policy issues/ 2004 survey organizers attempted to contact every instructor teaching IR courses at the university level in the United States. In 2006 the survey was repeated in the US and extended to Canada.6 2006 US survey received responses from 1,112 ascholars. Canadian survey was completed by no of 275 scholars contacted at Canadian universities.7 smaller size of the Canadian survey makes its findings subject to greater uncertainty. Nonetheless, it offers the most comprehensive overview of the field of Canadian IR. survey paints a portrait of a vital intellectual community of Canadian IR scholars that is simultaneously distinct from, and heavily influenced by, its US counterpart. At the same time, the Canadian academic community is more closely aligned with and influenced by its European and particularly British colleagues in terms of theory, methodology, and epistemology.INSIDE THE IVORY TOWER: THE VIEW FROM CANADADescribing the results of the 2004 US survey in Foreign Policy, Peterson, Tierney, and Maliniak noted, The relations field today is surprisingly young. Half of the professors who teach at US colleges today received their PhDs in the past 12 years.* A similar pattern holds for Canadian IR instructors in the 2006 survey. median year for completion of the doctorate was 1995, and the average age was 44. Respondents were evenly distributed across academic ranks, with 30 percent each at the assistant and full professor levels, and 29 percent at the associate level. Nearly all the rest held positions as lecturers or instructors, with one percent each reporting positions as emeritus faculty and other. Canadian IR, like its US cousin, is dominated by men, with women accounting for only 26 percent of respondents.Some interesting differences emerge in the portrait of the two IR communities. Canadian IR, for instance, appears to be more international than American IR. Thirty-six percent of instructors at Canadian universities were born outside of Canada, while only 15 percent of US respondents indicated a country of origin outside the United States. Forty-six percent of Canadian faculty received their PhDs outside of Canada, while only four percent of Americans received their degrees outside the United States. A third of the Canadian respondents reported receiving their PhDs from one of four institutions: York University, the University of Toronto, the University of British Columbia, and Carleton University. …