Michael Ignatieff

Abstract

Since his return to Canada in late 2005 to run for a seat in the house of commons, Michael Ignatieff has become one of the most discussed figures in Canadian politics. His detractors have accused him of being an arrogant intellectual bereft of the political skills required for national office, a sellout who preferred life abroad to that at home, and perhaps most damagingly a warmonger in the thrall of the Bush administration. His supporters praise him as a creative thinker who has the big ideas necessary to revitalize federal politics and the country's international standing. Certainly, he is a member of that elite club of Canadian writers who enjoy a worldwide following. He made his reputation in Britain in the 1980s and 1990s, and in the last few years has risen to prominence in the US thanks to his outspoken though conflicted support for the 2003 invasion of Iraq. His defence of the Iraq War and the Canadian mission in Afghanistan has become one of the defining issues of the current Liberal party leadership race. Friends and foes alike scrutinize his ideas about foreign policy in the hopes of divining how he would act if eventually elected to 24 Sussex Drive. Ignatieff is a liberal interventionist, a member of that small group of thinkers who support military action on the basis of left-leaning ideals, particularly the global defence of democracy and human rights. Blurring the