Toward Canada in the World: Thoughts on the future of Canadian Foreign Policy History

Abstract

As a field of study, Canadian Foreign Policy history has been on life support for the better part of three decades. While its resiliency speaks to the commitment of its practitioners, the fact that Canadian international history has largely been sidelined is troubling given both the field’s importance generally and its appeal to undergraduate students and the wider public. Yet, at the same time as Canadian Foreign Policy history has been in stasis, a new field examining Canadian interactions with the world through transnational and cultural lenses has arisen. As the apocryphal Chinese proverb puts it, this situation presents both danger and opportunity for Canadian international history. In this article I explore how Canadian international historians might seize the initiative by crafting a new, expansive field of study—Canada in the World—which preserves the study of Canadian Foreign Policy while incorporating other analytical approaches.