Canadian International Relations, American social science? Evidence from academic journals and comprehensive reading lists
| Author | Michael P. A. Murphy,Michael J. Wigginton |
| Date | 01 March 2020 |
| Published date | 01 March 2020 |
| DOI | 10.1177/0020702020917993 |
| Subject Matter | Scholarly Essay |
Scholarly Essay
Canadian International
Relations, American
social science? Evidence
from academic journals
and comprehensive
reading lists
Michael P. A. Murphy
School of Political Studies, University of Ottawa, Ottawa,
Canada
Michael J. Wigginton
School of Political Studies, University of Ottawa, Ottawa,
Canada
Abstract
The last two decades have witnessed growing attention to the “Canadianization” of the
field of International Relations. In this article, we forward a novel approach to testing
the influence of domestic factors in Canadian International Relations. By analyzing the
reading lists of comprehensive examinations from Canadian doctoral programs in
International Relations, we can understand the ways in which Canadian institutions’
reading lists construct the hierarchy of the field’s journals. Among these journals, those
based in the United States are most frequently assigned, with others hosted in the UK
and around Europe. Canadian journals are rarely assigned to reading lists. French-
language journals are also rarely assigned to reading lists, even in francophone institu-
tions, and when they are, the journals are much more likely to be hosted in France than
in Canada. We offer a series of guiding questions for future consideration of the
“Canadianization” of International Relations education in Canada.
Corresponding author:
Michael P. A. Murphy, University of Ottawa, School of Political Studies, 120 University Private, Room 7005,
Ottawa, Ontario, K1N 6N5, Canada.
Email: mmurp078@uOttawa.ca
International Journal
2020, Vol. 75(1) 5–23
!The Author(s) 2020
Article reuse guidelines:
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DOI: 10.1177/0020702020917993
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Keywords
International Relations, Canadian IR, disciplinary sociology, teaching and learning,
doctoral education, academic journals, comprehensive examinations, French-language
IR, Scholarship of Teaching and Learning, qualifying examinations
Introduction
Information on the current state of the art in International Relations (IR) instruc-
tion in Canada is rather limited. Canada is one of the case studies discussed in
Wayne Cox and Kim Richard Nossal’s work on “The Crimson World,” covering
the graduate training of current faculty in a survey of IR teaching in Canada.
Specifically reflecting on the research community of Canadian foreign policy,
Claire Turenne Sjolander analyzed the pedagogical state of the art through sylla-
bus analysis.
1
Roundtable discussions at the International Studies Association and
the American Political Science Association probing the question of the distinctive-
ness of Canadian IR, articles reflecting on particular research currents among
Canadian IR professors, and even special issues on particular research communi-
ties in Canada bring a variety of perspectives to the question.
2
This article con-
tributes to the debate through an as-yet understudied element—the extent to which
graduate students at Canadian universities are socialized into a distinctly
“Canadian IR.” To do this, we examined a novel dataset of comprehensive exam-
ination reading lists to see what journals were assigned most frequently.
While the individual readings on comprehensive examination reading lists have
been recognized for constructing the canon and rendering certain authors more
authoritative, the role of journals has not received the same attention. We believe
that there are a number of reasons why journals can offer a proxy for the
Canadianization of IR. First, as Ole Waever once remarked, when it comes to
IR, “journals are the most direct measure of the discipline itself,”
3
given the pre-
dominance of the article over the monograph as primary currency. Therefore, an
1. Wayne S. Cox and Kim Richard Nossal, “The ‘Crimson World’: The Anglo core, the post-imperial
non-core, and the hegemony of American IR,” in Arlene B. Tickner and Ole Waever, eds.,
International Relations Scholarship Around the World (London: Routledge, 2009), 301–321; Claire
Turenne Sjolander, “Two solitudes? Canadian foreign policy/politique
etrangere du Canada,”
Canadian Foreign Policy Journal 14, no. 1 (2007): 101–108.
2. For example, J. Andrew Grant, St
ephanie Martel, Leah Sarson, Jennifer Welsh, Aisha S. Ahmad,
Sarah-Myriam Martin-Brule, Mark B. Salter, Mariam Georgis, W.R. Nad
ege Compaor
e, Justin
Massie, Katharina Coleman, and Vincent Pouliot, “Is there a Canadian school of IR?,” Roundtable
at the 2019 International Studies Association Annual Convention, 27–30 March 2019, Toronto,
ON; Stephen M. Saideman, “Canadian scholarship on International Relations: Unified, divided, or
diverse?” International Journal 71, no. 2 (2016): 193–213; Miguel de Larrinaga and Mark B. Salter,
“Cold CASE: A manifesto for Canadian critical security studies,” Critical Studies on Security 2,
no. 1 (2014): 1–19.
3. Ole Waever, “The sociology of a not so international discipline: American and European devel-
opments in International Relations,” International Organization 52, no. 4 (1998): 697.
6International Journal 75(1)
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