Coming of age in academia: Canadian International Relations and the “optimistic interregnum” of the 1990s
| Author | Ellen Gutterman |
| Published date | 01 June 2017 |
| Date | 01 June 2017 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1177/0020702017711704 |
| Subject Matter | Scholarly Essays |
Scholarly Essay
Coming of age in
academia: Canadian
International Relations
and the ‘‘optimistic
interregnum’’ of
the 1990s
Ellen Gutterman
Glendon College, York University
Abstract
Taking the view of International Relations (IR) as a socio-intellectual space conditioned by
historical circumstances, and drawing on my personal reflections on international politics
in the 1990s as a particularly important influence on my own professional and intellectual
path in IR, this paper explores the 1990s as an exceptional period that shaped the decline
of Canadian Foreign Policy as a field of study in Canadian IR. Bookended by the collapse of
the Soviet Union and the end of the Cold War, at the beginning, and the start of the War
on Terror at its finale, the 1990s can be read as an ‘‘optimistic interregnum’’ during which
new possibilities arose for an inclusive, global transnationalism and the global governance
of important problems. New ideas and new ways of conceptualizing IR through a global
lens emerged. For Canadian students of IR in the 1990s, outward-looking globalism,
transnationalism, cosmopolitanism, and theoretical eclecticism fit with the hopeful opti-
mism of the times. In contrast, CFP—with its attendant requisite of policy relevance in
service of Canadian national priorities—seemed inward-looking, parochial, and on the
sidelines of important new intellectual currents and analyses.
Keywords
Canadian Foreign Policy, 1990s, end of the Cold War, transnationalism, global politics
To ask the question why certain International Relations (IR) scholars are attracted
to certain research questions and not others, why one identifies as an IR scholar of
International Journal
2017, Vol. 72(2) 180–191
!The Author(s) 2017
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DOI: 10.1177/0020702017711704
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Corresponding author:
Ellen Gutterman, York University, Glendon College, 2275 Bayview Ave., North York, ON M4N 3M6,
Canada.
Email: egutterman@glendon.yorku.ca
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