Life in a Canadian Foreign Policy generation long ago: The early evolution of a professorial sample of one
| DOI | 10.1177/0020702017709269 |
| Published date | 01 June 2017 |
| Date | 01 June 2017 |
| Author | Denis Stairs |
| Subject Matter | Scholarly Essays |
Scholarly Essay
Life in a Canadian
Foreign Policy
generation long ago: The
early evolution of a
professorial
sample of one
Denis Stairs
Department of Political Science, Dalhousie University, Halifax,
Nova Scotia, Canada
Abstract
In response to the editors’ request, this article attempts to identify the developmental
factors that have influenced the way the author has approached the study of Canadian
Foreign Policy. It begins with some comments on the post-World War II international
environment and on how it was regarded within his family household. His later expos-
ures to the study of international affairs while an undergraduate at Dalhousie and
subsequently at Oxford are then described, the pedagogical emphasis in both cases
being focused on historical material. This was less true in the case of his graduate work
at the University of Toronto, but even there the sense that historical understanding was
essential was reinforced. The author’s overall conclusion has not been that more expli-
citly theoretical work has no value—quite the contrary—but rather that a knowledge of
the detailed particulars, both past and present, cannot be neglected if the application of
theoretical ideas to the analysis of specific international problems is to facilitate the
cultivation of good judgment and the making of sound policy.
Keywords
Dalhousie, Oxford, Philosophy, Politics and Economics programme, Department
of Political Economy, University of Toronto, Canadian Foreign Policy, International
Relations, historical approaches, theoretical approaches
International Journal
2017, Vol. 72(2) 166–179
!The Author(s) 2017
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DOI: 10.1177/0020702017709269
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Corresponding author:
Denis Stairs, Department of Political Science, Dalhousie University, 6299 South Street, PO Box 15000,
Halifax, NS, B3H 4R2, Canada.
Email: denis.stairs@dal.ca
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