Toward Canada in the World: Thoughts on the future of Canadian Foreign Policy History
| Published date | 01 June 2017 |
| Author | Asa McKercher |
| DOI | 10.1177/0020702017709255 |
| Date | 01 June 2017 |
| Subject Matter | Scholarly Essays |
Scholarly Essay
Toward Canada in the
World: Thoughts on the
future of Canadian
Foreign Policy History
Asa McKercher
McMaster University, Canada
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.
Keywords
Canadian Foreign Policy, international history, diplomatic history, transnational history
‘‘Study history, study history!’’ These words were emblazoned on a poster in my
high school history classroom along with Yousuf Karsh’s famous photo of a
glowering Winston Churchill. Missing from the poster, however, was the second
half of the rotund prime minister’s dictum: ‘‘In history lie all the secrets of state-
craft.’’ A look at the current standing of Canadian Foreign Policy history within
the wider historical landscape today might lead one to conclude that this
Churchillian maxim has been largely discarded and that there is little interest in
statecraft, even broadly defined. Most Canadian historians focus on a wide variety
International Journal
2017, Vol. 72(2) 243–254
!The Author(s) 2017
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DOI: 10.1177/0020702017709255
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Corresponding author:
Asa McKercher, Department of History, Chester New Hall 619, 1280 Main Street West, Hamilton,
Ontario, Canada L8S 4L9.
Email: mckercha@mcmaster.ca
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