Canadian Foreign Policy, as an academic discipline, is in crisis. Despite its value, CFP is often considered a “stale and pale” subfield of political science with an unfashionably state-centred focus. This book asks why. Contributors from both inside and around the field investigate how they came to view themselves as participating in CFP as an academic project – or not – and what that means for both their intellectual trajectory and the development of the field. How were they taught to think about Canada? How does that affect their interpretation of this country’s place in the world? And how do they teach the subject themselves?

The thoughtful essays in this nuanced collection shine a light on issues such as the casualization of academic labour, the prospect of Indigenizing the field, and the relationship between study and practice. More broadly, they offer a much-needed assessment of the boundaries, goals, and values of the discipline, and an important guide to its revitalization.