Abstract
We begin by noting a (partial) changing of the guard at International Journal. At the end of 2019, Jack Cunningham will be stepping down as one of the two editors-in-chief, to be replaced by Greg Donaghy, and Dan Gorman will be replaced by Susan Colbourn as editor of the “Lessons of History” feature.
Jack Cunningham signed on in the fall of 2015, and has worked tirelessly to keep things on track at IJ, juggling the position with several other, overlapping responsibilities. The editorial team is grateful for Jack’s steady hand over the last four years, particularly in guiding the journal through changes to the working relationships with the CIC and SAGE. We are pleased to welcome Greg Donaghy as the incoming editor-in-chief, to work in combination with Brian Bow. Greg is one of Canada’s best-known and most widely respected historians, having served for many years as head of the historical section of the Canadian foreign ministry. He brings with him a deep knowledge of Canadian diplomatic history and broad connections to relevant academic communities.
As “Lessons of History” editor, Dan Gorman brought in a number of interesting and important pieces, and we are grateful for his contributions. We are pleased to welcome Susan Colbourn—a recent PhD from University of Toronto—as the new LOH editor, and look forward to seeing what she will put together.
This issue includes an eclectic mix of essays, many of which were shepherded through the editorial process by Jack Cunningham. We begin with Michael Byers and Nicole Covey’s article on Arctic search-and-rescue missions, which considers the Canadian government’s challenges in increasing its capacity to operate in this difficult environment, without contributing to a potential arms race in the region. That is followed by Alex Wilner and Casey Babb’s piece on critical infrastructure security in the energy sector, which provides a preliminary inventory and evaluation of Canadian government efforts in this vital area. Next we have Kim-Lee Tuxhorn’s essay on popular support for free trade agreements, which finds that that support is strongly influenced by respondents’ views of the overall level of education and prosperity in the potential partner country. That is followed by Philip Giurlando’s research on France’s experience as a leading participant in the Eurozone, and the resentments created vis-à-vis Germany. And finally we have Cheng Xu’s article on peacebuilding, which questions the salience of conventional International Relations theories in exploring these issues, and argues for a post-paradigmatic, middle-range approach.
The Policy Brief for this issue was contributed by Pascale Massot, of the University of Ottawa. Surveying the shifting geopolitical landscape, Massot argues that Canada should eschew simplistic arguments for containment or engagement with China, and offers a framework for a pragmatic, issue-specific approach.
The book review section is especially strong in this issue, with reviews of historical and contemporary policy studies. Craig Forcese reviews Daniel Livermore’s Detained, Stéfanie von Hlatky reviews Sylvia Bashevkin’s Women as Foreign Policy Leaders, and Stephen Randall reviews Thomas Andrew O’Keefe’s Bush II, Obama, and the Decline of US Hegemony in the Western Hemisphere, among others.