Canadian Foreign Policy at a Crossroads
This talk with Roland Paris is part of our Fall 2019 Policy Lectures Series. These academic talks are intended for McGill graduate students and faculty.
The world in 2019 isn’t what it was in 2015. Trump’s America is a markedly less reliable partner. Populist nationalism is roiled Europe. Xi Jinping’s China has abandoned Deng Xioping’s “hide your strength, bide your time” doctrine and is now asserting itself as a major power – targeting Canada, among other countries. The structure of institutions, alliances and rules that underpinned a largely open and relatively stable international order for decades – and which Canada has relied on – is degrading faster than many expected. What principles and priorities should guide the next government’s foreign policy in the face of these mounting challenges?
About Roland Paris
Roland Paris is Professor of International Affairs in the Graduate School of Public and International Affairs at the University of Ottawa, Associate Fellow of the Royal Institute of International Affairs (Chatham House) and a member of the World Economic Forum's Global Future Council on Geopolitics.
He was previously Senior Advisor on Global Affairs and Defence to the Prime Minister of Canada, founding Director of the Centre for International Policy Studies at the University of Ottawa, Director of Research at the Conference Board of Canada, Assistant Professor of Political Science and International Affairs at the University of Colorado at Boulder, Visiting Researcher at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies in Washington, DC, Visiting Fellow at the Institut d'études politiques (Sciences Po) in Paris, and Global Ethics Fellow at the Carnegie Council for Ethics in International Affairs. He has also worked as a policy advisor in Canada’s foreign ministry and Privy Council (Cabinet) Office, and was appointed to a ten-member group of international experts advising the Secretary General of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization.
Prof. Paris' research on international security, civil conflicts, peacebuilding, and Canadian and American foreign policy has appeared in leading academic outlets and earned several prizes, including the Grawemeyer Award for Ideas Improving World Order. He has also received seven awards for teaching and public service.
He is an editorial board member of seven scholarly journals and has served on the board of directors of several organizations, including the World University Service of Canada and the Academic Council on the United Nations System. He also provides international-affairs analysis and commentary in national and international media.
He holds a Ph.D. from Yale University, an M.Phil. from the University of Cambridge, and a B.A. from the University of Toronto.
