A graphic turn for Canadian foreign policy: insights from systemism

ABSTRACT

The application of systemism, an innovative and user-friendly technique for generating lucid, graphic summaries of analytical arguments, can enhance the study of Canadian foreign policy. As research and pedagogy on Canada and international relations move forward, its content becomes increasingly vast and intellectually diverse. Systemism offers both a means and a method toward enhanced communication in the face of challenges posed by the rapid expansion of topics and the proliferation of new theories and terminology in the fast-paced world of the new millennium. This is the motivation for a special issue of CFPJ that will show systemism in action across a wide range of issues and locations. This introductory article will proceed in four sections. The first section provides an overview of the project as a whole. Section two introduces systemism as a graphic approach toward the communication of ideas. The third section applies systemism to convey the framework for analysis from the standard textbook in the field – The Politics of Canadian Foreign Policy (Nossal, K. R., Roussel, S., & Paquin, S. The politics of Canadian Foreign Policy. Queen’s policy studies series (4th ed.). Montreal: McGill-Queen’s University Press, 2015). Section four outlines the articles that follow in making up the special issue.

RÉSUMÉ

L'application du systémisme, une technique innovante et conviviale permettant de générer des résumés graphiques et lucides d'arguments analytiques, peut améliorer l'étude de la politique étrangère canadienne. À mesure que la recherche et la pédagogie sur le Canada et les relations internationales progressent, leur contenu devient de plus en plus vaste et intellectuellement diversifié. Le systémisme offre à la fois un moyen et une méthode pour améliorer la communication face aux défis posés par l'expansion rapide des sujets et la prolifération de nouvelles théories et terminologies dans le monde au rythme soutenu du nouveau millénaire. Voilà ce qui motive la publication d'un numéro spécial du CFPJ qui montrera le systémisme en action à travers un large prisme de questions et de lieux. Cet article introductif se développera en quatre sections. La première section donne un aperçu du projet dans son ensemble. La deuxième présente le systémisme comme une approche graphique de la communication des idées. La troisième section applique le systémisme pour transmettre le cadre d'analyse du manuel standard dans le domaine - The Politics of Canadian Foreign Policy (Nossal, K. R., Roussel, S., & Paquin, S. The politics of Canadian Foreign Policy. Queen's policy studies series (4ème édition). Montréal : McGill-Queen's University Press, 2015). La quatrième section présente les articles qui composent le numéro spécial.

KEYWORDS:

• Canadian foreign policy
• systemism
• systematic synthesis
• bricolagic bridging

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1 As is standard within the field, “International Relations” refers to the academic discipline and “international relations” to its subject matter.

2 Much more detailed introductions to systemism and its potential value to communication are available in James (2019a, 2019b), Pfonner and James (2020) and Gansen and James (2021).

3 The diagrammatic exposition that follows is based primarily upon James (2019a).

4 Beyond the scope of the present exposition is specification of functional form for proposed connections; this is required by systemism to completely articulate a theory (Bunge, 1996). While incremental change is assumed as the default position, it is important to recognize that functional relationships can be non-linear as well.

5 For a review of applications spanning many disciplines to subjects within international relations and foreign policy in general, see Yetiv and James (2017).

6 If an author is deceased, former students can be consulted on the content and meaning of publications; if that option is not available, experts on the work of a given scholar can be contacted instead. For a more detailed exposition on creation of systemist figures, see Gansen and James (2021).

7 Onuf (1989) is one point of entry for bricolage as a concept within IR.

8 Gansen and James (2021) cover these principles in detail. One example is that work should start with a pencil sketch that identifies the system and its macro and micro levels, along with the environment.

9 In a critique that is beyond the scope of the present exposition, Bow (2014) takes issue with how approaches have been coded in Boucher (2014).

10 Previous editions, authored exclusively by Kim Richard Nossal, appeared from 1987 onward.

11 The exposition that follows is based primarily on the overview of the framework in Nossal et al. (2015, pp. 1–18).

12 Nossal et al. (2015, p. 20) are careful to point out that designation of middle power status only begins to give a sense of potential efficacy for Canadian foreign policy; their emphasis goes beyond capability itself and extends into how tools of foreign policy are used.

13 Introduced in Gourevitch (1978), the point of departure for analysis of system-level impact on state and society is the concept of the “second image reversed”. This refers to a reversal of the standard second image from Waltz (1959), which focused on the impact of developments within the state on the international system.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Sarah Gansen

Sarah Gansen is a Ph.D. Candidate in the Department of Political Science and International Relations at the University of Southern California and a graduate of USC Gould School of Law.

Patrick James

Patrick James is the Dana and David Dornsife Professor of International Relations at the University of Southern California.