Jennifer Welsh

Jennifer Welsh

Professor in International Relations, University of Oxford

Jennifer Welsh, one of Canada's most brilliant and accomplished young minds, has an intelligent and provocative plan of action to remedy our diminishing international status and our lack of coherent direction for the future. Jennifer's plan is unabashedly critical of worn-out national myths, yet radical enough to propose a rethinking of our role as a global citizen. In her book At Home in the World: Canada's Global Vision for the 21st Century, Welsh details the many challenges and opportunities that Canada faces - and offers a concise set of recommendations for a renewed Canada that can be a model for the 21st century.


Contact Speakers' Spotlight

A recent cover story in the Canadian edition of Time trumpeted: "Would anyone notice if Canada disappeared?" The magazine asserted that Canada's influence in the world is shrinking fast, and that something must be done — now. Jennifer Welsh, one of Canada's most brilliant and accomplished young minds, has an intelligent and provocative plan of action to remedy our diminishing international status and our lack of coherent direction for the future.

Welsh's plan is unabashedly critical of worn-out national myths, yet radical enough to propose a rethinking of our role as a global citizen. In her book At Home in the World: Canada's Global Vision for the 21st Century, Welsh details the many challenges and opportunities that Canada faces—challenges such as political complacency, pressures to continentalize, the changing security landscape, American global power and the shake-up of our international institutions. Jennifer offers a concise set of recommendations for a renewed Canada – one that can be a model for the 21st century.

Welsh holds a Masters and Doctorate in International Relations from the University of Oxford, where she studied as a Rhodes Scholar, and is currently a Professor in International Relations and a Fellow of Somerville College. In addition to her academic career, she has been a consultant with McKinsey and Co., and a partner in d-Code, a research and strategy firm focused on the "Nexus Generation". She is the author of four books and a series of articles on international relations, and is co-author of Chips and Pop: Decoding the Nexus Generation. She is a frequent commentator on Canadian foreign policy and international affairs for the Globe and Mail and CBC.

Welsh is a member of the Banff Forum and the International Institute of Strategic Studies. In 2005, she was the Distinguished Visiting Fellow at Massey College, University of Toronto, and in 2006 was named a Trudeau Fellow. She currently sits on the Board of Trustees of the Walter and Duncan Gordon Foundation.

  • Where Do I Belong? Exploring Citizenship in the 21st Century

    This talk will focus on the possibilities and limits of citizenship beyond the nation-state and Jennifer's own notion of Canada as a Model Citizen in the global community of states.
  • At Home in the World: Canada's Global Vision for the 21st Century

    Jennifer Welsh, one of this country's most visionary and accomplished young minds, has an intelligent and innovative plan of action to bolster our diminishing international status and build a coherent direction for the future. This strategy is unabashedly critical of worn-out national myths, yet radical enough to propose a rethinking of our role as global citizens. Welsh also insists that our obsession for a healthy relationship with the US cannot come at the expense of an international vocation. Canadians have long been instinctively global-at home in the world-and take their global rights and responsibilities seriously. It's time for our governments and policy-makers to reflect our confidence beyond our borders.
  • welsh_j_book1.gif
    January 2004

    At Home in the World: Canada's Global Vision for the 21st Century

    The 9/11 tragedy. The War on Terror. The attack on Iraq. World affairs are tangled and uncertain. If Canada is to move forward, we have to make choices that acknowledge a global future.

    At Home in the World delivers an intelligent and innovative plan of action to bolster our diminishing international status and build a renewed and selfconfident Canada. Through unabashed critical analysis, Welsh gives us a provocative and well-reasoned book, demonstrating that she is one of this country’s brilliant young thinkers.


  • Edmund Burke
    November -0001

    Edmund Burke and International Relations: The Commonwealth of Europe and the Crusade Against the French Revolution

    The mind of Edmund Burke has attracted the attention of countless political theorists, historians, and biographers. Nonetheless, one aspect of Burke's thinking has been neglected: his perspective on international relations. This book seeks to address that gap, by analysing Burke's reaction to the international events of his century. The book argues that the tension between Burke's constitutionalism and crusading is ultimately reconciled by his broader conception of international legitimacy and order. It is only by widening the definition of international theory to include domestic as well as international politics that one can resolve this tension in Burke's theory and arrive at a richer understanding of the nature of international order, both historically and today.