Brian Bow
Professor of Political Science / Honours Coordinator
Email: brian.bow@dal.ca
Phone: (902) 494-6629
Mailing Address:
- IR theory
- Policy Coordination, transgovernmental networks
- Canadian foreign policy
- Canada-US relations, North American regional politics
Education: B.A. (UBC), M.A. (York), PhD (Cornell)
Brief Bio: Prof. Bow just finished his 20th year at Dalhousie. His core research interest is in policy coordination, especially where driven by cross-border networks of bureaucrats and technical experts. Most of his published work has been on Canadian foreign policy, Canada-US relations, or North American regional cooperation. His 2008 book, The Politics of Linkage: Power, Interdependence, and Ideas in Canada-US Relations, was awarded the Donner prize as the best public policy book published in Canada that year. He has been editor of International Journal, director of the department’s Centre for the Study of Security and Development, a Fulbright Visiting Research Chair, and a visiting researcher at American University, Georgetown University, the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, and the Australian National University.
Teaching: International Relations theory, foreign policy, diplomacy and negotiation, US foreign policy, Canadian foreign policy, North American regional politics, and empirical research methods.
Ongoing projects (updated May 2024):
“Don’t Believe the Hype: Liberal Ideas, Economic Interests, and America’s Engagement with China,” conference paper presented at ISA 2024, CPSA 2024.
“Whatever Happened to the Post-COVID Developmental State?: The Canadian Experience,” conference paper presented at ISA 2024, CPSA 2024.
The Political Management of Network-Driven Policy Coordination: Lessons from North America and Europe, ongoing research project. This is a multi-year project designed to identify different models for network-driven policy coordination, uncover the sources of that variation, and assess the different models’ efficacy in bringing about effective and sustainable coordination. The initial research focus is on US-Canada coordination on contemporary national security and public safety issues—i.e., counter-terrorism, organized crime, illegal immigration and human trafficking, natural disasters, and infectious disease.