John Kirton

John J. Kirton is a professor of political science and the director and co-founder of the G8 Research Group centred at the Munk Centre for International Studies at University of Trinity College in the University of Toronto.

He received his B.A. in Political Science in 1971 from the University of Toronto, his M.A. in International Affairs in 1973 from Carleton University, and his Ph.D. in International Studies in 1977 from the Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies at Johns Hopkins University.

He specializes in Canadian foreign policy, the G8 and global governance, and trade and the environment.

As a scholar of Canadian foreign policy, Kirton pioneered the theory of Canada’s emergence as a principal power in the world through his major books, Canada as a Principal Power (co-written with David Dewitt) and, most recently, Canadian Foreign Policy in a Changing World.

In the field of trade and environment, Kirton led the multinational, multidisciplinary team that developed an analytical framework for assessing the environmental effects of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) and identified the many ways in which the Commission for Environmental Cooperation, North America’s first regional organization of consequence, enhanced ecological quality throughout the region and beyond.

When lecturing Professor Kirton focuses on what he calls the “Complex Neo-Realist” theory of Canadian foreign policy. This theory proposes that Canada is a rising power in a more diffuse international system.

elected bibliography

Canadian Foreign Policy in a Changing World (Toronto: Nelson Thomson, 2007).
Financing Development: The G8 and UN Contribution (with Michele Fratianni and Paolo Savona; Aldershot: Ashgate, 2007)
Governing Global Health: Challenge, Response, Innovation (with Andrew F. Cooper and Ted Schrecker; Aldershot: Ashgate, 2007).
Governing Global Finance: New Challenges, G7 and IMF Contributions (with Michele Fratianni and Paolo Savona; Aldershot: Ashgate, 2002).
Linking Trade, Environment, and Social Cohesion: NAFTA Experiences, Global Challenges (with Virginia Maclaren; Aldershot: Ashgate, 2002).
Environmental Regulations and Corporate Strategy (with Alan Rugman and Julie Soloway; Toronto: Oxford University Press, 1999).
The G8’s Role in the New Millennium (with Michael Hodges and Joseph Daniels; Aldershot: Ashgate, 1999).
Canadian Foreign Policy: Selected Cases (with Don Munton; Scarborough: Prentice-Hall, 1993).
Canada as a Principal Power (with David Dewitt; Toronto: John Wiley, 1983).
The International Joint Commission Seventy Years On (with Robert Spencer and Kim Richard Nossal; Toronto: Centre for International Studies, University of Toronto, 1981).

References

* Kirton, John. [http://www.forbes.com/opinions/2008/07/05/issues-problems-overview-oped-cx_jk_summit08_0707kirton.html "A Primer On The G-8,"] "Forbes". July 7, 2008.

External links

* [http://www.g8.utoronto.ca/ G8 Information Centre]
* [http://www.envireform.utoronto.ca/ EnviReform Project]
* [http://www.ashgate.com/subject_area/politics/g8_series.htm Ashgate Publishing's G8 and Global Governance Series]
* [http://www.ashgate.com/subject_area/politics/global_finance.htm Ashgate Publishing's Global Finance Series]
* [http://www.ashgate.com/subject_area/politics/global_environmental_series.htm Ashgate Publishing's Global Environmental Governance Series]