Life After DPIR - David MacDuff, Canadian foreign service

David MacDuff recalls his time studying International Relations, and explains why, 20 years later, the lessons learnt at Oxford remain valuable.

In March 1997, I walked up the steps of my residence in Toronto to find a thin envelope from the University of Oxford in the mailbox. Thin envelopes usually mean one thing: rejection. It doesn’t take a thick envelope to say ‘no’. To my surprise, the letter offered me a place on the MPhil in International Relations.

My study of this discipline in the 1990s coincided with a gap between the two great security conflicts of recent times: the Cold War and the War on Terror. The world of the 1990s seemed to be one of possibilities, including a liberal transformation of international affairs and the much discussed, and now much derided, ‘End of History’. Fortunately, the MPhil course provided a solid grounding in both history and theory, allowing me to see beyond the immediate context.

Following my graduation in 1999, I embarked on a career in two think tanks followed by entry into the Canadian Foreign Service – a path I thought was the most natural fit for my interests. My duties have included: helping to develop Canada’s non-proliferation agenda for our hosting of the (then) G8 in Canada in 2010; analyzing economic trends in Southeast Asia during a posting to Singapore (2010-2014); and supporting Canada’s strategy for engaging the Trump Administration while back at headquarters in Ottawa.

Over the past two decades, there are have been three principal benefits from the MPhil degree: skills, content, and people.

With attention spans ever shortening, the ability to make a succinct, sharp argument, honed in the famous Oxford essay, is extremely valuable in the policy world. I am frequently called on to write briefing notes for ministerial meetings as well as PowerPoints for Cabinet presentations – speed, brevity, and accuracy (and sometimes even insight!) are highly prized.

I have been struck by how frequently some of the core concepts from international theory shed light on the ups and downs of global events. Hedley Bull’s Anarchical Society was a core text s – and an understanding of historical and theoretical approaches to global order is surely helpful amid Donald Trump’s apparently willingness to question post-World War II institutions, rules, and norms.

With today’s Canadian foreign service  increasingly emphasising so-called commercial diplomacy (much like its British counterpart), and thereby recruiting new employees with majors in business and economics, many of my colleagues (and perhaps a majority) have never taken a single university-level course in politics or international relations. The ‘ah ha!’ of seeing a core concept manifested in a daily event or an ongoing trend in the ‘real world’ of international affairs is not only personally rewarding, but can also fill a widening analytical gap in today’s foreign ministry.  Amid an ever increasing emphasis on management, ‘value for money’ cannot be understood without values.

I am still in touch with a handful of my former classmates. With the closest of these, I maintain a ‘snail mail’ correspondence, having exchanged over 100 letters over the past two decades. It is a beautiful and increasingly lost art.

I recall that one of the discussions in the ‘International History, 1945 to the Present’ seminar turned on the viability of prediction in International Relations. From the vantage point of the developments over the past two decades, I can strongly assert that foresight is not one of the skills I obtained. But I also feel confident that the perspectives and tools I gained from the course will continue to assist me in my own contribution to international affairs over the next twenty years and more.

David MacDuff (St. Antony’s, 1997) is a Canadian foreign service officer. After a current stint at headquarters in Ottawa, he will begin an assignment in Jamaica later this year.