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Political Science Canadian

Federalism and the Welfare State in a Multicultural World

edited by Elizabeth Goodyear-Grant, Richard Johnston, Will Kymlicka & John Myles

Publisher
McGill-Queen's University Press
Initial publish date
Jan 2019
Category
Canadian
  • Paperback / softback

    ISBN
    9781553395386
    Publish Date
    Jan 2019
    List Price
    $45.95
  • eBook

    ISBN
    9781553395393
    Publish Date
    Jan 2019
    List Price
    $110.00

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Description

Until the 1990s social policy played an integrative role in Canada, providing a counter-narrative to claims that federalism and diversity undermine the potential of social policy. Today, however, the Canadian model is under strain, reflecting changes in both the welfare state and the immigration-citizenship-multiculturalism regime.

Federalism and the Welfare State in a Multicultural World illustrates that there are clear trends that, if unchecked, may exacerbate rather than overcome important social cleavages. The editors argue that we are at a crucial moment to re-evaluate the role of social policy in a federal state and a multicultural society, and if federalism and diversity challenge traditional models of the nation-building function of social policy, they also open up new pathways for social policy to overcome social divisions. Complacency about, or naive celebration of, the Canadian model is unwarranted, but it is premature to conclude that the model is irredeemably broken, or that all the developments are centrifugal rather than centripetal.

Social policy is integral to mitigating divisions of class, region, language, race, and ethnicity, and its underlying values of solidarity and risk-sharing also make it a critical mechanism for nation-building. Whether social policy actually accomplishes these goals is variable and contested. The essays in this volume provide some timely answers.

About the authors

Elizabeth Goodyear-Grant is associate professor of political science at Queen's University and the director of the Queen's Institute of Intergovernmental Relations and the Canadian Opinion Research Archive.

Elizabeth Goodyear-Grant's profile page

Richard Johnston is Canada Research Chair in Public Opinion, Elections, and Representation at the University of British Columbia.

Richard Johnston's profile page

Will Kymlicka is the Canada Research Chair in Political Philosophy at Queen’s University. He is the author of seven books published by Oxford University Press, most recently Zoopolis: A Political Theory of Animal Rights (2011), co-authored with Sue Donaldson. His previous books include Multicultural Citizenship: A Liberal Theory of Minority Rights (1995) and Multicultural Odysseys: Navigating the New International Politics of Diversity (2007). In 2013, he delivered the HLA Hart Memorial Lecture at the University of Oxford on Animals and the Frontiers of Citizenship.

 

Will Kymlicka's profile page

John Myles is professor emeritus of sociology and senior fellow in the School of Public Policy and Governance at the University of Toronto.

John Myles' profile page