Language policies are political. They have political consequences as well as political origins. In State Traditions and Language Regimes, scholars from Asia, Europe, and North America shift focus from the consequences of language policies to how and why states make language policy choices. This shift, theorized through the concept of "language regime," inserts an urgently needed political science perspective into the current dialogue between sociolinguists, who research the societal effects of language policies, and political theorists of language rights, who analyze the normative implications of policies.

New analytical tools drawn from comparative politics are showcased to analyze paths taken by different states in establishing language regimes, at times disrupted and redirected at critical junctures. Contributions to the volume include analyses of Canada's increasingly court-driven language policies, the United States’ bifurcated language regime in the aftermath of 9/11, Ireland’s conflicted protection of the Irish language, France's linguistic Jacobin tradition disrupted by Europeanization, the role of political parties and coalitions in language regime stability and change in Taiwan and Southeast Asia, Poland's war-torn history informing policy toward regional languages, and the role of English in international peace-building.

While other books look at the political and societal effects of language policy, none seeks to employ a historical institutionalism approach which sets language policy choice in the context of power relations embedded in state traditions. State Traditions and Language Regimes offers a comparative politics perspective, one that enriches interdisciplinary debate on language policy.

Linda Cardinal, C.M., MRSC, is Professor of Political Science at the University of Ottawa, and Research Chair in Canadian Francophonie and Public Policies. She is a former Craig Dobbin Chair of Canadian Studies at University College, Dublin. She is the author or editor of many books, including From Subjects to Citizens: A Hundred Years of Citizenship in Australia and Canada, and Une tradition et un droit : Le Sénat et la représentation de la francophonie canadienne (PUO-UOP, 2017). She is Knight of the Ordre des Palmes Académiques de la République française (2013), and winner of the Bernard-Grandmaître Award (2017).

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Selma K. Sonntag is professor of politics at Humboldt State University in California and chair of the Research Committee on the Politics of Language of the International Political Science Association.

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