Students of Canadian political economy are faced with the task of assimilating and assessing critically a wealth of detailed studies of Canadian political and economic life. In this book the authors offer a fresh approach that recognizes and describes the importance of such factors as socialclass and economic forces, but also stresses the significance of political institutions in their own right in the production and distribution of wealth. Separate chapters explore the structure and organization of, and the interrelationships between, the state, labour, and capital in Canada, and show how their fragmented and decentralized nature limits the capacity of governments to improve on the political and economic status quo. After consideringthe strengths and weaknesses of liberal and socialist approaches, and the staples approach pioneered by Harold Innis, the book outlines the domestic political economy and how Canada is linked to the international political economy through the operation of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade(GATT) and the Canadian-American Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA). Particular attention is devoted to the constraints imposed on the Canadian state by a market-oriented, natural resource export economy, such as growing dependence on U.S. trade and unequal regional distribution of production and income. Two case studies of Canadian industrial and fiscal policy trace federal and provincial efforts to manage the micro and macro economies. They also illustrate the difficulties Canadians will face in dealing with increasing pressures of resource depletion, environmental degradation, continentalintegration, and globalization.

Laurent Dobuzinskis, Associate Professor, Department of Political Science, Simon Fraser University has two different research and teaching interests: the history of political and economic thought, political economy (rational choice), and the philosophy of the social sciences; and public policy analysis. Michael Howlett is Burnaby Mountain Chair in the Department of Political Science at Simon Fraser University, specializing in public policy analysis, political economy, and resource and environmental policy.

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