The Woodrow Wilson Center Press
Uncle Sam and Us: Globalization, Neoconservatism, and the Canadian State
Between them, Brian Mulroney and Jean Chrétien radically altered the structure and functions of the federal government, first by signing and implementing major trade liberalization projects, and then by cutting back the size of their governments' budgets and the scope of their policies. Uncle Sam and Us analyzes the Mulroney-Chrétien era's impact on Canadian governance through two related factors, globalization from without and neoconservatism from within.
Stephen Clarkson begins his study by conceptualizing the present Canadian state as a five-tiered, nested system stretching from the municipal and provincial levels, through the federal government, and on to the new continental and global spheres of governance: in effect, he argues, the North American Free Trade Agreement and the World Trade Organization have added a 'supraconstitution' to Canada's existing institutions. His analysis concerns the changes that have occurred not just in the federal government, but in provincial and municipal governance as well. The impact of globalization and neoconservatism is examined extensively in the second part of Clarkson's study, which examines how the functions of the Canadian state have altered. Clarkson addresses the changes in a number of policy areas such as macro and monetary policy, regulatory, industrial, and trade policy, as well as social, labor, environmental, cultural, and foreign policy.
In linking external forces and internal factors in his analysis, Clarkson brings together separate aspects of the Canadian state into a comprehensive understanding of the current Canadian political climate. He combines a global knowledge of the international political economy with a micro concern for detailed analyses of policy issues, and concludes that the responsibility for Canada's predicament lies less with external forces, than with Canadians and the governments they elected. He ends with a hopeful look into the future, pointing towards a realization of the shortcomings of neoconservative globalization, and the expectation of a new governing paradigm.
What People are Saying
"In this in insightful and compelling book, Stephen Clarkson meticulously shows how the appealing experiment called Canada has been endangered in the past two decades. But he also makes a convincing case that a rescue effort is not too late."--Linda McQuaig, Toronto Star columnist and author of All You Can Eat: Greed, Lust and the New Capitalism
"Only a scholar with Stephen Clarkson's vast knowledge and deeply analytical approach to Canada could pull off a book like this. It works so well because of his comprehensive understanding of Canada's historical and current political economy, his analytical perspective, and his ability to present a huge amount of information and material in an extraordinarily interesting way....The book goes from strength to strength and culminates in a truly masterful chapter on Canada's foreign relations....This easily stands to be the best current book on Canadian political economy."--Marjorie Griffin Cohen, Department of Political Sciences, Simon Fraser University
"Stephen Clarkson has done a masterful job of reminding us why politics and the state matter so much to the future of Canada."--Sylvia Bashevkin, director of the Canadian Studies Program, University College, University of Toronto, and author of Welfare Hot Buttons: Women, Work, and Social Policy Reform.
Chapter List
Chapter 1 Not Whether, but Which Canada Will Survive
Chapter 2 The Peripheral State: Globalization and Continentalism
Part I The Polity: Reconstituting the Canadian State
Change from Without
Chapter 3 Continental and Global Governance
Chapter 4 NAFTA and the WTO as Supraconstitution
Change from Within
Chapter 5 The Federal State: Internal Trade and the Charter
Chapter 6 The Municipal State: Megacity and the Greater Toronto Area
Part II The Economy: Reframing the State's Functions
The Macro Economy and the Managerial State
Chapter 7 The Taxing State: From Lord Keynes to Paul Martin
Chapter 8 The Banking State and Global Financial Governance
The Oligopolistic Economy and the Regulatory State
Chapter 9 Financial Services: National Champions at Risk
Chapter 10 Telecoms: From Regional Monopolies to Global Oligopolies
The External Economy and the Internationalizing State
Chapter 11 The Trading State
Chapter 12 The Investing State
The Microeconomy and the Interventionist State
Chapter 13 The Residual State: Accommodation at the Federal Level
Chapter 14 The Industrial State Goes Provincial
The Society: The Contradictions of Neoconservatism
Chapter 15 The Civil State: Social Policies under Strain
Chapter 16 The Working State: Labor Relations under Stress
Chapter 17 The (Un)sustainable State: Deregulating the Environment
Chapter 18 The Cultured State: Broadcasting and Magazines
Chapter 19 The Diplomatic State: Lockstep under Hegemonic Dominance
Chapter 20 The Post-Globalist State and the Democratic Deficit
Notes
Acronyms
Acknowledgments
Author Index
Subject Index