Over the past decade, the introspective, insular, and largely atheoretical style that informed Canadian political science for most of the postwar period has given way to a deeper engagement with, and integration into, the global field of comparative politics. This volume is the first sustained attempt to describe, analyze, and assess the "comparative turn" in Canadian political science. Canada's engagement with comparative politics is examined with a focus on three central questions: In what ways, and how successfully, have Canadian scholars contributed to the study of comparative politics? How does study of the Canadian case advance the comparative discipline? Finally, can Canadian practice and policy be reproduced in other countries?

Debating how Canada compares, both regionally and in relation to other countries, is a national pastime. This book examines how political scientists apply diverse comparative strategies to better understand Canadian political life. Using a variety of methods, the contributors use comparison to examine topics as diverse as Indigenous rights, Canadian voting behaviour, activist movements, climate policy, and immigrant retention. While the theoretical perspectives and kinds of questions asked vary greatly, as a whole they demonstrate how the “art of comparing” is an important strategy for understanding Canadian identity politics, political mobilization, political institutions, and public policy. Ultimately, this book establishes how adopting a more systematic comparative outlook is essential – not only to revitalize the study of Canadian politics but also to achieve a more nuanced understanding of Canada as a whole.

Canadian Foreign Policy, as an academic discipline, is in crisis. Despite its value, CFP is often considered a “stale and pale” subfield of political science with an unfashionably state-centred focus. Canadian Foreign Policy asks why. Practising scholars investigate how they were taught to think about Canada and how they teach the subject themselves. Their inquiry shines a light on issues such as the casualization of academic labour and the relationship between study and policymaking. This nuanced collection offers not only a much-needed assessment of the boundaries, goals, and values of the discipline but also a guide to its revitalization.

Tom Symons: A Canadian Life is a compelling portrait of one of Canada’s pre-eminent educational and cultural statesmen of the twentieth century. An outstanding public figure, Symons was a leader in many areas of Canadian life, including as the founding president of Trent University, as a pioneer in Canadian and Aboriginal studies, as an architect of national unity and French-language education in Ontario, as a champion of human rights, and as the chief policy advisor to the federal Progressive Conservative party in the 1960s and 1970s. The volume’s contributors are as remarkable as its subject. They include Madam Justice Rosalie Silberman Abella of the Supreme Court of Canada; the Honourable Tom McMillan, former federal Minister of the Environment; the Honourable Charles Beer, former Ontario Cabinet Minister; Ivan Fellegi, former Chief Statistician of Canada; John Fraser, one of Canada’s most distinguished journalists; and Denis Smith, award-winning biographer of John Diefenbaker, among others. Tom Symons: A Canadian Life is a study in leadership. It brings to light the unique human and personal qualities that allowed Symons to lead in such a wide range of areas and to exercise such deep and lasting influence on so many Canadian institutions -- contributions that continue to be meaningful and relevant for Canada today.

Bringing together political theorists and specialists in Canadian politics, Applied Political Theory and Canadian Politics combines conceptual frameworks from political theory and empirical evidence to offer fresh perspectives on political events in contemporary Canada. Examining complex and timely subjects such as equality, social justice, democracy, citizenship, and ethnic diversity, contributors present current and archival research supplemented with insights drawn from political theory to give readers a deep and nuanced understanding of increasingly pressing issues in Canadian society. For scholars and students seeking a work of political theory that is tangible, focused, and connected to the real world of everyday politics, Applied Political Theory and Canadian Politics will be an important resource, combining philosophical insights and empirical evidence to enhance our understanding of contemporary Canadian politics.

Constitutional courts around the world play an increasingly central role in day-to-day democratic governance. Yet scholars have only recently begun to develop the interdisciplinary analysis needed to understand this shift in the relationship of constitutional law to politics. This edited volume brings together the leading scholars of constitutional law and politics to provide a comprehensive overview of judicial review, covering theories of its creation, mechanisms of its constraint, and its comparative applications, including theories of interpretation and doctrinal developments. This book serves as a single point of entry for legal scholars and practitioners interested in understanding the field of comparative judicial review in its broader political and social context.

On May 2, 2011, as Canadians watched the federal election results roll in and Stephen Harper’s Conservatives achieve a majority, it appeared that we were witnessing a major shift in the political landscape. In reality, Canadian politics had been changing for quite some time. This volume provides the first account of the political upheavals of the past two decades and speculates on the future of the country’s national party system. By documenting how parties and voters responded to new challenges between 1993 and 2011, this book sheds light on one of the most tumultuous periods in Canadian political history.

Comparative Federalism: A Systematic Inquiry, Second Edition is a uniquely comprehensive, analytic, and genuinely comparative introduction to the principles and practices, as well as the institutional compromises, of federalism. Hueglin and Fenna draw from their diverse research on federal systems to focus on four main models—America, Canada, Germany, and the European Union—but also to range widely over other cases. At the heart of the book is careful analysis of the relationship between constitutional design and amendment, fiscal relations, institutional structures, intergovernmental relations, and judicial review. Such analysis serves the dual role of helping the reader understand federalism and providing a comparative framework from which to assess the record of federal systems. The second edition has been extensively revised and updated, taking into account new developments in federal systems and incorporating insights from the growing body of literature in the field. It includes two new chapters, "Fiscal Federalism" and "The Limits of Federalism."

Unlike most public servants, top administrators – those who manage thousands of personnel and oversee millions of dollars in public spending – are appointed by the head of government. At the Pleasure of the Crown is a detailed exploration of this central but overlooked aspect of governing. Christopher A. Cooper analyzes the appointment of deputy ministers in Canada’s provincial bureaucracies over the last century. As the nature of governance has shifted – from limited government to welfare state and into the contemporary era of managerialism – governments have looked for different qualities in those who occupy top bureaucratic posts. Partisan loyalty was replaced by candid advice, and ultimately by feverish devotion to the policy agenda. Throughout, turnover among bureaucratic elites has remained highly political. At the Pleasure of the Crown illuminates the historical balance of power between elected politicians and appointed bureaucrats, as well as the consequences for the integrity of Canadian public institutions.

Bringing together prominent scholars in the field, this Handbook provides an interdisciplinary exploration of the complex interrelationship between migration and welfare. Chapters further examine the effects of emigration on sending societies exploring issues such as the impact of remittances, diasporas, and skill deterioration as a result of human capital flight on capacity building and on economic and political development more generally.