Description
Book SynopsisAutonomous State provides the first detailed examination of the Canadian auto industry, the country’s most important economic sector, in the post-war period. In this engrossing book, Dimitry Anastakis chronicles the industry’s evolution from the 1973 OPEC embargo to the 1989 Canada–US Free Trade Agreement and looks at its effects on public policy, diplomacy, business enterprise, workers, consumers, and firms.
Using an immense array of archival sources, and interviews with some of the key actors in the events, Anastakis examines a fascinating array of topics in recent auto industry and Canadian business and economic history: the impact of new safety, emissions, and fuel economy regulations on the Canadian sector and consumers, the first Chrysler bailout of 1980, the curious life and death of the 1965 Canada-US auto pact, the ‘invasion’ of Japanese imports and transplant operations, and the end of aggressive auto policy-making with the comi
Trade Review
'There is much to like about this work. It is a solid piece of academic research. It reaches beyond mere facts of how the industry evolved undermanaged trade...and how the Auto Pact paved the way for the 1989 Free Trade agreement.' -- Wayne Lewchuk Enterprise and Society, vol 14:04:2013 'Deeply researched and lucidly argued by a historian in command of his field, Autonomous State is a valuable addition to automotive history and a distinguished contribution to policy history.' -- Tom McCarthy Canadian Historical Review vol 95:03:2014 'This is a well-researched book, with substantial archival research having been conducted in Canada and United States... There is plenty to be learned by political scientists interested in international relations, public policy, and political economy (both nationally and internationally).' -- Duane Bratt American Historical Review vol 119:02:2014
Table of Contents
Tables Acknowledgements Abbreviations Automotive Assembly and Major Parts Facilities in Canada Since 1945 Introduction: The Ripples of 1973 Chapter One: Industrial Revolutions: A New Automotive Landscape Emerges Chapter Two: The New Big Three: Canadian Safety, Emissions and Fuel Economy in a Continental Industry Chapter Three: Fair Share: The Battle Over "Domestic" Investment in North America Chapter Four: Nadir: Saving Chrysler and Debating State Intervention in the Auto Sector Chapter Five: Integration's Bounty, Integration's Bounds: The Unusual Life of the Auto Pact Chapter Six: Schism: The Canadian UAW and the End of Auto Worker Internationalism Chapter Seven: Transplant: "Foreign" Production, Imports and the Tumultuous Arrival of the Japanese Chapter Eight: Rebirth or Requiem? Duty Remissions, Free Trade and the Death of the Auto Pact Conclusion: One in Six: The Ratio of Survival Appendices Notes Bibliography Illustrations Credits Index
