Description
Book SynopsisThe Charter of Rights and Freedoms was introduced in 1982. Since then, Canada has experienced more than twenty-five years of constitutional politics and countless debates about whether the Canadian federation is integrating or disintegrating. There has, however, been no systematic attempt to identify general theories about Canada's constitutional evolution.
Patrick James corrects this oversight by using systemism, a concept drawn from the philosophy of science, to identify and assess five theories that fall into the liberal or communitarian paradigms. These theories are examined in the context of major issues such as the role of the courts or the status of Aboriginal peoples, and debates among advocates and critics of each theory are used to work toward a greater understanding of constitutional wrangling in Canada. By adding clarity to familiar debates, this succinct assessment of major writings on constitutional politics sharpens our vision of the past and the futur
Trade Review
"Patrick James provides a highly intelligent and balanced synthesis of twenty-five years of constitutional politics literature in Canada... He also develops an innovative theoretical approach (systemism) to evaluate competing constitutional theories and to test the theoretical significance of competing constitutional approaches. Simply put, as an exercise in theory building, testing, and evaluation, this book makes a unique contribution to the state of Canadian politics and constitutional studies. - James Kelly, Department of Political Science, Concordia University"
Table of Contents
1 Constitutional Politics in Canada: The Charter and Beyond
2 Systemism and Canadian Constitutional Politics
3 Identifying Concepts and Theories
4 Liberal Theories: Negative Identity, Megapolitics, and Institutional Imbalance
5 Communitarian Theories: Asymmetrical Federalism and the Citizens’ Constitution
6 A Critique and Comparison of Liberal and Communitarian Theories
7 Conclusion
Notes
References
Index
