Trends Project – serie

Is the government becoming less powerful? Is it in retreat vis-a-vis a proliferation of non-governmental agencies, multinational corporations, and international organizations? The essays in this collection argue that – contrary to some private-sector populists – the state is in the best position to lead in making policy in a rapidly changing world and should retain and refine this responsibility. Examining the interaction of government, international organizations, civil society, and the private sector, the contributors show that government, far from being stagnant, is in a constant state of transformation and revitalization. It may work to prepare citizens for changes that often seem inevitable and sometimes it challenges, even resists, the directions or modes of such change. It remains an important – perhaps the most crucial – actor in the governance process.

The Canadian population is aging. As the "Baby-Boomer" generation reaches retirement age, policy-makers have begun to fear the economic and demographic challenges ahead. Aging and Demographic Change in Canadian Context responds to this alarmist view. The contributors present several alternative perspectives and question whether an aging society is necessarily inferior or problematic compared with the recent past, cautioning that exaggerated concerns about population aging can be harmful to rational policy making. The contributors argue that it is important to develop forward-looking programs that may influence life course trajectories in favourable directions, and that these new policies should be developed with respect to the life course considered as a whole. "Old age" is a slippery concept, and the effective boundaries between it and "middle age" are not always clear. The essays in Aging and Demographic Change in Canadian Context address these challenges and seek to broaden public discussion on aging and Canadian public policy.

Drawing together an interdisciplinary group of scholars, this collection of essays, part of the Trends Project of the Government of Canada, examines North American integration and its potential future impact on Canadian life. Trends in integration, knowledge gaps, and policy implications are analyzed in eight areas: trade, the labour market, the brain drain, macroeconomics, federalism, social welfare, the environment, and culture.The contributors argue the consequences of continental integration have not been as formidable as widely believed. While some policy instruments have been surrendered in exchange for access to larger markets and pressures for harmonization have probably increased, Canada still retains significant room to maneuver, even in areas of policy most affected by growing economic integration. The most severe constraints imposed by globalization may be more in the mind than in a reality that is enormously complex and ambiguous. Canada has formidable capacities for domestic policy choices in a wide range of sectors. It is up to Canadians and their elected officials to chose how to exercise that freedom of choice.

Are we on the verge of a global environmental catastrophe, or is a modest revision of environmental policy all that is necessary to ensure our safety and prosperity? Governing the Environment considers both scenarios, and those between the two extremes, in its examination of current trends and challenges in managing environmental issues.This collection of seven essays, authored by leading Canadian academics, examines different aspects of the relationship between government and environmental issues. The volume focuses on Canadian contributions and innovations in the field, but it is of relevance to audiences around the world.Parson's introductory essay sets the stage for the complex discussions to follow. He provides background by sketching the Canadian institutional context for environmental protection: by describing the major pollutant burdens and the state of natural resources, and by summarizing the most salient policy issues. His conclusion elaborates on four major themes emerging from the work. These are the achievement of 'adaptive management'; the challenge of building effective government and interjurisdictional capacities for managing the environment; the need for networks to share responsibility more effectively without overlapping tasks; and finally, the real challenge to state authority that these undertakings represent. This work is written for a multidisciplinary academic audience, encompassing students and teachers of advanced environmental studies and Canadian public policy.

Social Differentiation examines the economic, political, and normatively defined relations that underlie the construction of social categories. Social differentiation, embedded in inequalities of power, status, wealth, and prestige, affects life chances of individuals as well as the allocation of resources and opportunities.Starting with a theoretical framework that challenges many traditional analyses, the contributors focus on four specific strands of social differentiation: gender, age, race/ethnicity, and locality. They explore the historically specific social practices, policies, and ideologies that produce distinct forms of inequality, in turn revealing and explaining such issues as the formation and maintenance of a gendered order; the privileging of prime-age workers; the penalties incurred by visible minorities in the labour market; the highly disadvantaged position of Aboriginals; and the economic decline of agriculture, resource, and fishing dependent regions. By paying special attention to political processes, norms, and representations, and by indicating how social policies shape economic functioning and relate to normative definitions, this book will interest policy-oriented researchers and decision-makers.

Significant shifts in the dynamics of citizen-state relations have taken place throughout the advanced industrial world over the last two decades or so, and a growing body of evidence suggests that these reorientations have been shaped by value changes among publics. On these two broad themes there is a consensus. But this consensus fragments when it comes to providing answers to second-order questions, such as What are the causes of these transformations? What are the most important dimensions of these value changes? What are their implications? And How can the consequence of some of these shifts be addressed?In Value Change and Governance in Canada, six contributors from political science and psychology come together to discuss these issues, and look at changes in the ways citizens view democracy, governments, and legislation. As part of the Trends Series to examine Canadian public policy from the point of view of academia, this book explores important changes in modern society and will be an essential resource for future Canadian policy development.