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State and Civil Society: The Limits of a Royal Commission

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 November 2009

Philip Resnick
Philip Resnick
Affiliation:
University of British Columbia
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Abstract

This study assesses the contribution of five of the research studies done for the Macdonald Royal Commission and of the opening chapter of the Commission Report to our understanding of the state. It examines the use of the term state, the economic and social functions that the latter is seen to perform, and the light that these studies may shed on such thorny topics as authority, legitimacy and citizenship in the late twentieth century. It concludes that, despite individual contributions of note, there are real limitations to what this Commission and its research associates tell us about the state.

Résumé

Cet article examine ce que cinq des études commandées par la Commission Macdonald et le premier chapitre du Rapport lui-même nous enseignent sur la nature de l'État. L'auteur discute de la définition de l'État, de ses fonctions économiques et sociales, et de la façon avec laquelle ces études abordent les thèmes de l'autorité, de la légitimité, et de la citoyenneté en cette fin du 20e siècle. L'article conclut que certaines de ces études ont une valeur réelle, mais que l'apport global de ces volumes à notre compréhension de l'État moderne reste fort limité.

Type
Field Analysis/Orientations de la Science Politique
Information
Canadian Journal of Political Science/Revue canadienne de science politique , Volume 20 , Issue 2 , June 1987 , pp. 379 - 401
Copyright
Copyright © Canadian Political Science Association (l'Association canadienne de science politique) and/et la Société québécoise de science politique 1987

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References

1 Cairns, Alan and Williams, Cynthia, “Constitutionalism, Citizenship and Society in Canada: An Overview,” in Cairns, Alan and Williams, Cynthia (eds.), Constitutionalism, Citizenship and Society in Canada, Royal Commission Research Studies, Vol. 33 (Toronto: University of Toronto Press for Supply and Services Canada, 1985), 2.Google Scholar

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4 Ibid., 65.

5 Thus, the term “state” appears on pages 7, 11,26-27,31, 39 of vol. 1 of the Report and the term “government” on pages 24-25, 28, 35, 38.

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19 The same process is at work in the federalism section of the research studies with Daniel Latouche's passionately nationalist essay (vol. 70), encompassed within a sea of more conventional federalist discourse.

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36 Ibid., 229.

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56 Ibid.

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74 Ibid., 198.

75 Ibid., 211.

76 For examples of such economic and political alternatives one might cite Alec Nove, The Economics of Feasible Socialism (London: George Allen and Unwin, 1983);Google ScholarHodgson, Geoff, The Democratic Economy (London: Pelican, 1984);Google ScholarBarber, Benjamin, Strong Democracy: Participatory Politics for a New Age (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1984);Google ScholarDahl, Robert, A Preface to Economic Democracy (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1985).Google Scholar This whole literature is clearly foreign to this Royal Commission.

77 “Western societies appear to be condemned to long periods of privatization during which they live through an impoverishing ‘atrophy of public meanings’ followed by spasmodic outbursts of ‘publicness’ that are hardly likely to be constructive. What is to be done about this atrophy and subsequent spasm? How do we reintroduce more steady concern with public affairs as well as ‘genuine public celebrations’ into our everyday lives?” (Hirschman, Albert O., Shifting Involvements: Private Interest and Public Action [Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1982], 132).Google Scholar