Canadian Public Policy

The Masks of Proteus: Canadian Reflections on the State by Philip ResnickReview by: Phillip HansenCanadian Public Policy / Analyse de Politiques, Vol. 17, No. 4 (Dec., 1991), pp. 523-524Published by: University of Toronto Press on behalf of Canadian Public PolicyStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/3551721 .

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Canadians in government, academia and business need to read this well-written volume carefully and thoughtfully for it has many implications for Canada. Only a few of these can be mentioned in this short re- view. First, it makes clear, as some of us have argued for years, that the Canada-US deal is not just a traditional free trade agreement, but is essentially creating an economic community under US leadership. Second, it clarifies the fact that any agree- ment with Mexico which the US accepts will intensify US control over North America. Third, it has no illusions - as do many Canadian studies - that large increases in Mexican economic growth because of a new trade arrangement will sufficiently expand the Mexican market for goods from Canada and the US so as to prevent important ad- verse effects upon Canadian-American em- ployment from a surge of cheap manufac- tured goods from Mexico.

Fourth, it does not blithely assume (as a variety of Canadian commentaries do) that an exchange rate adjustment would quickly and easily remove Mexican cost advan- tages. Fifth, it recognizes that low wage rates in Mexico are not merely caused by Mexican productivity being lower (as some Canadian studies incorrectly assume), but are the result of the massive unemploy- ment and the annual huge accretions to the labour force as the young population comes of working age. It notes in fact that in the growing Maquiladoras productivity is close to US and Canadian levels because of the modern technology and equipment being used there. Sixth, it observes that Mexico is already competitive in many of the manu- factured product lines that Canada exports such as automobiles, telecommunications equipment, office equipment, and electrical power generating equipment, and that Mexico now exports these to Canada. In turn Canada increasingly is an exporter to Mexico, not of manufactured goods as we might have expected or hoped, but of food and raw materials. Seventh, it notes that the lower standards for working conditions and social support systems in Mexico pro-

vide a definite cost advantage to Mexico which must be rectified under a free trade regime. This position contrasts with the protestations of most government and bus- iness people as well as economists in Canada during the FTA debates that the lower standards of labour legislation and social support systems in the US were not something that Canada need be concerned about and could be safely left out of the free trade discussions.

Canadian readers should also note that Morici frequently tends to make it seem that US and Canadian circumstances and interests in a deal with Mexico are identi- cal, when in fact they are not. This is not to fault Morici's good work, for he is writing from an American perspective. But it is to challenge Canadian readers to remember that Canada is in a different position. To take but two examples, Canada is primarily a user of technology whereas the US is pri- marily a producer of it; and to have per- formance requirements for foreign firms lo- cated here can be an advantage for Canada, whereas the US, with its many more multi- national firms, does not want such re- straints on decision-making.

To conclude, however, this is an excellent book and deserves close attention from all interested Canadians.

BRUCE W. WILKINSON, Department of Economics, University of Alberta

The Masks of Proteus: Canadian Reflections on the State by Philip Resnick. Montreal and Kingston, McGill-Queen's University Press, 1990. Pp.xii,340.

Philip Resnick provides us with yet another metaphor for the modern state: Proteus, the mythic Greek figure of many shapes and appearances. By invoking this image, Resnick makes two points. First, while all modern states share identifiable features in common, specific states vary according to historical circumstances: there is no 'state'

Reviews/Comptes rendus 523

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as such. Secondly, as a consequence, no single method of analysis can adequately comprehend the state in all its forms and functions. The results of Resnick's icono- clastic approach are almost always interest- ing and frequently provocative.

The book is a collection of essays, most previously published. Its themes range from the significance of classical Western political theory and notions such as 'legiti- macy' and 'sovereignty' for the study of the modern state, to the role of nationalism, federalism and democracy in Canadian public life Resnick seeks to develop a com- parative, broadly leftist Canadian perspec- tive on the state. He thus offers an exten- sive analysis of Canada's changing position in the world capitalist economy and how such change has both influenced and been influenced by the nature of state power in Canada. Since he finds prevailing accounts of the Canadian state inadequate because they are too heavily dependent upon the political economy approach, Resnick de- parts significantly from them; in particu- lar, he finds dependency theory deficient in explaining Canada's changing role in world affairs.

Resnick offers important new insights into the nature of the state and ways of un- derstanding it. His use of Montesquieu, Burke and Rousseau in an historical ac- count of the Canadian state is exciting and innovative. His discussion of how Canada has moved from the 'semi-periphery' of the world economy to the 'perimeter of the core,' from colonial weakness to relative strength and importance, is suggestive and, no doubt, controversial. He also provides the foundations of his own unique pro- posals for a new relationship between Eng- lish Canada and Quebec. In particular, he argues that clear thinking about the state and the character of our political commu- nity, and not just the division of powers or institutional reform, is indispensible for a sensible approach to our problems.

There are occasional lapses in coherence and logic. For example, Resnick claims that in English Canada, in contrast to Quebec,

'nationalism remains closely tied to the fed- eral state' (p.220) and in these terms must be given its due. But he also stresses the his- torical weaknesses of the federal state in Canada and expresses doubt about the mer- its of centralized state power. It is unclear how these positions can be reconciled. A more serious problem is his failure to ex- amine explicitly not simply the nature of the state but the character of politics and public life as such, although his analysis points in this direction. In particular, he fails to explore important alternative con- ceptions of politics and the state, such as those provided by feminism.

Nevertheless this work makes an impor- tant contribution to political analysis and testifies to the author's place as one of the more imaginative and vibrant of contem- porary English Canadian political theo- rists.

PHILLIP HANSEN, Department of Political Science, University of Regina

Canadian Child Welfare Law: Children, Families and The State edited by Nicholas Bala, Joseph P. Hornick and Robin Vogl. Toronto, Thompson Edu- cational Publishing, Inc., 1991, Pp.xx,339. $24.95.

Through the past decade child welfare pro- cedures have become increasingly litigious. This volume, Canadian Child Welfare Law, provides a valuable tool to familiarize human service workers with the legal con- text in which they function.

Many of the articles are intended as ex- planatory descriptions of particular processes. Those of Robin Vogl on 'Initial Involvement,' Anne Genereux on 'The Pro- tection of Hearing' and Heather Katary- nych on 'Adoption' fall into this category as do others which outline the lawyer's role and the preparation for specific legal processes. These are all helpful. Particu- larly provocative and stimulating, however, to students of child welfare, are those chap-

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