Canada and the Multinational State
Year:
2001
Author :
Volume and number:
, 34 (4)
Journal:
, Canadian Journal of Political Science / Revue canadienne de science politique
Pages :
, 683-713
Abstract
Il existe parallèlement aux nations crées par les états, des nations intérieures au sein des états. On trouve plusieurs de ces nations au sein de l'État canadien et elles représentent un quart de sa population totale. Au cours des dernières années, les politologues canadiens ont activement développé des théories pour expliquer ce phénomène plurinational et tenté d'adapter la structure étatique en conséquence. En même temps, le monde politique a manifesté une résistance croissante à ces tentatives d’accommodement. Le dualisme, le mode d'accommodement principal et historique de la nation intérieure francophone, a été remplacé par un nationalisme d'état qui, à son tour, s'est enraciné dans une logique purement territoriale du fédéralisme et a fait du multiculturalisme le seul fondement de légitimité de toute tentative d'accommodement de la diversité culturelle. De plus, les nationalismes respectifs des deux nations intérieures prédominantes, la nation québécoise et les peuples autochtones ou premières nations, se sont manifesté en s'opposants l'un à l'autre. Il résulte de tout cela qu'au lieu de présider à la constitution d'un nouvel état post-moderne transcendant le nationalisme, le Canada s'est enlisé dans une contradiction entre le nationalisme de l'État canadien et ceux de ses nations intérieures.
Along with the nations created by states, there are "internal nations" within states. Several such nations exist within the Canadian state, representing close to one quarter of the population. In recent years, Canadian political scientists have been actively theorizing this multinationalism and showing how it might be accommodated. Yet, the political realm has become highly resistant to such notions. Dualism, the primary historical accommodation of the francophone "internal nation," has been displaced by a state nationalism which, in turn, has entrenched a purely territorial rationale for federalism and has made multiculturalism the only legitimate basis for accommodating cultural diversity. Moreover, the nationalisms of the two predominant "internal nations," Quebec and "First Nations," have been mobilized in direct opposition to each other. In the end, rather than constituting a new form of "post-modern state" which transcends nationalism, Canada is in fact caught in the contradiction between the nationalism of the Canadian state and the nationalisms of its "internal nations".
Along with the nations created by states, there are "internal nations" within states. Several such nations exist within the Canadian state, representing close to one quarter of the population. In recent years, Canadian political scientists have been actively theorizing this multinationalism and showing how it might be accommodated. Yet, the political realm has become highly resistant to such notions. Dualism, the primary historical accommodation of the francophone "internal nation," has been displaced by a state nationalism which, in turn, has entrenched a purely territorial rationale for federalism and has made multiculturalism the only legitimate basis for accommodating cultural diversity. Moreover, the nationalisms of the two predominant "internal nations," Quebec and "First Nations," have been mobilized in direct opposition to each other. In the end, rather than constituting a new form of "post-modern state" which transcends nationalism, Canada is in fact caught in the contradiction between the nationalism of the Canadian state and the nationalisms of its "internal nations".
Theme :
Canada
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