Federalism, Citizenship and Quebec

Managing Diversity : Practices of Citizenship

“…The notion that pluralism has come to challenge the privileged place of national identity as the legitimate order of contemporary liberaldemocratic political communities is a subject of debate within and between fi elds as diverse as political science, legal theory, sociology, history, social anthropology, and international relations, to name a few. (We have contributed to this debate in Gagnon and Iacovino 2007, and this chapter develops and expands an argument we presented there.) Moreover, the idea of diversity itself engenders a multitude of avenues of thought, ranging from cognitive selfunderstanding vis-à-vis others (identity) to the place of collective projects in interstate relations, and in internationalized commercial and social transactions.…”

Immigrant Integration Policies of the Belgian Regions: Sub-state Nationalism and Policy Divergence after Devolution

“…Immigrant integration policy making raises particular dilemmas for elites engaged in sub-state nation-building processes. These nationalist elites are confronted with a "legitimating paradox": to include newcomers could reduce the cultural homogeneity needed to legitimize the nation-building process (and, in the extreme case "leading to existential suicide" (Gagnon and Iacovino, 2007) by completely undoing the nation concept of its thick socio-cultural elements), but to exclude them could discredit the nation-building process as it would be seen as an intolerant and illiberal project (Kymlicka, 2001). Although the migration studies field has started to give attention to the link between sub-state nationalism and immigrant integration policy making, the large majority of those writings are mainly normative 3 (see, amongst others, Kymlicka, 2001;Zapata-Barrero, 2009).…”

Rooted Cosmopolitanism in Canada and Quebec

“…For political scientist Alain-G. Gagnon, most societies have either adopted the republican model that keeps in check cultural differences and gives preference to the culture of the ethnocultural dominant group or the multicultural model that gives priority to diversity (Gagnon, 2000;CAPRCD, 2008, p. 118). In regards to the former, which is the privileged model in France and the United States, the idea does not consist in preserving the different cultures, but rather to produce a political culture established on individual rights.…”