La construction provinciale comme mécanisme : le cas de l’immigration au Manitoba

Abstract

Dans le cadre d’une analyse de la croissance des activités en immigration et en intégration de tous les gouvernements provinciaux depuis le début des années 1990, cet article propose une revitalisation de la notion de « construction provinciale ». En prenant comme point de départ les critiques de Robert A. Young, Philippe Faucher et André Blais (1984), il y est suggéré de repositionner la construction provinciale en tant que mécanisme social. Par le biais de cette approche mécanistique et suivant l’observation du mécanisme dans dix cas, il est avancé que le mécanisme de construction provinciale opère par le biais de trois composantes à l’échelle d’une province – l’activation, la consensualisation et l’institutionnalisation – et produit des effets variables, en fonction du contexte dans lequel il est enclenché. Le potentiel heuristique de cette approche est illustré en retraçant comment un mécanisme de construction provinciale centré sur l’immigration s’est mis en mouvement au Manitoba à partir des années 1990.As part of an analysis of the growth of the activities of the ten provincial governments in the domains of immigration and integration since the 1990s, this paper proposes a revitalization of the concept of “province building.” Taking as its starting point the criticisms of Robert A. Young, Philippe Faucher, and André Blais (1984), it is suggested to reposition province building as a social mechanism. Through this mechanistic approach and building on ten case studies, it proposes that the mechanism of province building operates via three components: activation, consensus building, and institutionalization. Despite these similarities in operation, the mechanism of province building produces variegated effects, depending on the context in which it is engaged. The heuristic potential of this approach is illustrated by tracing how a mechanism of province building centered on immigration has operated in Manitoba since the 1990s

Subnational Migration States and the New Politics of Immigration

“…While supporting and encouraging the growth of temporary migration programmes, subnational migration states also strive to make themselves into spaces of permanent establishment for desired migrants. This is reinforced, in some Canadian provinces and Australian states, with discourses linking immigration and population renewal (Hugo, 2008;Paquet, 2014Paquet, , 2017.…”

“…Because they develop into migration states, subnational governments are not simply engaging with a new policy area by default, for example because of decentralizing decisions (Paquet, 2014). Through rescaling, subnational governments include immigration as a new policy area through which contemporary state‐building operates (Linz, 1993).…”

“…As the number of temporary migrants rises in provincial and state labour markets, the function of subnational governments becomes recognized by economic actors and employers. New institutions are developed to provide subnational economic elites with information and support to participate in temporary immigration programmes (Paquet, 2014). In the U.S., as states become able to affect employers’ capacity to access the labour of unauthorized migrants through restrictive or accommodating policies, administrations and institutions might become the target of attention of employers and anti‐immigration political forces (Commins and Wills, 2017).…”

“…Within governments, the politics is also characterized by the influence of administrative entrepreneurs who work to expand and modify policies and programmes (Paquet, 2014). These actors emphasize the issue of immigration inside closed venues, such as in bureaucracies and executive committees.…”

This Is Not a Turn: Canadian Political Science and Social Mechanisms

“…That is not to say that all mechanisms may be observed at every given point in time—because of physical, cognitive or methodological limitations—nor that they must be observed to be part of an explanation. What makes the mechanismic explanation valid, in addition to potential observations, is the precise specification of the ways in which a specified outcome is generated via a mechanism's operation (Beach and Pedersen, 2012; Mayntz, 2004; Paquet, 2014b).…”