As corporations are restructured, governments cut back, and the international economy transformed, there is an increasing need to understand the economic and political forces involved, evaluate their implications, and develop strategies to modify them to meet society's interests. In light of the current situation, the study of political economy is more relevant than ever.

Understanding Canada examines a variety of topics from viewpoints ranging from the established to the interdisciplinary. Issues such as gender, Native peoples, race, ethnicity and migration, globalization, foreign policy, the welfare state, regulation, communications, popular culture, and space and the environment are examined, as are the more traditional subjects of economic growth, resources and The new Canadian political economy has emerged from its infancy and is now regarded as a respected and innovative field of scholarship. Understanding Canada furthers this tradition by focusing on current issues in an accessible and informative way.

Contents Introduction: Whither the New Canadian Political Economy? - Wallace Clement - Economic Growth and Economic Crisis: Canadian Capitalism Through the Ages - Mel Watkins (Toronto) - Resources and Manufacturing in Canada's Political Economy - Wallace Clement and Glen Williams (Carleton) - Labour in the New Canadian Political Economy - Paul Philips (Manitoba) - Gender at Work: Canadian Feminist Political Economy after 1988 - Meg Luxton (York) and Heather Jon Maroney (Carleton) - Understanding What Happened Here: The Political Economy of Indigenous Peoples - Frances Abele (Carleton) - The Political Economy of Race, Ethnicity, and Migration - Daiva Stasiulis (Carleton) - Going Global: The Politics of Canada's Foreign Policy - Mark Neufeld (Trent) and Sandy Whitworth (York) - Re-mapping Canada: The State in the Era of Globalism - Greg Albo (York) and Jane Jenson (Montréal) - The New Political Economy of Regions - Janine Brodie (York) - The Challenges of the Quebec Question: Paradigm and Counter-Paradigm - Daniel Salée (Concordia) and William Coleman (McMaster) - From the Post-War to the Post-Liberal Keynesian Welfare State - Isabella Bakker (York) and Katherine Scott (?) - Displacing the Welfare State - Liora Salter (York) and Rick Salter (?) - Public Discourse and the Structures of Communication - Ted Magder (York) - The (Real) Integrated Circus: Political Economy, Popular Culture, and Major League Sport - David Whitson (Alberta) and Richard Gruneau (affil?) - Contested Terrains: Social Space and the Canadian Environment - Iain Wallace (Carleton) and Rob Shields (Carleton).

Wallace Clement is Chancellor’s Professor of Sociology and Political Economy, Carleton University, and the co-author of Relations of Ruling: Class and Gender in Postindustrial Societies.

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