The chapters in this volume deal with timely issues regarding democracy in theory and in practice in today's globalized world. Authored by leading political philosophers of our time, they appear here for the first time. The essays challenge and defend assumptions about the role of democracy as a viable political and legal institution in response to globalization, keeping in focus the role of rights at the normative foundations of democracy in a pluralistic world. Through an examination of ...

A short book about the challenges to liberalism from the right and the left by the bestselling author of The Origins of Political Order.Classical liberalism is in a state of crisis. Developed in the wake of Europe’s wars over religion and nationalism, liberalism is a system for governing diverse societies, which is grounded in fundamental principles of equality and the rule of law. It emphasizes the rights of individuals to pursue their own forms of happin...

WINNER OF:Frantz Fanon Outstanding Book from the Caribbean Philosophical AssociationCanadian Political Science Association’s C.B. MacPherson PrizeStudies in Political Economy Book PrizeOver the past forty years, recognition has become the dominant mode of negotiation and decolonization between the nation-state and Indigenous nations in North America. The term “recognition” shapes debates over Indigenous cultural distinctiveness, Indigenous r...

Canada In Decay is the first scholarly book questioning the undemocratic policy of mass immigration and racial diversification in Canada. The entire Canadian political establishment, the mainstream media and the academics, are all in harmonious unison with the banks and corporations, in promoting two myths to justify mass immigration.The first myth this book demolishes is the claim that immigration into Canada “enriches the country”, by demonstrating that mass immigration is not on...

This book examines key issues surrounding ethnicity and human rights in our country. It asks: How do we account for the persistence of racism in the face of increasing legal protection for human rights? Kallen's classic study reveals the ways in which human rights violations, by way of discrimination on the bases of race and ethnicity, create and sustain the marginalized status of diverse racial and ethnic groups in Canada. Minority rights issues central to the concerns of Canada's three m...

In The Ethics of Immigration, Joseph Carens synthesizes a lifetime of work to explore and illuminate one of the most pressing issues of our time. Immigration poses practical problems for western democracies and also challenges the ways in which people in democracies think about citizenship and belonging, about rights and responsibilities, and about freedom and equality. Carens begins by focusing on current immigration controversies in North America and Europe about access to citiz...

Should governments give special rights to ethnic and cultural minorities? Should rich countries open their borders to economic immigrants or transfer resources to poor countries? When framing and implementing economic and environmental policies, should current generations take into account the interests of future generations? If our political community committed a wrong against another group a hundred years ago, do we owe reparations to current members of that group?These are just ...

A Space for Race engages in a critical examination of some of the major discourses related to original/settler/immigrant and, particularly, racialized belonging. In the course of this examination, the book explores the various themes of racism, multiculturalism, and post-colonialism and the ongoing tensions, challenges, and inconsistencies around race relations embedded within policy and practice in Canada. It traces the history of race relations and ensuing tensions from encounte...

In his 1964 CBC Massey Lectures C. B. Macpherson examines the rival ideas of democracy - the communist, Third World, and Western-liberal variants - and their impact on one another. He suggests that the West need not fear any challenge to liberal democracy if it is prepared to re-examine and alter its own values.

Human Rights, now in its fourth edition, is an introductory text that is both innovative and challenging. Its unique interdisciplinary approach invites students to think imaginatively and rigorously about one of the most important and influential political concepts of our time.Tracing the history of the concept, the book shows that there are fundamental tensions between legal, philosophical and social-scientific approaches to human rights. This analysis throws light on som...

Today the language of human rights, if not human rights themselves, is nearly universal. Human Rights brings together essays that attend to both the allure and criticism of human rights. They examine contestation and contingency in today's human rights politics and help us rethink some of the basic concepts of human rights. Questions addressed in Human Rights include: Can national self-determination be reconciled with human rights? Can human rights be advanced without thw...

What should we expect from democracy, and how likely is it that democracies will live up to those expectations? In The State of Democratic Theory, Ian Shapiro offers a critical assessment of contemporary answers to these questions, lays out his distinctive alternative, and explores its implications for policy and political action.Some accounts of democracy's purposes focus on aggregating preferences; others deal with collective deliberation in search of the common good. Sh...