Nicholas Brown and Linda Cardinal (eds)

This collection of essays explores how Canada, Ireland, and Australia seek to manage issues of diversity in their own societies in the context of the economic, political, and technological change and population mobility associated with globalization.

Australia, Canada, and Ireland are all engaged in questions of multiculturalism and in the politics of recognition and reconciliation, the opportunities and pressures of geographic regionalism, shifts in political agendas associated with the impact of neo-liberalism, and moves to frame political agendas less at the macro-level of state intervention and more at the level of community partnership and empowerment. In related but distinct ways, each state is being challenged to devise policies and offer outcomes that address an unfolding and unsteady synthesis of issues relating to citizenship, the role of nation-states in a 'borderless' world, and the management of economic change while preserving an enabling sense of national identity and social cohesion.

Analyzing issues ranging from urban planning and the provision of broadcasting services for minority languages, to principled debates over basic rights and entitlements, these essays offer penetrating summaries of each political culture while also prompting comparative reflection on the broad theme of 'democracy and difference'. Each author seeks to contribute to the discourse on applied public policy, governance, and post-nationalist politics. Their approaches, interpretations, and conclusions contribute a fresh perspective from societies that have often been inventive, or at least particularly pressured by their circumstances, in managing diversity.