Citizenship, Diversity, and Pluralism: Canadian and Comparative Perspectives
ISBN: 9780773568020
Platform/Publisher: JSTOR / McGill-Queen''s University Press
Digital rights: Users: unlimited; Printing: chapter; Download: chapter
Subjects: Citizenship; Citizenship -- Canada; Pluralism (Social sciences); Multiculturalism -- Canada;

Citizenship has both a vertical and a horizontal dimension. The vertical links individuals to the state by reinforcing the idea that it is "their" state - that they are full members of an ongoing association that is expected to survive the passing generations. Accordingly their relation to the state is not narrowly instrumental but is supported by a reservoir of loyalty and patriotism that gives legitimacy to the state. The horizontal relationship is the positive identification with fellow citizens as valued members of the same civic community. Here citizenship reinforces empathy and sustains solidarity through its official endorsement of who counts as "one of us." Citizenship, therefore, is a linking mechanism that in its most perfect expression binds the citizenry to the state and to each other.

Alan Cairns was born in Galt, Ontario, Canada, in 1930. He received a B.A. from the University of Toronto in 1953 and a Ph.D. from St. Anthony's College, Oxford University, England, in 1963.

Cairns taught political science at the University of British Columbia, Vancouver, from 1960 to 1997, when he transferred to the University of Saskatchewan, as professor and chair, College of Law. He is the recipient of numerous awards, including the Molson Prize of the Canada Council (1982), the Canada Council Killam Research Fellowship (1989-91), and the Governor General's International Award for Canadian studies (1994).

Cairns has written numerous articles and books about Canadian political science, both historical and current. His books include Prelude to Imperialism; Constitution, Government and Society in Canada: Selected Essays; Charter vs Federalism: The Dilemmas of Constitutional Reform; and reconfigurations: Canadian Citizenship and Constitutional Change.

(Bowker Author Biography)


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