A ‘Double Movement’: Implications of Globalization and Pluralization for the Canadian Welfare State

Abstract

Two fundamental and world-wide trends — globalization and pluralization — are influencing the Canadian economy, the development of social structures and the restructuring of the welfare state. The two trends create contradictory forces for the politics of social policy. On the one hand, economic globalism is constraining governments’ abilities to solve national problems, while on the other, various communities and social movements are calling for the recognition of new rights and the introduction of new policies of protection from the turmoil of economic change. Corporations demand open markets and freedom from the constraints of social policies, while citizens demand greater social policy intervention as a way of meeting needs and advancing justice.