Federalism, nationalist politics, and social policy: How ideas and institutions shape federal dynamics

Abstract

Debates over the territorial organization of social programs are present in many federal systems. Such debates are especially contentious in multinational federal systems like Canada and Belgium, where a group of citizens identify with a different nation than the one associated with the central state. This multinational reality points to the role of ideational processes in the changing relationship between nationalism and social policy, as the struggles over the territorial configuration of social programs involve powerful framing and claim-making processes that have long been central to the literature on ideas and public policy. In order to shed new light on this reality, this chapter explores the changing interaction between nationalist ideas, federalism, and social policy in Canada and Belgium. It shows how the consequences of nationalist ideas about the territorial governance of social policy are largely conditioned by the institutional context.