Taking Pluralism Seriously: Complex Societies under Scrutiny

261 Pages·2022·1.186 MB·English

by  Félix Mathieu

taking pluralism seriously
democracy, diversity, and citizen engagement series
Series editor: Alain-G. Gagnon
With the twenty-first-century world struggling to address various forms
of conflict and new types of political and cultural claims, the Democracy,
Diversity, and Citizen Engagement Series revitalizes research in the fields of
nationalism, federalism, and cosmopolitanism, and examines the interactions
between ethnicity, identity, and politics. Works published in this series are
concerned with the theme of representation – of citizens and of interests –
and how these ideas are defended at local and global levels that are increas-
ingly converging. Further, the series advances and advocates new public
policies and social projects with a view to creating change and accommodating
diversity in its many expressions. In doing so, the series instills democratic
practices in meaningful new ways by studying key subjects such as the mobili-
zation of citizens, groups, communities, and nations, and the advancement of
social justice and political stability.
Under the leadership of the Interdisciplinary Research Centre on Diversity
and Democracy, this series creates a forum where current research on democ-
racy, diversity, and citizen engagement can be examined within the context of
the study of nations as well as of nations divided by state frontiers.
1 The Parliaments of Autonomous Nations
Edited by Guy Laforest and André Lecours
2 A Liberal Theory of Collective Rights
Michel Seymour
3 The National Question and Electoral Politics in Quebec and Scotland
Éric Bélanger, Richard Nadeau, Ailsa Henderson, and Eve Hepburn
4 Trust, Distrust, and Mistrust in Multinational Democracies
Comparative Perspectives
Edited by Dimitrios Karmis and François Rocher
5 Constitutional Politics in Multinational Democracies
Edited by André Lecours, Nikola Brassard-Dion, and Guy Laforest
6 Fiscal Federalism in Multinational States
Autonomy, Equality, and Diversity
Edited by François Boucher and Alain Noël
7 The Symbolic State
Minority Recognition, Majority Backlash, and Secession in
Multinational Countries
Karlo Basta
8 Taking Pluralism Seriously
Complex Societies under Scrutiny
Félix Mathieu
Taking
Pluralism
Seriously
Complex Societies under Scrutiny
Félix Mathieu
McGill- Queen’s University Press
Montreal & Kingston • London • Chicago
© McGill- Queen’s University Press 2022
ISBN 978-0-2280-1090-6 (cloth)
ISBN 978-0-2280-1091-3 (paper)
ISBN 978-0-2280-1313-6 (ePDF)
ISBN 978-0-2280-1314-3 (ePUB)
Legal deposit third quarter 2022
Bibliothèque nationale du Québec
Printed in Canada on acid-free paper that is 100% ancient forest free
(100% post-consumer recycled), processed chlorine free
This book has been published with the help of a grant from the Canadian Federation
for the Humanities and Social Sciences, through the Awards to Scholarly Publications
Program, using funds provided by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research
Council of Canada. We would also like to acknowledge the financial support of the
Secrétariat du Québec aux relations canadiennes, Association internationale des
études québécoises, Canada Research Chair in Québec and Canadian Studies, and the
University of Winnipeg.
We acknowledge the support of the Canada Council for the Arts.
Nous remercions le Conseil des arts du Canada de son soutien.
Library and Archives Canada Cataloguing in Publication
Title: Taking pluralism seriously : complex societies under scrutiny / Félix Mathieu.
Other titles: Défis du pluralisme à l’ère des sociétés complexes. English
Names: Mathieu, Félix, 1992- author.
Series: Democracy, diversity, and citizen engagement series ; 8.
Description: English-language edition. | Series statement: Democracy, diversity, and
citizen engagement series ; 8 | Translation of: Les défis du pluralisme à l’ère des
sociétés complexes. | Includes bibliographical references and index.
Identifiers: Canadiana (print) 20220156255 | Canadiana (ebook) 20220156301
| ISBN 9780228010906 (cloth) | ISBN 9780228010913 (paper) | ISBN
9780228013136 (ePDF) | ISBN 9780228013143 (ePUB)
Subjects: lcsh: Cultural pluralism. | lcsh: Multiculturalism.
Classification: lcc hm1271.m3713 2022 | ddc 305.8—dc23
This book was typeset in 10.5/13 Sabon.
To my mother and father,
Maryse and Yves

Contents
Foreword to the English-Language Edition | ix
Introduction | 3
part one: on managing immigrant diversity
1 Theories of Multiculturalism | 21
2 Multiculturalism’s Paths | 47
3 The Failure of Multiculturalism in the United Kingdom:
The Facts | 68
4 The Failure of Multiculturalism? | 89
part two: on managing societal diversity
5 Fragile Nations in Multinational Democracies | 109
6 Empowering Federal Impetus in Multinational Democracies | 129
7 Rethinking Pluralism in Multinational Democracies | 169
Conclusion: Taking Pluralism Seriously | 194
Notes | 199
References | 209
Index | 245

Foreword to the
English-Language Edition
The original French-language edition of this book was published in
2017 by the Presses de l’Université du Québec in the Politeia series
directed by Professor Alain-G. Gagnon under the title Les Défis du
pluralisme à l’ère des sociétés complexes. Again, I wish to thank
Alain for his kind invitation to publish what became a revised ver-
sion of the ma thesis I completed at Université Laval, under the
supervision of Professor Guy Laforest, in 2014–16. I wish every
graduate student could benefit from the support and mentorship
Alain and Guy provided me. I owe them so much.
I am very pleased at the publication of this English-language
edition by the prestigious McGill-Queen’s University Press in the
Democracy, Diversity, and Citizens Engagement Series, also directed
by Professor Alain-G. Gagnon. I am truly grateful to Jacqueline
Mason, acquisition editor at mqup, who first invited me to imagine
an English edition of this book after it received in 2018 a Political
Book Prize of the National Assembly of Québec, the Prix Ministère
des Relations internationales et de la Francophonie du Québec /
Ministère de l’Europe et des Affaires étrangères.
A phd student at the Université du Québec à Montréal at the time,
though, I had difficulty having access to funding opportunities to
cover the fees associated with professional translation. Jacqueline
Mason and Alain-G. Gagnon wrote me letters of support, and,
thanks to the special care of Hugo Cyr, who back then was the Dean
of the Political Science and Law Faculty at uqam, I was able to
get a most generous grant from the Secrétariat du Québec aux rela-
tions canadiennes (sqrc). I would like to thank in particular Josée
Bergeron and Marianne Bonnard at the sqrc. In turn, this enabled