A Short History of the State in Canada

"E.A. Heaman's book is a jewel: real authority, absolute elegance of style, and interesting sociological points about the state, civil society, liberalism, and much more. I admire the book profoundly." -- John A. Hall, James McGill Professor of Comparative Historical Sociology, Department of Sociology, McGill University "A Short History of the State in Canada extends and reinvents a field as much as it summarizes it." -- Jeffrey L. McNairn, Department of History, Queen's University

A Short History of the State in Canada is a valuable introduction to the topic for political scientists, historians, and anyone interested in Canada’s past and present.

A concise, elegant survey of a complex aspect of Canadian history, A Short History of the State in Canada examines the theory and reality of governance within Canada’s distinctive political heritage: a combination of Indigenous, French, and British traditions, American statism and anti-statism, and diverse, practical experiments and experiences.

E.A. Heaman takes the reader through the development of the state in both principle and practice, examining Indigenous forms of government before European contact; the interplay of French and British colonial institutions before and after the Conquest of New France; the creation of the nineteenth-century liberal state; and, finally, the rise and reconstitution of the modern social welfare state. Moving beyond the history of institutions to include the development of political cultures and social politics, A Short History of the State in Canada is a valuable introduction to the topic for political scientists, historians, and anyone interested in Canada’s past and present.