Governance 301

This course is concerned with the exploration of the changing roles and relations between the state, civil society, and business in contemporary Canada. The relationship between these three pillars of Canadian society has undergone significant transformations over the last number of years. Changes have been driven by a variety of forces, in particular the influences of globalization, corporate concentration, rapid technological change, the growth of personal income and increase in social polarization, and fiscal challenges in state financing. In this context the course is concerned with understanding the evolving nature and impact of business power and influence in Canada.

The course examines a number of transformations in Canadian society. It examines the shifting configuration of contemporary governance and the privileged position of corporations in Canadian society and power structure, as well as the phenomenon of globalization and the international extension of business power. It also looks at the role of the mass media in shaping culture and dominant ideas within society; the restructuring of economic and social policy; constitutional change; the marketization of the state and civil society; the transformation of citizen to customer; and the increased threat to social cohesion. Finally, the course reflects upon the future of the public sector in Canada.

Various themes will be explored in this foundation course, including:

• the changing patterns of governance.
• the unequal relationships between business, society and government.
• globalization and corporate power.
• the decline of Keynesianism and the rise of neo-liberalism.
• the media and business influence over ideas.
• the de-regulation and privatization of the economy and society—the new “flexibility” and the hollowing out of the welfare state.
• marketization of the state.
• the citizen as customer.
• commercialization of the third sector.
• social cohesion under threat.
• the future of the public sector and democracy.

The guiding rationale for this course, as noted above, rests on the fact that the nature of Canadian politics and the respective roles of the state, society and business have undergone fundamental changes over the last number of decades. A number of trends that were only beginning to be discerned at the start of the 1990s have since become pronounced and are reshaping how we think about state–society–business relationships. One of the leading trends is the rise of globalization. A second major trend is rapid technological change, especially in the area of information and communications technologies (ICTs) and mass media, which in turn is compressing space and time and deconstructing geographic and political barriers. Third is the waves of business mergers, which have accelerated levels of corporate concentration at both the national and international levels. A fourth trend is radically altered labour market structures and employment relationships within advanced capitalist democracies. Associated with this development has been the growth of poverty, income polarization, and social exclusion. Fifth, there are significant fiscal stresses on the state which have ‘compelled’ governments to put their financial houses in order.

These socioeconomic trends have posed a number of challenges and released numerous forces that are transfiguring societal relationships. One area that has been especially affected is that of governance. Governance, unlike government, extends beyond the simple workings of the machinery of the state. Governance is about “the control of an activity by some means such that a range of desired outcomes is attained.” This function is not necessarily restricted to the nation-state but can be performed by a wide range of public, private, and national and international bodies (Hirst and Thompson 1996: 184).

Governance structures are in a process of profound flux and transition. There is a greater sharing and pooling of decision-making functions than earlier in the century (KjÆr 2004; Held 1993); nation-states can no longer claim to have an exclusive monopoly on governance as they once did. Globalization has challenged the predominant role that the nation-state has held in governance, particularly the establishment of international trade treaties and the growing power of multinational corporations. Moreover, guided by the increasing dominance of neo-liberal ideology, markets have been granted increased autonomy over government regulation in decision making within society.

Increasingly the question being posed is whether a democratic governance model will prevail (the primacy of elected government vis à vis the nation-state) or whether the rule of corporations and markets will become ever more significant. In fact, as the British political economist David Held has observed, the shift towards more distanced and less popularly influenced governance structures has generated a deep crisis within democracy itself (1995: 17)—what other have referred to as a “democratic deficit” (Porter 2005). While it is clear that the era of contemporary globalization may be a marker for the end of the “high point of the modern nation-state system,” that the nation-state itself is very much alive and remains a central actor in an evolving governance structure (Held 2004, 6). Hence, the theme of the changing pattern of governance is a central one to be explored in Governance 301.

In addition to the question of the future of governance a number of other developments have emerged which will be highlighted. Governance 301 will include an exploration of the unequal set of relationships that exist between business, society, and the state and an examination of how these are being affected and, in fact, intensified by socioeconomic transformations associated with globalization and the ICT revolution mentioned above. As well, it will examine the effects that globalization and free trade are having on corporate concentration and the increased freedom for businesses in this environment to exert their influence over the state and society. Finally, it will explore the effects of corporate ownership of the mass media upon the shaping of culture and dominant ideas within society.

With the end of the so-called post-war Keynesian consensus and the rise of a new set of governing ideas centred around neo-liberalism a significantly modified set of roles is being established for government vis à vis the market and society. This is resulting in an important restructuring of the state nurturing the de-regulation of economic policy, the so-called hollowing out of the welfare state, and the fostering of important changes in the way in which Canadian politics has come to be practiced.

At the level of public administration a new form of managerial doctrine has taken hold (Bovaird and Löffler 2003). The New Public Management is “reinventing government” creating not just a leaner state but recasting public administration practices along a market model of operations (i.e., making it more businesslike). In the process the notion of inclusive citizenship is being replaced by a new notion of citizen as consumer.

The “reinventing of government” has further restructured relations with civil society. For example, partnership arrangements for the alternative delivery of public services are now being forged with for-profit and third sector organizations. The recent “discovery” of the third sector/nonprofit sector has drawn increased attention to its role within society (Evans, Richmond, and Shields 2005). Due, in large measure, to changes in government funding to nonprofit organizations, competitive pressures along more commercial lines are reshaping the third sector (Anheier 2005, chp. 13). This development has major implications for civil society. Nonprofit organizations have long played an important role in Canadian society, but until recently their contributions have been largely ignored by policy makers and academics. In fact one commentator tellingly refers to the nonprofit realm as the “invisible sector” (Hall 1997: 4).

The effects of globalization, technological change and the restructuring of public services are producing increased levels of social exclusion throughout the developed world (OECD 1996; Wilkinson 2005)—i.e., growing income polarization, rising child poverty and homelessness, high levels of youth unemployment, etc. (Richmond and Saloojee 2005). These developments are posing significant threats to social cohesion.

In effect, this course reflects upon the ways in which these challenges have placed the future of the Canadian public sector and democracy in question.