Between Colliding Worlds

by Malloy, Jonathan

• ISBN13: 9780802037176
• ISBN10: 0802037178
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2003-09-01
• Publisher: Univ of Toronto Pr

Summary

Jonathan Malloy's Between Colliding Worldsexamines the relationship between governments and external activists through a comparative study of policy units dedicated to aboriginal and women's issues in Australia and Canada. Malloy identifies these units or 'special policy agencies' as sitting on the boundary between the world of permanent public servants and that of collective social movements working for broad social and political change. These agencies at once represent the interests of social movements to government while simultaneously managing relations with social movements on behalf of government, and thus operate in a state of permanent ambiguity.Malloy contends that rather than criticizing these agencies for their inherently contradictory nature, we must reconsider them as effectively dealing with the delicate issue of bridging social movements with state politics. In other words, the very existence of these special policy agencies provides a forum for social movements and the state to work out their differences.Relying heavily on interviews with public servants and external activists, Malloy argues convincingly that special policy agencies, despite - or because of - their ambiguous relationship to different communities, make critical contributions to governance.

Author Biography

Jonathan Malloy is an assistant professor in the Department of Political Science at Carleton University.

Table of Contents

Preface	vii
Acknowledgments	ix
1 Introduction	3	(14)
2 Special Policy Agencies	17	(30)
3 The Colliding Worlds	47	(37)
4 Political Change and the Ontario Women's Directorate	84	(26)
5 Aboriginal Policy Agencies in Ontario and British Columbia	110	(26)
6 Special Policy Agencies under New Public Management	136	(41)
7 The Permanent Ambiguity of Special Policy Agencies	177	(12)
Notes	189	(24)
Index	213