Defying Conventional Wisdom: Political Movements and Popular Contention Against North American Free Trade (Studies in Comparative Political Economy and Public Policy)

This book offers a crisp and thoughtful account of political phenomena still fresh in the minds of Canadians and still relevant to policy-making processes. As the first major work on the origins, strategies, and activities of movements and coalitions that arose in Canada and spread across North America to oppose free trade, it captures an important developmental period in Canadian political life. Focusing on an analysis of the Action Canada Network, Jeffrey Ayres adopts a political-process model to link the emergence of popular sector movements and transnational networks to constraints posed by the Canada-U.S. FTA and NAFTA. His extensive use of popular writings and interviews highlights the personal reflections of coalition members and provides an intimate perspective on their strategies and actions. As a contribution both to the study of recent developments in Canadian politics and to our understanding of emerging transnational contention in North America, Defying Conventional Wisdom will appeal to readers across a wide spectrum of interests and backgrounds.

This book offers a crisp and thoughtful account of political phenomena still fresh in the minds of Canadians, and with continuing relevance to policy-making processes. As the first major work on the origins, strategies, and activities of movements and coalitions that arose in Canada and spread across North America to oppose free trade, it captures an important developmental period in Canadian political life.

Focusing on an analysis of the Action Canada Network, Jeffrey Ayres adopts a political-process model to link the emergence of popular sector movements and transnational networks to constraints posed by the Canada-US FTA and NAFTA. His extensive use of popular writings and interviews highlights the personal reflections of coalition members and provides an intimate perspective on their strategies and actions. As a contribution both to the study of recent developments in Canadian politics and to our understanding of emerging transnational contention in North America, Defying Conventional Wisdom will appeal to readers across a wide spectrum of interests and backgrounds.

University of Toronto Press gratefully acknowledges that this book was sponsored in part by the Association for Canadian Studies in the U.S. and by the Government of Canada.

"This book offers a crisp and thoughtful account of political phenomena still fresh in the minds of Canadians and still relevant to policy-making processes. As the first major work on the origins, strategies, and activities of movements and coalitions that arose in Canada and spread across North America to oppose free trade, it captures an important developmental period in Canadian political life." "Focusing on an analysis of the Action Canada Network, Jeffrey Ayres adopts a political-process model to link the emergence of popular sector movements and transnational networks to constraints posed by the Canada-U.S. FTA and NAFTA."--Jacket Contents 7 List of Tables 8 Acknowledgments 9 Abbreviations 13 Introduction 17 1. Studying Movements Politically 23 2. The Origins of a Movement 35 3. The Politics of Coalition Building 61 4. The Parliamentary Protest Campaign 88 5. The Constraints of Electoral Politics 107 6. NAFTA and the Structuring of Domestic and Transnational Protest 131 7. From National Sovereignty towards Popular Sovereignty? 149 8. Political and Theoretical Implications 157 Appendix: Methods 165 Notes 167 Bibliography 199 Index 213 The first major study on the origins, strategies, and activities of movements and coalitions in opposition to free trade that arose in Canada and spread across North America - it captures an important developmental period in Canadian political life.