Canadian And American Regionalism

Comparing Canadian with American regionalism reveals some very basic differences. Regionalism in the United States has been in decline for some time. Sharp cultural and political distinctions between the Northeast, the South and the West have eroded, though they were once very important. The American Civil War in the 1860s between the South and the North is the best (and most horrific) example of the once severe character of regional differences there.

What explains the movement toward the limited and rather benign role that regions play in American politics, economy and society? There are fundamental differences in geography, demography, and political institutions that need to be noted. For instance, the United States has no geographic barrier similar to the Canadian Shield which separates its West from its East, or North from South. And though the United States is a multicultural society like Canada, it is a unilingual country. Finally, its political institutions are dramatically different from Canada's. Regional interests are effectively represented and determined within Congress in two ways. Elected representatives are not forced to vote according to party lines, freeing them to perform primarily as regional or local representatives. Second, as previously mentioned, powerful elected Senators provide each state with equal representation (two per state). The sheer number of states is also a factor. Only a few states -- perhaps California, Texas, and Alaska -- can also claim to be whole regions. However, their governmental powers are limited compared to Canadian provinces.

Most of the decline in American regionalism has occurred since the Second World War. The most obvious reason for this is the expanding power and influence of the three elements of national economy, culture, and government, which have operated in tandem to integrate Americans into a single national community to a much greater extent than is true for Canada. Indeed, it often has been argued that the powerful unifying effects of the American economy and American culture (through television, movies, and magazines) have had a perverse, disintegrative effect on Canada. This has occurred because like America's far-flung regions, Canada's regions also have been drawn into the economic juggernaut that is the American economy, through corporate takeovers and expanding north-south trade. American cultural expansion into Canada has operated through the same mechanisms, saturating the Canadian market with American "products" of all kinds and stifling the development of a distinctive Canadian culture.

Two other factors deserve mention here. In the United States, the demands and concerns of national defence have had a strongly integrative effect within American politics and society, reinforcing the sense of national community, national interests, and the need for national unity in the face of external enemies and threats. This was particularly true during wartime and the long Cold War era, which lasted from 1945 until the disintegration of the Soviet Union in 1990.

Also, the political impact of national minorities in each country -- Québecois in Canada and African Americans in the Unites States -- has been very different. African Americans, lacking a territorial base such as Quebec and being to a large extent disenfranchised, pursued their rights and interests with appeals for aid from the national government rather than through the states. As a consequence, the civil rights movement in the United States strengthened the power of the national government and extended its regulatory reach deep into the states (in order to ensure equality for Blacks). In contrast, the Canadian federal system, which guarantees strong provincial powers, provided a provincial citadel for the protection of the francophone minority. The success of the civil rights movement came at the expense of the states, whereas the francophone success at staving off assimilation in Canada has, if anything, weakened the national government and strengthened the role of the provinces.

In short, the primary explanation for the much weaker position of regionalism in the United States compared to Canada is the much more profound effect of nationalizing forces on American society.