Through an in-depth study of the Canadian case, this thesis demonstrates how a loss of control over national borders can result from liberal-democratic state efforts to restrict the rights of non-citizens. It argues that the gaps created between certain fundamental due process and equality rights and state control practice increase the risk of policy failure by opening up avenues along which the authority and capacity of the state can be challenged effectively---by encouraging rights-based politics, irregular migration, and administrative inefficiencies. Part I provides an overview of recent international migration trends, followed by a detailed examination of the liberal-democratic control literature, identifying three biases---restrictionist, domestic-statist, and historical---that obscure the state's role in the creation and perpetuation of control problems. In response, this thesis employs an analytic framework rooted in the concept of the universe of political discourse to trace the evolution and interaction of two competing perspectives that have defined Canadian control policy debates and developments since Confederation, Liberal Internationalism and Liberal Nationalism, each of which posits a different relationship between the rights of non-citizens and the state. Part II presents a thorough account of Canadian control policies towards immigrants and refugees from 1867 to 1965, and reveals that the proposed link between rights-restrictive policies and control problems has deep liberal-democratic roots in Canada. Part III focuses on Canadian policies towards asylum seekers from 1965 to 1988, and demonstrates the central role that the state's rights-restrictive approach played in the creation, breakdown, and replacement of the country's first inland refugee status determination system. Parts II and III are based on an extensive examination of published Canadian government documents, and secondary materials from the fields of history, legal studies, and politics, among other sources. In a concluding chapter, it is argued that by giving greater conceptual and empirical clarity to control, the findings presented in this thesis are of continued relevance to the study of control policies---contemporary or historical---in Canada and other liberal democracies.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:LACETR/oai:collectionscanada.gc.ca:QMM.102783 |
| Date | January 2006 |
| Creators | Anderson, Christopher G. |
| Publisher | McGill University |
| Source Sets | Library and Archives Canada ETDs Repository / Centre d'archives des thèses électroniques de Bibliothèque et Archives Canada |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Coverage | Doctor of Philosophy (Department of Political Science.) |
| Rights | © Christopher G. Anderson, 2006 |
| Relation | alephsysno: 002589582, proquestno: AAINR32137, Theses scanned by UMI/ProQuest. |
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