APRIL, 2017 – The structure of Escape from the Staple Trap[1] was consciously chosen. In the face of deeply held political economy epistemologies, it was important to first construct a strong empirical foundation – using data extensively, looking at that data from multiple sides, as well as questioning and critiquing certain key hegemonic interpretations of empirical data from earlier eras. This empirical work revealed clearly that Canada must be considered a Global North country at the core of the world system. Only with that empirical foundation constructed, did the book then draw some political conclusions. In this Global North, core country – as in Germany, France, the United States, the United Kingdom and Japan – nationalism cannot be an ideological vehicle for progressive politics.
The above is the first paragraph of “Canadian Political Economy in the Era of Brexit and Trump”. [2] The complete text can be found here.
[1] Paul Kellogg, Escape from the Staple Trap: Canadian Political Economy After Left Nationalism (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2015).
[2] Paul Kellogg, “Rejoinder: Canadian Political Economy in the Era of BREXIT and Trump,” Socialist Studies/Études Socialistes 12, no. 1 (May 29, 2017): 155–155, https://doi.org/10.18740/S4FH1F.