The Masks of Proteus: Canadian Reflections on the State

Agar Adamson is the author of Letters of Agar Adamson, 1914–19 and former chair of the Department of Political Science at Acadia University in Nova Scotia.

This work deserves far greater study and discussion than it will
undoubtedly receive. Unfortunately, it will probably be studied by the
author’s fellow political scientists and philosophers, but not by the
mainstream of Canadian intellectuals, the audience Resnick set out to
address.

Resnick argues that “our problem . . . is to define for our own times
a public sphere in which citizens can find a means of controlling the
state and no less powerful economic forces. If the face to face
community of the polis is an impossibility in the large nation-state,
then some lesser divisions offer the best alternative.” He then
discusses some of the alternatives—hence his reference to Proteus, for
what is sacred about our shape? It is time, he maintains, to discuss
alternatives not just to federalism but to the entire state.

This important work makes the reader think. For example, what kind of
state do we wish to live in? What is the Canadian state? Are there truly
Jacobin influences upon the Canadian state? What is the impact of
political theory—particularly Montesquieu—on the Canadian state? A
provocative work indeed, it will be an uncomfortable read for those
tethered to dependency theory. One hopes that readers, whether they
accept Resnick’s view or not, will accept the challenge of Proteus and
debate the future direction of the Canadian state, for one thing is
certain: the status quo is unacceptable.