Ideas in Action

Peter Russell, a political scientist and an energetic participant in constitutional debate, is the focus of this collection of essays. Designed to reflect the manifold career of Russell, the work, based on the proceedings of a conference held in 1996, includes contributions on constitutional politics, security and intelligence, Aboriginal people, the courts, and law and society. As is evident from the essays themselves, there are common theoretical strands that weave their way through Russell's scholarship, including democratic accountability, political deliberation and cultural diversity. The collection's editor, Joseph Fletcher, has brought together a group of contributors whose backgrounds reflect Russell's own diverse academic and personal interests, with scholars and practitioners among them. As a result, the tone of the work is a blend of analysis and reflection. Few Canadian scholars exhibit the level of productivity that Peter Russell has over the years, and for that, he certainly deserves the honour he receives in this collection.