In this thesis, for the first time in Ukrainian political science, a cross-national comparison of the USA and Canada in the context of the analysis of the national question was carried out. Namely, its essence was clarified, the peculiarities of multicultural practices in the USA and Canada (cultural pluralism and multiculturalism) were analyzed, and an analysis of ethno-racial discrimination and ethnic mobilization was conducted. The thesis methodologically conceptualized and developed a comparative political study of interethnic interactions with the use of a research strategy for comparing most similar systems (for example, the USA and Canada). The case study method has been substantiated and applied, involving the method of structural and focused comparison as a tool of cross-national research (for example, the USA and Canada), and also proved that the method can be effective in comparative political science. In the thesis, the indexation of immigration policy was conceptualized, and a scientific apparatus (a logical sequence of conceptualization, measurement and aggregation) for further cross-national studies in which the object is the national question in general and the migration policy in particular was developed.
The thesis analyzed the practice of applying multicultural practices in the United States and Canada, in particular the role of the state in implementing the policy of cultural pluralism in the United States and the policies of multiculturalism in Canada. The situation regarding the difficulty of implementing Canadian experience in implementing multicultural practices in Central and Eastern Europe, in particular, in Ukraine, was studied. It was shown that the policy of multiculturalism in Ukraine (in the case of its introduction in the present day) does not seem to be effective, and will only contribute to the disintegration of unconsolidated Ukrainian society. The understanding of racism as a problem of ethno-racial interaction in the United States and Canada was explored, deepening the conceptualization of the phenomenon of racism in the theoretical dimension, and artificiality and instrumentality of racism as a social construct were substantiated. The understanding of US policy towards indigenous peoples was improved. For a long time, domestic political science has not paid enough attention to the study of the principles of this policy, but in the United States, the problem of the political and legal status of indigenous peoples (Indians, Metis, indigenous peoples of Alaska and the Hawaiian Islands) is quite present in the internal political discourse of the state, the institutional mechanisms of interaction of the state, the local authorities on indigenous peoples, and the principles of self-organization of the latter. This experience (as well as the Canadian policy of indigenous peoples) may be useful for Ukraine in the process of further elaboration on the Concept of State Ethnic Policy and the Principles of Crimea’s Reintegration. In the thesis, migration and the synthetic theory of migration, in particular, were conceptualized, and it was emphasized that the most important feature of immigration policy is that qualitative changes in the process of its formation, as a rule, come after events that are not directly related to the phenomenon of migration. These events gradually, but unceasingly, transform formal and informal institutions, and are external determinants of change in the field of migration and immigration policy. The thesis has improved the understanding of the process of institutionalization of the ethnic mobilization of French Canadians. It was shown that in Quebec during «The Quiet Revolution» there was a high level of institutionalization of the protest movement, the interaction between the authorities and French Canadians, and the ethnic mobilization of the latter. This led to the evolutionary and relatively peaceful nature of the transformation of relations between the province of Quebec and the federal government, which determined the dynamics of Quebec separatism.
In the thesis, the position of the conceptualization of the phenomenon of ethnic mobilization has been further developed. The inadequacy of the theoretical elaboration of the phenomenon of ethnic mobilization (mobilization of ethnicity) has led to the analysis of the problematic operation of the terms «ethnic mobilization», «ethnopolitical mobilization», «mobilization of ethnicity», etc., and their interchangeability.
The results of this research can be used in the educational process, in particular, in teaching political science, comparative political science, ethnic politics, comparative ethnic politics, in the development of teaching and methodological curricula, and in special courses.
