Territorial development in Quebec : between aspirations and structural limits

This special issue of Sociologia urbana e rurale is dedicated to the study and analysis of what has often been referred to as the "Quebec model" of territorial development (Klein et al., 2012). Because of its specific linguistic, political, and sociological characteristics, Quebecois society presents distinctive at times even subversive elements in comparison to other North American societies and Canadian provinces (Alberio, 2024). For example, Quebec has historically facilitated access to education, health and social services through the establishment of a welfare state that has developed more extensively than elsewhere in Canada (Lévesque, 2002). More broadly, since the period known as the Quiet Revolution1 a process of modernization, sociocultural change, and the construction of a socialdemocratic political framework (Rocher, 1973; Fournis et al., 2021) the provincial government has acquired considerable political autonomy, often contested by other prov [Publisher's Text]