Rianne Mahon

Background

Rianne Mahon holds the CIGI chair in comparative family and social policy at the Balsillie School of International Affairs and Wilfrid Laurier University in Waterloo. Her earlier work focused on the politics of industrial and labour market restructuring with particular attention to the role of trade unions. More recently, Mahon has produced numerous articles and book chapters on the politics of childcare, with a particular focus on Canada and Sweden. Dr. Mahon's current research focuses on transnational social governance, including the policy discourses produced by international organizations like the OECD and the World Bank.

Together with Sonya Michel, she edited Child Care Policy at the Crossroads: Gender and Welfare State Restructuring. Recent articles include "The OECD's Discourse on the Reconciliation of Work and Family Life" in Global Social Policy and "One Step Forward, Two Steps Back: Child Care Policy from Martin to Harper" (with Cheryl Collier) in How Ottawa Spends. She co-edited The OECD and Transnational Governance with Stephen McBride (UBC Press, 2008) and Leviathan Undone? Toward a Political Economy of Scale with Roger Keil (UBC, 2009). She is also one of the editors of Social Politics and on the editorial board of Global Social Policy. Her current research project focuses on the OECD and other international organizations role in developing and disseminating child care/early childhood development policy discourses.