bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
L'utilité politique des rivaux
Authors: Lemieux Vincent
Published: November 2009

Political coalitions have been studied by many authors, but few of them have shown that the presence or action of rivals or neutrals, outside the coalition, is an important factor in its formation or evolution. A structural approach is proposed, which underlines the cohesion requirements in the coalition formation and evolution. Then five research propositions are formulated, the last three of them bearing upon the political usefulness of rivals. The propositions are applied to the events related to the failure of the electoral system reform in Québec. This application leads to conclude that the propositions have a certain heuristic capacity but that some of them have to be altered for more appropriateness in future research.
The Politics of Individual and Group Difference in Canadian Jurisprudence
Authors: Eisenberg Avigail
Published: November 2009

Constitutional commentators who interpret conflicts between individuals and communities in terms of a struggle between individual and collective rights do not accurately capture the jurisprudence developed in the courts regarding such conflicts. Such conflicts are more clearly analyzed when they are framed in terms of identity-related differences. The difference perspective has three advantages over the “individual versus collective rights” perspective. First, the difference perspective accurately retrieves the courts' reasoning by framing it in terms of the values actually at stake. Second, it avoids the traditional dichotomy between individual and collective rights. Third, it provides a means to compare claims of individuals and groups without reducing group interests to individual interests.
The Growth of Women's Representation in the Canadian House of Commons and the Election of 1984: A Reappraisal
Authors: Studlar Donley T. , Matland Richard E.
Published: November 2009

In the 1980s, Canada went from having one of the lowest levels of female representation in its national legislature to having one of the highest among countries with single-member district electoral systems. The authors examine the common assertion that this increase was largely due to the surprising Progressive Conservative landslide in the 1984 federal election. By simulating plausible alternative election results they find there would have been a substantial increase in the number of women in the parliament, regardless of how the vote split in 1984. The simulations are followed by probit analyses for 1980, 1984 and 1988 which examine what factors affected the probability a major-party candidate would be a woman and what factors affected the probability that a successful candidate would be a woman.
Rational Deterrence Theory Revisited: A Progress Report
Authors: Harvey Frank P.
Published: November 2009

Progress in the debate over rational deterrence has always depended on the ability of scholars to identify a body of evidence that would be appropriate for testing a wide range of propositions derived from the theory. Notwithstanding the tremendous amount of time and energy spent on producing a suitable list of cases, and several noteworthy surveys of the literature, cumulative knowledge about deterrence, both as a theory and as a strategy, remains elusive. It still is unclear whether decision makers have acted according to the logic derived from standard applications of the theory. Moreover, the most prominent testing strategy, originally designed by Paul Huth and Bruce Russett, and later criticized and revised by Richard Ned Lebow and Janice Gross Stein, continues to be plagued by ongoing disputes over methods and case listings. Although debates over the accuracy of historical accounts are constructive, lingering divisions over coding of deterrence successes and failures have become counterproductive, primarily because each side has produced evidence to support their interpretation of events. Very little effort, by comparison, has been directed towards (a) developing alternative testing strategies that lie outside thesuccess/failureframework, or (b) looking at a wider range of propositions derived from the theory. This analysis attempts the task, analyzing in the aggregate 28 cases of superpower rivalry.
The Ambivalent Potential of Cultural Identity
Authors: Fierlbeck Katherine
Published: November 2009

Despite the overwhelming prevalence of democratic ideals in contemporary political relations throughout the world, a potent ideological challenge to liberal democratic norms is the recent claim that “differential” rights are essential to foster and protect the identity of individual rights within culturally distinct groups. This article examines the claim that cultural identity confers sufficient normative force upon which to base distinct political rights for specific groups. In what, precisely, does the normative force of “cultural identity” lie? The article challenges the claims that individuals' sense of personal identity can only arise through a “secure cultural context”; that a passive sense of group identity is a “primary good” that equals or even precedes the importance of universal human rights; and that this “politics of inclusion” based upon differential rights for different groups will lead to greater equality and tolerance within the larger political community.
Putting Ideas in Their Place: A Response to “Learning and Change in the British Columbia Forest Policy Sector”
Authors: Hoberg George
Published: November 2009

Ken Lertzman, Jeremy Rayner and Jeremy Wilson provide an idea-based approach to explaining changes in British Columbia's forest policy by applying the concept of learning developed by Paul Sabatier as part of his “advocacy coalition framework.” This effort to highlight the importance of ideas and learning is a welcome development in Canadian policy studies. But a word of caution is in order as well, because the article has some indications of slipping into a disconcerting pattern in the development of our discipline. For periods of time we seem to single out one significant variable and pay an inordinate amount of attention to it, the most striking examples being interest groups in the 1950s and 1960s and institutions in the 1980s. As we seize upon the new variable, we discredit the previous generation of scholars who we claim (sometimes misleadingly) ignored it.
The Dynamics of Women's Representation in the Canadian Provinces: 1975–1994
Authors: Studlar Donley T. , Matland Richard E.
Published: November 2009

This article presents evidence concerning women's representation in Canada's provincial legislative assemblies over a 20-year period (1975–1994). Data from 3,755 elections and over 11,000 candidates are analyzed to inspect trends in representation. The authors find there has been a gradual increase in both female candidates and legislators. The New Democratic party has clearly been the leader in putting women on the ballot and into legislatures at the provincial level. In addition, hypotheses are tested to see if there are differences across provinces in parties' willingness to nominate and elect women, and whether women are more likely to be nominated primarily in districts where a party does not expect to win. The study finds that the Atlantic provinces lagged behind the rest of Canada as representation increased markedly everywhere else in the late 1980s and the 1990s. There is also evidence that the major parties nominated female challengers in ridings that were inferior to the ridings where the party's male challengers ran in the mid- to late-1970s. By the mid-1980s, however, evidence that women were treated as sacrificial lambs had disappeared.
Two-Level Games and Third-Party Intervention: Evidence from Ethnic Conflict in the Balkans and South Asia
Authors: Carment David , James Patrick
Published: November 2009

One of the most challenging developments for students of international relations is the resurgence of ethnic strife. While it may be true that there have been few recent interstate wars, it would be incorrect to assume that ethnic turmoil will remain an isolated domestic problem. Recent interventions by individual states, either in support of, or opposition to, ethnic challenges, raise important questions about the validity of conventional perspectives on interstate conflict: Why do some states intervene in ethnic strife while others do not? Why do some third-party states rely on violence to support ethnic conflicts while others support norms of peaceful mediation? This investigation uses Putnam's two-level game to examine the impact of ethnicity on third-party intervention. Evidence from the Balkans war and Indo-Sri Lankan conflict show how heads of state must coordinate actions at two bargaining “tables,” which correspond to domestic politics and international negotiation. By monitoring strategies and tactics at each, it becomes possible to understand superficially puzzling developments. More specifically, initiatives in one domain may be a function of constraints or opportunities imposed by the other. These insights appear as propositions related to commitment, autonomy, domestic costs and manipulation of perceptions
Reasonable Limitations, Distinct Society and the Canada Clause: Interpretive Clauses and the Competition for Constitutional Advantage
Authors: Riddell Troy Q. , Morton F. L.
Published: November 2009

This article connects the conflict in Canada over formal constitutional amendments—patriation (1982), the Meech Lake (1987) and the Charlottetown (1992) Accords—with constitutional litigation and interpretation. The authors posit that governments and organized social interests compete with and among themselves for constitutional advantage in both forums of constitutional modification, and that outcomes in each forum have predictable consequences for behaviour in the other. Specifically, they argue that conflicts over the “distinct society” (1987) and “Canada” (1992) clauses are best understood as predictable government attempts to regain constitutional resources lost to Charter-based interest groups during the framing of the “reasonable limitation” clause of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms (1980–1981) and its subsequent judicial operationalization—the “Oakestest” (1986).The conflicts over theses various “interpretative clauses” were not just about “symbolic Status” or “conflicting constitutional visions,” but about winning Charter cases and accumulating legal resources. The authors develop the corollary argument that “advocacy scholarship” has played a complementary role to litigation in “public interest” groups' use of the Charter to challenge government policies.
Clivage linguistique et vote économique au Canada
Authors: Guérin Daniel , Nadeau Richard
Published: November 2009

This study deals with the question of economic voting in Canada, notably that the electoral impact of economic perceptions with regard to the performance of the federal government has not been homogeneous among the whole Canadian electorate during the period of Liberal dominance in Quebec. Contrary to our Findings on voters in other provinces, francophone Quebeckers did not vote according to their judgment of the government on economic matters, their fidelity to the Liberal party having inhibited them in this respect. These results suggest that the absence of economic voting in Quebec during the Liberal regime may clarify, at least in part, the puzzling conclusions of previous research, that show a fragile relationship between the economy and the electoral outcomes in Canada. These findings break new ground for a better understanding of the specific electoral rationality used by minorities in long-established democracies.
Le « Préambule » à la « Déclaration de souveraineté »: penser la foundation au-delà de la « matrice théologico-politique »?
Authors: Labelle Gilles
Published: November 2009

A little less than two months before the referendum on sovereignty on October 31, 1995, the Quebec government made public a “Preamble” to an eventual “Declaration of Sovereignty.” This document is analyzed in this article as a “foundational narrative,” that is to say as a narrative attempting to make of this event, which represents the accession of Quebec to sovereignty, a “beginning.” The author demonstrates that the document remains caught in a rhetoric which associates itself to what can be called, following the work of Claude Lefort and Marcel Gauchet, the “theologico-political matrix,” which could explain its chilled reception even by sovereigntists. The author asks in conclusion if it is possible to envisage a foundational narrative which would be compatible with the profound logic which governs modernity.
Dimensions of Attitudes Underlying Search and Seizure Decisions of the Supreme Court of Canada
Authors: Ostberg C. L. , Wetstein Matthew
Published: November 2009

While prior studies have applied schema theory to belief systems in the mass public, it has yet to be used to assess attitudes held by elites in society. This article uses schema theory to suggest that justices of the Supreme Court of Canada employ an information processing model when deciding search and seizure cases. Specifically, it implies that the justices have a schema, or an organized set of attitudes, that are triggered by the factual and legal circumstances in particular search and seizure cases. The belief that justices would use such a heuristic device makes sense, given that they are expected to resolve disputes in a quick and efficient manner as well as maintain consistency in the law. The study uses factor analysis to provide evidence that there is an underlying structure to the attitudes that Canadian justices use in these cases (1984–1994). It adds to the prior research in this area, because it moves schema theory beyond the study of mass belief systems, and it represents a unique way of assessing the judicial decision-making process of Canadian justices since the adoption in 1982 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
Les consultants et la réforme managérialiste de l'État en France et en Grande-Bretagne : vers l'émergence d'une « consultocratie »?
Authors: Saint-Martin Denis
Published: November 2009

With the rise of the new managerialism in the 1980s, public policy makers have increased their use of management consulting knowledge in reforming their bureaucracies. To describe this situation, some have coined the term « consultocracy,» assuming that the emergence of managerialism created a growing demand for business management expertise in government circles that has allowed consultants to penetrate the state and become powerful actors in the process of administrative reform. This article asks how it has been possible for consultants to become (or not) influential players in the process of bureaucratic reform. The analysis shows that because of historical and institutional reasons, Britain has been more likely than France to give rise to a «consultocracy.»
Democratic Breakdown and Democratic Stability: A Comparison of Interwar Estonia and Finland
Authors: Siaroff Alan
Published: November 2009

Two of the new states of interwar Europe were Estonia and Finland. Both arose out of the Russian Empire and both were literate, Protestant nations. Yet democracy broke down in Estonia but survived in Finland. These outcomes would seem ironic, given that Finnish independence involved a brutal civil war and Finland was linguistically divided—factors not present in Estonia. This study, however, examines not just the nature of independence but also the constitutional structures, party politics and regime crises of these two neighbouring cases. In terms of the factors commonly cited as favouring stable democracy, the Estonian-Finnish contrast shows the particular explanatory importance of political culture, the speed of democratization, the views of elites and the nature of the party system. What happened in Finland also implies that a presidential, or at least a balanced semipresidential, system cannot be considered as inherently dangerous for democratic stability.
Il reste encore des travaux à faire: Feminism and Political Science in Canada and Québec
Authors: Arscott Jane , Tremblay Manon
Published: November 2009

This article takes an empirical measure of the extent to which feminism has altered the discipline of Political Science in Canada and Québec since the mid-1980s. The authors, members of the second cadre of female political scientists in the field of women and politics, single out for particular attention the current relation between anglophone and francophone feminist scholarship in the field. They maintain that the two linguistic solitudes remain fundamental to the women and politics field as much as was the case before the emergence of feminist perspectives in the discipline.
Hobbes on Conscience Within the Law and Without
Authors: Andrew Edward G.
Published: November 2009

This article seeks to clarify the meaning of conscience and to exhibit its role in the philosophy of Hobbes. The author compares Hobbes's philosophy to Locke's doctrine. Instead of the usual contrast of Hobbes, the enemy to the claims of conscience, and Locke, the defender of the rights of conscience, he shows that Hobbes found a place for conscience within the law—the rights of defendants to a jury of their choice, and the rights of jurors to a verdict according to their conscience—whereas Locke found a place for conscience outside the law, in the judgment of revolutionaries when a revolution is justifiable or successful. In elaborating Hobbes's views of trial by jury, the author suggests that the best forensic metaphor for conscience is a juror (rather than the more usual ones of a witness, a judge or a legislator). Conscience is subjective certainty, dangerous outside an institutional setting, but indispensable for decisions not based on demonstrable knowledge, such as a juror's verdict beyond reasonable doubt.
Electoral and Partisan Cycles in the Canadian Provinces
Authors: Petry François , Imbeau Louis M. , Crête Jean , Clavet Michel
Published: November 2009

This study tests explanations of the growth of Canadian provincial governments that draw from the political budget cycle approach. The approach assumes that governments jointly respond to electoral and partisan goals. When the next election is not expected soon, the government uses its discretionary power to pursue its ideological target. When the next election is near, politicians in government, fearing electoral defeat, deviate from their normal behaviour and engage in a re-election effort by undertaking an expansionary policy. This study suggests that provincial governments behave in the opportunistic fashion described by the model. Moreover, there is no sign that this opportunistic behaviour has been affected by government cutbacks in the 1990s.
Revolution Revisited: The Structuralist-Voluntarist Debate
Authors: Kamrava Mehran
Published: November 2009

There are three ideal types of revolutions: spontaneous, planned and negotiated. The role and importance of structural factors versus human agency vary according to the general category to which a particular revolution belongs. In spontaneous revolutions, both the transition and conslidation phases are heavily conditioned by prevailing structural factors, especially those that result in the weakening of ruling state institutions and the political mobilization of one or more social groups. By contrast, in planned revolutions self-declared revolutionaries take the lead in both mobilizing supporters and weakening the state, in fact often having a highly elaborate ideological—as well as tactical and strategic—blueprint for the acquisition and consolidation of power. Negotiated revolutions see the greatest coalescence of forces involving both structural developments and human agency. The seeds of the revolution have germinated, but the prevailing structural developments are not by themselves sufficient to bring about the revolution's success. Actors representing both state and society must step in to negotiate, and only then might the revolution succeed and be consolidated.
Cohésion et dissidence à l'Assemblée nationale du Québec depuis 1867
Authors: Massicotte Louis
Published: November 2009

This article analyzes the legislative cohesion of political parties in Quebec between 1867 and 1989. The unveiling of frequent and widespread dissent within the two parties throughout the nineteenth century, and its gradual elimination thereafter, stand out as its major finding. Various explanatory factors are then reviewed: the confidence convention, the decrease of the number of divisions that did not involve confidence in the government or approval of its policies, the advent of universal suffrage, sanctions against dissenters and the role of party leaders. All these factors seem to have had some influence. The author argues that studies of this kind must distinguish between the various formal categories of divisions, a dimension often neglected in such studies.
Class and Region in Canadian Voting: A Dependency Interpretation
Authors: Gidengil Elisabeth
Published: November 2009

This study develops a dependency interpretation of the interplay between class and region in influencing Canadian voting. The weakness of any national class cleavage in voting is linked to the socially disintegrative effects of regional dependency. Class cleavages are notconsistentlymanifested in Canadian voting becauseconsistentclass interests are lacking. Log-linear analyses confirm that class does affect voting but this effect differs in both form and intensity depending on a region's location in the centre-periphery system. The impact of union membership and language on the interplay between class and region is also examined.
Hobbes on Natural Right in Society: The Leviathan Account
Authors: Carmichael D. J. C.
Published: November 2009

This article examines Hobbes' conception of natural right in society as presented in Part Two of Leviathan (primarily chapters 21 and 26 through 28). In contrast to Hobbes' earlier works, this section contains an implicit but important account of natural rights (called “true liberties”) in society and a corresponding set of restrictions on the proper use of law and punishment. Authority is thus absolute, but its proper use is limited. I argue that these limits are significant, that they represent an important revision in Hobbes' theory and that the resulting conception of natural right provides a useful basis for understanding rights today.
Opinion Structure Among New Democratic Party Activists: A Comparison with Liberals and Conservatives
Authors: Archer Keith , Whitehorn Alan
Published: November 2009

There is substantial disagreement over the extent to which political parties in Canada can be distinguished on ideological grounds. Research on mass publics has usually concluded that ideology plays only a modest role in structuring orientations towards parties. However, a growing body of survey data on party activists suggests a greater degree of ideological clarity and policy cohesiveness. This note extends earlier research by Blake, Johnston and Perlin on Liberal and Conservative convention delegates and compares them with delegates to the 1987 federal New Democratic party convention. Survey data on convention delegates suggest that political activists array themselves in a relatively consistent manner across a range of issues in ways that are compatible with a left/right ideological typology. Our findings also suggest that New Democrats display the greatest consensus and ideological distinctiveness of the three parties studied.
Hayek, Liberalism and Social Knowledge
Authors: Connin Lawrence J.
Published: November 2009

The Nobel prizewinner F. A. Hayek has spent his long career defending classical liberalism and the free market from those wishing to introduce planning and greater “rationality” into social life. As this study tries to show, Hayek's defence of market liberalism is predicated on his theory of social knowledge and how liberal principles and processes are best suited to cope with our limited ability to utilize this knowledge. He argues that we can cope best with our ignorance by resisting the temptations to set up centralized decision-making mechanisms and by accepting the discovery procedure of the market mechanism. Unlike other attempts to defend classical liberalism, Hayek offers a radically new knowledge-based foundation. If Marx's work could be labelled an economically-based sociology, Hayek's work could be labelled an epistemologically-based politics. But is his epistemological defence simply an ideological move to defend against attacks levelled at capitalism, or has he provided an indisputable foundation to justify the maintenance of liberal orders?
Eroding Representation-by-Population in the Canadian House of Commons: The Representation Act, 1985
Authors: Sancton Andrew
Published: November 2009

The Representation Act, 1985 amended both the Constitution Act, 1867 and the Electoral Boundaries Readjustment Act. This article shows that in each case the amendments erode the principle of representation by population by increasing the likelihood that federal electoral districts across the country will have widely varying populations. The first section examines the legislative history of the Representation Act, 1985 and its implementation in 1986 and 1987. The second analyzes the unsuccessful legal challenge brought against it by the City of Vancouver in Campbell et al. v. The Attorney General of Canada. The third addresses more explicitly John Courtney's main conclusions about the redistribution process in Canada as he expressed them in his 1988 CPSA presidential address.
Justice for Our Times
Authors: Moore Margaret
Published: November 2009

This article analyzes the attempt to offer a contextual or historical justification of political liberalism. This type of justificatory argument for liberal political principles has recently been advanced by John Rawls in a series of essays and by Charles Larmore in his 1987 book entitled Patterns of Moral Complexity. Both Rawls and Larmore argue that this justification for liberal political principles avoids the problems attributed to other forms of liberalism by communitarian theorists. The central theme of this article is that the attempt to ground political liberalism in a contextual argument is incoherent.
L'effet lune de miel dans un contexte parlementaire: le cas canadien
Authors: Nadeau Richard
Published: November 2009

American presidents have enjoyed a significant boost of their popular support early after their election. This article examines the existence of this same honeymoon phenomenon in the context of Canadian federal elections since 1945. The study shows that the above-mentioned phenomenon exists in Canada, identifies the circumstances more conducive to producing it and tries to demonstrate that it mostly results from a majority effect. In conclusion, it is suggested that the gain in political resources due to the honeymoon effect could be beneficial to the government's legislative performance.
Debates that Mattered: Voters' Reaction to the 1984 Canadian Leadership Debates
Authors: Lanoue David J.
Published: November 2009

Students of political debating in both Canada and the United States have generally concluded that national debates do little more than reinforce viewers' prior preferences. This article considers the Canadian leadership debates of 1984, and asks two major questions. First, would the presence of relatively unknown party leaders make these debates more influential than expected? Second, would the French-language debate have special effects on francophone Canadians? The author finds that the debates, unlike their 1979 counterpart, had a significant effect on voting behaviour. Moreover, that effect was especially strong among people for whom French was the first language, and worked in favour of the candidate most fluent in that language. The author concludes by considering the importance of these findings.
The Radical Ideas of Mary Wollstonecraft
Authors: Ferguson Susan
Published: November 2009

Recent scholarship on Mary Wollstonecraft portrays her as either a liberal who disrupts the boundaries between public and private spheres or as a proto-socialist paving the road for a class-based feminism. Neither of these characterizations adequately captures the radical quality of her work. A close study of her views on class and family place her squarely within the liberal tradition of political economy. While she politicizes these institutions and, in so doing represents a threat to the latenineteenth-century British ruling classes, she neither disrupts the basic tenets of liberalism nor seriously anticipates the class insights of socialist feminism.
Canada's Long Road to Nowhere: Why the Circle of Command Liberalism Cannot Be Squared
Authors: Lusztig Michael
Published: November 2009

A school of thought has emerged within constitutional and political theory that a middle road exists between liberalism and anti-liberal communitarianism. This road, which the author terms “command liberalism” permits societies that follow it to bypass the obvious inequities of liberalism while still enjoying the benefits of liberal democracy. The existence of this middle road would be but a piece of intellectual trivia were it not for the fact that for the past two decades it has formed the normative basis for constitution-making in Canada. It has been a root cause of constitutional conflict, intergroup animosity, constitutional paralysis and, potentially, the break-up of the country. Command liberalism is well represented in the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. In addition, largely as a consequence of the Charter, it was the raison d'etre of the ill-fated Meech Lake and Charlottetown accords. For the most part, those who seek to travel this road in Canada do so with good intentions; they point to the appalling conditions of Native reserves, blatant examples of gender discrimination and institutionalized racism and homophobia within liberal democratic society as evidence of the need to construct more pluralistic means of collective representation. But good intentions do not square the circle of command liberalism. Indeed, the problem with this middle road is that it is circular, leading us back to where we started.
Business Cycles, Political Cycles and the Popularity of Canadian Governments, 1974–1998
Authors: Johnston Richard
Published: November 2009

This article examines the popularity of Canadian governments between 1974 and 1998 as revealed by the monthly Gallup poll. Approval of each majority government in the 1974–1993 period underwent a cycle of honeymoon, decay and recovery. Underneath the cycle was a long-term downward trend. A simple politicoeconomic model accounts for a large fraction of long-term decay and helps explain the anti-government landslides of 1984 and 1993. But the model leaves inter-election popularity cycles largely unexplained. After 1993, the economy ceased to account for popularity and a wholly new, but apparently stable, electoral cycle emerged. The article concludes with speculation on causes of and contingency in electoral cycles.
The Forgotten Cleavage? Religion and Politics in Australia
Authors: Bean Clive
Published: November 2009

In Australia, religion historically has been seen as a secondary but nonetheless significant sociopolitical cleavage, in part cutting across the class divide. In recent times, Australian scholars, like those elsewhere, have been inclined to argue that the political significance of religion is a legacy of the past and that religion no longer plays an important role in shaping mass political behaviour. Although class is also said to have declined in political significance, it is still treated as being of some importance as a cornerstone of the party system. However, many scholars seem more willing to dismiss the relevance of religion altogether. Using sample survey data collected over more than 25 years, this article examines the role of religion in modern Australian electoral politics and assesses the adequacy of such arguments.
Political Science and Democratic Governance
Authors: Aucoin Peter
Published: November 2009

This address examines the relationship of political science and democratic governance by considering changes in both the political world and the discipline in Canada since the 1960s. It argues that the developing dynamics in political life, as significant as they have been, have not fundamentally altered the essential features of democratic governance in Canada. It suggests that a number of factors account for the diminished capacity of the discipline, as a collective scholarly and teaching enterprise, to contribute to democratic political life. On the one hand is the relative paucity of institutional mechanisms in Canada to link political science to democratic governance; on the other is the discipline's own fragmentation that lessens its focus on questions central to democratic governance.
Aboriginal Peoples and Electoral Reform in Canada: Differentiated Representation versus Voter Equality
Authors: Schouls Tim
Published: November 2009

Arguments advancing the merits of Aboriginal Electoral Districts (AEDs) for Canada are informed by the view that the democratic integration of Aboriginal peoples into the institutions of the state ought to occur on the basis of their group-differentiated citizenship. This study advances the thesis that the attempt to fuse the conventional concern for democratic equality with a model of representation based on difference such as that offered by AEDs is to try to harmonize objectives that strain significantly against one another and thus are largely incompatible. AEDs are unsustainable as vehicles for the representation of Aboriginal peoples within Parliament because they are too tightly bound to a representational norm linked to a commitment to voter equality which, when measured against the normative thrust of differentiated representation, imposes a high degree of homogenization upon the citizenship of Aboriginal peoples.
Electoral Systems, Integrated Institutions and Turnout in Local and National Elections: Canada in Comparative Perspective
Authors: Milner Henry
Published: November 2009

In this article, it is argued that Canada's relatively low rate of political participation is related to its electoral system being nonproportional, but that a complementary factor is to be found in its political institutions being discontinuous. Discontinuous institutions are manifested in relatively weak links between political organizations active municipally, regionally (provincially) and nationally. While the relationship between proportional representation (PR) and high turnout has been well established in the literature, there is still a puzzle surrounding the theoretical explanation for it. The author argues that the key to the solution to this puzzle lies less in the additional potential benefits to the voter in a PR system than in the reduction of costs, specifically information costs under such a system. PR is seen to frame incentives and disincentives for political actors in such a manner as to result in a reduction of the cost of political information. This is especially the case when PR is embedded in integrated (non-discontinuous) political institutional arrangements. The most salient manifestation of this effect is seen in comparative turnout levels in municipal elections.
The Changing Leadership Electorate: An Examination of Participants in the 1992 Alberta Conservative Leadership Election
Authors: Stewart David K.
Published: November 2009

This article examines the 1992 Progressive Conservative leadership election in Alberta, Canada, and assesses the degree to which this universal ballot produced a leadership electorate distinctive from that enfranchised at the previous convention. The universal ballot electorate possessed a limited background in the party, was not heavily involved in the campaign but included a much higher proportion of women and substantially more elderly voters. Participation remained essentially a middle-class endeavour. Although many of the concerns raised by critics of the universal ballot are confirmed by the Alberta experiment, there are positive features to the Alberta model and the move to universal balloting is not without its merits.
The Expanses of Sustainability and the Limits of Privatarianism
Authors: Ferguson John R.
Published: November 2009

A review of contributions to the resource conservation literature shows that sustainability problems are seen as caused by “common property.” This “tragedy of the commons” is understood as the result of the failure to assign fully property rights to individuals. The supporting assumptions and premises to these “privatarian” arguments are explicated and examined. After refuting the main premises, it is argued that the application of neoclassical assumptions and premises overlooks other legitimate forms of ownership as effective solutions to the tragedy of the commons. In revisiting other categories of ownership, the limits of privatarianism are identified and the prospects for solutions to sustainability problems are expanded.
The Regional Veto Formula and Its Effects on Canada's Constitutional Amendment Process
Authors: Heard Andrew , Swartz Tim
Published: November 2009

In early 1996, Canada's federal government enacted a new constitutional amending process to provide provincial and regional vetoes over future amendments. This study compares the new process with the “7 and 50” formula found in the Constitution Act, 1982. Using the Banzhaf Index as well as separate measures for the power to prevent and the power to initiate amendments, the article examines the relative influence of the provinces under the two amending formulae. As well, it examines the relative voting power of each province's citizens in any future constitutional referendum. The results show that profound changes are produced by the regional veto amending formula, and the article discusses some remedies for the most negative effects.
Blocs or Rounds? An Analysis of Two Approaches to Trade Liberalization
Authors: Kim HeeMin , Smith Dale L.
Published: November 2009

This article examines the properties and relative strengths of two approaches to reducing barriers to trade among nations: multilateral negotiating rounds versus regional economic blocs. Instead of focusing on the net welfare gains—the macro-level effects—that result either from each member of the system reducing trade barriers to all its partners (rounds) or from reductions among a subset of states (blocs), the analysis focuses on the institutional features (group size and the voting and enforcement mechanisms) that may affect individual nations'micro-level motivations to participate in and abide by certain trade arrangements. Existing models in formal theory are used to analyze these approaches in terms of voting games and collective action models.
Reconciling Parliament and Rights: A. V. Dicey Reads the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms
Authors: Ajzenstat Janet
Published: November 2009

InThe Law of the Constitution, Dicey contends that parliamentary sovereignty guarantees rights. An absurd claim? Perhaps. But sympathetic exploration shows he is relying on assumptions central to liberal constitutionalism about the power of free speech and partisan debate to effect good laws. He expects rights guarantees to emerge from the contest among parties in the legislature. Reading Dicey today shows how deep-seated is the loss of confidence in parliamentary deliberation, and raises an awkward question: Is the very idea of parliamentary democracy in jeopardy?
IntegrationbeforeAssimilation: Immigration, Multiculturalism and the Canadian Polity
Authors: Harles John C.
Published: November 2009

As a strategy of immigrant inclusion, official multiculturalism in Canada is based on the premise that national integration is possible, even preferable, without assimilation. This article considers whether such an approach can be successful. Drawing on a qualitative study of Lao immigrants in Ontario, it is suggested that newcomers can in fact be disposed to high levels of political commitment, specific mechanisms of political assimilation aside, as a result of the process of immigration itself. At least in the short term, though perhaps mainly in the short term, the Canadian political order does not seem to suffer for lack of an assimilative emphasis.
Rejoinder to Stuart Soroka, “Policy Agenda-Setting Theory Revisited: A Critique of Howlett on Downs, Baumgartner and Jones, and Kingdon”
Authors: Howlett Michael
Published: November 2009

I am pleased to respond to Stuart Soroka's set of criticisms of the concepts, methodology and conclusions of my research into Canadian federal agenda-setting. My two articles were not intended to be the last word on the subject, and I am glad to see that they have sparked some interest and, hopefully, some future additional research into the subject. That having been said, let me make several points with respect to the central issues raised in the discussion and the general arguments made about the role of empirical research in the policy sciences.
Reforming Canadian Democracy? Institutions and Ideology in the Reform Party Project
Authors: Laycock David
Published: November 2009

This article considers connections between the ideological orientations of the Reform party of Canada and its proposals for reform of political representation. Particular attention is devoted to its advocacy of direct democracy, new models of representative behaviour and constitutional reform as means of democratizing Canadian politics. These proposals are discussed in relation to Reform's account of collusion between special interests, parties and interventionist governments in our federal system. Reform's preference for market-based over political decision-making is identified as a key foundation of their explanation and remedies for the crisis in Canadian democracy. A review of Reform's blending of older populist critiques with modern neo-conservative perspectives on this problem clarifies the party's distinctiveness and appeal. The Reform agenda emerges as one aiming to contract not just the power of special interests, but also the scope of democratic decision-making in public life.
Opinion Structure of Party Activists: The Reform Party of Canada
Authors: Archer Keith , Ellis Faron
Published: November 2009

This article provides a systematic examination of the social bases and ideological and policy orientations of the Reform party of Canada through a study of the attitudes of delegates attending its 1992 national assembly. We identify the core political attitudes of Reform activists, and examine whether their positions on policy matters are distinctive and whether they are characterized by internal cohesion or division. We then examine the party's mobilization strategy to determine the extent to which this strategy produces systematic cleavages among party activists. Our analysis reveals that Reform promotes a distinctive position on a number of salient political issues. However, we also challenge the view that Reform activists are united by a unidimensional right-wing ideology. We conclude by discussing the impact of party mobilization on future divisions within the party.
Générations politiques, rationalité économique et appui à la souveraineté au Québec
Authors: Martin Pierre
Published: November 2009

Is political choice under conditions of uncertainty influenced more by expected losses than by expected gains? Does the relative importance of economic rationality in political choice vary between generations? The analysis of individual opinion on sovereignty in Quebec sheds new light on these questions. Among determinants of individual support for sovereignty, apprehensions of possible losses play a more important role than expectations of possible gains. The relative importance of the evaluation of economic consequences in the decision to support sovereignty, however, differs across three generations. These differences can be explained with reference to the economic context that prevailed when members of each generation reached adulthood.
Referendum Voting: Attitudes and Behaviour in the 1992 Constitutional Referendum
Authors: LeDuc Lawrence , Pammett Jon H.
Published: November 2009

Referendums are rare events in most parliamentary democracies, and when they do occur they present an analytical puzzle. Are they such unusual events that they fall outside of the theoretical frameworks familiar to students of elections? Or, even though they enter political life infrequently, can they be understood as something not entirely foreign to our thinking about electoral politics? Here, we argue that voting in referendums such as the constitutional referendum of October 26, 1992 is driven by many of the same factors that are present in elections—parties, leaders, issues, a campaign timetable, the interplay between long- and short-term forces and the dynamic of the campaign itself. In spite of their unique features, referendums can be understood in terms of models of voting behaviour familiar to students of elections in Canada and elsewhere. But, devoid of some of the long-term partisan and social anchors which play a role in elections, their outcome is even more dependent on the short-term elements of the campaign. As such, referendums are subject to greater volatility and uncertainty than that typically found in ordinary parliamentary elections.
Political Leadership and Liberal Economic Subsystems: The Constraints of Structural Assumptions
Authors: Brawley Mark R.
Published: November 2009

Theories of hegemonic leadership often begin with a constraining assumption: that international structure can explain both a state's capability to provide leadership and its interest in doing so. By conflating these explanations, traditional theories, even those from quite different approaches, share common problems. These problems are illustrated by examining three well-known models, and comparing their applications to the eighteenth century. This period provides difficult cases for all three, since countries with power did not provide political or economic leadership, and those which were attempting to provide leadership were not powerful. An alternative theory of leadership is then offered, using structural factors to explain capabilities, but domestic political economic factors to explain interests. The ability of this model to handle the historical cases with greater accuracy suggests that domestic factors could offer fresh insight into theories of leadership.
The Art of Political Liberalism
Authors: Ivison Duncan
Published: November 2009

This article considers John Rawls's recent turn to “political liberalism.“ Rawls has revised his argument fromA Theory of Justicein order to establish a more realistic account of a “well-ordered” society; that is, creating legitimate political stability amidst a plethora of conflicting yet reasonable conceptions of the good. The aim here is to consider the extent to which Rawlsian theories are at once open to the deep diversity of late-modern political communities, and yet seek to manage and constrain the liberty of “difference” for the purposes of maintaining a distinctive liberal political order. This involves trying to persuade people to comply with liberal norms despite themselves. But it has been the claim of Rawlsian liberalism that citizens be presented, without pretence, with reasons they can accept and live by in the course of establishing a well-ordered society. The drive for transparency here—through seeking out agreement on first principles of justice—obscures the “arts” of political liberalism and prevents us from thinking about the diversity of political communities in other ways.