Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Canada – Politics and government – 2015-'

This thesis seeks to explain why Canadians have been unable to reach consensus on the meaning of Canadian citizenship and on the issue of how they relate to one another as citizens. Rather than adopt a longitudinal approach to this dilemma, that is explaining why it has persisted over time, this study focuses on the 1987 Meech Lake Constitutional Accord, and specifically the provision recognizing Quebec as a "distinct society within Canada". This thesis treats the Accord as a microcosm of the larger "Canadian question". Applying the covenantal and compactual traditions in politics to the Canadian experience, this essay argues that the source of Canadian discord lies in the inability to agree on the essential nature of federalism and political community in Canada. This development has made it difficult for citizens to construct covenantal relations which would bind Canadians together in a lasting political arrangement, free of seemingly perennial constitutional "crises".

The historians characterizing Lower Canada's thought in the period before 1815 have argued that it was principally nationalist. French Canadians, moreover, were assessed either as clinging to the values and precepts of a feudal past or as adopting advanced republican ideas. In neither case, however, was attention paid to the articulation by French Lower Canadians of a system of thought that reflected the complex reality of the society in which they lived. This thesis attempts to recreate the system of thought using the public writings of the most politically active members of the community. It analyses the various intellectual influences on the colony and the unique mixture arrived at by the commentators who were affected by them. Having, it argues, combined elements of thinking drawn from the old regime, the Enlightenment and British writers and statesmen, French Canadians devised an idea of community which reflected their society's bicultural and bilingual nature and articulated the nature of the participation of its members in their newly acquired parliamentary institutions. Far, then, from being dissaffected with the existing structures or showing a desire for independence, they comprised an active and politically aware population which viewed its future as intimately tied to the Constitution and to the British Empire.
Arts, Faculty of
History, Department of
Graduate

This study investigates the phenomenon of ethnic interest groups as domestic sources of influence on the making of foreign policy on a cross-national basis. The attempt is made first to develop a framework for comparing theoretically the role of ethnic groups in various governmental systems. Once completed, the various conceptual assumptions are applied to the activities of domestic ethnic interest groups in the United States and Canada concerned with policy for the Middle East and the Arab-Israel conflict. The focus is primarily on the American and Canadian pro-Israel lobbies during the period between October 1973 and September 1982. Data for domestic Arab ethnic constituencies are also considered where relevant, but more as logical counter-points to the North American Jewish communities than as bases for full and complete cross-ethnic comparison. The principal objective of this study is to compare the political influence of two interest groups of the same faith and fundamental purpose but of different systems of government and political cultures.

The question of how subordinated groups in democratic states set about shifting their political relationship with their encompassing societies has received little attention among political scientists in Canada. Groups which lack significant political, legal, and economic resources, and which are stigmatized by an inferior status (reinforced by law and policy) do not enjoy the level playing field predicted by pluralist interest group theory. Yet they are sometimes able to overcome these obstacles and to renegotiate their political and legal status. The question is how some groups are able to do this, and what strategies are available to or obligatory for groups wishing to initiate political bargaining. According to the theory of symbolic politics developed here, disadvantaged minorities seeking political benefits from the state will typically conduct politics at the symbolic level. That is, they tend to invoke a range of political symbols and myths: first, to build in-group solidarity by presenting an analysis of a common past and present, as well as a vision of the future society, and thereby legitimate their political aspirations. In the first stage of minority politicization, such groups must: (a) build a sense of community of interests and goals which can be said to represent the reference group as a whole; (b) reverse the stigmatic identity ascribed to them by the dominant society; and (c) find ways of competing with the dominant society, not on the latter's terms, but on alternative ideological grounds. In the second stage of politicization, minorities must: (a) create appropriate demands; (b) learn to use the mechanisms, methods and institutions of the mainstream political process; and (c) eventually routinize conflict by negotiating stable norms to guide on-going relations with government. Subordinated groups do not normally seek purely material benefits. They usually seek symbolic benefits in the form of rights, and a redefined status within society. Thus, much of their politicking is conducted in public, and is largely devoted to capturing public sympathy which can be used as a resource against government. The political myths and symbols employed are characteristically emotive and imprecise. Political goals are presented in symbolic terms, and are advanced at the level of principle rather than substance. When applied to the case of Native Indian politics in the Canadian context, the evidence confirms the accuracy of these hypotheses. Indians have pursued the symbolic strategies predicted by the model: the essence of their political aspirations has been captured in the symbols of aboriginal title/aboriginal rights, land claims, and ultimately, self-government; at the macro level, they have sought predominantly symbolic benefits, as represented by legislative and constitutional recognition of certain rights and privileges; and they have attempted to win public support to use as a bargaining chip vis-a-vis government. However, they have not been entirely successful in their use of the symbolic strategies outlined, and the evidence suggests that they have reached a public opinion impasse. Despite their efforts, public opinion on native and native issues has remained remarkably stable over the last twenty years, so that further effort in this area is likely to bring diminishing returns. In the end, symbolic politics, while necessary for subordinated groups in their fledgling stages of politicization, must eventually give way to more conventional political methodologies as groups become institutionalized in the mainstream political process.
Arts, Faculty of
Political Science, Department of
Graduate

The Coalition government’s (2010-2015) programme of public sector reform and austerity resulted in fundamental changes to the orientation of community development in England. This thesis investigates what happened to community development in England during this five-year period and its implications for professionals, volunteers and local people involved in community development processes. A post-structuralist discourse analysis methodology was operationalised and the empirical work consisted of 20 interviews with key social actors involved in community development processes in a case study local authority in the north east of England. Using post-structuralist discourse analysis, the transcripts were analysed alongside 54 key texts including: discourse by political and policy leaders, national and local policies, and academic debate. This thesis makes an original contribution to knowledge by demonstrating how the Coalition programme silenced community development as a distinct and legitimate practice, and re-shaped it as social enterprise, volunteering and community organising. The empirical findings establish four available discourses of community development. Yet, the hegemonic Enterprise discourse totalised the policy landscape and ‘othered’ community development as a bureaucratic, top-down, inefficient and ineffective relic of the previous New Labour government. In conjunction with the public sector cuts, this resulted in the decline of the community development worker subject position in England; with community development professionals increasingly nudged to adopt the subject positons of social entrepreneurs, professional volunteers and, to a lesser extent, community organisers. Local people were similarly nudged to volunteer in community development, social enterprise and community organising processes; and more skilled volunteers encouraged to take on professional responsibilities unsalaried. These findings suggest that the silencing and re-shaping of community development as social enterprise, volunteering and community organising is a ‘new’ permutation of neoliberal hegemony to roll-out citizen responsibilisation where local people provide community services rather than ‘relying’ on state intervention and resources. This thesis concludes that the Coalition programme exploited the ambiguity of community development and, in doing so, exposed four historical problems in the community development field. To protect community development from future attacks, this thesis proposes a genealogical post-doctoral study to unearth these problematic roots to then cultivate a community development free of such underpinnings.

Over the last three decades, Indigenous peoples in the CANZUS countries (Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and the United States) have been reclaiming self-government as an Indigenous right and practice. In the process, they have been asserting various forms of Indigenous nationhood. This article argues that this development involves a common set of activities on the part of Indigenous peoples: (1) identifying as a nation or a people (determining who the appropriate collective "self " is in self-determination and self-government); (2) organizing as a political body (not just as a corporate holder of assets); and (3) acting on behalf of Indigenous goals (asserting and exercising practical decision-making power and responsibility, even in cases where central governments deny recognition). The article compares these activities in the four countries and argues that, while contexts and circumstances differ, the Indigenous politics of self-government show striking commonalities across the four. Among those commonalities: it is a positional as opposed to a distributional politics; while not ignoring individual welfare, it measures success in terms of collective power; and it focuses less on what central governments are willing to do in the way of recognition and rights than on what Indigenous nations or communities can do for themselves.

This thesis provides an examination of both the political and legal uses of reference cases to the Supreme Court of Canada by the Mackenzie King government. Attention is devoted to the five-year-period, 1935-1940, in which the King administration submitted several politically motivated references to the Supreme Court. This political use of reference cases to the Supreme Court began immediately after the Liberals returned to power in October 1935 when the government submitted the Bennett government's New Deal legislation for judicial scrutiny. Within the five-year-period the government forwarded two other references to the Supreme Court, again where highly controversial legislation was involved: the Alberta Social Credit statutes passed in 1937 and the private member's bill sponsored by CH. Cahan in 1939 to abolish overseas appeals to the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council, then the final court of appeal for Canada. The underlying premise of this thesis is that in each of the above instances the King government found it politically expedient to involve the Supreme Court in issues where questions of law were clearly subordinate to the political concerns of the federal government. Furthermore, in each instance, avenues of action, other than a reference case to the Supreme Court, were available to the federal government but were rejected by cabinet. Only in one instance, when Quebec's controversial 1937 Padlock Act was under close scrutiny, did the federal government avoid submitting a patently political issue to the Supreme Court, apprehensive of the consequences of such action. The federal government's reluctance to forward a reference to the Supreme Court in the case of Quebec's Padlock Act thus provides a revealing contrast to both the New Deal and the situation in Alberta where reference cases were initiated almost immediately. The federal government's marked reluctance to deal with Quebec in a comparable manner therefore merits close attention and as such is an important element of this thesis. The background to each reference case, its political origins, the reasons for the federal government's insistence on a reference--or in the case of Quebec, the reasons for avoidance of a reference—are the central issues addressed in this thesis. The cases are examined from another viewpoint as well. Once before the Court, the political issues gave way as the Court focused primarily upon the legal issues involved. The Court's decisions thereby provide another important vantage point from which to view the implications of the federal government's actions. For example, an assessment of the legal argument and judicial reasoning in the New Deal cases helps one answer these questions: First, did King's lawyers really try to win? Second, did the courts (both the Supreme Court of Canada and the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council) simply bow to King's obvious desire that the legislation be declared ultra vires? Third, did the courts, as some have alleged, decide that the depression was not an emergency? Although the King government may have found it preferable for short-term considerations to submit contentious political issues involving questions of law to the Supreme Court for its legal opinion, in the long-term it found itself dealing with unexpected complications arising from the very decisions it sought. Even if the government successfully predicts the legal outcome of a court case, it may find itself dealing with a political outcome it had not anticipated. Certainly if the actions of the King government are any indication in the five-year-period under discussion, this is a complication a government seldom expects, although one as I argue, that it should prepare itself for. This thesis also demonstrates that when reference cases are employed by the federal government, politicians, constitutional scholars, political journalists and other concerned citizens should ask two important questions: First, is the reference being initiated to avoid or delay assuming political responsibility in a given situation? Second, are like situations indeed receiving like treatment? As indicated throughout this thesis, such questions are of great importance. Indeed, this thesis demonstrates that in the period between 1935 and 1940 the King administration initiated not only the New Deal reference, but forwarded C.H. Cahan's private member's bill to the courts as well, in order to avoid dealing with a controversial political issue. So, too, the period provides a telling example of an in-stance where like situations were not treated alike as the striking similarities between the situation in Alberta and Quebec indicates. Clearly, a failure to ask questions such as the ones posed above leads to the possibility that the full meaning of the reference cases themselves, their origins and their implications, will not be realized by the interested onlooker.
Arts, Faculty of
History, Department of
Graduate

This paper will attempt to explore the history and function of judical disagreement behaviour using information from both the Canadian Supreme Court and the US Supreme Court. The evolution of national high court decision making, highlights the changing role of courts within the political and public spheres, as well as the increasing authority courts have over policy. This changing role reinforces the need to study the role of courts on law. I will use minority opinions from the Laskin and Dickson courts to study what disagreement reveals about the decision making process. Judicial disagreement has largely been summed up into two deficient stereotypes: the dissent as "serious" disagreement and the separate concurrence as inferior disagreement to the dissent. I will dispel this fallacy by introducing the five categories created to describe a new way of thinking about judicial disagreement and to shatter the old stereotypes.
vii, 149 leaves ; 29 cm.

This dissertation attempts to show that Aboriginal peoples' ways of thinking have not been recognized by early colonial European political thinkers. I begin with an examination of Kymlicka's political theory of minority rights and show that, although Kymlicka is a strong advocate of the right of Aboriginal self-government in Canada, he fails to consider Aboriginal ways of thinking within his own political system. From an Aboriginal perspective this is not surprising. However, I claim that Kymlicka opens the conceptual space for the inclusion of Aboriginal voices. The notion of "incorporation" means that Aboriginal peoples became included in the Canadian state and in this process their Aboriginal sovereignty was extinguished. Aboriginal peoples question the legitimacy of such a claim. A consequence of the Canadian government unilaterally asserting its sovereignty over Aboriginal peoples is that Aboriginal ways of thinking are not recognized as valuable within the legal and political discourse of sovereignty. In chapters two through five, respectively, I examine the Valladolid debate of 1550 between the Spanish monk Bartolome de Las Casas and Juan Sepulveda, The Great Law of Peace of the Iroquois Confederacy, Thomas Hobbes's distinction between the state of nature and a civil society, and Alexis de Tocqueville's account of democracy in America. Each of the examples, except for The Great Law of Peace, generate a philosophical dialogue that includes judgments about Aboriginal peoples. However, none of these European thinkers considers the possibility that Aboriginal voices could play a valuable role in shaping their political thought. To show the value of an Aboriginal exemplar of political thinking I consider the Iroquois Great Law of Peace. The Iroquois view of political sovereignty respects the diversity of voices found within a political relationship. This was put into practice and enforced in early colonial northeast America until the power dynamic shifted betwe

My dissertation focuses on the rise and spread of Aboriginal mobilization in Canada between 1951 and 2000. Using social movement and social-political theories, it questions the relationship between contentious actions and formal organizational growth comparing among social movement and political sociological perspectives. In most accounts, contentious action is assumed to be influenced by organization, political opportunity and identity. Few scholars, however, have examined the reverse relationships, namely the effect of contentious action on each of these. Drawing upon time-series data and qualitative interviews with Aboriginal leaders and representatives of organizations, I found that critical events surrounding moments of federal state building prompted contentious action, which then sparked mobilization among Aboriginal communities. I argue that three events: the 1969 White paper, the 1982 patriation of the Constitution, and the 1990 'Indian Summer' led to mass mobilization and the semblance of an emerging PanAboriginal identity. This finding returns to older collective behaviour perspectives, which note that organizations, opportunities, and identities are driven by triggering actions and shared experiences that produce emerging norms. Nevertheless, in the case of Canadian Aboriginal mobilization, unlike that of Indigenous movements in other countries, building a movement on triggering actions led to mass mobilization but was not sustainable because of a saturation of efficacy. As a result, Aboriginal mobilization in Canada has been characterized by divergent interests and unsustained contention.

This study examines the influence of polls and pollsters on politicians. The analysis reviews the American literature, which suggests that electoral technology is used by private political consultants to assist the politician in manipulating the voter. Six hypotheses are identified from the electoral manipulation literature, focusing specifically on the influence of political consultants on politicians. These hypotheses are tested with an historical analysis of the use of polls in the political organization of the Liberal Party of Canada from 1943 to 1984. Secondly, in-depth interviews were conducted with prominent Liberals, and are reviewed to further test the hypotheses as they relate to the influence of polling on politicians. The study concludes by examining the rise of electoral technocracy in the party, and by assessing the pollsters' influence on political decision-making.

The purpose of this study is to examine the Jewish Immigrant Aid Services (JIAS) as an example of an ethnic lobby in the Canadian political system. The research explores how in-group and external political factors influence the techniques and effectiveness of JIAS within the immigration policy arena. Specifically, this paper examines how JIAS' lobbying efforts are influenced as a result of issues emerging from within the organization (e.g. structure, hierarchy, leadership, etc), and those arising from within the organization's constituency: Canadian Jews as a whole, and other organizations within the Jewish polity. Further, the broader context of public opinion and the Canadian immigration system are explored to determine how each affects JIAS' advocacy efforts. The political system is examined from the perspective of the structure and agendas operating at three levels of government involved in the development and implementation of immigration policy (the Department of Immigration, Legislative and Senate committees on immigration and employment, and the Cabinet).

This thesis studies the discursive behaviour of Canadian federal political parties with regards to immigration and integration issues. It seeks to test the empirical acuity offered by brokerage and issue ownership theories to explain the parties' electoral strategies in these domains. It examines the evolution of partisan discourse in relation to these themes over time, with special attention paid to the merger of right parties. It also studies the impact of certain real-world events, such as the referendum on Quebec secession in 1995 and the terrorist attacks of September 2001, on party positions. It thus proposes a quantitative and qualitative content analysis of five major parties' discourse, focusing on the various positions held by each of them on the issues of immigration and integration in their respective 1993, 1997, 2000, and 2004 election platforms.

The aim of this thesis is to reveal the need for a principled framework that would establish an effective implementation of the aboriginal peoples' right to self-government in Canada. In recent decades, many agreements instituting the right to self-government of First Nations have been concluded between the federal and provincial governments and aboriginal peoples. It then becomes important to evaluate the attempts of the two existing orders of government and the courts of Canada as regards the right to self-government and assess the potential usefulness of the two's efforts at defining and implementing the right. Firstly, the importance and legitimacy of the right to self-government is recognized through its beginnings in the human right norm of self-determination in international law to the establishment of the right in Canadian domestic law. Secondly, an evaluation of the principal attempts, on behalf of the governments and the courts, to give meaning and scope to the aboriginal right to self-government, which culminate in the conclusion of modern agreements, reveals their many inefficiencies and the need for a workable and concrete alternative. Lastly, the main lacunae of the negotiation process, the main process by which the right is concluded and implemented, and the use of the courts to determine the scope and protection of the right to self-government, are revealed. An analysis of European initiatives to entrench the right to self-government, mainly the European Charter of Self-Government and its established set of principles that guide the creation of self-government agreements, are also used in order to propose a viable option for the establishment of a principled framework for the aboriginal right to self-government in Canada.

That leaders are important in Canadian party politics is almost axiomatic: they are the prime electoral resource, the ultimate policy authority and the focus of media attention. Yet little is known of what divides provincial parties when they choose a new master. The politics of provincial leadership conventions lie in uncharted waters. This thesis focuses on provincial parties, exploring support patterns at Maritime leadership conventions. The study draws primarily on data provided by unpublished surveys of delegates to Liberal and Progressive Conservative leadership conventions in the three Maritime provinces. These nine conventions took place between 1971 and 1986 and the delegate survey responses report the behaviour and attitudes of over 3100 party activists. The analysis develops provincial, partisan and secular comparisons. A framework for analysing delegate support patterns is derived from the literature on national conventions and Maritime politics. Application of this framework to the nine conventions reveals a recurring theme. Candidate support is best understood in a 'friends and neighbours' framework. Friends and neighbours refers first, to a non-factional geographic pattern of support. Simply put, delegates tend to support the local candidate, a neighbour. The second element of friends and neighbours support relates to ethno-religious ties. Candidates receive disproportionate support from delegates who are 'friends' in terms of shared religious or ethnic background. Friends and neighbours divisions were more important than attitude, age, gender or differences in social status: they were present throughout the period in each province and both parties. The importance of place and religion/ethnicity provide empirical evidence of Maritime traditionalism. The support patterns would be well understood by 19th century politicians and show no sign of dissipating. Attempts to link these patterns to age or level of education were unsuccessful. Virtually all delegates were influenced by the ties of 'friendship' or 'neighbourhood'. The major exceptions were ex officio delegates. These party professionals acting in a brokerage role were relatively immune from the friends and neighbours pull. By mitigating such divisions, ex officio delegates made substantial contributions to party unity. This thesis reveals a coherent and consistent pattern of intra party divisions in the region. It confirms the strength of traditionalism in the Maritimes and highlights an important manifestation of this traditionalism: ethno religious solidarity undercut by localism and mitigated by brokerage politics. Such findings are in sharp contrast to assertions that Maritime politics is changing.
Arts, Faculty of
Political Science, Department of
Graduate

Entertainer or agent provocateur? The modern Canadian political cartoonist, historically speaking, possesses a split identity. The Gazette cartoonist Terry Mosher---a.k.a. Aislin---in his experience, career and involvement in the fall 1988 fight against free trade, illustrates the tension inherent in the identity of the modern Canadian political cartoonist. Mosher's experience offers a theory as to what circumstances might compel a cartoonist to break the cartoonist's compromise---an informal promise not to use their powerful platform to advance a coherent, systematic and specific political agenda or aim in exchange for editorial independence, journalistic "status," and proper financial remuneration---a state of affairs modern cartoonists are, under normal circumstances, happy to accept.

This study has attempted to explain the dramatic challenges to the existing party system that occurred in Canada and the United States in the early 1990s. The emergence of new political movements with substantial power at the ballot box has transformed both party systems. The rise of United We Stand America in the United States, and the Reform Party in Canada prompts scholars to ask what forces engender such movements. This study demonstrates that models of economic voting and key models of party system change are both instrumental for understanding the rise of new political movements.

For much of the last twenty years, political leaders and academics have assumed that the survival of Canada depends on constitutional reform, and never more so than in the wake of the 1995 Quebec referendum. This thesis updates the literature by explaining the remarkable story of the last several years: the achievement of a national unity peace in the absence of constitutional reform. The explanation centres on the post-referendum shift in federal strategy from constitutional reform to Plan B, a strategy based on the rules of secession that has its origins, it is argued, in the Reform Party's response to Mulroneyera constitutional reform. The thesis concludes that Plan B was a successful national unity strategy because it made secession seem risky and undesirable, but also because the strategy - unlike constitutional reform - was based on widespread national support and on the viability of the constitutional status quo.

In this thesis, I argue that the First Nations Governance Act (FNGA) shares the colonial aspirations of other pieces of historical legislation in the Canadian context. The FNGA attempted to have First Nations' local governing structures mirror those of the Canadian state. As a result, this piece of legislation fails to recognize and respect the jurisdictional authority of First Nations over their own internal socio-political structures and systems. The FNGA is therefore a colonial assault on First Nations' jurisdiction in the realm of governance undermining the right to self-government and self-determination of First Nations.
I demonstrate this by examining three major issues dealt with in the FNGA: the status of historical and modern Canada-First Nations treaties, the jurisdiction of First Nations governance authority as well as control over band membership and Indian status classification systems.

This paper will rather seek to uncover and emphasize Cold War imperatives that served as significant guiding factors in shaping the Canadian response to the Suez Crisis. The success of Canadian diplomacy in the 1956 Suez Crisis was in the ability of Secretary of State for External Affairs Lester B. Pearson and his Canadian colleagues to protect Western interests in the context of the Cold War. Suez threatened Anglo-American unity, and the future of the North Atlantic alliance. It also presented the Soviets an opportunity to gain influence in the Middle East. The United Nations Emergency Force ensured that Britain and France had a means to extricate themselves from the Crisis. Canada wished to further protect Western credibility in the eyes of the non-white Commonwealth and Afro-Asian bloc. It was, therefore, important to focus international attention on Soviet aggression in Hungary, and not Anglo-French intervention in Egypt.

The European refugee crisis sparked many debates within the European Union member states, as European countries had different ideas about handling the situation. As a result to the long negotiations without decisions, the crisis escalated, resulting in anti-immigrant, populist parties to emerge with big support among European citizens.The Hungarian government was among the first countries in the European Union to capitalise upon the refugee crisis by politicising the question of immigration, therefore, several anti-immigration campaigns were initiated in Hungary during 2015 and 2016.By analysing and comparing two campaign materials (one from 2015 and one from 2016) via the three-dimensional critical discourse analysis model of Fairclough, the thesis sought to identify the milestones and the rhetoric shifts of the communication of the Hungarian government that changed the public discourse in Hungary, as well as to point out similarities with populist practices in the anti-immigrant campaigns. The empirical analysis was carried out in the theoretical framework of discourse and power, populism, post-factuality, and agenda setting and framing.The text argued for a rhetorical shift between 2015 and 2016, in which the target of the governmental communication changed from refugees towards the European Union and its immigration policy. The thesis found evidence for the usage of populist practices that vastly affected the way Hungarians approach the question of immigration.It is hoped that this thesis could highlight the imbalance in the power relations of the public discourse in Hungary, and the findings could contribute to further analyses of populist campaigns in the period of the European refugee crisis.

The purpose of this study was to determine factors (internal and external) that influenced Canadian provincial (state) politicians when making funding decisions about public libraries. Using the case study methodology, Canadian provincial/state level funding for public libraries in the 2009-10 fiscal year was examined. After reviewing funding levels across the country, three jurisdictions were chosen for the case: British Columbia's budget revealed dramatically decreased funding, Alberta's budget showed dramatically increased funding, and Ontario's budget was unchanged from the previous year. The primary source of data for the case was a series of semi-structured interviews with elected officials and senior bureaucrats from the three jurisdictions. An examination of primary and secondary documents was also undertaken to help set the political and economic context as well as to provide triangulation for the case interviews. The data were analysed to determine whether Cialdini's theory of influence (2001) and specifically any of the six tactics of influence (i.e, commitment and consistency, authority, liking, social proof, scarcity and reciprocity) were instrumental in these budget processes. Findings show the principles of "authority", "consistency and commitment" and "liking" were relevant, and that "liking" were especially important to these decisions. When these decision makers were considering funding for public libraries, they most often used three distinct lenses: the consistency lens (what are my values? what would my party do?), the authority lens (is someone with hierarchical power telling me to do this? are the requests legitimate?), and most importantly, the liking lens (how much do I like and know about the requester?). These findings are consistent with Cialdini's theory, which suggests the quality of some relationships is one of six factors that can most influence a decision maker. The small number of prior research studies exploring the reasons for increases or decreases in public library funding allocation decisions have given little insight into the factors that motivate those politicians involved in the process and the variables that contribute to these decisions. No prior studies have examined the construct of influence in decision making about funding for Canadian public libraries at any level of government. Additionally, no prior studies have examined the construct of influence in decision making within the context of Canadian provincial politics. While many public libraries are facing difficult decisions in the face of uncertain funding futures, the ability of the sector to obtain favourable responses to requests for increases may require a less simplistic approach than previously thought. The ability to create meaningful connections with individuals in many communities and across all levels of government should be emphasised as a key factor in influencing funding decisions.

RésuméCette thèse s’intéresse à l’impact du genre, de l’âge et de l’ethnicité des chef·fes de partis au Canada sur la réception de leur candidature par les électeur·rices. La perception sociale est intrinsèquement relationnelle et met autant en scène l’identité du/de la candidat·e que de l’électeur·rice. Par conséquent, cette thèse s’attarde à la fois au profil sociodémographique des chef·fes de partis et des électeur·ices qui sont appelé·es à les évaluer. Ce faisant, elle contribue aux champs des études électorales et de la psychologie politique.Trois méthodes complémentaires sont employées. La première partie de la thèse s’appuie sur une analyse quantitative de données électorales fédérales (1988-2015) ainsi que dans trois provinces canadiennes (Québec (2012-2014), Alberta (2012) et Colombie Britannique (2013)). Elle s’intéresse à l’évaluation des chef·fes de partis ainsi qu’aux intentions de vote en fonction du profil sociodémographique des leaders politiques et des électeur·rices en ancrant fermement l’analyse dans le contexte social et politique canadien. Pour finir, un dernier chapitre présentant une analyse quantitative de démocraties occidentales (l’Allemagne (2017), la Nouvelle-Zélande (2017), la France (2017) et les États-Unis (2016)) permet de mettre les conclusionstirées au sujet du Canada en perspective. La seconde partie de cette thèse présente deux expériences, l’une réalisée en laboratoire à l’Université Laval et l’autre en ligne. Basées surdes élections fictives mettant en scène des candidat·es varié·es en termes de genre, d’âge etd’ethnicité, ces expériences s’attardent à la teneur de la relation causale entre l’apparencede candidats et le comportement politique des électeur·rices. La dernière partie de la thèse consiste, quant à elle, en l’analyse de données qualitatives recueillies lors de six groupes de discussion ayant eu lieu entre 2018 et 2019 à l’Université Laval. Trois d’entre eux ont été réalisés avec des personnes ayant participé à l’expérience en laboratoire, et trois autres suites à un appel de volontaires. L’étude de ces discussions met en lumière le mécanisme causal à l’étude en identifiant la teneur des stéréotypes politiques basés sur le genre, l’âge et l’ethnicité au Québec ainsi que la façon dont des stéréotypes sont employés, réprimés, pensés et remis en question par l’électorat. En particulier, cette section de la thèse s’attarde à la possibilité d’inférence de valeurs et d’idées politiques en fonction du profil et de l’apparence d’un·e candidat·e. La principale conclusion de cet ouvrage est le caractère conditionnel, mais bien réel, des comportements politiques pouvant être qualifiés d’affinitaires (liés a l’appui politique de candidat·es partageant des caractéristiques sociodémographiques avec des électeur·ices) au Canada et basés sur l’apparence des candidat·es politique. En d’autres mots, les électeurs sont bel et bien au courant des narratifs sociaux entourant la présence de personnes issues de groupes historiquement marginalisés dans l’arène politique, et ils emploient et questionnent les notions préconçues liées à certains groupes sociaux à différents degrés. Bien que les stéréotypes associés à l’"outsider" politique s’avère parfois nettement divergents du profil du politicien dittypique, cette déviation face à la norme politique n’est pas systématiquement sanctionnée.Dépendant du profil de l’électeur, des idéologies qu’il porte et de l’offre politique en place àun moment donné, cette marginalité peut être activement recherchée, car associée à la per-formance de "la politique autrement" ou encore à une meilleure représentation politique d’ungroupe social auquel l’électeur peut s’identifier. Un survol de l’état de la question dans d’autresdémocraties occidentales soulève cependant la question des règles du jeu politique. Il révèleque ces comportements politiques au Canada en contexte électoral ressemblent davantage auxphénomènes observés lors d’élections présidentielles que lorsqu’il est question d’autres régimesparlementaires s’appuyant quant à eu sur un mode de scrutin proportionnel mixte.
RésuméCette thèse s’intéresse à l’impact du genre, de l’âge et de l’ethnicité des chef·fes de partis au Canada sur la réception de leur candidature par les électeur·rices. La perception sociale est intrinsèquement relationnelle et met autant en scène l’identité du/de la candidat·e que de l’électeur·rice. Par conséquent, cette thèse s’attarde à la fois au profil sociodémographique des chef·fes de partis et des électeur·ices qui sont appelé·es à les évaluer. Ce faisant, elle contribue aux champs des études électorales et de la psychologie politique.Trois méthodes complémentaires sont employées. La première partie de la thèse s’appuie sur une analyse quantitative de données électorales fédérales (1988-2015) ainsi que dans trois provinces canadiennes (Québec (2012-2014), Alberta (2012) et Colombie Britannique (2013)). Elle s’intéresse à l’évaluation des chef·fes de partis ainsi qu’aux intentions de vote en fonction du profil sociodémographique des leaders politiques et des électeur·rices en ancrant fermement l’analyse dans le contexte social et politique canadien. Pour finir, un dernier chapitre présentant une analyse quantitative de démocraties occidentales (l’Allemagne (2017), la Nouvelle-Zélande (2017), la France (2017) et les États-Unis (2016)) permet de mettre les conclusionstirées au sujet du Canada en perspective. La seconde partie de cette thèse présente deux expériences, l’une réalisée en laboratoire à l’Université Laval et l’autre en ligne. Basées surdes élections fictives mettant en scène des candidat·es varié·es en termes de genre, d’âge etd’ethnicité, ces expériences s’attardent à la teneur de la relation causale entre l’apparencede candidats et le comportement politique des électeur·rices. La dernière partie de la thèse consiste, quant à elle, en l’analyse de données qualitatives recueillies lors de six groupes de discussion ayant eu lieu entre 2018 et 2019 à l’Université Laval. Trois d’entre eux ont été réalisés avec des personnes ayant participé à l’expérience en laboratoire, et trois autres suites à un appel de volontaires. L’étude de ces discussions met en lumière le mécanisme causal à l’étude en identifiant la teneur des stéréotypes politiques basés sur le genre, l’âge et l’ethnicité au Québec ainsi que la façon dont des stéréotypes sont employés, réprimés, pensés et remis en question par l’électorat. En particulier, cette section de la thèse s’attarde à la possibilité d’inférence de valeurs et d’idées politiques en fonction du profil et de l’apparence d’un·e candidat·e. La principale conclusion de cet ouvrage est le caractère conditionnel, mais bien réel, des comportements politiques pouvant être qualifiés d’affinitaires (liés a l’appui politique de candidat·es partageant des caractéristiques sociodémographiques avec des électeur·ices) au Canada et basés sur l’apparence des candidat·es politique. En d’autres mots, les électeurs sont bel et bien au courant des narratifs sociaux entourant la présence de personnes issues de groupes historiquement marginalisés dans l’arène politique, et ils emploient et questionnent les notions préconçues liées à certains groupes sociaux à différents degrés. Bien que les stéréotypes associés à l’"outsider" politique s’avère parfois nettement divergents du profil du politicien dittypique, cette déviation face à la norme politique n’est pas systématiquement sanctionnée.Dépendant du profil de l’électeur, des idéologies qu’il porte et de l’offre politique en place àun moment donné, cette marginalité peut être activement recherchée, car associée à la per-formance de "la politique autrement" ou encore à une meilleure représentation politique d’ungroupe social auquel l’électeur peut s’identifier. Un survol de l’état de la question dans d’autresdémocraties occidentales soulève cependant la question des règles du jeu politique. Il révèleque ces comportements politiques au Canada en contexte électoral ressemblent davantage auxphénomènes observés lors d’élections présidentielles que lorsqu’il est question d’autres régimesparlementaires s’appuyant quant à eu sur un mode de scrutin proportionnel mixte.
This thesis examines the impact of the gender, age, and ethnicity of party leaders in Canada on the way these candidates are received by electors. Social perception is intrinsically relational and puts as much emphasis on the identity of the candidate as the voter. Consequently, this thesis focuses on both the socio-demographic profile of party leaders and the electors who are called upon to evaluate them. In doing so, she contributes to the fields of electoral studies and political psychology. To do this, three complementary research methods are employed. The first part of the thesis is based on a quantitative analysis of federal electoral data (1988-2015) as well as three Canadian provinces (Quebec (2012-2014), Alberta (2012) and British Columbia (2013)). It looks at the evaluation of party leaders and votes intentions according to the socio-demographic profile of political leaders and voters. The analysis is firmly anchored in the Canadian social and political context. However, a last chapter presenting a quantitative analysis of Western democracies (Germany (2017), New Zealand (2017), France (2017) and the United States (2016)) provides a different perspective on the conclusions drawn in about Canada. The second part of thist hesis presents two experiments, one done in a laboratory at Université Laval and the other online. Based on fictitious elections featuring diverse candidates in terms of gender, age and ethnicity, these experiments focus on the content of the causal relationship between the appearance of candidates and voters’ political behaviour. The last part of the thesis consists in the analysis of qualitative data collected during six discussion groups held between 2018 and 2019 at Université Laval. Three of them were done with people who had participated in the lab experiment, and three others after a call for volunteers. The analysis of these discussions highlights the causal mechanism under study by identifying the content of political stereotypes based on gender, age, and ethnicity in Quebec as well as the way stereotypes are used, repressed, thought out, and questioned by the electorate. In particular, this section of the thesis focuses on the possibility of inferring values and political ideas based on the appearance of a candidate. The main conclusion of this work is the conditional, but very real, occurrence of political be-haviours that can be described as affinity-based (linked to the political support of candidates sharing socio-demographic characteristics with electors) in Canada. In other words, voters are well aware of the social narratives surrounding the presence of people from historically marginalized groups in the political arena, and they use and question preconceived notions related to these groups to different degrees. Although a particular set of characteristics maybe associated with the political "outsider", this deviation from the political norm is not systematically sanctioned. Depending on the profile of voters, the ideologies they carry and the political offer in place at a given moment, this marginality can be actively sought, because associated with the performance of "politics differently" or the better political representation of a social group to which the elector can identify. An overview of the state of affairs in other Western democracies, however, raises the question of the rules of the political game. It reveals that these political behaviours in Canada are more similar to the phenomena observed in pres-idential elections than when we look at other parliamentary systems using mixed proportional voting.
This thesis examines the impact of the gender, age, and ethnicity of party leaders in Canada on the way these candidates are received by electors. Social perception is intrinsically relational and puts as much emphasis on the identity of the candidate as the voter. Consequently, this thesis focuses on both the socio-demographic profile of party leaders and the electors who are called upon to evaluate them. In doing so, she contributes to the fields of electoral studies and political psychology. To do this, three complementary research methods are employed. The first part of the thesis is based on a quantitative analysis of federal electoral data (1988-2015) as well as three Canadian provinces (Quebec (2012-2014), Alberta (2012) and British Columbia (2013)). It looks at the evaluation of party leaders and votes intentions according to the socio-demographic profile of political leaders and voters. The analysis is firmly anchored in the Canadian social and political context. However, a last chapter presenting a quantitative analysis of Western democracies (Germany (2017), New Zealand (2017), France (2017) and the United States (2016)) provides a different perspective on the conclusions drawn in about Canada. The second part of thist hesis presents two experiments, one done in a laboratory at Université Laval and the other online. Based on fictitious elections featuring diverse candidates in terms of gender, age and ethnicity, these experiments focus on the content of the causal relationship between the appearance of candidates and voters’ political behaviour. The last part of the thesis consists in the analysis of qualitative data collected during six discussion groups held between 2018 and 2019 at Université Laval. Three of them were done with people who had participated in the lab experiment, and three others after a call for volunteers. The analysis of these discussions highlights the causal mechanism under study by identifying the content of political stereotypes based on gender, age, and ethnicity in Quebec as well as the way stereotypes are used, repressed, thought out, and questioned by the electorate. In particular, this section of the thesis focuses on the possibility of inferring values and political ideas based on the appearance of a candidate. The main conclusion of this work is the conditional, but very real, occurrence of political be-haviours that can be described as affinity-based (linked to the political support of candidates sharing socio-demographic characteristics with electors) in Canada. In other words, voters are well aware of the social narratives surrounding the presence of people from historically marginalized groups in the political arena, and they use and question preconceived notions related to these groups to different degrees. Although a particular set of characteristics maybe associated with the political "outsider", this deviation from the political norm is not systematically sanctioned. Depending on the profile of voters, the ideologies they carry and the political offer in place at a given moment, this marginality can be actively sought, because associated with the performance of "politics differently" or the better political representation of a social group to which the elector can identify. An overview of the state of affairs in other Western democracies, however, raises the question of the rules of the political game. It reveals that these political behaviours in Canada are more similar to the phenomena observed in pres-idential elections than when we look at other parliamentary systems using mixed proportional voting.

During 1947 and 1948, over a thousand Croatian-Canadians went to Yugoslavia as part of a larger return movement that was organized by the Yugoslav-Canadian pro-Communist umbrella organization, the Council of Canadian South Slavs. The returnees were strongly encouraged to return by the Council and by its related Croatian-Canadian pro-Communist organization and newspaper, and left Canada aboard the Yugoslav vessel Radnik in a series of voyages. Many of the returnees had been in Canada for some twenty years, and quit jobs, sold houses and business assets, and uprooted their families in order to return. This thesis places the Croatian-Canadian pro-Communist return movement within the context of return migration from North America by examining to what extent the returnees' decision to go back to Yugoslavia is explainable in terms of circumstances specific to themselves, and to what extent it reveals forces that were felt by other ethnic groups of the period. This study draws mainly upon interviews with participants in the return movement and upon the Croatian-Canadian pro-Communist newspaper Novosti in concluding that the returnees were motivated by a powerful and complex combination of forces: "traditional" return migration pressures; radicalizing and anti-assimilationist influences that were typical during the 1930s among the followers of the ethnic pro-Communist movement in Canada; Yugoslav wartime and postwar conditions that encouraged and allowed the returnees to go back; and a highly-organized and skillfully-propagandized return movement that both capitalized upon and created a desire for return among the Croatian-Canadian pro-Communists.
Arts, Faculty of
History, Department of
Graduate

The purpose of this dissertation was to compare British policy towards Ireland/Northern Ireland and United States and Canadian Indian policies. Despite apparent differences, it was hypothesized that closer examination would reveal significant similarities. A conceptual framework was provided by the utilization of Hartzian fragment theory and the theory of internal colonialism. Eighteen research questions and a series of questions concerned with the applicability of the theoretical constructs were tested using largely historical data and statistical indices of social and economic development. The research demonstrated that Gaelic-Irish and North American Indian societies came under pressure from, and were ultimately subjugated by colonizing fragments marked by their high level of ideological cohesiveness. In the Irish case the decisive moment was the Ulster fragmentation of the seventeenth century which set in juxtaposition a defiant, uncompromising, zealously Protestant, "Planter" community and an equally defiant, recalcitrant, native Gaelic-Catholic population. In the United States traditional Indian society was confronted by a largely British-derived, single-fragment regime which was characterized by a profound sense of mission and an Indian policy rooted in its liberal ideology. In Canada the clash between two competing settler fragments led to the victory of the British over the French, and the pursuit of Indian policies based on many of the same premises that underlay United States policies. The indigenous populations in each of the cases under consideration suffered enormous loss of land, physical and cultural destruction, racial discrimination, economic exploitation and were stripped of their political independence. They responded through collective violence, by the formation of cultural revitalization movements, and by intense domestic and international lobbying. They continue to exist today as internal colonies of the developed fragment states within which they are subsumed.

This thesis presents a new approach to the long-standing question of how electoral rules influence the behaviour of legislators. It begins with the argument that fresh empirical advances can be made by moving beyond the pervasive but rigid assumption that all legislators want to be re-elected and, by extension, that every incumbent values this goal to the same degree. Rather, I propose that individual Members of Parliament (MPs) vary in the extent to which they personally desire or depend upon re-election. Following the principles of a difference-in-differences design, this observation allows me to devise a theoretical framework capable of testing whether MPs' vote-seeking behaviour differs within parliaments in a way that varies predictably across countries. Specifically, I propose that in electoral systems where party-centric behaviour increases re-election chances, MPs particularly invested in the goal of re-election should cater to the party to an even greater extent than their colleagues. Conversely, in systems where a personal vote can generate electoral gains, MPs most ambitious for re-election should engage in this type of vote-winning strategy to the greatest extent. I test this prediction across the UK House of Commons and the German Bundestag, and within Germany's mixed-member system. Newly-collected biographical data on over 1700 MPs is used to conduct the first systematic MP-level operationalisation of re-election ambition based on legislators' career backgrounds. Career politicians are thereby identified as those most ambitious for re-election. Using voting behaviour from 1.8 million vote choices in legislative roll-calls as a proxy for the degree to which an MP caters to the party or to his or her personal reputation, the quantitative multilevel analysis reveals strong evidence for the proposed behavioural pattern. The contribution made by this study is two-fold. First, it uncovers the interaction between electoral rules and individual re-election ambition as a new explanation for MP-level variation in legislative behaviour. Second, its research design overcomes shortcomings in previous empirical tests for the existing theory on how electoral rules impact MP behaviour (e.g. Carey and Shugart 1995), producing more robust evidence in support of this influential framework.

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Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior - CAPES
This Master Thesis aims to study the main mechanisms for preventing and fighting corruption, emphasizing those of transparency and accountability; in addition to understand how these public policies are built, it seeks to understand the importance of State and society in running these mechanisms and to analyze the experience of the State Government of Maranhão related to the fight against corruption between 2015 and 2017. In order to understand the phenomenon of corruption, firstly it is necessary to understand the particularities of its conceptualization, classification and measurement, once it is necessary to consider the context of its occurrence, laws in force and its effects in society. Therefore, a research was also carried out on the concept of corruption through a brief analysis of the modern period using Machiavelli's thought and main trends in social sciences in the contemporary period, seeking to achieve its expression in the Brazilian reality
Esta dissertação tem como objeto de estudo os principais mecanismos de prevenção e combate à corrupção, evidenciando os de transparência e accountability; além de entender como essas políticas públicas são construídas, busca também compreender a importância do Estado e da sociedade no funcionamento desses mecanismos e analisar a experiência do governo do estado do Maranhão relacionada ao combate à corrupção no período de 2015 a 2017. Para entendermos o fenômeno da corrupção, torna-se necessário, primeiramente, compreendermos as particularidades de sua conceituação, tipificação e mensuração, uma vez que é preciso considerar o contexto de sua ocorrência, as leis vigentes e os efeitos na sociedade. Em razão disso, realizou-se também, uma pesquisa sobre o conceito de corrupção através de uma sucinta análise do período moderno recorrendo ao pensamento de Maquiavel e das principais vertentes das ciências sociais no período contemporâneo, buscando alcançar sua expressão na realidade brasileira

This thesis expands upon the concept of the global culture wars in sub-Saharan Africa from a Canadian perspective, focusing on the growing division within Canada between conservative, religious values and liberal, progressive ones (Caplan, 2012). This division led to a political and cultural realignment alongside the increased visibility and leadership of religious and faith communities in Canadian public and political life. Amidst this polarization, Conservative Party leader Stephen Harper was elected Prime Minister in February 2006. Under his leadership, a conservative, pro-family agenda was established. This agenda, which advocates a traditional understanding of family life and structure, in particular refers to a legally married, heterosexual couple with children. It was supported by the evangelical Christian population in Canada, which grew from a united religious community in Canada into a significant constituency of the Conservative Party. Harper’s tenure, coupled with the increased visibility and leadership of faith and religious communities significantly affected domestic and international policies during his tenure as Prime Minister, from 2006 to 2015. This thesis examines the Muskoka Initiative on Maternal, Child, and Newborn Health (Muskoka-MNCH) and shows how this initiative, which fostered anti-abortion rhetoric abroad, was utilized to appease the evangelical community’s anti-abortion position in Canada.

While not uncontested, the finding that liberal democracies rarely, if ever, fight wars against each other represents one of the seminal discoveries of international relations (IR) scholarship. Nevertheless, 'democratic peace theory' (DPT) – the body of scholarship that seeks to explain the democratic peace finding – still lacks a satisfactory explanation for this phenomenon. In this thesis, I argue that a primary source of this failure has been DPT's failure to recognize the importance of collective identification and trust for the eventuation of the 'liberal peace'. Building on existing DPT scholarship, most of it Realist or Rationalist in its inspiration, but also employing insights from Constructivist and Cognitivist scholarship, I develop a new model of how specific forms of collective identification can produce specific forms of trust. On this basis, I elaborate a new explanation of the liberal peace which sees it as arising out of a network of trusting liberal security communities. I then elaborate a new research design that enables a more rigorous and replicable empirical investigation of these ideas through the analysis of three historical cases studies, namely the Canada-USA, India-Pakistan, and France-Germany relationships. The results of this analysis support the plausibility of my theoretical framework, and also illuminate four additional findings. Specifically, I find that (1) IR scholarship needs a more nuanced understanding of the interaction between agents and structures; (2) 'institutionalized collaboration' is especially important for promoting collective identification; (3) DPT scholarship needs to focus more attention on the content of the narratives around which collective identification takes place; and (4) dramatic events play an important role in collective identification by triggering what I term catharses and epiphanies. I close the thesis by reviewing the implications of my findings for IR and for policymakers and by suggesting some areas worthy of additional research.

This dissertation explores how colonial administrators on each side of the Atlantic used the British Survey of North America to serve their governments’ as well as their personal objectives. Specifically, it connects the execution and oversight of the General Survey in the northern and southern theatres, along with the intelligence it provided, with the actions of key decision-makers and influencers, including the Presidents of the Board of Trade (latterly, the Secretaries of the American Department) and key provincial governors. Having abandoned their posture of ‘Salutary Neglect’ towards colonial affairs in favour of one that proactively and more centrally sought ways to develop and exploit their North American assets following the Severn Years’ War, the British needed better geographic information to guide their decision making. Thus, the General Survey of British North America, under the umbrella of the Board of Trade, was conceived. Officially sponsored from 1764-1775, the programme aimed to survey and analyse the attributes and economic potential of Britain’s newly acquired regions in North America, leading to an accurate general map of their North American empire when joined to other regional mapping programmes. The onset of the American Revolution brought an inevitable end to the General Survey before a connected map could be completed. Under the excellent leadership of Samuel Holland, the surveyor general of the Northern District, however, the British administration received surveys and reports that were of great relevance to high-level administration. In the Southern District, Holland’s counterpart, the mercurial William Gerard De Brahm, while producing reports of high quality, was less able to juggle the often conflicting priorities of provincial and London-based stakeholders. Consequently, results were less successful. De Brahm was recalled in 1771, leaving others to complete the work.

Political duration has been investigated with rigour at the cross-national level of analysis and increasingly at the Canadian level. Canada proves to be an interesting case in the cross-national literature. However, the Canadian provincial level of analysis has not been examined within the political duration literature. Studies of political duration have typically focused on cabinet, government, leader and individual legislator duration while neglecting party duration. Yet, it is important to consider the length of time a party spends in power because of its influence on the policy process. Legislators, governments and parties can become apathetic after long periods in power, which can stagnate policy development. Some parties have governed for exceptionally long periods of time in the provinces while other parties have ceased to hold office after just one term. Why is it that some parties last longer than others? Using event-history modelling and multiple logistic regression this thesis examines three different research questions: 1) What accounts for the variation in party government survival 2) What factors explain individual government survival in Canada for the period, 1945-2012 3) What factors contribute to election survival, in order to explain the duration story. I test the variables that have been identified in the cross-national literature as affecting political duration in the Canadian provinces. Cox proportional hazard models are used to test the variables in the first and second research question, while a multiple logistic regression is used to test what factors contribute to election survival. The thesis finds that leadership change, fractionalization and minority status have an effect on duration. The findings in this thesis confirm that, like Canada, the provinces are exceptional cases. While some of the identified explanatory variables affect political duration in the provinces, the usual variables do not completely explain the political duration story in the Canadian provinces.

During the twentieth century, as Canadian voters began to associate the brand of their major political parties with the characteristics of their leaders, the Liberal Party of Canada’s leadership races evolved into events of national importance. This study examines this transformation through the 1948, 1958 and 1968 leadership conventions. It incorporates perspectives from inside the Liberal Party as well as the Canadian media’s portrayals of the conventions. This thesis explores the alternating pattern of anglophone and francophone Party leaders, the complications associated with the predictability of the outcome, the evolution of convention tactics to recruit delegate support, Party (dis)unity throughout the contests, and the political science theories that deconstruct the conventions and predict outcomes. It also details how, over time, the political ambitions of senior-ranking members trumped the interests the Liberal Party.

This paper examines the recruitment, characteristics, motivation and functions of "political exempt staff in Canadian government. These potentially influential individuals, free from the political restrictions on public servants, tend to operate in the shadows cast by senior elected officeholders. As a result, too little is known of their characteristics or activities, although they have been the subject of some research. An important aim of this paper is to determine whether political exempt staff, by working closely with prime ministers, premiers or cabinet ministers, have significant influence on public policy-making. Thus, researching the origins, attributes, motivations and roles of these unelected political acolytes may yield useful information concerning the operation of Canadian democracy. Since public office, elected or otherwise, forms part of our social system, a large number of questions may be raised. What are the socio-economic and educational characteristics of exempt staff? How and from where are they recruited? What is it about political life which attracts their interest and helps to fulfill their aspirations? What motivates such individuals? How do such persons influence public policy? In terms of the democratic process, what is the nature and relative importance of the function performed by political exempt staff? For example, how are their duties and responsibilities determined and delimited? To what extent are their activities partisan in orientation? Do they tend to have an appreciable influence on government policies and programs? Further, what degree of control do exempt staff exercise over access to elected officials? To what extent do they shape public office-holders' opinions and decisions? If they act as "gate-keepers" and confidants, do they constitute effective targets for professional lobbyists and others seeking to influence government action? This paper seeks to address these and other questions through analysis of data derived from interviews with 33 former exempt staff who served as political assistants and advisers, primarily in the federal government. The purpose is to gain useful operational insights into a unique position in our governmental system. The findings of this study suggest that political exempt staff play an important role in sustaining a government's "political impulse", the policy momentum it gains from an election mandate. The exempt staff also constitute a valuable point of contact for persons or organizations seeking information, support or a favourable decision from government.

This thesis is a history of ideas and seeks to provide the first study of civic republican ideas and their impact on Britain's Australian and Canadian colonies in the mid-nineteenth century. In particular, the way in which civic republican ideas manifested themselves during the debates over responsible government is explored. The period between 1837 and 1855 is the primary focus of the thesis. Beginning with the Canadian rebellions and finishing with the Eureka rebellion, those eighteen years saw a fundamental shift in British policy towards the colonies and the birth of Lord Durham's second empire. The principle argument here is that civic republican ideas made a significant impact on the reform leaders who petitioned for greater democracy. Australian and Canadian historiography has tended to view the granting of responsible government as a triumph of liberal politics. This thesis examines the language of reform leaders and contends that the calls to end the corruption of the ruling tory cabals and to encourage widespread political participation by virtuous citizens are reflective of the civic republican tradition which can be traced back to Sidney, Harrington, Milton, Cromwell and ultimately, Machiavelli, Cicero and Aristotle. While acknowledging the place of Lockean liberalism, this thesis concludes that for many reform leaders and papers, the emphasis was on collectivism and communalism not the advancement of personal rights and individualism. Although not a contemporary word, this thesis contends that civic republicanism was a major political ideology and one which has been missing from the historical orthodoxies of Australia and Canada.

While Canada is often called a pluralist state, there are no sustained studies by political scientists in which aboriginal self-government is discussed specifically in terms of the analytical tradition of pluralist thought. Aboriginal self-government is usually discussed as an issue of cultural preservation or national self-determination. Aboriginal identity is framed in terms of cultural and national traits that are unique to an aboriginal community and selfgovernment is taken to represent the aboriginal communal desire to protect and preserve those traits. Is such an understanding of what motivates aboriginal self-government accurate, or does it yield an incomplete understanding of the complex phenomenon that aboriginal selfgovernment in Canada represents? The political tradition of pluralism allows for analysis of aboriginal self-government that addresses questions left unattended by the cultural and nationalist frameworks. Pluralism is often viewed as a public arrangement in which distinct groups are given room to live side by side, characterized by mutual recognition and affirmation. At the same time, there are different faces of pluralist theory and each addresses questions about the recognition and affirmation of aboriginal self-government in different ways. Those three contemporary faces can be distinguished by the labels communitarian, individualist, and relational. The major hypothesis advanced is that aboriginal self-government is better understood if an "identification" perspective on aboriginal identity is adopted as opposed to a "cultural" or "national" one and if that perspective is linked to a relational theory of pluralism as opposed to a communitarian or individualist one. The identification approach examines aboriginal identity not in terms of cultural and political traits, but in terms of identification with, and political commitment to, an aboriginal community. Relational pluralism in turn, examines the challenge of aboriginal self-government in terms of power differences within aboriginal communities and between aboriginal and Canadian governments. Applying these approaches to aboriginal politics in Canada confirms their suitability. Contrary to what previous scholarship has assumed, aboriginal self-government should not be seen primarily as a tool to preserve cultural and national differences as goods in and of themselves. The politics of aboriginal self-government should be seen as involving demands to equalize current imbalances in power so that aboriginal communities and the individuals within them can construct aboriginal identities according to their own design.

While western regional alienation has been the subject of much scholarly and public debate in Canada, we still know relatively little about the factors driving the phenomenon. Relying upon survey data collected in the 1997 Canadian Election Study (CES), this study attempts to substantively quantify western regional alienation and identify its correlates. Using the existing literature as a starting point, the study examines how western regionalism and political culture are typically conceptualized and identifies several factors commonly said to propel regional unrest and western 'distinctiveness.' Regression analysis is used to systematically test the accuracy of existing theories concerning western regional alienation. The study contends that while the four western provinces do not hold a monopoly on feelings of regional alienation, levels of unrest are indeed higher in the West than in other parts of the country. Regional alienation is also distinguished from more general understandings of political apathy or cynicism. Finally, with respect to the factors said to propel regional unrest, antipathy towards Quebec and Outgroups are shown to be the most important predictors or regional alienation - while attitudes concerning the economy, populism, social programs, law and order and continentalism have a weaker effect. However, even after controlling for these factors, significant regional differences remain. Thus, other factors - as-of-yet unaccounted for - must also play a role.