Showing papers in "Canadian Journal of Political Science in 1969"

Nomenklatura: The Soviet Communist Party's Leadership Recruitment System

Abstract: Le role directeur du parti communiste, dans la societe sovietique, est assure par la liste qu'il etablit des personnes qu'il estime eligibles aux postes de commande. Par ce systeme, connu sous le nom de “nomenklatura,” le parti nomme, a la tete de tous les secteurs de la vie publique, les individus qui ont sa confiance politique, generalement des communistes euxmemes. Ainsi le controle des activites des organisnies publics se trouve realise par le controle du personnel qui les dirige, controle par le parti et, au sein du parti, par le Secretariat du parti.Apparaissent sur la liste, les postes les plus importants du pays, postes de commande ou de gestion, que leurs detenteurs soient elus ou designes; l'accession a des postes de niveau inferieur est soumise a l'examen du parti et doit suivre ses normes. De la sorte, le personnel de cadre, qu'il apparaisse ou non sur la liste, se trouve controle de Moscou par les organismes centraux du parti.Par nature, la liste est un instrument de cooptation; elle en traduit constamment les abus. Elle secrete egalement le conservatisme et restreint la promotion des jeunes, des femmes et des cadres de nationalite non-russe.Quoique le parti ait recemment reduit l'importance de la liste en confiant une partie de ses pouvoirs de nomination a d'autres organismes, le fait qu'il y ait maintenu les postes-clefs de ces memes organismes indique qu'il maintiendra son controle sur leur personnel et done sur leurs activites. La liste est une technique extra-legale et semi-secrete par laquelle s'exerce l'hegemonie communiste sur le systeme politique sovietique; elle ne perdra pas son importance comme instrument de controle social aussi longtemps qu'elle demeurera le monopole du parti communiste.

Some Differences in the Political Socialization Patterns of Canadian and American Party Officials: A Preliminary Report

Abstract: Cette ´tude porte sur 1257 responsables de partis dans les r´gions m´tropolitaines de Vancouver, Winnipeg, Seattle et Minneapolis. De facon plus particuliere, elle compare la relative homog´n´it´ des responsables des partis politiques canadiens et am´ricains en regard de leurs ant´c´dents sociaux et de leur statut actuel. Elle examine les int´rets s´lectifs de leurs premieres exp´riences de socialisation politique dont le type de leur identification partisane, le degr´ de leur conscience et de leur participation politique, ainsi que l'âge approximatif ou se produisent ces phenomenes. Elle ´value l'importance relative et diff´rentielle des divers facteurs de socialisation en ses processus majeurs, ainsi que le role que jouent les traits politiques des parents, au moment de la premiere socialisation politique aussi bien qu'a l'´poque adulte.A l'examen de ces caract´ristiques sociales, on s'apercoit qu'aucun de ces groupes de responsables de partis n'est, de facon claire, davantage homogene ou h´t´rogene. Comme les deux groupes se trouvent a sur-repr´senter les couches socio-´conomiques sup´rieures de leur population respective, on peut d´duire que la responsabilit´ de postes sup´rieurs dans les partis commande suffisamment de prestige pour attirer dans la vie politique des gens d'un statut relativement ´lev´.II y a des diff´rences, selon la ligne nationale, entre le moment ou les responsables canadiens et am´ricains ont d´velopp´ une conscience politique et ou se sont affirm´es les premieres identifications a un parti. Dans les deux cas, le ph´nomene se produit a un âge plus avanc´ chez les Canadiens, qui ont aussi tendance a changer plus fr´quemment de parti que leurs ´quivalents am´ricains. De facon g´n´rate, l'´ducation des Am´ricains fut I'œuvre de parents davantage politis´s, ce qui les marqua davantage que les Canadiens.On peut conclure qu'il y a, chez les responsables canadiens de partis, tendance a retarder leur identification a un parti, a tenir moins compte des pr´f´rences partisanes de leurs parents ou a avoir tout simplement des parents moins int´ress´s a la politique, que le milieu social canadien est moins politis´ et qu'il s'y trouve moins de continuit´ politique entre les g´n´rations.

Symbolism in Gandhian Politics

Abstract: Larticle demontre que l'activite politique de Gandhi peut etre expliquiee par les symboles auxquels il a eu recours. Pour Gandhi, la politique n'avait pas qu'une fonction utilitaire mais aussi un role de formation par la poursuite de valeurs, d'origine spirituelle sans doute, mais servant d'objectifs a l'action politique. Pour faire saisir ces objectifs, Gandhi a eu recours a divers symboles : le « khadi » (piece d'etoffe du pays s'enroulant a la taille et faisant office de vetement unique), la vache, leune et le « harijan » (mot signifiant « peuple de Dieu » par lequel Gandhi designait les « Intouchables » de l'Inde). Les valeurs representees par ces symboles etaient la dignite du travail, la noblesse de la personne en soi, la bienveillance, la purete de l'âme, la liberte naturelle et civile, ainsi que la poursuite du bonheur par des voies a la fois materielles et spirituelles dont la pratique de certaines vertues telles l'esprit de pauvrete, la chastete et la droiture du cœur.De tels symboles servaient a la propagation des idees de Gandhi. Ainsi, ceux qui portaient le khadi semblaient adherer a ses valeurs et pratiquer les vertus appropriees. Par l'utilisation de ces symboles, Gandhi reussit a provoquer chez ses adherents, quoique a des degres divers, des changements d'ethique personnelle. Ces symboles aident egalement a comprendre les tâches politiques que Gandhi a pu assumer avec succes. Le jeune, par exemple, lui a servi d'instrument pour ameliorer la legislation et les attitudes sociales a l'egard des « intouchables » De meme, il a utilise, mais sans succes, la vache comme symbole d'amitie entre Indous et Musulmans. L'auteur conclut que l'originalite du style politique de Gandhi s'explique largement par les symboles d'action qu'il avait adopte.

Children and the Political Community: A Comparison across Racial Lines

Abstract: This paper is an analysis of black and white children's orientations to the American political community. It is part of a larger project that seeks to delineate the patterns of development of supportive attitudes towards the American political system among children of the two racial groups.1 The analysis proceeds within a framework proposed by David Easton. That is, the project represents an effort to measure diffuse support2 for the political community, regime, and authorities.3 The goals are (1) to determine the extent to which the black child gains a set of political perspectives fundamentally different from that of his white counterpart and (2) to assess in some manner the attitudinal consequences of the grim history of race relations in America.

The Nonalignment of Afro-Asian States: Policy, Perception, and Behaviour

Abstract: Examen de l'orientation politique Internationale de trois Etats afro-asiatiques au milieu des annees 1950 et au debut des annees 1960—periode importante dans l'etablissement de leur position Internationale d'aujourd'hui—avec une insistance particuliere sur l'interaction entre la politique officielle, les attitudes des leaders nationaux et les comportements politiques au jour le jour. Les Etats qui font l'objet de l'etude sont l'Inde, l'Egypte et l'Indonesie. Elle s'applique (1) a clarifier le contenu de la politique, ses perceptions et le comportement effectif, (2) a etablir les rapports entre ces trois dimensions d'une direction nationale en politique etrangere, et (3) a preciser le degre de variation des perceptions et du comportement d'un Etat a l'autre. Le contenu de la politique se determine par une analyse qualitative des declarations officielles; on saisit les perceptions par une analyse automatisee de contenu des discours que prononcerent Nehru, Nasser et Soukarno lors de conferences afro-asiatiques specialement importantes; le comportement se degage d'une analyse quantitative des relations avec les grandes puissances. Les resultats montrent que les trois pays nonalignes ne manifestent aucune partialite envers le monde libre ou les pays communistes, ni qu'ils aient une orientation favorable a l'egard de l'Est ou de l'Ouest. A l'examen des politiques communes des trois pays a l'egard des grandes puissances on aboutit aux memes conclusions. Toutefois, l'Inde et l'Indonesie font montre d'une meilleure cooperation avec l'Ouest que l'Egypte dont l'activite politique s'affronte davantage a celle de l'Ouest qu'a celle de l'Est. Ces resultats n'entament pas necessairement la nature du nonalignement afro-asiatique mais signalent l'importance d'une reevaluation du role de cette politique dans le systeme international d'aujourd'hui.

Partis et systèmes politiques: interactions et fonctions

Abstract: It is no longer in style to develop typologies of political regimes based on their party systems. Systematic studies today are interested in parties only in terms of their role in the functioning of the political system as a whole. No doubt it is an insoluble problem to determine whether parties and the party system are variables which are independent or dependent in relation to the political system. Besides, without being able to rule out a relationship of interdependence, the two terms display a certain degree of independence and are not in a relationship of co-variance. Thus it is that the political system is shaped to a certain extent by the opposition of the parties to the system, the parties in turn having been conditioned by three other kinds of forces.The problem of specifying the functions of parties remains a central one, even though there is much confusion in the use of the language of functionalism. It is therefore important to clarify the notion of the functions of political parties. If one defines the political system as a set of processes and mechanisms which bring about the convergence or neutralization of irresistible social pluralisms without exploding the balance of these pluralist forces, then one can distinguish three functional requirements: (1) the legitimation-stabilization function; (2) the tribunician function (integration or neutralization of centrifugal forces); (3) the function of providing governmental alternatives.Where there is interaction between parties and the political system, one can discern an aspect of non-dependence between the two terms. In the first place, the parties (and not only the anti-system or revolutionary parties) do not develop solely in accordance with their relationship to the political system. Secondly, the system too has a certain degree of self-determination, even when confronted with anti-system parties.

Personality and Decision-Making: John F. Kennedy in Four Crisis Decisions

Abstract: L'article vise a preciser le role de la personnalite dans la dynamique politique. On a considere que la personnalite est un parametre significatif (a) lorsque les agents politiques sont en position et ont les moyens d'exercer une influence strategique sur le processus politique et (b) s'ils sont momentanement degages des imperatifs de l'ethique et de la raison qui tendent a banaliser le comportement humain. La decision prise par un chef d'Etat moderne, lors d'une crise, correspond a une telle conjoncture.L'auteur assume au depart que les situations qui exigent la formulation d'une politique sont frequemment porteuses de caracteristiques en harmonie avec la personnalite et susceptibles, de ce fait, de ramener le circuit decisionnel du systeme politique aux elements de therapie associes aux reactions psychiques du gouvernant. Pour verifier le valeur heuristique de cette hypothese, on a groupe, selon diverses conjectures, des faits revelateurs de la personnalite, chez Kennedy, d'apres les exigences d'un modele cybernetique. Apres quoi fut examine le role hypothetique des facteurs specifiques a quatre decisions.L'etude revele que la personnalite de Kennedy suivait un seul scheme de motivation et que ce scheme etait differemment affecte par deux aspects dans chaque decision a prendre. Place devant ce qui lui semblait etre la perspective de regler une affaire (l'affaire cubaine et la crise de l'acier), il reagissait positivement, de maniere a retablir l'image qu'il se faisait de lui-meme; place devant un probleme auquel il n'entrevoyait pas de solution (l'affaire de la Baie des Cochons et le cas Meredith), il se retranchait dans l'expectative. Une reaction positive se trouvait done a intensifier chez lui le besoin d'agir, alors qu'une reaction attentiste reduisait de fait ce besoin. La difference de resultat (succes ou echec) s'expliquait par le fait que ses mecanismes de reglage (pessimisme, prudence et scepticisme) affectaient chaque situation de facon identique: une reaction aggressive se trouvait ramenee a des proportions manœuvrables, ce qui entrainait des programmes d'action adaptes; une reaction defaitiste se trouvait amplifiee au point de le confiner a des strategies marginales et inadaptees.

The Case against the Canadian Charter of Human Rights

Abstract: The delivery of a presidential address is like being born or being hanged in that there is nothing in an individual's previous experience which gives him any clues as to how he should act on such an occasion. And so I am unsure of myself and I shall resort to the rule of conduct followed by all my numerous children and some of my friends in the university when they are in the clutch of uncertainty -when in doubt, be obstructive. If one is disposed toward obstruction it is just as well, I suppose, to stand in the path of something very compelling. In terms of current domestic politics this leads one almost inevitably to some form of opposition to the incumbent Prime Minister and the plans he has for the country. Contrary to what some of the campus radicals are telling us, Canada is relatively free and I do not expect such rights as I hold at the continuing pleasure of Parliament and of the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia to be put in jeopardy by such opposition. But I shall be more venturesome in challenging Mr Trudeau, not primarily as a head of government but rather as the most lucid theorist of the Canadian constitution in his generation. That is a riskier enterprise-particularly as I am to discuss a matter which the Prime Minister and others seem to suggest is amenable to informed debate by only those trained in the law. I have had no such sanctification.

Some Factors Affecting the Resolution of a Federal-Provincial Conflict

Abstract: resolution within the federal system, viz., in terms of an early or late settlement. A second such measurement involves ascertaining whether federal and provincial actors succeeded in resolving the dispute with a minimum loss of mutual goodwill.' The offshore mineral rights dispute in Canada has been with us as an open confrontation between governments since 1960. A de facto claim by British Columbia in 1949 was challenged by proposed (but soon abandoned) federal legislation in 19572; an effective "counter-claim" came in the form of federal orders in council in 1960 and 1961.S "Consultations" took place by correspondence between 1960 and 1962,4 and "negotiations" were attempted in 1963 and 1964.5 Finally, in 1965, the federal government, bypassing provincial reluctance and even hostility, submitted specific legal questions relating to British Columbia offshore areas to the Supreme Court of Canada.6 The Court's advisory opinion handed down on November 7, 1967, was unanimous, favouring the federal argument on all five questions asked.' Some optimism has since been voiced, suggesting that fruitful negotiations may soon take place to work out

Selective Inducements and the Development of Pressure Groups: The Case of Canadian Teachers’ Associations

Abstract: On a propose deux theories, l'une « sociologique » et l'autre « economique », pour expliquer la formation et le developpement des groupes de pression. La theorie « sociologique », que Truman et d'autres ont proposee, explique l'organisation formelle par une plus intense interaction a l'interieur du groupe, phenomene cause par quelque perturbation dans l'environnement de ce groupe. La theorie « economique » d'Olson distingue entre les bienfaits « selectifs », qu'on peut refuser aux non-membres, des bienfaits « collectifs » dont ils peuvent jouir. Olson critique l'hypothese fondamentale de la theorie sociologique selon laquelle un groupe de pression peut se maintenir en ne fournissant que des avantages collectifs. Si le comportement individuel est rationnel et se determine par un interet egoiste (self-directed), Olson deduit qu'un type quelconque d'avantages selectifs ou de coercition est necessaire pour qu'un grand groupe de pression puisse durer.Entre 1914 et 1920 dix associations provinciales d'enseignants ont vu le jour et deux autres se sont reorganisees au Canada. Il y avait un rapport general de coherence entre ce phenomene et les propositions de la theorie sociologique, ce qui n'excluait pas, toutefois, des indices probants a la theorie d'Olson. Les avantages selectifs provenant des services de protection individuelle, des echanges professionnels et d'incitations sociales diverses attiraient les membres de facon efficace et il en fut de meme dans la phase de l'appartenance automatique des membres. Ainsi donc, la theorie d'Olson nous procure une explication convaincante du developpement des associations d'enseignants, mais on doit aussi attacher quelque importance au facteur d'attraction des membres par des avantages collectifs. Pourvu qu'on tienne compte de ce dernier facteur, la theorie economique peut incorporer les propositions pertinentes de la theorie sociologique sans abandonner l'hypothese de la nationalite dans les comportements individuels.

Quantitative Methods in Foreign Policy Analysis

Abstract: Cet article avance que les analystes de la politique etrangere pourraient et devraient se servir des techniques quantitatives de recherche. L'auteur examine la valeur operationnelle de quatre d'entre elles pour des etudes de cette nature : (1) analyses des opinions de I'elite et de la masse, pouvant soustendre des attitudes generates susceptibles d'influencer cette politique; (2) analyses de faits quantifiables tels que les mouvements de commerce, les pertes de guerre et les budgets gouvernementaux; (3) techniques de simulation et de dynamique de groupes, propres a permettre l'elaboration d'une theorie generale de la decision; (4) analyses de contenu des messages des responsables de la politique etrangere.Il semble que, en matiere de politique etrangere, l'analyse de contenu soit la plus fructueuse de ces techniques quantitatives de recherche, parce qu'elle centre I'etude sur la conjoncture de la decision, parce qu'elle permet l'examen de decisions specifiques et parce qu'elle porte sur des documents d'information dont le volume est relativement abondant. On a utilise cette technique avec profit dans l'etude des crises internationales; on pourrait se servir de methodes similaires dans nombre de situations diverses impliquant la politique etrangere. A cet effet, l'analyste doit systematiser le choix des porte-paroles dont il scrute les messages et bâtir une grille complexe d'analyse, lui permettant de coder les themes de leur politique.L'article signale trois difficultes inherentes a la methode et dont l'importance varie d'apres les buts de chaque etude : une information incomplete, l'authenticite de l'information et la signification qu'il faut attribuer a un theme d'apres la frequence d'utilisation par son auteur.

Religion and Electoral Politics in France: Some Recent Observations

Abstract: Andre Siegfried once remarked that France was a country where even the absence of faith is in itself a faith.' No greater force has left so indelible a mark on French society and politics than the sweeping secularizing trend set off by the French Revolution and its clerical reaction. It opened up virtually an irreconcilable chasm of clashing religious and secular value systems which affected all segments of the French body politic. In doing so, it produced a traumatization of the French political culture, which has persisted to the present time and shows little evidence of completely releasing its hold on French political life in the foreseeable future-despite claims to the contrary. The overwhelming importance of religion-in this case Roman Catholicismin French political life lies in the fact that it has had such divisive overtones for the French political system, despite the near homogeneity of religious identification. For despite the fact that France is and has been predominantly a Catholic country, whether faithful to the church or not, French Catholics have been bitterly divided since the revolutionary days of 1789 over the proper nexus of church and state.2 One cannot enter into any meaningful discussion of political life in France without in some way taking cognizance of the role of Catholicism in conditioning political attitudes, values, and electoral choice. Unlike Britain across the channel, where religion has had little relevance to contemporary politics, the religious controversy in France has left deep and lasting political scars. While most other stable polities in western Europe achieved a degree of national identity and social integration with a minimum of cultural trauma, the conflicts over religious ideology and political values as they related to national identity and state authority in France were never fully resolved, nor did they succumb to the fate of irrelevance. As Frangois Goguel and others have observed, Frenchmen are prone to think of politics in historical terms, with a stubborn propensity to complicate the present with the past, especially in relation to the conduct of national political life. Past controversies

Maldistribution in Western Provincial Legislatures: The Case of Alberta

Abstract: During its 1969 session the Legislative Assembly of Alberta enacted a distribution formula for the future distribution of Alberta provincial legislative districts.' The Legislative Assembly acted upon the recommendation of a special bipartisan Committee of the Legislature established during the previous session, the function of which was to determine the most appropriate method of provincial legislative distribution for Alberta.2 The new scheme follows closely that used by Manitoba for provincial legislative distribution, namely the establishment of separate electoral quotas for urban and rural districts, with the urban electoral quota being a set number of voters above the rural quota. The task of delineating district boundaries is to be handled by an Electoral Boundaries Commission, semi-independent of the Legislative Assembly. The special Committee of the Legislature was set up initially to cope with the necessity of adjusting the representation in the legislature of Alberta's continually growing urban centres. The impetus for establishing this committee came mainly from the recognition on the part of the Social Credit government that it faced a possible distribution crisis over the locus of political power within the province if the present distribution scheme continued in existence. The demands for equal representation in the provincial legislature have stemmed from a growing awareness by interested civic groups, urban members of the legislature, and urban city councilmen of the increasing political and economic importance of the province's urban areas and the belief that urban needs were being ignored by a rurally dominated provincial legislature. This rural domination had been maintained throughout Alberta's history by the continuous over-representation of the rural provincial districts. Moreover, Alberta's urban leaders have been cognizant of successful attempts by American cities to achieve both federal and state apportionment based on a "one man, one vote" standard. During the course of formulating its recommendation the special committee received briefs from both urban and rural organizations. The rural view, which subsequently underlies the new redistribution scheme adopted by the legislature, is the traditional feeling among Alberta legislators towards distribution, namely, to overweight rural areas. This view appears to be a rationalization of Alberta's

The Role of Political Parties in Promoting the Interests of Ethnic Minorities

Abstract: It is one of the virtues claimed for the liberal democracies that they have discovered ways in which dissatisfied groups can obtain redress for their grievances without resorting to civil disobedience or violence. But it is nevertheless obvious that in several of the liberal democracies the incidence of these very activities is becoming an increasingly important aspect of political life. Dissident minorities are challenging through "direct action" the policies and indeed the power bases of what is perceived as the dominant group. In some instances the group is identified as a privileged minority and is characterized by terms such as "the military-industrial complex" or simply "the power elite"; in other instances (notably when an ethnic or racial cleavage is perceived as significant) the dominant group is thought of as a smug, insensitive, and unreasonable majority. In both cases it has often proved attractive to adopt a strategy of confrontation which seeks to challenge the dominant forces in society rather than to accede to the governing groups and change them from within.

Political Obligation and Political Dissent

Abstract: Cet article discute la notion d'obligation politique dans la tradition democratique liberate et examine si la desobeissance civile pourrait y trouver sa justification.Cette theorie admet le droit de desobeir au gouvernement lorsque celui-ci agit a l'encontre du consensus general, dont la poursuite peut seule commander l'obeissance. L'auteur soutient que les fondements de cette theorie ne font pas que permettre la desobeissance mais qu'ils la postulent.Si, comme le soutient la theorie democratique liberate, l'obeissance a un gouvernement juste est une partie integrante dans la facon de satisfaire a nos obligations « naturelles » envers Dieu et nos concitoyens, alors cette obeissance n'est pas un droit mais un devoir. Pareillement et inversement, ce n'est pas le droit mais le devoir que nous avons de desobeir a un gouvernement injuste, c'est-a-dire a celui qui nous contraint a des actes qui violent nos obligations naturelles.De fait, cette distinction entre le notion de droit et celle d'obligation de desobeir a une importance theorique et pratique. Quand nous disons que Y « doit faire » telle chose, nous assumons que faire cette chose est imperieux et desirable et si Y ne la fait pas, il encourt le blâme. Mais quand nous disons que Y a le « droit de faire » une chose, nous exprimons en fait l'opinion que Y a le choix de la faire ou non et s'il ne la fait pas, nous ne l'en blâmons pas. Le droit habilite; le devoir oblige.Notre attitude a l'egard du nazisme illustre bien la portee pratique de cette distinction. En denoncant et punissant les collaborateurs nazis, nous affirmons que les sujets doivent desobeir au gouvernement injuste et qu'ils ont des obligations qu'il faut respecter meme contre l'Etat. Nous n'aurions pas pu condamner les collaborateurs nazis si nous avions considere qu'ils ont seulement ete incapables d'exercer leur droit de resistance.

La fin du bicaméralisme au Québec

Abstract: American or Australian readers will not be surprised, at least at first glance, that a province should have kept a bicameral system for so long as Quebec since in their own country all but one of the states has a second legislative chamber. For other readers, and Canadians particularly, the survival of a Legislative Council poses a whole series of problems which, for the most part, are explained by the economic and social evolution of Quebec. Why has Quebec maintained an upper chamber for so long when the other Canadian provinces have never had one or have abolished it a long time ago? The facts here presented confirm on several counts the classical theories about bicameralism, and add to them certain points arising specifically from Quebec's unique socio-cultural context: the overrepresentation of privileged social classes, irrespective of partisan attachment; or the representation in the Legislative Council of the English-speaking minority whose spokesmen were, however, closely tied to the French-speaking members by a community of economic interests. It was during the last century that the Legislative Council exhibited most energy; it frequently interfered with the most progressive projects of the different Liberal governments. In the twentieth century, however, it was thought wiser to adapt itself to the changing mood, and it gradually became more self-effacing with respect to the elected chamber. Therefore its reasons for existence became doubtful as it either adopted without question all the proposals of the Legislative Assembly (and so provoked the accusation that it did nothing), or if it did object to anything in any way, it was accused of going against the wishes of the elected representatives of the people. Groups which had supported it finally decided that the council had become obsolete and their representatives have allied themselves with the enemies of the council to vote out of existence the last provincial upper chamber in Canada.

Acculturation ou assimilation: technique d'analyse et tentative de mesure chez les Franco-ontariens

Abstract: In describing the nature of an ethnic minority, the author distinguishes between two concepts: assimilation and acculturation. The former is the end result of a minority's contacts with the society in which it exists and through which it has lost its cultural heritage; the latter can be conceived of as a dynamic process, through which the individual is constantly absorbing, in various degrees, the norms, values and customs of the majority.On the basis of this notion of acculturation the author has devised a simple instrument permitting the measuring of the degree to which various minorities have adhered to the total (majoritarian) society. Two criteria, a person's educational background and his use of language, are utilized to place an individual on a graph, showing the degree to which he is part of the majoritarian or minoritarian community.The data required were collected through a questionnaire administered to two samples of Franco-Ontario school children, one in grade eight, the other in grade twelve. There were 2,900 respondents drawn from five different regions of Ontario.The principal findings are that there are marked differences in the degree of acculturation of Franco-Ontarians in the different regions (the score usually ranged from 20 per cent to 80 per cent), and that over 43 per cent of the school children were in fact undergoing the process of acculturation.

Note on the “Alternation” of French and English Leaders in the Liberal Party of Canada

Abstract: Since 1887 and the selection of Wilfrid Laurier to succeed Edward Blake, the Liberal party has chosen its leaders so that candidates of English and French descent have alternated at the head of the party: William Lyon Mackenzie King was selected in 1919; Louis S. St. Laurent in 1948; Lester B. Pearson in 1958; and Pierre Elliott Trudeau in 1968. While it is seldom if ever explicitly elaborated in textbooks on Canadian politics, there is widespread assumption that this alternation is a tradition within the party and is now one of the components of leadship availability.' In March 1968, a national sample of 215 of the 2475 delegates to the Liberal Leadership Convention scheduled for April 4-6 was interviewed and a series of questions was included in a lengthy questionnaire on many topics in order to explore this subject in some detail.2 First, respondents were asked if they thought that a "tradition" of alternating French and English leaders actually exists: 61 per cent claimed that it did, 28 per cent felt it did not, and the remainder were not sure (Table I).

Canadian Party Labels: An Essay in Semantics and Anthropology

Abstract: A party name is an ideology, a programme in a concentrated form; hence it is a myth. As such it can be analysed both as an indicator revealing the culture which produced it, and as a factor affecting that very culture. This is especially true if one presumes, as do most structuralists, and as I do, that the language forms and belongs to a system, the anatomy of which, unlike that of construction blocks in a children's game but like that of a living organism, cannot be permuted and reorganized internally at will.' Political parties are neither free to select any name they wish nor free to change it as they please. To study the evolution of their symbolic forms, to observe the minute transformations of these forms, enables one to comprehend fundamental aspects of the overall social structure. Ignoring their other symbolic functions, I propose to consider political labels of candidates and parties as name-gods to which ritual offerings are made in the form of votes, and to ask and answer a few of the questions common to anthropologists and linguists: What does the symbol look like? Where does it come from? How wide spread is its usage? Is it indigenous or is it on the contrary linked to foreign traditions? Do foreign and local symbols co-exist? Do some tend to displace or to assimilate others? Major and minor gods The anthropologist seeking to identify totemic figures often comes upon masks defaced by time or upon copies of lost originals which may have missed important details or indeed may have lost entirely their earlier form in a series of translations. The "politist" seeking to establish a list of the political labels used in Canada, even if only for the present generation, has similar difficulties. The official, semi-official, and private sources recording the political labels of politicians, members of legislatures, or candidates to elections often modify the 1Borrowing tools from other disciplines risks involving one in "foreign" debates which, important as they be for the discipline from which one borrows, are of little significance to one's own. Structuralist linguists disagree on the role of semantics: some prefer to exclude it from the analysis of language, others insist that since the purpose of language is to transmit meaning, one should relate signs or sounds to meaning. For discussions on the various approaches to the study of language, see Joyce O. Hertzler, A Sociology of Language (New York, 1965) esp. 90 ff. For arguments in favour of semantics, see Leonard Bloomfield, Language (New York, 1933). For applications of the techniques and findings of linguistics to the study of social structures, see among others Claude Levi-Strauss, "L'analyse structurale en linguistique et en anthropologie," in Anthropologie Structurale (Paris, 1958). See also R. Bastide, "Sens et usages du terme structure dans les sciences humaines et sociales," Janua linguarium, 1960-61, no. 16.

La composition des préférences partisanes

Abstract: Duncan Black has proposed a theory of political choices in which the individual ordering of preferences and voting procedures in committees are the basic elements. This paper shows that the theory must also take into account certain “objective” orders of preferences which affect individual rankings. To this end, the author analyses the results of a pre-1968 election poll in the federal ridings of Langelier and Louis-Hebert. All the respondents do not rank the four parties (Liberal, Progressive Conservative, New Democratic Party, and Social Credit Rally) in the same order; this can be explained in terms of the complexity of political issues, party strategies, or certain social characteristics of the respondents. The ranking by a majority of the respondents seemed related to two sets of criteria. The first, the sociopolitical, corresponds roughly to a left-right axis, on which the parties are aligned as follows: NDP–Liberals–Progressive Conservatives–Creditistes; the second is an ethnic criterion, according to which the parties take this order: Creditistes–Liberals–Progressive Conservatives–NDP. Among the other insights provided by the analysis, two are particularly important: the strong rejection of the Social Credit Rally by those who do not place it first, and the indifference towards the other parties by those who do.

Politique consultative et système politique

Abstract: Studies on participation concentrate on electoral and partisan phenomena. They fail to deal with participation through advisory bodies. So far, the latter have been considered mainly from a legalist or administrative viewpoint, or from pseudo-philosophical premises. Such studies are a disappointment to the political scientist because they do not take into account the full political dimension of participation and because they do not use a political system as an analytical framework. Without adopting a rigorous system, the present study in its central section aims at showing how the development of consultative devices has affected the relative position of three major internal components of the political system: legislative assemblies, administrations, and governments. In the concluding section, an attempt has been made to show how consultation, if studied properly, would similarly affect most other levels of the political system. A particular emphasis has been placed on establishing the relationships of consultation as a mechanism of political input with two other such mechanisms: interest groups and, particularly, political parties.

Small Businessmen, Branch Managers, and Their Relative Susceptibility to Right-wing Extremism: An Empirical Test

Abstract: There has been much empirical investigation into the behaviour of the businessman in his role as "economic man," "organization man," and "decision-maker." However, little systematic empirical research has been done on the values and behaviour of the businessman as a "political man," despite the fact that political behaviour is a major subsystem of total business behaviour. Even though all businessmen in a market economy may share many political interests and values, their political sentiments and behaviour are probably heterogeneous.' With this premise the following hypothesis can be put forward: when businessmen are classified into groups according to objective criteria (such as firm size, market power, or type of industry) diverse political interests and attitudes are represented and can be identified. It has frequently been postulated that political sentiments and attitudes are a function of the size of the firm. Robert Dahl states: "It is a plausible and commonplace hypothesis that in some respects the political behavior of businessmen is a function of the size of the firm. The social, psychological, and economic environment of the small businessman is often thought to be more conducive to extremism and intolerance than the bureaucratized and technical setting of the big business

The “New Biology” and the Causes of War

Abstract: Imagine the clash of two great armies. Now think of two cats spitting at each other on your garden fence. The average observer would probably dismiss as preposterous the suggestion of any basic similarity between the two situations, between the din and drama of battle and the petty backyard cacophony. But a growing and increasingly popular body of literature makes a coherent case for the opposite view. It argues that the differences between human war and animal aggression are dissimilitudes of scale and sophistication only; that both are "natural"; that both are rooted in drives basic to the psychic make-up of cat and man alike. This latest in a long series of attempts to explain categorically what "causes" war calls itself the "new biology." The present paper is a study of the work of the school's most representative spokesmen, the German biologist Konrad Lorenz and Robert Ardrey, an American naturalist and dramatist. First, we shall briefly consider historical antecedents to the new-biology school. Then the argument linking man's proclivity to war and his evolutionary heritage will be adumbrated and criticised. Finally, the implications of this ambitious thesis will be considered: first, for the student who analyses war; second, for the statesman who all too often makes war.