Showing papers in "Canadian Journal of Political Science in 1984"

Women and the Welfare State

Abstract: The article presents a reinterpretation of the welfare state dealing with the role played by women in the development and on-going function of the welfare state. Three roles are emphasized: women's organizing and the role of women's organizations in pressuring for the measures making up the welfare state, women as workers in the welfare state and, finally, women as clients of the welfare state. Having described these roles, the current politics of the welfare state are examined in order to illustrate the importance of understanding the relations between gender and politics.

The Concept of Province-Building: A Critique

Abstract: In the discourse of Canadian political science, the term “province-building” has gained wide currency. Although not often defined explicitly, it denotes the recent evolution of more powerful and competent provincial administrations which aim to manage socioeconomic change in their territories and which are in essential conflict with the central government. In this analysis, the generalizations which constitute province-building are examined and most are found not to be adequately supported by the evidence now available. Some lines of research are indicated and it is suggested that this emotive and misleading concept be abandoned.

Tribal Traditions and European-Western Political Ideologies: The Dilemma of Canada's Native Indians

Abstract: Native Indian leaders in Canada have embraced the European-Western doctrine of sovereignty as the political-legal instrumentality for achieving their version of “the good society.” This article analyzes the appropriateness and feasibility of sovereign statehood for Canada's Indians. Indian aspirations to sovereign statehood run aground on at least two counts: key ideas contained in the European-Western doctrine of sovereignty are incompatible with core values comprising traditional Indian culture: also, the Canadian government is implacably opposed to relinquishing its sovereignty over Indians. This study explores alternative models of self-determination for Canada's Indians and concludes that stateless nationhood offers the best basis on which Indians may be able to negotiate internal self-determination.

Hayek and Schmitt on the Rule of Law

Abstract: According to Hayek the rule of law constitutes the foundation of liberalism's political and legal theory. General and abstract laws, as opposed to concrete measures, protect individual freedom from prerogative and arbitrariness (normativism versus decisionism). Hayek maintains that Carl Schmitt's decisionism explains his attacks on liberalism and the prominent role he played in support of Hitler's regime. Two general observations should shorten the distance that Hayek seeks to establish between his posture and that of Schmitt. Firstly, Schmitt's critique is primarily aimed against the tendency that neutralizes the state and makes it vulnerable to democratic pressures. Secondly, Hayek's normativism is seen to contain a decisionist potential.

Public Policy-Making as Practical Reasoning

Abstract: Public policies can be understood as practical judgments which involve both self-regarding prudential reasoning and other-regarding moral reasoning. A general model of decision-making that has an adequate concept of policy rationality should have a place for both kinds of practical reasoning. Two paradigms of decision-making have dominated contemporary studies of public policy-making, but neither meets this test. Pluralist-exchange models assume that the reasons backing policy decisions are always self-regarding. Elitist-planning models assume they are exclusively other-regarding. Because each of the paradigms separately produces only partial models of decision-making, they must be used together to provide a full account of public policy-making.

Aristotle on Acquisition

Abstract: Aristotle is reputed to be a thinker for whom nature is a standard which enables political judgments to avoid being arbitrary. By examining his discussion of acquisition in the Politics, this article reconsiders whether and how this reputation is deserved. Although Aristotle's discussion seems to represent a classic case in which theoretical reflections on nature issue in a moral condemnation of limitless acquisition, a subsequent distinction between theory and practice limits the practical consequences of his remarks on nature. This observation invites a rethinking of Aristotle's position on the relationship between nature and political life. Resume. L'un des principes de base de la pensee d'Aristote, selon l'interpretation commune, serait l'emploi de la nature comme mesure (ou meme comme source) des jugements politiques. C'est en se rapportant h cet etalon qu'on peut se garder de l'arbitraire et de l'erreur dans desjugements de ce genre. Mais est-ce 1l une appr6ciation assez nuancee de la faqon dont Aristote se sert de ce concept? Voila la question que nous nous proposons d'examiner ici. Comme point de depart, nous prenons le passage celebre de la Politique ou Aristote aborde le probleme de l'acquisition. Comme on le sait, le philosophe commence par une consideration theorique de la nature, pour passer ensuite i une affirmation d'ordre moral, . savoir la condamnation de l'acquisition illimitee. Mais ce qu'on n'a pas assez remarque, c'est qu'il intr duit ensuite une distinction entre theorie et pratique qui a pour effet de reduire la portee de son affirmation. Cette observation nous appelle . reconsiderer le rapport qui existe, dans la pensee d'Aristote, entre la nature et la vie politique. each group. It is also implied, and later indicated more clearly, that man's acquisition is adequately guided and his needs amply supplied, so that he-like the animals-is not in need of any sophisticated arts to take care of himself. His acquisitive life is said to be "direct from nature" (autophyton), and the property which he acquires is said to be "given by nature herself' (1256a40-41, 1256b8). One might be inclined to say that nature's gifts can only be well-received through advanced arts, but this does not appear to be the immediate suggestion Aristotle wishes to convey here. By likening man's acquisition of nourishment to that by the animals, by restricting his discussion to the acquisition of nourishment alone, by seeing this nourishment as a gift of nature, and by seeming to speak about men in a distant, pre-political age, Aristotle both suggests the familiar tension between art and nature and implies that nature's gifts are sufficiently abundant to render unnecessary the development of the arts. That is, Aristotle's implicit teaching about nature is that it is to be found in the simple, spontaneous, and primitive times of man's pre-political past. Moreover, if men were hard pressed in these times, Aristotle chooses not to trumpet this fact. Nature appears to be kindly toward man and to be able to be so without the assistance of the arts. Aristotle not only suggests that natural acquisition does not require the arts or trade, he also makes this suggestion in a way that outlines a general teaching about nature. Although disagreeing with this teaching, Susemihl acknowledges its presence when he characterizes this section as a "crude teleology.''5 Consider the following lines: "Such property is manifestly given by nature itself to all, both to those just born and likewise to those attaining completion.... It is clear that we must think... that the plants exist for the sake of the animals, and the other 5 Susemihl and Hicks, Aristotle's Politics, 176n. This content downloaded from 207.46.13.114 on Thu, 26 May 2016 05:55:40 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms

Revisiting the Effects of Canvassing on Voting Behaviour

Abstract: A major objective of this article is the reexamination of canvassing-voting relationships analyzed by Clarke, Jenson, LeDuc and Pammett in Political Choice in Canada . However, this study distinguishes itself in two major ways. First, usage is made of multivariate techniques, a necessity in view of the number of variables that ought to be taken into consideration. Secondly, two conceptually important types of variables are incorporated; namely, the number of parties canvassing potential voters (“competitive contacting”) and the degree of party competition in the constituency (“competitive context”). The results indicate the relevance of these two types of variables, although varyingly so. Thus, “reinforcement,” the principal canvassing effect uncovered, is related to competitive contacting, independently of the competitive context. On the other hand, possible “recruitment” and “conversion” effects are associated with particular attributes of both factors. These results, along with some unexpected ones, underscore a suggestion advanced in the article for renewed research into the subject of canvassing.

A Policy Within a Policy: The Identification and Admission of Refugees to Canada

Abstract: This article describes and analyzes that portion of contemporary immigration legislation and policy relating specifically to refugees. In particular, the article focusses upon the multitude of factors that influenced those sections of the 1976 Immigration Act applicable to refugees seeking to gain entry to Canada as well as to persons already in Canada who seek to establish their refugee status. The second half of the article examines governmental actions respecting refugee admission and status determination since the present legislation has been in force with a view to providing the reader with a partial evaluation. Resume. Cet article tente de decrire et d'analyser cette partie de la legislation contemporaine de l'immigration et de la politique se rapportant specifiquement aux refugi's. En particulier, cette analyse se concentre sur la multitude de facteurs qui ont influence ces parties de l'acte de 1976 applicables aux refugies qui essaient d'entrer au Canada, et de ces gens dejh au Canada, qui cherchent h etablir leurs statuts de refugies. La deuxieme partie de l'article examine les mesures du gouvernement qui concernent l'admission et la determination du statut du r6fugie, puisque la legislation actuelle est en vigueur dans le but de fournir une evaluation objective aux lecteurs. exclusively with the minister of manpower and immigration. Under the provisions of the revised Immigration Appeal Board Act of 1973, this tribunal could authorize the landing of individuals on compassionate or humanitarian grounds and these could apply to refugees. The number of persons acquiring the right to stay in Canada through either of these procedures remained small. Thus whether in immigration offices beyond or within Canada, no formal provisions existed to guide and assist officials or refugee claimants as to how refugees should be managed. In fact, no coherent or comprehensive refugee policy could be identified. What did exist were a few orders-in-council and extensive informal procedures. With the decision to review immigration policy and procedures in preparation for drafting and introducing a new act, this state of affairs would be altered. The structure and organizational apparatus as well as the attitudes and experience of officials in the department responsible for immigration policy formulation and administration proved to be significant. The demise of the Department of Citizenship and Immigration as a result of the decision to combine immigration and manpower responsibilities in the mid-1960s had not been without critics. Many observers had believed immigration policy would become merely an appendage of manpower and labour market considerations leaving humanitarian responses to the plight of refugees on a dismally low level of priority. But, with the new department immigration had not become submerged in a sea of manpower policy and programmes. To some extent the ability of immigration as a branch to maintain an identity of its own in the late 1960s and early 1970s resulted from the emergence of a particularly capable corps of senior and middle level officials. Formerly, many officials responsible for immigration had perceived their role as one of gatekeeping, providing the last line of defense against an onslaught of aliens.2 Through normal attrition this genre of official had 2 See Freda Hawkins, Canada and Immigration: Public Policy and Public Concern (Montreal: McGill-Queen's Press, 1972), 139-73. This content downloaded from 157.55.39.102 on Sat, 24 Dec 2016 05:17:31 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms

The United States and the Global Economic Blockade of Cuba: A Study in Political Pressures on America's Allies

Abstract: The aim of this study is to provide an empirical basis for theories about political coalitions formed to apply economic sanctions against a target country. An excellent example is the economic blockade of Cuba by the United States, during which successive Republican and Democratic administrations have pursued economic measures to achieve a political objective. This study investigates the degree of cooperation and cleavage among Washington's capitalist-bloc allies with this effort to establish multilateral economic pressures against the Cuban Revolution. The analysis suggests that, despite the growth of economic competition during the 1960s and 1970s, such strains were not reflected at the level of political relationships.

The Strange Case of a Provincial Constitution: The British Columbia Constitution Act

Abstract: Provincial constitutional documents have not usually been the subject of scrutiny by those concerned with the governmental process at the provincial level. It has been assumed that the major characteristics of provincial government have been shaped by constitutional rules derived from the British North America Act and from the conventions of British-style parliamentary government. A case study of the British Columbia Constitution Act shows that such assumptions are only partially true. The powers of the provinces to shape their governmental structures through constitutional adaptation are extensive and have been used in the case of British Columbia to make broad modifications to the style of constitutionalism in the province since its entry to Confederation in 1871. It is not that the term provincial constitution should become a household word but that the investigation of the operation and potential of provincial constitutions should be seen as an essential component to an understanding of the provincial governmental process.

The Political Wisdom of Sir John A. Macdonald

Abstract: Macdonald is described as a man of phronesis who possessed a sophisticated political philosophy which, in general, conformed to the political disposition exemplified by Edmund Burke. Macdonald's views on the constitution, change, representation, democracy, women, tradition, economics, religion and unions are investigated. It is concluded that Macdonald was an anti-rationalist who saw the world in terms of loyalty, duty and obligation and who was devoted to the principles of prudence, tradition and the rule of law, to constitutional monarchy, to the British connection and British institutions but with respect for French traditions, to the minimal change consistent with harmony, to order before liberty, politics before economics and experience before abstract reason.

Intergenerational Transfer of Canadian Partisanships

Abstract: This note derives hypotheses about the intergenerational transfer of Canadian partisanships from a social learning model, which posits that the adoption of attitudes is affected by the homogeneity of cues in the environment. As hypothesized, data from the 1974 Canadian national election study show that the rate of adoption of parental partisanships is affected by the consistency of each parent's federal and provincial party identifications. The second hypothesis, which posits that transfer rates are affected by provincial-federal party system correspondence, is also supported in three of four regression equations. Resume. Ce document d6rive des hypotheises relatives au transfert inter-g6n6ratif de l'esprit de parti canadien a partir d'un mod'le d'etude sociale qui d6montre que l'adoption des attitudes est influenc6e par l'homog6n6it6 des signaux dans l'environnement. Tel qu'indiqu6 dans la premiere hypothese, les donn6es provenant de l'6tude sur l'61ection nationale Canadienne effectu6e en 1974, montrent que le taux d'adoption de l'esprit de parti parental est influence par la consistance de chacun des parents au niveau de leur identification B un parti f6d6ral et provincial. La deuxieme hypotheise, qui d6montre que les taux de transfert sont influences par le systeme de correspondance au sein d'un meme parti provincial et f6d6ral, est egalement corrobor6e dans trois sur quatre equations de r6gression. complexities of a federal party system. If partisan affect and identification begin developing before the child learns to associate particular parties with different levels of government, the child may interpret and affectively process a parental endorsement of a particular provincial party as a general positive cue concerning that party without regard to the level of government. Even if the child later begins to understand the relevance of the level of government to a particular party, his earlier affective responses might still have an effect on the development of later partisan attitudes. The results of that process could be a "cross-level" transfer of parental identifications (in which the child adopts a parent's federal party identification as its own provincial identification, or vice versa), or simply weaker transfer rates (because parental cues for any one party were too infrequent to allow the child to develop any particular partisanship). The first general proposition to be investigated is that the probability of successful intergenerational transfer of partisanship increases with the consistency of partisan cues provided by each parent. The cues that parents provide their children include manifestations of their own partisanships; therefore, we would expect: Hypothesis la: Intergenerational transfer of partisanships is more successful among parents with consistent identifications than among parents with single-level identifications. Moreover, parents who identify at only one level would provide more stable cues than would split-identifiers, although probably not as stable as consistent identifiers. Thus, we would also expect: Hypothesis ib: Intergenerational transfer of partisanships is more successful among parents who identify at only one level than among parents with split identifications, and Pammett, "The Development of Political Orientations in Canadian School Children," this JOURNAL 4 (1971), 132-41. This content downloaded from 157.55.39.92 on Wed, 22 Jun 2016 06:09:52 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms 136 MICHAEL D. MARTINEZ Hypothesis Ic: Intergenerational transfer of partisanships is more successful among parents with consistent identifications than among parents with single-level identifications. Parents, though important, are not the only agents that influence their child's partisan responses. Peers, schools, the media and the parties themselves shape the political environment which affects partisan orientations. In areas of Canada where the provincial party system is closely tied to the federal party system, the cues a child receives from his parents are more likely to be reinforced in the political system at large. The media, peer groups and other information sources will portray the same protagonist and antagonist parties in a series of electoral and legislative battles. In provinces where the provincial party system differs from the federal party system, the contestant parties change, giving the child the opportunity to develop affect for more parties and fewer opportunities to reinforce any single party identification. Therefore, we would expect: Hypothesis 2: Party identifications will be transferred from parent to child more successfully in provinces where the federal and provincial party systems more closely resemble one another.

Sexual Equality and the Family in Tocqueville's Democracy in America

Abstract: Tocqueville is usually understood to have proposed a two-tiered antidote to “the problem of democracy”: the doctrine of “self-interest rightly understood” and the preservation of religious belief. This article argues that Tocqueville provided a previously unnoticed third tier to his prescription: the democratic family. Sheltered from the competitive individualism of society, the family is portrayed as a haven of co-operation that nurtures the habits of altruism. Central to this scheme is a “different but equal” regime of the sexes. Arguing that increased equality leads to increased competition, Tocqueville suggests that a thorough-going equality of the sexes would undermine the family's function of moral formation.

Constitutional Reform of the Judicial Branch: Symbolic vs. Operational Considerations

Abstract: If the next stage of constitutional renewal is to be the strengthening of national institutions, consideration should be given to the judicial branch of government as well as to the Senate and House of Commons. In assessing reforms in this area it is important to distinguish the symbolic from operational consequences. First priority should be given to constitutional entrenchment of the Supreme Court. Although the significance of such an amendment is largely symbolic, it is needed to remove uncertainties created by references to the Supreme Court in the Constitution Act, 1982. A general guarantee of judicial independence should be abandoned as a misguided exercise in constitutional symbolism. From both a symbolic and operational perspective, reform of section 96 of the original constitution holds out the most interesting possibility of establishing the constitutional basis for a truly national judiciary. Resum6. Si nous voulons que la prochaine 6tape du renouveau constitutionnel soit un renforcement des institutions nationales, nous devons prendre en consid6ration non seulement le S6nat et la Chambre des Communes, mais aussi la branche judiciaire du gouvernement. Lorsqu'on mesure la port6e des r6formes dans ce domaine, il est important de distinguer cons6quence symbolique et cons6quence op6ratoire. De premiere urgence est une protection constitutionnelle pour la Cour Supreme. Bien qu'un amendement a cet effet ait une port6e largement symbolique, il est n6cessaire afin de dissiper les incertitudes cr66es par les r6f6rences a la Cour Supreme contenues dans la Loi Constitutionnelle de 1982. Une garantie g6n6rale de l'ind6pendance du judiciaire doit etre abandonn6e, comme 6tant un exercice aberrant en symbolisme constitutionnel. D'un point de vue a la fois symbolique et op6ratoire, une r6forme de l'article 96 de la constitution originelle est ce qui offre le plus de promesses pour la cr6ation, sur une assise constitutionnelle, d'un judiciaire vraiment national. implications I distinguish from the actions, the actual "performance," the real impact on the allocation of values (to use David Easton's terminology) that result from the adoption of a policy or a law or promulgation of a decision." The Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, for example, clearly has a symbolic dimension. Indeed its political sponsors tended to emphasize its symbolic potential, simply as a constitutional statement, for unifying the beliefs of Canadians on the importance of certain fundamental values.' Whether the Charter actually protects or expands freedom or equality or the due process of law is quite another matter. The operational significance of the Charter in large measure depends on the consequences of transferring responsibility for making authoritative decisions about rights and freedoms from the political to the judicial arena. Normally we would expect some congruence between the expectations and beliefs stimulated by the symbolic manifestation of laws and policies and their actual operational results. But political scientists have pointed out that sometimes this is not the case, and indeed situations have been analyzed in which the primary consequence of a policy has been "symbolic 6 David Easton, A Systems Analysis of'Political Life (New York: John Wiley, 1965), 353 and 390-91. Richard Van Loon and Michael Whittington distinguish "allocative" from "symbolic" outputs in The Canadian Political System (3rd ed.; Toronto: McGraw-Hill Ryerson, 1981), but their examples of symbolic outputs are drawn from the bureaucratic rather than the constitutional process. 7 The symbolic dimension of the Charter is examined in Peter H. Russell, "The Political Purposes of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms," Canadian Bar Review 63 (1983), 30. This content downloaded from 207.46.13.25 on Mon, 12 Sep 2016 04:17:19 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms 230 PETER H. RUSSELL gratification" without any corresponding changes in the allocation of values.8 My purpose in drawing attention to this distinction between the symbolic and operational dimensions of constitutional changes is not to dismiss the symbolic as of no account. All constitutions play an important symbolic role in the political life of a nation.9 Indeed, in countries lacking mechanisms for giving the constitution operational effect, the constitution's significance may be exclusively symbolic.10 The advocacy of constitutional proposals in Canada in recent years has often focussed on putative symbolic gains. This was certainly true of the Charter of Rights. This belief in symbolic gains also, to some extent, underlies the assumption that strengthening regional representation in the institutions of national government will increase the legitimacy of national policies. My point is simply that concern with the symbolic consequences of constitutional change should not become such a preoccupation that we fail to give sufficient attention to operational consequences. In examining proposals for constitutional reform of the judicial section of the constitution I will be at pains to give as much attention to probable operational consequences as to possible symbolic gains. 1. The Supreme Court of Canada Entrenching the Court in the Constitution Turning first to constitutional amendments with respect to the Supreme Court of Canada, the motherhood issue is simply providing explicitly for the Court in the Constitution of Canada. Virtually all proposals on the Supreme Court agree that the Supreme Court of Canada should be a creature of the constitution rather than of the federal legislature. The consensus on this point indicates how far Canada has moved since 1867 in its constitutional philosophy towards regarding the formal constitution as a higher law comprehensively setting out the major principles and institutions of government. This constitutionalism is, of course, manifest in section 52 of the Constitution Act, 1982 which declares the Constitution of Canada to be "the supreme law of Canada." From the point of view of constitutionalism it does seem illogical that the court which is the final authority in determining the meaning of the constitution is not itself established by the constitution but depends for 8 See Murray Edelman, The Symbolic Uses of Politics (Urbana: University of Illinois

Minority Government in Ontario, 1975–1981: An Assessment*

Abstract: Ontario's two minority governments provide political scientists an opportunity to analyze how a government and legislature will function when executive control is curtailed by the electorate. It also affords an opportunity to observe the dynamics of legislative reform in a situation where backbenchers have unaccustomed clout. Relying on a survey of “insider” opinion, the article finds that MPPs showed little interest in reforms other than those which improved their services. Further, it finds that all the normal functions attributed to the legislature were performed better in a minority situation. However, while the majority of respondents had positive overall assessments of the minority experience, they had a variety of reservations about perpetuating it in some way. The article points up the dilemma that there appears to be no way to “capture” the widely recognized positive aspects of minority administrations within the norms of parliamentary government accepted by legislators and no willingness on their part to vary these norms.

La dynamique des manifestations violentes

Abstract: This article examines several major demonstrations that turned violent, with particular emphasis on the organization of the groups, their political status, their objectives, the style of action of the participating groups and the actions of the police forces. After examining how these factors combined to affect the dynamics of the collective action process in each of the incidents, a series of hypotheses is drawn up charting the relationships between these factors in order to establish some hypotheses about the causes of violent outcomes during demonstrations.

Natural Rights and Distributive Justice: Nozick and the Classical Contractarians*

Abstract: Robert Nozick seeks to extract a substantive theory of distributive justice (“the entitlement theory”) from what he takes to be the formal properties of natural rights (or rights-based) theory The unsoundness of his arguments supports the longstanding suspicion that all such theories are conceptually confused and ideological biased Yet upon examination, the classical (chiefly Lockean) views that Nozick regards as a prototype of natural rights theory withstand that suspicion precisely in so far as they lack the formal properties of his own theory I conclude that theories of the classical form are better equipped to resolve political arguments

On Retrieving Macpherson's Liberalism

Abstract: This article contends that the ethical principle underlying C. B. Macpherson's attempted retrieval of liberal democracy embodies two ontologies, a liberal ontology of self-governance and a humanist ontology of developmental man. The presence of the latter ontology is shown to reveal a fundamental weakness in Macpherson's thought: it justifies a type of political authority destructive of what he values in liberal democracies. The article concludes that, contrary to Macpherson's understanding, his radical effort to rescue liberal democracy from capitalism could dispense with the humanist ontology and be sustained on the basis of the liberal ontology alone.