Showing papers in "Canadian Journal of Political Science in 1986"
TL;DR: This article argued that the literature is too directly tied to particular theories of the state and of the policy-making process and that those ties are both unnecessary and constrain the usefulness of the concept of policy instruments.
Abstract: One of the most distinctive concepts for the study of public policy in Canada is that of policy or governing instruments. This article describes the origins of this literature, provides an overview of its theoretical claims, and evaluates some of these claims. It is argued, first, that the literature is too directly tied to particular theories of the state and of the policy-making process and that those ties are both unnecessary and constrain the usefulness of the concept of policy instruments. Second, the treatment of coercion as the central feature differentiating policy instruments is questioned and an alternative formulation is proposed.
87 citations
TL;DR: For instance, this article found that respondents who supported the party in power scored significantly higher on perceived responsiveness and trust than those who supported opposition parties, although mainly at the provincial level.
Abstract: The authors tested predictions concerning the effects of respondents' identification with governing versus opposition political parties on feelings of political efficacy and trust, using data from the 1984 Canadian National Election Study. Dependent variables were political competence, perceived system responsiveness, and political trust, each measured federally and provincially. Respondents who supported the party in power scored significantly higher on perceived responsiveness and trust than those who supported opposition parties, although mainly at the provincial level. Whether respondents' preferred party was in power or not interacted with strength of party identification on the responsiveness and trust measures, both federally and provincially, as expected. Effects were much less pronounced for feelings of political competence. The authors suggest an interpretation to explain the weaker and inconsistent federal results. The article concludes with some observations concerning the relationship between partisanship, on the one hand, and efficacy and trust, on the other.
54 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors examined the recent transformation of the Canadian central executive system from one based upon the Trudeau paradigm of rational management to one structured to fit the Mulroney paradigm of brokerage politics and argued that the two different systems and the changes introduced by them are best explained by the paradigms of these two prime ministers.
Abstract: Organizational change in the central machinery of government is essentially a function of executive leadership. The major determinants of such change are invariably political and not administrative in character and derive from the leadership paradigms of chief executive officers—their philosophy of government, management style and political objectives. This phenomenon is examined in the recent transformation of the Canadian central executive system from one based upon the Trudeau paradigm of rational management to one structured to fit the Mulroney paradigm of brokerage politics. The organizational instruments of each paradigm are considered and their respective capacities to meet the requirements of executive leadership in our modern administrative state are assessed. It is argued that the two different systems and the changes introduced by them are best explained by the paradigms of these two prime ministers.
38 citations
35 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors extended the authors' earlier work on incumbency in Canadian federal and Ontario provincial elections by examining riding by riding results in the 1984 federal and 1985 Ontario provincial election.
Abstract: This note extends the authors' earlier work on incumbency in Canadian federal and Ontario provincial elections by examining riding by riding results in the 1984 federal and 1985 Ontario provincial elections. In particular, the authors test their earlier hypothesis that incumbency effects are swamped by large shifts in voter preferences. The results indicate that incumbency had a significant impact, and that this impact was not reduced by the large shift in votes in the 1984 federal election. The authors reject the hypothesis that large shifts in party allegiance reduce incumbency effects. Resume. Cette note elargit la portee d'une etude effectuee precedemment par les memes auteurs sur l'avantage electoral dont beneficie l'elu, en examinant circonscription par circonscription les resultats des elections f6d6rales de 1984 et provinciales ontariennes de 1985. Ainsi les auteurs mettent-ils a l'epreuve leur hypothese selon laquelle l'avantage dont beneficie l'elu disparaitrait devant de fortes oscillations dans la loyaute que ressent l'electeur pour un parti particulier. Les resultats indiquent que cet avantage a eu un impact significatif, et que cet impact n'a pas ete affaibli par le grand renversement des votes lors de l'election f6derale en 1984. Les auteurs rejettent l'hypothese selon laquelle de fortes oscillations dans la loyaute ressentie par l'individu envers le parti tendraient a reduire l'avantage dont beneficie l'elu. results obtained for the earlier elections.' Having an incumbent running in 1985 was worth about 5 percentage points for the Liberals and Conservatives and about 7.5 for the NDP. In fairness, given the standard errors, only the NDP result can be said to be significantly larger than the average.8 But the point is not that incumbency became more important in 1984. Rather, we are interested in the hypothesis that the enormous shift of votes from the Liberals to the Conservatives would have reduced or eliminated the incumbency effect, at least for those two main parties. Clearly, we cannot reject the null hypothesis that the shift in votes did not reduce the effect of incumbency. The result for the NDP is also interesting, since the NDP followed a strategy during the campaign of concentrating on ridings previously held by the party (including, of course, all ridings in which NDP incumbents were seeking re-election).9 The effect of incumbency is significantly above the previous average for the party, suggesting that the strategy was successful. The regional dummies capture the significantly different results for each party in different regions.10 The results in Table 1 capture the fact that the Conservative sweep was most effective in Quebec and least effective in British Columbia and the Prairies. The obvious explanation about 19 for each party, with the equivalent statistic in the previous three elections ranging between 2.1 and 4.8), rather than because the "unexplained" portion has declined (the sum of squared error terms in fact is slightly larger). 7 The Liberal result of .052 exceeds any of the incumbency coefficients in the 10 earlier elections studied in the 1985 note, while the Conservative result of .047 exceeds the coefficients in 8 of these 10 elections. The NDP result of .074 is larger than 7 of the 8 earlier results. 8 In this note, the term statistically significant means that the null hypothesis (generally that the coefficient is zero) is rejected at the .05 level. 9 This was in response in part to polls in the months prior to the election which suggested that the NDP was about to lose large numbers of voters and risked demise as an effective force in federal politics. 10 The Maritimes were omitted to avoid over-specification. This content downloaded from 207.46.13.172 on Fri, 07 Oct 2016 05:24:09 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms 340 MICHAEL KRASHINSKY and WILLIAM J. MILNE is that the Conservatives were more successful in winning votes from the Liberals (in Ontario and especially in Quebec) than from the NDP (in British Columbia and the Prairies).
26 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the authors analyze how the ruling class responded to the "organic crisis" generated by a dependent type of capitalist underdevelopment, and argue that this response embodied a "passive revolution" whereby potentially revolutionary forces were decapitated through the co-optation of their leading cadres in a reformed framework of political representation.
Abstract: This article uses some of the fundamental conceptualizations of Antonio Gramsci to understand the political process in Senegal. It analyzes how the ruling class responded to the "organic crisis" generated by a dependent type of capitalist underdevelopment. It contends that this response embodied a "passive revolution" whereby potentially revolutionary forces were decapitated through the co-optation of their leading cadres in a reformed framework of political representation. The article suggests also that the contours and substance of the passive revolution reflected the "hegemonic project" elaborated by the "organic intellectuals" of Senegal. These intellectuals sought to establish a new "hegemony" capable of legitimizing the rule of a reinvigorated ruling class. Yet, because this new hegemony was founded on the basis of the passive revolution it never reached the masses and it generated therefore widespread popular*scepticism and
25 citations
TL;DR: The authors explores Foucault's attack on political rationality, which they call "Foucault triple murder" and which is the basis of their own work on political thought restructuring.
Abstract: Michel Foucault offered his readers an “analytics of power” and later began a “genealogy of the subject.” The two tasks were related, and both were premised on Foucault's rejection of traditional modes of political thought or reason. This article explores Foucault's attack on political rationality, something here called Foucault's triple murder: that is, his rejection of the role played in political thought by the ideas of sovereignty, History (as a predictable evolutionary or revolutionary process) and Man (as a transcendental subject). Foucault's restructuring of political thought is shown to be the foundation of his work.
15 citations
TL;DR: In the past century, the notion of human rights has expanded significantly to include a variety of social rights as mentioned in this paper, which has inspired a lively debate concerning the authenticity of such claims, focussing particularly on the ways in which social rights differ from political rights.
Abstract: In the past century, the notion of human rights has expanded significantly to include a variety of social rights. The introduction of this new category of human rights inspired a lively debate concerning the authenticity of such claims, focussing particularly on the ways in which social rights differ from political rights. This article examines the major points at issue in the debate. The important differences emphasized to date are those relating to costs, universality, and the correlativity of rights and duties. In each of these major areas of dispute, analysis indicates that the allegedly fundamental distinctions between social and political rights are in fact differences of degree, not of kind and, in fact, social rights conform both to the broad logic and the established practice of human rights.
15 citations
14 citations
TL;DR: This article argued that Cuneo focusses too narrowly on class struggle, and thus misses important aspects of Canadian UI policy, and argued that relative autonomy must be more broadly conceived in terms of the state's administrative expertise, fiscal capacity, and jurisdictional divisions.
Abstract: The concept of “relative autonomy” is now routinely used by Marxist and non-Marxist students of public policy to describe the state's independence from class forces. A rare attempt to use the concept empirically is Carl J. Cuneo's work on Canadian unemployment insurance (UI) in the 1930s. This article argues that Cuneo focusses too narrowly on class struggle, and thus misses important aspects of Canadian UI policy. Relative autonomy must be more broadly conceived in terms of the state's administrative expertise, fiscal capacity, and jurisdictional divisions. It is constituted within, not outside, the state. The article illustrates these internal forces through a re-examination of the evolution of Canadian UI in the 1930s.
12 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the authors argue that the proper appreciation of what the law lords did to the terms of the British North America Act can be found in an understanding of their perception of their unique function.
Abstract: By way of a critical assessment of the leading authorities on the critics of the Judicial Committee, this article argues that the proper appreciation of what the law lords did to the terms of the BNA Act can be found in an understanding of their perception of their unique function. Supporters of the Judicial Committee's decentralization of the terms of the British North America Act have tended to rely on either G. P. Browne's book on the subject or Alan Cairns's article in this Journal (4 [1971], 301–45). The purpose of this article is to challenge those authorities and offer an alternative explanation.
TL;DR: The renewal of the Canada-US North American Aerospace Defense (NORAD) agreement in March 1986 will not end the debate on the relationship between NORAD and trends in American strategy, including the Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI) as discussed by the authors.
Abstract: The renewal of the Canada-US North American Aerospace Defence (NORAD) agreement in March 1986 will not end the debate on the relationship between NORAD and trends in American strategy, including the Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI). This article reviews and explains the various strains of that debate. It points out why some in Canada argue that participation in NORAD will inevitably lead to Canadian involvement in the ballistic missile defence objective of the SDI. It also notes, however, why the military and other observers are concerned that strategic and technological trends in the US may make it difficult for Canada to remain active in North American aerospace defence, and indeed, even to provide for its own air sovereignty.
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors argue that the social basis for consensus politics is absent in the NWT and that present practice in the Legislative Assembly of the Northwest Territories owes more to nonpartisanship than to consensus and does not predict a consensual future.
Abstract: It is widely held in the Northwest Territories that consensus rather than partisanship may be the most appropriate principle to guide the anticipated restructuring of the Territories' government. This note argues to the contrary that the social basis for consensus politics is absent in the NWT and that present practice in the Legislative Assembly of the NWT owes more to nonpartisanship than to consensus and does not predict a consensual future. However, this practice also does not necessarily point to a parliamentary system in the future; this study identifies four alternative systems as possibilities. It argues that, whatever the format of the Assembly, consociationalism, including significant devolution of power to local governments, represents the most promising direction to explore because it reflects the Territories' social structure and addresses the fundamental concerns of the cultural communities of the NWT.
TL;DR: The authors traces the reasoning behind Riker's addenda to Duverger's law, which exempts Canada and India from its general determinism, and finds that the uniqueness of those two federal nations employing the simple-majority system lies in the dominance of one national party, the weakness of the conventional alternative governing party, and the persistence of ideological parties of the left.
Abstract: This note traces the reasoning behind Riker's addenda to Duverger's law, which exempts Canada and India from its general determinism. Characteristics common to Canada and India, but not to other countries using the plurality electoral system, are examined. The study finds that the uniqueness of those two federal nations employing the simple-majority system lies in the dominance of one national party, the weakness of the conventional alternative governing party, and the persistence of ideological parties of the left.
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors provided data to answer a number of important questions concerning the financing of the three main political parties at the federal level between 1974 and 1984, and analyzed both the regulated campaign expenditures by parties and candidates and the unregulated party expenditures outside official campaign periods.
Abstract: . This study provides data to answer a number of important questions concerning the financing of the three main political parties at the federal level between 1974 and 1984. It analyzes both the regulated campaign expenditures by parties and candidates and the unregulated party expenditures outside official campaign periods. The main focus is on the importance of different sources of contributions to each party: individuals, corporations, trade unions, and interest groups. New details are provided on large contributions by individuals and corporations, and on the contributions of the largest 500 nonfinancial enterprises in Canada. Finally, the study notes that despite new federal legislation concerning political contributions and expenditures in 1974 the relationship between contributions and influence remains shrouded in secrecy.
TL;DR: The authors examines the impact of economic crisis on the process of regionalization in Belgium and the influence of both on the balance of centrifugal and centripetal forces in the Belgian political system.
Abstract: This article examines the impact of economic crisis on the process of regionalization in Belgium and the influence of both on the balance of centrifugal and centripetal forces in the Belgian political system. It argues that the usual approach to this suject, which identifies centripetal forces with the national government and centrifugal forces with regional governments, misses the possibility that important proponents of further fragmentation may be located at the national level. The economic crisis of the early 1980s did lead to an increase in centrifugal pressures in the system but not to an increase in the power of the new regional executives. Rather, it led to a major rearrangement of the economic policy-making process at the national level.
TL;DR: Pal's critique of my work in his article is yet another attempt in this tradition as discussed by the authors, which relies heavily on actuarial ideology and federal-provincial relations in the dynamics of internal state administration.
Abstract: There has been a recent tendency, with deep historical roots in structural-functionalism and elite analyses, to insulate the state from class formations and struggles. Reacting against classical Marxist and neo-Marxist attempts to locate certain features of state policy in the class struggles of capitalist formations, there has been a reversion to “explaining” state policy solely by the “internal dynamics” of state administration and the motives and intentions of their incumbents. Leslie Pal's critique of my work in his article is yet another attempt in this tradition. After critiquing my “narrow” use of “relative autonomy” and “rigid” reliance on “class struggle” to account for the introduction of the Employment and Social Insurance Act of 1935 and the Unemployment Insurance Act of 1940, he offers an alternative classless “model” which relies heavily on actuarial ideology and federal-provincial relations in the dynamics of internal state administration. In light of his use of my work as a point of departure, I will make only a few salient points. My comments are divided into two parts: theoretical assumptions and the class nature of actuarial ideology.
TL;DR: This paper examined the effect of the resource amendment (section 92A) on Canada's political economy and argued that the expansion of provincial legislative capacity gives the provinces more legitimacy and power at the political bargaining table.
Abstract: This article examines the effect of the resource amendment (section 92A) on Canada's political economy. The analysis of the consequences of section 92A moves beyond the immediate changes in the distribution of legislative jurisdiction to examine the broader political implications. It is argued that the resource amendment is politically significant in several respects. It removes certain irritants from federal-provincial relations. By augmenting and clarifying provincial powers, the provinces' role in resource development is strengthened. The expansion of provincial legislative capacity gives the provinces more legitimacy and power at the political bargaining table.
TL;DR: In this article, a great number of polls have been made public by the media during the 1985 electoral campaign in Quebec and a difference of 3 percent was observed between the prediction and the vote with respect to the Liberal party and third parties considered as a whole.
Abstract: A great number of polls have been made public by the media during the 1985 electoral campaign in Quebec. The polls correctly predicted the winning party, but were not very good for forecasting the actual vote. A difference of 3 percent has been observed between the prediction and the vote with respect to the Liberal party and third parties considered as a whole. It is shown that the discrepancy must be attributed more to those who do not answer polls at all than to those individuals not willing to reveal their vote intention. Finally, the campaign seems to have had a small impact on the vote, the Liberal party increasing its share by 2 per cent and third parties loosing many votes among those who were tempted to support them at the beginning of the campaign.
TL;DR: Only in Prince Edward Island have voters tended to elect provincial administrations of the same party stripe as the federal government as discussed by the authors, and this has not occurred purely by chance and that, in fact, provincial campaigns have historically revolved around the issue of being "in line" with Ottawa.
Abstract: Only in Prince Edward Island have voters tended to elect provincial administrations of the same party stripe as the federal government. The author argues that this has not occurred purely by chance and that, in fact, provincial campaigns have historically revolved around the issue of being "in line" with Ottawa. Presently, support for federal-provincial partisan congruence is rooted in those Islanders who can be characterized as "political animals" as well as in the dominant groups of the Island's social structure. The author concludes that the deviating provincial election of 1982 does not represent a fundamental change in the Islanders' political orientations. Resume. Il n'y a que dans l'le-du-Prince-Eidouard qu'on observe la tendance des 6lecteurs a appuyer aux 61lections provinciales le parti au pouvoir dans le gouvernement f6d6ral. L'auteur pr6tend que cela n'est pas dO au hasard et que l'importance d'etre du meme cR6t qu'Ottawa a souvent t Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1970), 484-86. This content downloaded from 157.55.39.189 on Fri, 09 Dec 2016 05:29:44 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms
TL;DR: This article reconsiders George Grant's account of the decision of the US Supreme Court in Roe v. Wade against legal restrictions on abortion to support his claim that liberal contractualism here raises but cannot resolve the ontological question of what makes justice the authors' due, while questioning his treatment of this crisis as the final triumph of technological reason and the Biblical idea of will.
Abstract: This article reconsiders George Grant's account of the decision of the US Supreme Court in Roe v. Wade against legal restrictions on abortion to support his claim that liberal contractualism here raises but cannot resolve the ontological question of what makes justice our due, while questioning his treatment of this crisis as the final triumph of technological reason, and the Biblical idea of will, over the remnants of an ancient justice based on the Platonic notion of contemplation. What provokes liberalism to question equality of right is as much its denial of the Biblical account of family and creation as its denial of classical political philosophy.
TL;DR: In this article, it is argued that the use of legal-historical records can aid policy analysts by providing evidence of policy alternatives not only in the case of policy decisions, or "acts of commission," but also in the cases of non-decisions, or acts of omission.
Abstract: Interpretation of the intentions of government in policy matters is a crucial, if normally implicit, aspect of policy analysis. Canadian policy analysts enjoy a significant advantage in having at their disposal a large body of legal-historical evidence of policy conflict between levels of government, which, if properly interpreted, can aid the process of determining the intentions of government policy. Using an example of conflicting interpretations of government intentions contained in the literature on Canadian political economy, it is argued that the use of legal-historical records can aid policy analysts by providing evidence of policy alternatives not only in the case of policy decisions, or "acts of commission," but also in the case of nondecisions, or "acts of omission." Resume. L'interpretation des intentions gouvernementales en matiere de politiques est un aspect primordial, bien qu'ordinairement implicite, de l'analyse des politiques. Les politicologues canadiens ont le grand avantage d'avoir acces a une quantit6 6norme de temoignages juridico-historiques des conflits entre les divers niveaux de gouvernement. Ces temoignages, s'ils sont bien interpretes, peuvent aider dans le processus de d6termination des objectifs des politiques gouvernementales. Les documents traitant de l'conomie politique canadienne donnent un exemple des interpretations divergentes des objectifs gouvernementaux. D'apres cet exemple il est suggere que les archives juridico-historiques fournissent aux politicologues des preuves de l'existence de choix reels, non seulement dans le cas de decisions, ou >, mais aussi dans celui de non-decisions, ou >. other kind of record of intergovernmental agreement probably exists, while in the latter, the concept of a purposive act of omission does not apply. Thus the utility of legal-historical decisions in a federal state has two aspects. In the case of acts of commission, the record of constitutional decisions can supplement policy statements, statutes, and other concrete evidence of the intentions of government. Where one of the constituent governments of a federation succeeds in blocking attempts by another level to alter the status quo, the record of constitutional decisions can also provide evidence of intentional acts of omission. The fact that evidence exists in a federation which documents acts of omission is significant for analyses which criticize governments for maintaining the status quo, and for failing to have adopted alternative courses of action at given points in history. In order for such criticisms to be justified, it must be established that an alternative course of action was rejected by the government. If proof of the rejection of an alternative course of action is not available, it is impossible to prove that the government acted intentionally in favour of preserving the status quo. In other words, in cases where the policy choice of government was an act of omission, proof of the government's intention to preserve the status quo is required. Given the extensive nature of federal-provincial conflict in a federal state, evidence of such acts of omission may well exist in the record of constitutional arbitrations. By the very act of identifying a policy dispute between levels of government such records provide evidence that at least one possible alternative existed to the status quo, an alternative which was considered important enough by at least one level of government to have required investigation and adjudication. If there is This content downloaded from 207.46.13.144 on Mon, 13 Jun 2016 07:39:53 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms