Showing papers in "Canadian Journal of Political Science in 1998"

Do Female MPs Substantively Represent Women? A Study of Legislative Behaviour in Canada's 35th Parliament

Abstract: This article outlines the pattern of women's participation in the Canadian parliamentary system. The question of interest is whether female members of the House of Commons make a difference in politics and, notably, if they substantively represent women. The basic underlying hypothesis is that women in the Canadian House of Commons make a difference, that is to say, they substantively represent women. However, the impact of women in politics is limited: they do indeed make a difference, but not a drastic one. In this sense, women try to shape the legislative agenda and the legislative discourse in order to promote women's issues more than do men, but their activity in favour of women's concerns remains quite limited from a numerical point of view. To achieve effective results in this study, two methods were employed: a survey given to members of the 35th Canadian Parliament, and a content analysis of the Hansard Index of the House of Commons. Overall, the results presented here provide some support for the substantive argument. On the question of whether women members of the House of Commons make a difference in politics, and, significantly, if they substantively represent women, the answer is generally positive, although it is necessary to qualify this response. Both female and male MPs speak and act to support women's issues in the House of Commons, but these activities remain quantitatively marginal. However, on each aspect considered, the group of female MPs were proportionately more involved in women's issues than their male counterparts.

Predictable and Unpredictable Policy Windows: Institutional and Exogenous Correlates of Canadian Federal Agenda-Setting

Abstract: This article addresses the question of the applicability of John Kingdon's theory of agenda-setting to Canadian political life. It examines the extent to which agenda-setting in Canadian governments is routine or discretionary, predictable or unpredictable, and the extent to which it is influenced by events and activities external to itself. The study uses time series data collected on issue mentions related to Native affairs, the constitution, drug abuse, acid rain, the nuclear industry and capital punishment in parliamentary debates and committees between 1977 and 1992. It compares these series to other time series developed from media mentions, violent crime rates, unemployment rates, budget speeches and speeches from the throne, elections and first ministers' conferences over the same period in order to assess the impact of such events on public policy agenda-setting.

Of “Special Interest”: Interest, Identity and Feminist Constitutional Activism in Canada *

Abstract: A number of theoretical propositions are advanced through a consideration of the shifting strategies of feminist organizations in Canada during three rounds of constitutional negotiations. First, interest-oriented formulations alone do not capture the intricacies of representation. Representation should be conceived more broadly in terms not just of interest, but also of identity. Second, there are multiple routes to representation that include intersecting forms of representation. Finally, “special interest” designations can be used to undercut the democratic potential of collective mobilization.

Party, State and Political Competition in Canada: The Cartel Model Reconsidered*

Abstract: This article argues that the cartel party thesis is not supported by empirical evidence in the Canadian case. Even though Canadian parties at the federal level colluded to provide themselves with funding and to hinder the entry of new parties into the system, they were not transformed into cartel patties. Canadian parties have not become primarily reliant on state resources, and the specific formulas for delivery of public funding do not remove or greatly diminish parties' incentives to solicit support from the public. Parties' ties to civil society consequently remain intact. There is little evidence for the consequent diminution of party competition or increased interpenetration of state and society posited by the cartel thesis. The article argues that the cartel model is largely inapplicable to anglo-american political systems because it fails to take into account the effect of specific forms of state funding.

Social Movements and Equality Seeking: The Case of Gay Liberation in Canada*

Abstract: This article examines the impact of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms on social movement politics in Canada using the case of the gay liberation movement. Drawing on the comparative social movement literature, the article situates equality seeking as a strategy and meaning game that legitimates new political identities and that is aimed at mobilizing a movement's constituency. The article demonstrates that equality seeking was a strategy and a meaning frame that was deployed in the lesbian and gay rights movement (exemplified by the gay liberation movement of the 1970s) prior to the entrenchment of the Charter. Thus, it concludes that some claims about the Charter's impact on social movement organizing have been exaggerated.

Rationality and Sovereignty Support in Quebec

Abstract: Recent research has identified three factors as significant determinants of sovereignty support in Quebec: national identity, assessments of the likely impact of sovereignty on Quebec's economy and perceptions of the impact of sovereignty on the French language in Quebec. Drawing on data from the 1992–1993 Canadian Referendum and Election Survey, the article suggests that the latter two factors may not be genuine causes of sovereignty support, but rather rationalizations of other, deeply embedded sentiments. National identity and sovereignty support itself, it is argued, are important determinants of people's expectations concerning the economic and linguistic impacts of sovereignty. However, this may not be equally true across the board. Instead, the influence of economic and language considerations seems to be differentially distributed across the spectrum of national identity. Thus, the rational evaluation of economic and linguistic considerations probably has less leverage over sovereignty support than is usually assumed, and its influence, such as it is, is concentrated in certain sections of the population only.

A Crisis-Based Evaluation of the Democratic Peace Proposition*

Abstract: It has often been said that the closest thing we have to an empirical law in international relations is that democracies do not fight against each other. This study adds to the literature on democratic peace by focusing on the crisis behaviour of democracies and nondemocracies. International Crisis Behavior (ICB) Project data are used to conduct a quantitative analysis of states' crisis activity from 1918 to 1988. Strong support emerges for the three hypotheses of the study. First, it is clear that democracies initiate fewer crises than nondemocracies. However, democracies tend to escalate crises to higher levels of severity. Finally, democracies eventually win the crises in which they become involved. The conclusion is that democratic leaders face strong incentives to “select” winnable crises against nondemocratic states because of the audience costs they face, but when the opponent is another democracy, the domestic audience expects leaders to compromise.

Populism and the Politics of Rights: The Dual Attack on Representative Democracy*

Abstract: In Canada as elsewhere, representative democracy is under attack by both populists and rights advocates. The populist challenge comes mainly from Preston Manning's wing of the Reform party. The rights-based challenge is grounded on the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. These two challenges are different in obvious ways, but from the point of view of representative government—and ultimately of liberal democratic constitutionalism—what they have in common outweighs their differences. What they have in common is the appeal to a mystical being or icon beyond ordinary politics. In effect, the People or Rights become what God was to pre-liberal theocratic politics: a transpolitical trump on ordinary political division, a way of placing opponents “beyond the pale,” a demand for unattainable purity in public life and policy. While bills of rights and populism appear to flow, respectively, from the liberalism and the democracy of liberal democracy, they are, in fact, vehicles for precisely the kind of politics liberal democracy was designed to overcome. Representative government, not populism or entrenched rights, was at the heart of the “new science of politics” designed to make liberal democracy possible. Representative institutions, properly arranged in a system of checks and balances, were a way of blending liberalism with democracy, giving each its due, but indirectly, so that neither would be taken to self-destructive extremes. Populism and the judicialized politics of rights threaten to dissolve this salutary blend, at the cost of liberal democratic constitutionalism.

Terminating the Provincial Career: Retirement and Electoral Defeat in Canadian Provincial Legislatures, 1960–1997*

Abstract: This article analyzes data on incumbent turnover in 103 provincial elections in Canada from 1960 to 1997. The author examines total turnover and the proportions attributable to retirement and electoral defeat. He notes that the overall rate of turnover in the provincial legislative assemblies is similar to that of the Canadian House of Commons. Further, voluntary retirement and electoral defeat comprise equal proportions of the total turnover. There are, however, important differences in the turnover rate and in its makeup, both by province and by time period. The author tests several models in an attempt to determine the correlates of turnover in Canadian provincial legislatures.

Dimensions of Attitudes Underlying Search and Seizure Decisions of the Supreme Court of Canada

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

Following Suit or Falling Behind? A Comparative Analysis of Think Tanks in Canada and the United States

Abstract: Policy institutes, or think tanks, have become increasingly visible on the political landscape. However, their policy role has varied in different countries. This article seeks to explain why, compared to think tanks in the United States, Canadian institutes have maintained a relatively modest presence in the policy-making community. Although many Canadian think tanks have made concerted efforts to replicate the strategies of their American counterparts, they have had far less success employing them in an effective and meaningful manner. While many American think tanks have both the resources and the opportunities to convey ideas to policy makers, Canadian organizations must overcome institutional, cultural and economic barriers before they can play a decisive role in policy-making circles. This article also makes reference to the experiences of think tanks in some parliamentary systems, notably Great Britain, to demonstrate that although these barriers are formidable and need to be addressed in some detail, they are not insurmountable.

Socratic Cosmopolitanism: Cicero's Critique and Transformation of the Stoic Ideal

Abstract: The post-Cold War era has provoked a revival of various implicit as well as explicit returns to Stoic cosmopolitan theory as a possible source of a normative conceptual framework for international relations and global community. This article confronts this revival of interest in Stoicism with an analysis of Cicero's constructive critique of original Stoic conceptions of the world community. Particular attention is paid to the arguments by which Cicero identifies major flaws in the Stoic outlook and establishes the validity of his alternative notion of the “law of nations.” It is argued that Cicero's transformation of Stoicism issues in a more modest but more solid, as well as more civic-spirited, cosmopolitan theory. At the same time, the implications of Cicero's arguments for our understanding of justice altogether are clarified.

Clivage linguistique et vote économique au Canada

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

Money and Elections: Can Citizens Participate on Fair Terms amidst Unrestricted Spending?

Abstract: In 1996 the Alberta Court of Appeal struck down election spending limits for individuals, interest groups, corporations and unions for violating the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. These spending restrictions were part of a complex regulatory regime which sought to promote fairness by controlling the election spending of candidates and parties. Although this decision was not appealed to the nation's highest court, the Supreme Court disapproved the Alberta ruling in an unrelated decision. This suggests that spending limits are justifiable under the Charter. Yet if new legislation is not introduced, the Alberta decision will continue to govern election conduct throughout the country and could undermine the democratic ideal of citizens participating in fair terms in the act of self-governance.

Public Opinion and Social Movements: The Women's Movement and the Gender Gap in Canada*

Abstract: Little research provides concrete evidence of relationships between socialization by the women's movement and support for feminism and equality. Support for these issues has increased in Canada since the early 1970s, and using cohort analysis this study demonstrates clear generational differences in this support. The greatest support appears among women's movement and post-women's-movement cohorts. Furthermore, this article identifies gender differences on feminism and equality not appearing in the aggregate data. These differences increase with added controls for education and employment, suggesting links between women's attitudes and the development of a gender consciousness.

Reasonable Limitations, Distinct Society and the Canada Clause: Interpretive Clauses and the Competition for Constitutional Advantage*

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

Francis Bacon on the Political Dangers of Scientific Progress

Abstract: Technological progress has brought some political difficulties: we have both too much power and too little control. Francis Bacon, a principal promoter of science and technology, was not naive about the uses to which the conquest of nature would be put; they may not all be good, humane and charitable. He was not uniformly optimistic about the result being “the relief of man's estate,” even though that is the overwhelming rhetorical thrust of his major writings. Bacon actually rejected many of our currently offered “solutions” for controlling science as being hopelessly impolitic and improvident. This is revealed in a little-known chapter, entitled “Daedalus,” in one of his most comprehensive political works, Of the Wisdom of the Ancients. He provides timely lessons for us to consider now, entering the twenty-first century.

Rights Application Doctrine and the Clash of Constitutionalisms in Canada

Abstract: Canadian courts have been torn between two constitutionalisms in their interpretation of the application provisions of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. The traditional, liberal constitutionalist approach establishes a distinction between public and private realms and between state action and inaction, limiting the Charter's application to the public, governmental sphere of positive legislation and executive conduct. However, the courts have oscillated between this and a postliberal constitutionalism according to which distinctions between public and private and state action and inaction are arbitrary and artificial. This article argues that this clash of constitutionalisms is responsible in large part for the courts' inconsistent and confusing record in interpreting sections 32 and 52 of the Constitution Act, 1982 .

Loss Imposition and Institutional Characteristics: Learning from Automobile Insurance Reform in North America

Abstract: This article reconsiders findings that emphasize the importance of governments' abilities to impose losses on powerful groups, while arguing that loss imposition is more problematic under separation of powers systems. The author argues that empirical evidence to this effect is thin, that more leverage can be obtained by comparing the policy decisions of subnational jurisdictions in the United States and Canada and that automobile insurance reform is an especially appropriate issue to study. Drawing on both aggregate analysis and case studies, the author presents findings suggesting that the Westminster-style parliamentary system in Canada indeed makes loss imposition easier than does the separation of powers system in the United States. /// Cet article examine a nouveau les conclusions qui insistent sur l'importance que revet l'aptitude des gouvernements a infliger des pertes aux groupes puissants, tout en affirmant que l'imposition des pertes est plus problematique dans le cadre d'un systeme de repartition des pouvoirs. L'auteu suggere que les preuves empiriques pour appuyer cette conclusion sont toutefois pluto minces. Il soutient que l'on a davantage de prise en comparant les decisions politiques d'instances infranationales aux Etats-Unis et au Canada. La reforme de l'assurance-automobile est un cas qui se prete particulierement bien a cette etude. En s'appuyant sur une analyse globale et sur des etudes de cas, l'auteur soutient que le systeme parlementaire type britannique qui se caracterise le fonctionnement politique des provinces canadiennes semble rendre l'imposition des pertes plus faciles que le systeme de separation des pouvoirs propre aux Etats americains.

The Place of Political Science in Canadian Universities

Abstract: This article addresses the proper role of political science in Canadian universities. The thesis is twofold: first, the main tasks of political scientists are firstrate teaching and reflective inquiry about citizenship: second, in the past few years we have been moving away from this understanding, and remedial action is required. Our delinquency stems mainly from our obsession with "frontier research," the main result of which is the widespread decline of attentive teaching, which we rationalize with a number of implausible myths. We are primarily responsible for the current state of political science, and only we can remedy it. Resum6. Cet article porte sur le r61le particulier joud par la science politique dans les universit6s canadiennes. La these proposee est double: premierement, les politologues doivent offrir un enseignement de qualit6 et une r6flexion soutenue sur la citoyennete; deuxiemement, au cours des dernieres ann6es nous nous sommes 61oign6s de ces objectifs et des m6sures correctices s'imposent. Notre d61linquance trouve surtout son origine dans notre obsession pour la recherche . Cela a eu pour cons6quence de nous 6loigner de la recherche que nous avons justifi6 en ayant recours ' de nombreux mythes invraisemblables. Nous sommes les premiers responsable de l'6tat actuel dans lequel se trouve la science politique et nous sommes les seuls ' pouvoir rem6dier a cette situation. social scientists. The effect of them is to give a wildly inflated impression of the importance of the liberal arts within the university, and thereby of the breadth of attention devoted to issues and controversies peculiar to the liberal arts. Most recent writings on universities give the impression that the main concerns of professors, and to a lesser extent students and administrators, are such matters as cross-, interand multidisciplinary studies, postmodernism, poststructuralism, postMarxism, "political correctness," gender studies, returning to the Great Books, re-examination of the canons of philosophy and English literature and the possibility (or impossibility) of "grand narratives" or "meta-narratives" or "philosophical foundations."5 The truth of the matter, of course, is that such issues are confined almost exclusively to faculties of arts, albeit with outposts in faculties of education and law.6 5 This impression is conveyed even more forcefully by thoughtful books like David Bromwich, Politics by Other Means: Higher Education and Group Thinking (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1992); Peter C. Emberley, Zero Tolerance: Hot Button Politics in Canada's Universities (Toronto: Penguin, 1996); and Bill Reading, The University in Ruins (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1996), than by bad ones like David Bercuson, Robert Bothwell and J. L. Granatstein, Petrified Campus: The Crisis in Canadian Universities (Toronto: Random House, 1997) and Cary Nelson, Manifesto of a Tenured Radical (New York: New York University Press, 1997). 6 I do not mean to suggest that all books written about universities suffer from excessive attention to the liberal arts. This is decidedly not true of the best book I have read about universities: Christopher Jencks and David Riesman, The Academic Revolution (Garden City: Doubleday, 1968). It is also not true of the works of two exceptionally perceptive political scientists, one American and one Canadian. See Charles W. Anderson, Prescribing the Life of the Mind (Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 1993); J. A. Corry, Universities and Governments (Toronto: Gage, 1969); and Louis-Philippe Bonneau and J. A. Corry, Quest for the Optimum: Research Policy in the Universities of Canada (Ottawa: AssociaThis content downloaded from 157.55.39.157 on Fri, 08 Jul 2016 06:08:10 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms