The end of the twentieth century is marked by tensions between universalism and particularism which are particularly glaring in plurinational and pluriethnic countries. This article attempts first to demonstrate the importance and the difficulty in reaching a balance between unity and diversity in pluralistic countries. Even in the cases of Canada and Belgium, where conditions are among the most favourable, federal solutions adopted since the 1960s have not achieved the desired balance. A comparison of the evolution of federalism and collective identities in both Canada and Belgium reveals that opposing federal solutions have led to a similar fragmentation of identities. Pierre Trudeau's pancanadianism and the constitutional linguistic and cultural cloisonnement in Belgium have inhibited the realization of balance between unity and diversity. These choices have further contributed to the fragmentation process already in progress, the first through excessive universalism, the second through excessive particularism. The last part of the article seeks to evaluate the implications of these results for the debates on citizenship in political philosophy.

Abstract. The use of internet technologies, specifically interactive electronic dialogues, has the potential to revive the shrinking Canadian public sphere. Precedent for this assertion can be found in the historical effect of radio technology. The development of Canadian radio forums in the twentieth century such as the National Farm Radio Forum and the Citizen's Forum provided a crude two way interactive medium that helped to shape collective Canadian norms and values. The internet holds the potential to reintroduce national dialogues and reinvigorate the public sphere at a time when Canadians both need and want to address national issues such as environmental concerns and sustainable development. As such dialogue occurs in a “cyberspace” removed from the limitations of physical geography, internet dialogues allow participants from widely diverse groups to come together, surmounting traditional barriers to interaction. Though the danger exists that internet technologies will be abused to reinforce passive static forms of communication, the potential for highly interactive two way dialogue holds the promise of bringing the public into timely and necessary debates on public policy.

Résumé. L'utilisation des technologies de l'Internet, spécifiquement les dialogues électroniques interactifs, a la capacité de ranimer le public canadien. Cette affirmation peut être prouvée en constatant l'effet historique de la technologie de la radio : au vingtième siècle, le développement canadien des tribunes radiophoniques tels que le forum de la ferme nationale et celui des citoyens ont aidé à mettre sur pied un média permettant un dialogue direct entre les participants sur les normes et les valeurs canadiennes collectives. L'Internet a la capacité de réintroduire les dialogues et de revigorer le public national à un moment où les Canadiens ont besoin et veulent discuter des problèmes nationaux tels que l'environnement et le développement durable. Lorsqu'un tel dialogue se produit dans un “ Cyberespace ”, les limites géographiques sont éliminées et ceci permet à des groupes de divers participants de s'unir, surmontant les barrières de communication traditionnelles. Bien que le danger existe où les technologies de l'Internet pourraient être abusées pour ainsi renforcer les formes passives et statiques de communication, le potentiel pour un média permettant un dialogue direct promet de rassembler le public pour des discussions nécessaires sur l'ordre public.

Résumé. Les études sur le comportement électoral au niveau municipal sont rares. Sont encore plus rares celles qui comparent les élections municipales avec celles d'un autre niveau. Cette recherche vise à combler ce vide, mais d'une manière particulière : nous nous intéressons aux gens qui choisissent de s'abstenir de façon sélective. Il s'agit donc de voir pourquoi certains votent lors des élections fédérales mais non lors des élections municipales, ou pourquoi une élection de « deuxième niveau » serait moins attirante qu'une élection de « premier niveau ». Cette question est examinée à l'aide d'un échantillon composé de jeunes montréalais ayant entre 19 et 31 ans. Quatre déterminants sont plus fortement liés à l'abstention sélective : l'identification partisane, l'enracinement local, l'intérêt pour la politique et l'utilisation des services municipaux.

Abstract. Studies of electoral behaviour at the municipal level are rare. Even less frequent are those comparing behaviour in municipal elections and in elections at other levels of government. Our aim is to address this gap in the research, with particular interest paid to people who choose to abstain in a selective way. This study considers those who participate in federal elections but not in municipal elections. Stated alternatively, why might second-order elections be less attractive to voters than first-order elections? To address this question, we use a sample composed of young Montrealers aged 19 to 31. Four determinants were found to be important when explaining selective abstention : partisan identification, local attachment, political interest and use of municipal services.

The travelling and appropriation of queer theory by francophone feminists in Quebec have been particularly long and arduous, prompting an inquiry into not only the reasons for this delay, but also into the elements that ultimately allowed for an integration of queer theory among francophone feminists. Combining tools from social movement literature on diffusion (brokerage, frames, repertoire of contention, etc.) and a political theory approach, this article divides the integration of queer theory among francophone feminists into two moments. In the first instance, activists and academic feminists have generally received queer theory with considerable criticism, which we have regrouped into 3 axes: 1) the deconstruction of women and lesbians as political subjects; 2) the investment in the symbolic aspects of politics, to the detriment of material relations and structures of power, and 3) the erasure of lesbian specificity and the absence of male privilege examination. In the second moment, the work of the Pink Panthers–a radical queer group–allows for frame bridging and the use of a recognisable repertoire of collective action to address two out of the three axes of criticism. This article suggests that the process of brokerage creates a crack in the wall of resistance that will quickly become a space for the insertion and integration, even if still conflictual, of queer theory into francophone feminism.

This article examines two types of collaboration in Canada between the federal and provincial governments in the disability policy sector and assesses their implications for the citizenship rights of persons with disabilities. One type of collaboration is across the levels of order in Canada and notable examples are the 1997 multilateral framework agreement on Employability Assistance for People with Disabilities and the 1999 Social Union Framework Agreement. The Provincial/Territorial Council on Social Policy Renewal, a structure established in 1995, illustrates the second type. This study suggests that each intergovernmental arrangement has a particular working model of citizenship associated with it. Contrary to the conventional view in the literature, the article argues that, for disability groups, the first form of federalism is enhancing political rights of citizenship along with the economic and social dimensions of membership in society. Further, the second kind of intergovernmental relations is more than just a fleeting movement of provincialism; it exhibits the potential to play a greater sustained role in shaping Canada's welfare state.

No established liberal democracy has achieved sex balance in its national legislature. Scholars agree skewed candidate pools put forward by parties during elections cause sex-disproportionate seat distribution, but disagree as to whether disproportionality is caused by too few women aspirant candidates coming forward (supply) or party selectors preferring men (demand). This paper uses a multistage method to explore supply and demand during the British Labour party's candidate selection process. Rare data from three elections and 4622 aspirants allow for an unobstructed look inside the secret garden of politics and reveal the party is not fully feminized insofar that women aspirants are disproportionally filtered out of its selection process and are disproportionally underrepresented in its candidate pool. Testing reveals a lack of selector demand for women aspirants has a greater impact on women's underrepresentation than an undersupply of women aspirants, a finding which supports using sex quotas to level imbalanced candidate slates.

Abstract. Canadian political science often neglects the municipal level as a legitimate research subject, even when large-scale transformations are implemented, such as the 2001 territorial reorganization in Quebec. This paper shows how mayors were involved in municipal mergers, mainly led by the provincial government, and especially how they played different roles in order to ensure their legitimacy as leaders of their communities. Specifically, the creation of the City of Saguenay has been studied through an examination of the activities, strategies and discourses of the mayors of this agglomeration in order to highlight normal and extraordinary levels of action. In doing so, this article contributes new knowledge of the mayors' own conceptions of their duties and roles and also of the rescaling process.

Résumé. Le palier municipal attire peu d'attention en science politique canadienne, même lorsque surviennent des réformes substantielles comme la réorganisation territoriale municipale entreprise au Québec en 2001. L'article montre comment les maires ont tenté de s'approprier la mise en œuvre de ces fusions municipales organisées surtout par le gouvernement provincial, en insistant sur les rôles divers qu'ils ont joués pour assurer leur légitimité en tant que chefs de leur communauté. L'étude de la création de la Ville de Saguenay a permis d'examiner de plus près les activités, les stratégies et les discours des maires de cette agglomération et de mettre en lumière leurs registres d'action ordinaires et extraordinaires. L'article jette ainsi un éclairage nouveau sur les perceptions qu'ont les maires de leur rôle et de leurs responsabilités et sur les effets politiques de la réorganisation municipale.

Rational choice theory has drawn attention to the phenomenon of structure-induced equilibrium in situations of potential cycling. When there is no majority, first preference or Condorcet winner, the outcome is determined by agenda control and institutional rules of decision making. Within that context, the status quo has a special advantage because of the parliamentary amendment procedure, in which the status quo, as the default option to the bill in formal form, is not voted upon until the last stage. The unsuccessful attempts of the Canadian government of Prime Minister Brian Mulroney to respond legislatively to the Supreme Court's Morgentaler decision illustrate these general principles of rational choice. The government was unable to get legislation passed because, with cyclical configurations of opinion in both the House of Commons and the Senate, institutional rules, especially the order of voting required by the parliamentary amendment procedure, favoured the status quo.

Abstract. Unlike previous methodological debates in political science, the recent rational choice controversy has excluded consideration of normative questions altogether. These can be recovered, in part, through a genealogy of counter-utopian democratic theory which connects modern rational choice theory to the fin-de-siècle sociology of elites via the mediating figure of Schumpeter. The family resemblances include the aspiration toward a pure science of society, the search for a “realistic” theory of democratic politics, and the shading of an empirical proposition about elite domination into a normative celebration. Though democratic theorists have learned much from the counter-utopian tradition generally, both sides of the rational choice controversy have failed to take seriously the elitists' recognition of the ineluctable normative and ideological dimensions of social research.

Résumé. Les débats récents sur le choix rationnel, à contre-pied d'autres disputes méthodologiques en science politique, ont exclu les questions normatives. Ces questions peuvent se rétablir, en partie, par l'intermédiaire d'une généalogie contre-utopiste de la théorie démocratique, qui lie la théorie moderne du choix rationnel au retour de la sociologie élitiste de fin de siècle, avec le personnage de Schumpeter comme médiateur. Les ressemblances familiales portent l'aspiration à une science pure de la société, la recherche d'une théorie «réaliste» de la démocratie et la transition d'une proposition empirique sur la domination des élites vers une célébration normative. Bien que les théoriciens démocratiques aient beaucoup appris de la tradition contre-utopiste, aucune des deux parties du débat sur le choix rationnel n'a pris en compte la reconnaissance élitiste des aspects idéologiques inévitables de la recherche sociale.

This article compares social assistance incomes, or minimum income protection, for four household types in the 10 Canadian provinces between 1990 and 2017 and relates these incomes to a number of factors, including partisan dominance over time, trade union density, the presence or absence of poverty reduction strategies, provincial social expenditures, overall redistribution efforts, debt service costs and social assistance recipiency rates. In line with findings for the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) welfare states, partisan politics does not play a strong role but, as power resources theory predicts, union density and a province's overall redistribution efforts do. Social assistance recipiency rates, which capture the salience of social assistance incomes in a province, also have a significant, positive impact on welfare incomes, confirming the “welfare paradox” identified by Ivar Lødemel. Poverty reduction strategies, however, do not, and they even have a negative influence on welfare incomes.

Research on gendered political behaviour has been heavily influenced by feminist scholarship in understanding gender inequalities. Yet it has been more difficult to integrate the insights of more recent waves of feminist critics, notably among intersectional scholars. The focus has been on differences between women and men, rather than among differently situated women. This article addresses the difficulties of integrating intersections into large-n style studies of political behaviour using “situated comparisons” (Dhamoon, 2010). It then provides an analysis of gender gaps in turnout and civic engagement across ethnoracial groups in Canada using the Ethnic Diversity Survey (2002).It concludes by arguing that the study of gender and political behaviour must find a place for intersectional feminist approaches.

Abstract. Studies of federal judicial appointments made before 1988 discovered significant partisan ties between judicial appointees and the governments appointing them. In 1988, in response to criticism of these “patronage appointments,” the Mulroney government introduced screening committees to the process. This article explores the impact of these committees. Using information gained from surveys of legal elites, we trace the minor and major political connections of federal judicial appointees from 1989 to 2003 in order to determine whether patronage has continued despite the reform to the process. We discover that political connections continued to play an important role in who was selected for a judicial appointment. However, these connections were not quite as common as those found before 1988, and the new process does appear to have prevented the politically motivated appointment of completely unqualified candidates. Interestingly, our findings also suggest that the impact of patronage varies by region and interacts with other, newer influences, in particular, concerns for group representation on the bench. The paper concludes by briefly discussing these results in the context of the relationship between judicial selection and politics with a comparative perspective.

Résumé. Les études sur les nominations judiciaires fédérales réalisées avant 1988 ont découvert des liens partisans étroits entre les juges nommés à la cour et les gouvernements les nommant. En 1988, en réponse aux critiques sur le favoritisme entourant les nominations, le gouvernement Mulroney a introduit des comités d'évaluation dans le processus. Cet article explore l'impact de ces comités. En utilisant de l'information recueillie lors de sondages menés auprès de la communauté légale, nous retraçons les connexions politiques mineures et majeures des attributaires judiciaires fédéraux de 1989 à 2003 en vue de déterminer si le favoritisme a persisté malgré la réforme du système. Nous découvrons que les connexions politiques continuent à jouer un rôle important dans la sélection des juges. Toutefois, ces connexions ne sont pas aussi importantes que celles qu'on a identifiées avant 1988 et le nouveau processus semble avoir réussi à prévenir les nominations partisanes de candidats entièrement non qualifiés. Les résultats de notre recherche suggèrent également que l'effet du favoritisme varie par région et dépend aussi d'autres facteurs plus nouveaux, en particulier le souci de représentation de certains groupes au sein de la magistrature. L'article conclut en discutant brièvement ces résultats dans le contexte de la relation entre la sélection judiciaire et la politique dans une perspective comparative.

Business history is at once very old and very young. Objectively, it is as old as town economy in the ancient and medieval periods. By this, I mean that business began in the town, ancient and medieval. Subjectively, it is hardly more than a decade old. That is, as a subject for study, business history is just getting under way. Since this is the case, we may fittingly stop to consider what we are to understand by the subject.

Business history is the study of the development of business administration. Roughly, it deals with the historical background of subjects taught in schools of business.

Perhaps we may divide the subject, that is, the history of business administration, into two main parts. The first is the history of policy-formulation. We may think that there is little policy in business and has been less in the past. The fault lies in us: there is a long story and an interesting one at this point. Much of the development in policy, conscious or unconscious, is embedded in these five stages—petty capitalism, mercantile capitalism, industrial capitalism, financial capitalism, and national capitalism. Woven into these are many ingredients, but the degree of specialization and control is uppermost in the change of patterns. We shall come back to this subject later.

Have universities heeded the call from the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada and taken concrete action to integrate and promote Indigenous scholarship in their classrooms? In the field of Canadian political science, this question is vital but underanalyzed. Indigenous knowledges, histories, languages, customs, legal traditions, systems of governance and research methodologies are integral to Canadian politics, but calls for indigenization have often not been met. By analyzing comprehensive exam reading lists for Canadian politics doctoral students in programs across the country, this article argues that a fractured approach to indigenization begins early on in the training of faculty. Indigenous content remains largely underrepresented on exam lists and siloed into Indigenous- or diversity-focused sections of the political science literature. Most Indigenous politics readings engage centrally with sovereignty and the Constitution, with very few exploring the political dimensions of residential schools, gendered violence and other contemporary political issues.

For the last three decades, scholars of Canadian political culture have favoured ideological explanations for state formation with the starting point being the American Revolution and Loyalist resettlement in British North America. This article challenges both the ideological bias and the late eighteenth-century chronology through a reassessment of early modern developments in the British imperial state. It shows that many of the institutional features associated with the state in British North America and later Canada—strong executives and weak assemblies, Crown control of land and natural resources, parliamentary funding of colonial development and accommodation of non-British subjects—were all institutionalized in the imperial state before the American Revolution and before the arrival of significant numbers of ethnically British settlers to Newfoundland, Nova Scotia and Quebec. Ideological discourses in the British North American colonies that became Canada, unlike those that became the United States, traditionally acknowledged the presence of a strong state in its imperial and colonial manifestations. Rather than challenging its legitimacy, as had Americans, British North Americans, whether liberals, republicans or tories, debated the function of the state and the distribution of power within it.