The Canadian Party System

The Canadian Party System PDF Author: Richard Johnston
Publisher: UBC Press
ISBN: 0774836105
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 336

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Book Description
The Canadian party system is a deviant case among the Anglo-American democracies. It has too many parties, it is susceptible to staggering swings from election to election, and its provincial and federal branches often seem unrelated. Unruly and inscrutable, it is a system that defies logic and classification – until now. In this political science tour de force, Richard Johnston makes sense of the Canadian party system. With a keen eye for history and deft use of recently developed analytic tools, he articulates a series of propositions underpinning the system. Chief among them was domination by the centrist Liberals, stemming from their grip on Quebec, which blocked both the Conservatives and the NDP. He also takes a close look at other peculiarities of the Canadian party system, including the stunning discontinuity between federal and provincial arenas. For its combination of historical breadth and data-intensive rigour, The Canadian Party System is a rare achievement. Its findings shed light on the main puzzles of the Canadian case, while contesting the received wisdom of the comparative study of parties, elections, and electoral systems elsewhere.

The Canadian Party System

The Canadian Party System PDF Author: Richard Johnston
Publisher: UBC Press
ISBN: 0774836105
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 336

Get Book Here

Book Description
The Canadian party system is a deviant case among the Anglo-American democracies. It has too many parties, it is susceptible to staggering swings from election to election, and its provincial and federal branches often seem unrelated. Unruly and inscrutable, it is a system that defies logic and classification – until now. In this political science tour de force, Richard Johnston makes sense of the Canadian party system. With a keen eye for history and deft use of recently developed analytic tools, he articulates a series of propositions underpinning the system. Chief among them was domination by the centrist Liberals, stemming from their grip on Quebec, which blocked both the Conservatives and the NDP. He also takes a close look at other peculiarities of the Canadian party system, including the stunning discontinuity between federal and provincial arenas. For its combination of historical breadth and data-intensive rigour, The Canadian Party System is a rare achievement. Its findings shed light on the main puzzles of the Canadian case, while contesting the received wisdom of the comparative study of parties, elections, and electoral systems elsewhere.

Rebuilding Canadian Party Politics

Rebuilding Canadian Party Politics PDF Author: R. Kenneth Carty
Publisher: UBC Press
ISBN: 0774859962
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 278

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Book Description
Canadian party politics collapsed in the early 1990s. This book is about that collapse, about the end of a party system, with a unique pattern of party organization and competition, that had governed Canada’s national politics for several decades, and about the ongoing struggle to build its successor. Rebuilding Canadian Party Politics discusses the breakdown of the old party system, the emergence of the Reform Party and the Bloc Québécois, and the fate of the Conservative and New Democratic Parties. It focuses on the internal workings of parties in this new era, examining the role of professionals, new technologies, and local activists. To understand the ambiguities of our current party system, the authors attended local and national party meetings, nomination and leadership meetings, and campaign kick-off rallies. They visited local campaign offices to observe the parties’ grassroots operations and conducted interviews with senior party officials, pollsters, media and advertising specialists, and leader-tour directors. Written in a lively and accessible style, this book will interest students of party politics and Canadian political history, as well as general readers eager to make sense of the changes reshaping national politics today.

Canadian Parties in Transition, Fourth Edition

Canadian Parties in Transition, Fourth Edition PDF Author: Alain-G. Gagnon
Publisher: University of Toronto Press
ISBN: 1442634707
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 513

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Book Description
Canadian Parties in Transition examines the transformation of party politics in Canada and the possible shape the party system might take in the near future. With chapters written by an outstanding team of political scientists, the book presents a multi-faceted image of party dynamics, electoral behaviour, political marketing, and representative democracy. The fourth edition has been thoroughly updated and includes fifteen new chapters and several new contributors. The new material covers topics such as the return to power of the Liberal Party, voting politics in Quebec, women in Canadian political parties, political campaigning, digital party politics, and municipal party politics.

Parties and Party Systems

Parties and Party Systems PDF Author: Richard Johnston
Publisher: UBC Press
ISBN: 0774829583
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 333

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Book Description
Party systems. Party organization. For too long, scholars researching in these two areas have worked in isolation. This book bridges the divide by bringing together leading political scientists from both traditions to examine the intersection of rules, society, and the organization of parties within party systems. Blending theory and case studies, Parties and Party Systems builds upon the pioneering work of R. Kenneth Carty, whose ideas about brokerage politics have influenced a generation of scholars. The contributors explore four thematic pathways: How does brokerage work across lines of division in society? How do partisan teams hold together in the face of the centrifugal pressures that necessitate brokerage? How can parties withstand the complicated principal-agent relations that inevitably arise? And, how does the institutional context constrain a multitude of competing interests when it, itself, is quite fragile? By providing new perspectives on parties as organizations that exist within political systems and by raising key questions about the sustainability of brokerage politics, this volume will provoke theoretical reconsideration, prompt further integrative thinking, and inspire future research at the political organization-system nexus.

Parties, Elections, and the Future of Canadian Politics

Parties, Elections, and the Future of Canadian Politics PDF Author: Amanda Bittner
Publisher: UBC Press
ISBN: 0774824115
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 365

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Book Description
On 2 May 2011, Canadians watched as the Stephen Harper Conservatives won their first majority government. Jack Layton led the NDP to its best performance in history, and Michael Ignatieff and the federal Liberals had their worst showing to date. For most casual observers, this election marked a major shift in Canadian politics. In reality, the country’s political landscape and national party system had been changing for quite some time. Parties, Elections, and the Future of Canadian Politics offers the first comprehensive account of political change in Canada over the past two decades. It explores developments in the political landscape from both historical and contemporary perspectives and speculates on the future of the national party system. By documenting how parties and voters responded to new challenges between 1993 and 2011, this volume enhances our understanding of one of the most tumultuous periods in Canadian political history.

Lost on Division

Lost on Division PDF Author: Jean-François Godbout
Publisher: University of Toronto Press
ISBN: 1487524757
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 309

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Book Description
Compared to other countries, Canada's Parliament shows a high level of party unity when it comes to legislative voting. This was not always the case, however. One hundred years ago, this sort of party discipline was not as evident, leading scholars to wonder what explains the growing influence of political parties in the Canadian Parliament. In Lost on Division, Jean-François Godbout analyses more than two million individual votes recorded in the House of Commons and the Senate since Confederation, demonstrating that the increase in partisanship is linked to changes in the content of the legislative agenda, itself a product of more restrictive parliamentary rules instituted after 1900. These rules reduced the independence of private members, polarized voting along partisan lines, and undermined Parliament's ability to represent distinct regional interests, resulting in – among other things – the rise of third parties. Bridging the scholarship on party politics, legislatures, and elections, Lost on Division builds a powerful case for bringing institutions back into our understanding of how party systems change. It represents a significant contribution to legislative studies, the political development literature, and the comparative study of parliaments.

Big Tent Politics

Big Tent Politics PDF Author: R. Kenneth Carty
Publisher: UBC Press
ISBN: 0774830026
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 177

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Book Description
The Liberal Party of Canada is one of the most successful parties in the democratic world. It dominated Canadian politics for a century, practising an inclusive style of “big tent” politics that allowed it to fend off opponents on both the left and right. How did it do this? What kind of party organization did it build over the decades to manage its remarkable string of election victories? This book traces the record of the party over the twentieth century, revealing the cyclical character of its success and charting its capacity to respond to change. It also unwraps Liberal practices and organization to reveal the party’s distinctive “brokerage” approach to politics as well as a franchise-style structure that tied local grassroots supporters to the national leadership. R. Kenneth Carty provides a masterful analysis of how one party came to lead the nation’s public life. In a country riven by difference, the Liberals’ enduring political success was an extraordinary feat. But as Carty reflects, given the party’s not-so-distant travails, even with an election win, will it be able to reinvent itself for the twenty-first century?

The Big Red Machine

The Big Red Machine PDF Author: Stephen Clarkson
Publisher: UBC Press
ISBN: 0774851651
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 352

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Book Description
In The Big Red Machine, astute Liberal observer Stephen Clarkson tells the story of the Liberal Party's performance in the last nine elections, providing essential historical context for each and offering incisive, behind-the-scenes detail about how the party has planned, changed, and executed its successful electoral strategies. Arguing that the Liberal Party has opportunistically straddled the political centre since Sir John A. Macdonald -- leaning left or moving right and as circumstances required -- Clarkson also shows that the party's grip on power is becoming increasingly uncertain, having lost its appeal not just in the West, but now in Qu�bec. Its campaigns now reflect the splintering of the party system and the integration of Canada into the global economy.

Conservatism in Canada

Conservatism in Canada PDF Author: James Farney
Publisher: University of Toronto Press
ISBN: 1442666323
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 401

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Book Description
With the electoral success of the Harper Conservatives federally and of a number of conservative parties provincially, the topic of Canadian conservatism is more important to our understanding of Canadian party politics than ever before. This timely volume presents the first comprehensive examination of Canadian conservatism in a generation – a period during which its nature has changed substantially. Conservatism in Canada explores the ideological character of contemporary Canadian conservatism, its support in the electorate, its impact on public policies such as immigration and foreign policy, and its articulation at both federal and provincial levels. The essays include comparisons with other countries, including the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia, as well as specific examinations of conservatism in Ontario, Alberta, and Quebec. Featuring contributions by both established and new scholars in the fields of political science and public policy, this volume makes a significant contribution to our understanding of the changing nature of Canadian conservatism and its broader implications for the future of this country.

Religion and Canadian Party Politics

Religion and Canadian Party Politics PDF Author: David Rayside
Publisher: UBC Press
ISBN: 0774835613
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 449

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Book Description
Religion is usually thought of as inconsequential to contemporary Canadian politics. Religion and Canadian Party Politics takes a hard look at just how much influence faith continues to have in federal, provincial, and territorial political arenas. Drawing on case studies from across the country, this book explores three important axes of religiously based contention in Canada. Early on, there were the denominational distinctions between Catholics and Protestants that shaped party oppositions. Since the 1960s, a newly politicized divide opened between religious conservatives and political reformers. Then from the 1990s on, sporadic controversy has centred on the recognition of non-Christian religious minority rights. Although the extent of partisan engagement with each of these sources of conflict has varied across time and region, this book shows that religion still matters in shaping party politics . This detailed look at the play of religiously based conflict and accommodation in Canada fills a large gap and pulls us back from overly simplified comparisons with the United States. More broadly, this book also compares the role of faith in politics in Canada to that of other Western industrialized societies.