Search

While many scholars have recently conducted quantitative and qualitative investigations of the structure and content of “A-list” politically-oriented weblogs, few have focused on the civic involvement of their authors which are often defined as “opinion leaders”. Based on data collected through a Web-based survey conducted in April 2008, this paper proposes a detailed socio-political portrait of 56 “A-list” members of the Quebec political blogosphere. The Internet-savvy population of the Canadian province of Quebec, which is characterized by its linguistic, political and cultural specificity, constitutes a well-defined research environment enabling the production of highly-representative results. The description of Quebec-based bloggers’ involvement in content dispersion and social Web-based networks as well as their participation in offline political activities will help to produce a detailed socio-political behavioral portrayal of the influential players within the Quebec political blogosphere. Additionally, this paper draws sharp contrasts with previous studies of Canadian and U.S.-based bloggers and argues for the production of more detailed analysis considering the specificities of North American political bloggers. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines support for sovereignty as expressed by voting in national and provincial elections and referenda at discrete locations in Quebec from 1976 to 2004. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Attitudes about sovereignty among Quebec youth are well known, particularly in light of the movement's appeal to idealistic values and as an affirmation of the Québécois identity. It is assumed that those who support sovereignty must hold some negative opinion about the federalist structure; after all, they do aspire to break away from Canada. But that has not been adequately validated. The paper explores attitudes about federalism by reporting results from a survey of Quebec youth (18 to 34 years old) conducted in February 2006. The paper shows that when asked to indicate federalism's main disadvantage, respondents provided a wide range of answers with no structured or coherent pattern. In other words, grievances against federalism are not overly "cognitively constrained." The main reason for the attitudinal dispersion is a lack of need to consider attributes of federalism. This explains why the highest level of dispersion is found among: "strong" sovereignists, who associate sovereignty with idealistic objectives; francophones, for whom sovereignty is a semi-default position that requires little justification and little thought; and those least exposed to news media, who are least susceptible to any mainstreaming effects. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since forming a parliamentary party in 1994, the Bloc Québécois has been interpreted exclusively as the formal federal manifestation of the Québec separatist movement. Although the party's raison d'être is well known, less so are its actions in the House of Commons. Taking a new approach to the new party, this is a study of the Bloc Québécois as a party in Canada's Parliament. In order to learn more about the Bloc's performance in the House of Commons and its committees, the paper examines the Bloc's contribution to debate on the formulation of national policy. Contrary to what might be expected of a separatist party, the paper shows the BQ contributing willingly and substantively to parliamentary deliberation on a wide array of pan-Canadian issues. Moreover, during debate, Bloquistes are rarely found demanding an independent Québec state; instead, they address legislation brought before the House, depicting their party as promoting a liberal, social-democratic set of values. Far from being a maverick in Parliament, the BQ is a full participant. In fact, Bloquistes enhance the quality of parliamentary debate, and counterbalance the views of the right-wing Reform/Alliance/Conservative party. Throughout the paper the Bloc's surprising parliamentary performance is explained by an analysis of the power that institutions impose upon the actions of political agents. It concludes that by accepting membership in the House of Commons, the BQ has been forced to conform to parliamentary rules and customs. Subsequently, Parliament has limited the party's ability to advocate Québec secession, and has broadened its perspective to consider all matters of national concern. The paper closes by suggesting that the supposedly short-lived BQ now appears to have become a permanent fixture on Canada's national political landscape. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper considers governments that yield concessions to small regional political parties that campaign for secession. These parties are not violent and participate in elections- but they do have violent counterparts. The existence of these counterparts increases the bargaining leverage of regional parties vis-à-vis the central government by furnishing an implicit and credible threat of violence. Governments offer concessions to separatist parties in exchange for peace. This bargaining game between the government and the leader of the separatist party is modeled in two ways. This paper was motivated by observations of non-violent separatist parties with relatively stable, but minimal, vote shares that are able to secure considerable concessions from central governments, such as in Quebec and in the Basque Country. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Until the middle of the 1990s, Ireland was a poor country and became the Celtic Tiger. Drawing on the literature on good governance, Barry (2006) summarizes that the merit system in the civil service, fiscal transparency, social partnership for industrial relations, government organizational learning capacity, ideological transformation of political parties, embedded autonomy of the state, strong development agencies were important to make the transformation possible. .x000d..x000d.The same factors could be used to explain the more limited success of the transformation of the Canadian provincial state of Quebec between 1959 and the early 1980s. Quebec and Ireland have more in common historically. Both have been British colonies where the Catholic Church was a dominant institution. In both cases, the power of the Catholic Church disappeared rapidly. .x000d..x000d.Considering the number of variables listed above, a dual case study approach is used to draw lessons on economic policy and public administration. We focus on reforms of the state apparatus. Conclusions for further research on economic policy and public administration will be suggested from this research. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We address the representativeness of internet surveys with data from internet and telephone surveys conducted in Quebec in 2007. While there are differences in the two samples, the implications for voting and public opinion models are slight. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research on federalism has arrived at paradoxical conclusions. In some instances, federalism seems to calm secessionism; in others, it fans the flames. Attempts have been made to identify the conditions under which federalism does one or the other. Not surprisingly, then, this research focuses on cases in which federalism works or federalism fails. This focus has developed an overly simplistic view of the impact of federalism in select environments. Federalism is indeed a paradox, but the paradox goes much deeper than has been noted: even in the same county, federalism fans the flames of secessionism for some groups and reduces such calls in others. Canada is often explored as a case of federalism failing to stem the tide of secessionism. In Quebec, for example, secessionists have adeptly used federal institutions to bring Quebec to the brink of independence. This fails to note two obvious points: first, federalists continue to win the day in Quebec; second, independence movements have developed in other parts of Canada. This paper explores the impact of federalism on territorial politics in Canada and its implications for studies of the paradox of federalism. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the interaction between nationalism and religion in Quebec. I argue that Quebec provides a unique case that helps reveal the competitive dynamic between nationalism and religion in forming social and political identity. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

I am currently working on a project where I look at how the S.C.C. understands Canadian federalism and how this understanding is used as a variable in arriving at its decision. This paper focuses on the Quebec Veto Reference. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the claim that MPs from linguistic minority groups are more likely to get elected from ridings where that group comprises a large share of the electorate. More generally, we ask: what factors lead to the election of MPs of French descent outside Quebec and MPs of non-French descent in Quebec? We find that the linguistic make-up of a riding is a consistent predictor of the winning MP's ethno-linguistic background. This effect is consistent both within and outside Quebec, and holds true even after controlling for other correlates of electoral success, such as incumbency. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper compares secessionist mobilization strategies in federal and unitary environments. The cases are Scotland, Quebec, and South Carolina. ..PAT.-Conference Proceeding [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study shows that Quebecers have lower levels of voluntary association membership than other Canadians, using 2000 national survey data. This is mainly true of French-speaking Quebecers, not all Quebecers. ..PAT.-Conference Proceeding [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Wildawsky, in his budgetary process theory, distinguishes between two categories of actors: guardians of the treasury and advocates of program spending. This study verifies this theory by analyzing ministerial speeches from Ontario and Quebec. ..PAT.-Conference Proceeding [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]