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Digital environments have expanded the forms of cultural participation. This paper has two aims: first, to elucidate the changing definitions of cultural participation in relation to digital environments; second, to examine the ways in which cultural policies respond to the new digital conditions of cultural participation. Focusing on Quebec (Canada), this paper is based on a critical review of grey literature in the public policy. We identified three main goals pursued by Quebec cultural policies regarding digital participation: 1) to produce and disseminate national cultural content; 2) to encourage cultural equity and diversity; 3) to encourage digital equity. The analysis shows that these goals partially exceed the scope of cultural policies to intersect with economic, educational, and youth policies. We also argue that policy frameworks and funding programs in support of cultural policies tend to legitimize an overlap of civic, commercial, and industrial logics of cultural participation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The notion of clusters has increasingly been integrated into regional economic development policies. This paper examines the extent to which maritime cluster policy strategies in Québec's coastal region are associated with employment growth in the region, and more specifically, science-based, skill-intensive employment. Whilst early evaluations conducted about a decade ago suggested that cluster policies implemented from the mid-1990s onwards had little effect, the question addressed in this paper concerns their effect over the long term. Based on descriptive statistics and trend analysis, the results reveal that the sectors targeted by the cluster policies have tended to grow more slowly within the cluster, and that jobs in the cluster are decreasingly science-intensive. At best, cluster policies have had a weak and diffused effect. This is in keeping with other recent work on clusters, and calls into question policy attempts to generate cluster dynamics in regions where these do not emerge spontaneously. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• The Lower Canada rebellions of 1837–38, are used to show that the development of markets reduces the cost of rebelling. • Using data from the 1831 census, we show that the likelihood of rebellions increases with market development (proxied by absolute price difference between one area and the main Atlantic port cities of the colony). • The intensity of rebellions is also affected by the level of market development. • The development of markets appears to act in a manner similar to new information diffusion technologies with regards to helping coordinate rebellions. In 1837–38, the British colonies of Upper and Lower Canada rebelled. The rebellion was more virulent (and better organized) in Lower Canada. The rebellions were also concentrated in the richer areas of that colony. In this paper, we use the census of 1831 and databases of rebellious events to explain how the rebels managed to overcome the problem of collective action. We argue that the rich areas were more prone to rebellion because they were where markets were most developed. These well-developed markets allowed for cheaper coordination of seditious elements. We link our contribution to the literature on the collective action problem inherent to the organization of protests, uprisings and rebellions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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