Donald K. Alper

The Idea of Cascadia: Emergent Transborder Regionalisms in the Pacific Northwest-Western Canada

Abstract This paper examines the binational economic and ecological region in the Pacific Northwest and western Canada known as “Cascadia.” Growing awareness of regional economic strength and ecological interdependence has stimulated various Cascadia visions and agendas aimed at diminishing the barrier effect of the Canada‐United States border. These visions vary depending on how the region is geographically constructed and the extent to which growth economies or ecosystems are valued. The paper argues that business groups and nongovernmental organizations are the key actors promoting regional ties. The nature of these linkages and cooperative processes that have evolved to sustain them are discussed. The paper concludes by assessing Cascadia as both a set of mind‐sets about the region and evolving frameworks for transnational cooperation and problem solving in the binational area.

Reconciling Environmentalism and the Left: Perspectives on Democracy and Social Justice in British Columbia's Environmental Movement

The article examines how political ideas of environmentalists support as well as impede relations between the environmental movement and other progressive movements. This requires examination of the role and meaning of social justice and democracy in the discourse of environmentalism. This study focuses such an examination on a sample of environmental activists in British Columbia. Q methodology is used to discern patterns of association between particular sets of environmental ideas, and beliefs and values related to democracy and social justice. The authors identify four environmental/political perspectives: alienated ecocentrism, civic communitarianism, insider preservationism and green egalitarianism. These perspectives share a perception of justice focused on fair democratic procedures. Fairness is linked to inclusion and equal treat-

Identification with Transboundary Places and Support for Ecological Transboundary Governance: A Case Study of British Columbia Environmental Activists

Abstract This paper is a case study of BC environmentalists to assess activists’ identification with transboundary places and support for transboundary governance. The focus is on environmental cases and issues involving British Columbia and its American neighbors. The study draws on semi‐structured interviews with twenty seven environmentalists to characterize their identification with regional, provincial and national entities and to explore the relation between their identification and political practices. Assessing support for transboundary governance is important as regional and multinational governance systems continue to evolve to manage ecological assets shared across borders. This study concludes that although transboundary political practices is common to the environmental movement, there is little support for expanded or new institutions for transboundary governance.

Justice and Environmentalisms in the British Columbia and U.S. Pacific Northwest Environmental Movements

Researchers have found that many contemporary movements, including the environmental justice movement, offer multidimensional conceptions of justice that extend beyond the distribution of societal benefits and burdens. In an effort to understand the role of justice in environmental politics more broadly, we ask (1) how environmental activists throughout the movement understand social justice and (2) whether and how environmental activists vary in the kinds of justice claims they make. Drawing on interviews with samples of environmental activists in British Columbia, Canada, and the U.S. states of Oregon and Washington, Q methodology is used to examine how environmental activists understand justice. We find, within the mainstream of the environmental movement, varying and elaborated understandings of social justice in the environmental context.

Beyond the Politics of Left and Right: Beliefs and Values of Environmental Activists in British Columbia

WHEN T H E B R I T I S H COLUMBIA New Democratic Party returned to power in the early 1990s, conflict between two of the partys core constituencies came to the fore. Key NDP commitments during the 1991 campaign were to labour, including the International Woodworkers of America (IWA) union, and to citizens and organizations concerned about the environment. In government, the NDP has been less than successful in meeting these, often conflicting, commitments. Indeed the management and use of Crown forests has been one of the most persistent and vexing policy problems the NDP government has faced. Environmentalists have voiced bitter criticism of the governments forest policy, arguing that it has sacrificed the health of forests and communities to appease the IWA and powerful corporate interests. Tha t a left-of-centre government would be plagued by dissension from the environmentalist elements of its constituency would not be surprising to students of environmental politics in Europe. These analysts have argued that environmentalism is part of a new politics, independent of traditional left-right party cleavages (Ofie 1985; Dalton 1994). But the schism dividing the NDP and the environmental movement in British Columbia is intriguing, given the results of recent research that links environmentalist and leftist perspectives in western Nor th America and in Canada generally (Ellis and Thompson 1997; Blake et al. 1996-7; Kanji 1996). D o environmentalists and the NDP occupy different branches of the left? Do environmentalist objections

Bridging Distances: Perspectives on the Canada–US Relationship

The articles in this issue of ARCS were presented to celebrate the 40th Anniversary of Canadian Studies at Western Washington University. The panels were organized around a general conference theme—“Bridging Distances: Past and Future Perspectives on Canada– US Relations.” The theme is a recognition that political-economic relations, cultural interactions, and academic activities have reflected and responded to various kinds of “distances” in Canada–US relations. Distances, whether physical, political, cultural or disciplinary, significantly shape the contexts and directions for scholarship and public policy related to Canada. The field of Canadian studies in the United States itself is rooted in the belief that a gap or distance in the level of understanding of the “other”—in particular, Americans’ low level of knowledge about Canada—accounts for misunderstandings that can, and should, be overcome through education. (Although less of an issue, the same can be said of Canadians’ misunderstandings of the US, but the difference is that this has not been the raison d’être for American Studies programs in Canada.) In general, Americans’ interest in Canada pales compared to Canadians’ interest in the US. In the US, Canadian studies as an academic field has been somewhat distant, even isolated, from its sister fields of study. These kinds of distances are problematic when it comes to academics’ attempt to persuade colleagues, granting agencies, and government officials that Canada is worthy of study in the US. Policy trajectories in the two countries have historically converged and diverged, all the time displaying varying degrees of distance in likeness or difference. Policy distances have stimulated huge literature in comparative policy studies, with learning from one nation to the other taking place. In the academic community, disciplinary distances among historians, economists, political scientists, geographers, and literature specialists have provided impetus for multidisciplinary approaches to Canadian studies. Physical distances have been important incentives or deterrents in the development of Canadian Studies programs (most are still in border states), and in shaping research agendas, such as the growing attention given to Cascadia and other north–south cross-border regions. Culture and value distances influence how we think about identity and the extent to which public opinion and policy choices are converging or diverging. Five articles in this issue provide varying perspectives on Canada–US relations, revealing intriguing ways in which the relationship has responded to the distances inherent in separate national histories and policy approaches and how academics and policy officials who engage the relationship confront the need to build new, and often different, kinds of bridges to meet the challenges of the present and future. While bridge-building is an imperative in what is the most interdependent relationship the world has known, at the same time—as Elizabeth Jameson reminds us in her aptly titled article, Both Sides Now: “Parallel” Lines Across Bi-National Pasts— the quest to bridge distances must be mindful of the need to respect differences. It is the notion of differences, coupled with the need

Teaching American Politics through Student Projects: Electoral Reform Issues and Political Change.

The two projects described herein require small groups of students to analyze the political and normative consequences of commonly proposed political changes. Students do research and give reports on specific proposals for reforming the electoral college and the electoral process. The result is increased student awareness of the political realities, the political consequences, and the normative issues associated with change in politics. Students also become familiar with primary library sources on American politics. The projects take from two to four days and can be used in both introductory and upper-division American politics courses.

Bill C-58 and the American Congress: The Politics of Retaliation

This paper examines how and why us congressmen linked Bill C-58, which eliminates tax deductions for Canadian firms for advertising placed with foreign broadcasting stations and news publications, to an American tax reform measure which restricts income tax deduction of expenses incurred by Americans attending conventions in Canada. This linkage is analyzed as a case of retaliation which resulted from American misunderstandings about the purpose of bill C-58, constituency interests of certain congressmen, and Congressional independence from the executive branch. The conclusion shows how policy making by retaliation distorts the conduct of relations between two interdependent countries and offers suggestions for avoiding this in the future.