Herman Bakvis

Rebuilding Policy Capacity in the Era of the Fiscal Dividend: A Report from Canada

After two decades of focusing on deficit reduction and restructuring of operations, governments in many areas of the world are once again contemplating new policies and expenditures. In Canada, where budgetary surpluses have recently replaced deficits, the federal government has been asking whether it still has the capacity to make informed choices about new programs. This article examines Canada’s recent efforts in rebuilding its policy capacity. It asks, first, to what extent and in what way was policy capacity originally lost. Second, it appraises the adequacy of new policy “networks,” consisting of think tanks, consultants and government officials, as “virtual replacements” for former government-controlled advisory bodies, royal commissions, and in-house policy units. Finally, it notes the relative absence of parliamentarians, and even the political executive, from capacity-rebuilding activities, a deficiency that in the long run may undermine the legitimacy and effectiveness of such efforts.

Advising the Executive: Think Tanks, Consultants, Political Staff and Kitchen Cabinets

The question of who has the ear of the Crown has long fascinated journalists, historians and political scientists. Personalities such as Cardinal Wolsley at the time of Henry VIII, Grigory Rasputin in the court of Tsar Nicholas II, Woodrow Wilson’s ‘dear, dear friend’, Edmund House, and Harold Wilson’s political secretary, Marcia Williams, are perhaps some of the more intriguing examples of advisers said to have had unusual sway.

Public Service Reform and Policy Capacity: Recruiting and Retaining the Best and the Brightest

In discussions of state policy capacity one area that is often neglected is the recruitment, retention and development of professional staff. This chapter addresses this issue by examining the effects of public service reform on government policy capacity in respect of the quality of public service staff. In doing so it argues that public service reforms over the past two decades — or at least in countries that have been highly receptive to the new public management paradigm — and a general political climate that is critical of bureaucracies have made it difficult to recruit and retain ‘the best and the brightest’. This is a critical failing for those regimes in which public servants are expected to function as ‘partners in governance’ with political executives, having leadership roles in respect of corporate, government-wide responsibilities as well as for individual departmental or agency responsibilities.

The Hollow Crown: Coherence and Capacity in Central Government

Can governments provide coherent policy or follow consistent processes? Does the centre of government have the capacity to direct or control the branches? Modern governments are frequently described as incoherent. As leaders become more exposed to analysis and criticism, as the media provides instant criticism, as the expectations of government become more jaundiced, so the demands for better government grow. In hard economic times, there is greater intolerance of alleged ‘inefficiency’ or duplication of functions. Unsuccessful administration may receive a vote of no confidence at the next election; a government that does not know what it wants may not survive.

In Pursuit of Postbourgeois Man Postmaterialism and Intergenerational Change in Canada

This article uses an alternative test of Ingleharts postmaterialism hypothesis, drawing on volunteered responses to open-ended election survey questions, instead of structured responses to the standard forced-choice scale, and on responses to quality of life survey questions concerning personal as well as public goals. Data from three Canadian national election studies (1974, 1979, and 1980) yield little support for Ingleharts generational explanation for postmaterialism. They do, however, reveal an unanticipated asymmetry between indicators of materialism and postmaterialsim and the possibility of life cycle effects. Analysis of Quality of Life data (1977) provides some indication of linkage between public values and private needs and at the same time compelling evidence of the multidimensionality of postmaterialism. It is suggested that personal goals relating to self-actualization and economic security are subject to life cycle effects, while public postmaterial goals can be accounted for more readily by generational factors. The data also point to a significant and unexpected interaction between two value domains, suggesting that postbourgeois man may not be as liberal and democratic as generally supposed.

The Ideological Contours of “New Politics” in Canada: Policy, Mobilization and Partisan Support

Evidence from other advanced industrial societies indicates that the traditional ideological contours of old states are being reshaped by the advance of a new political agenda. Using attitudinal survey data, this article explores the ways in which “new politics” has shaped the political belief systems of a segment of the Canadian population born after 1945. Findings indicate the presence of postmaterialist orientations among the young and a structuring capacity of postmaterialism versus left/right with respect to attitudes in different policy domains. Postmaterialism is also linked to greater mobilization potential and, among left identifiers, is shown to predict New Democratic party versus Liberal party support.

Third-Party Advertising and Electoral Democracy: The Political Theory of the Alberta Court of Appeal in Somerville v. Canada (Attorney General) [1996]

As the decision in Somerville v. Canada (Attorney General) [1996] indicates, the courts are continuing to prove hostile to the restrictions on third-party or independent spending that are set out in the Canada Elections Act. The difficulty is that these restrictions are part of a larger election-expenses regime that is designed to encourage fairness in the electoral competition between parties and candidates. Through an examination of the Somerville case, this paper argues that if the restrictions on third-party spending are eliminated, then the restrictions on parties and candidates are sure to fall as well, and Canadian elections will come to resemble an unregulated, free-for-all. Ironically, under these conditions the position of political parties may well be strengthened in relation to interest groups as the latter become conduits for campaign finance rather than active and visable participants in the electoral process.

Intrastate federalism in Australia

The article applies a distinction often used in the study of Canadian federalism—intra‐versus interstate federalism—to the Australian federal system. The intrastate federalism model focuses on the representation of state, regional and local interests directly within central government institutions. On the surface the model appears to have little applicability to Australia. However, the examination of selected Commonwealth institutions and arenas, primarily the cabinet and party system, indicates that intrastate practices may in fact be much more pronounced in Australia than what is generally supposed. There are networks of influence at work outside the confines of standard intergovernmental arenas, networks that at times can be used to advantage by state governments or by state or local interests, at other times by the Commonwealth to enhance centralised control or even to undermine the status of state governments as legitimate actors within the Australian federal system.

Federalism and the Role of the State@@@New Dimensions of Canadian Federalism: Canada in a Comparative Perspective

This book provides an assessment of federalism in the contemporary Canadian political system. In a crossnational discussion, it focuses on issues such as constitutional reform, public health planning, economic strategies, foreign relations, and national energy policy.