Roger Gibbins

Parliamentary Careers in the Canadian Federal State

The authors examine the political career paths followed by the 3,803 individuals who served in the House of Commons and/or Senate between 1867 and 1984 inclusive. Given Joseph Schlesingers argument that career patterns significantly affect political integration in federal states, particular attention is paid to the provincial experience of national parliamentarians, and to variations in that experience over time and across regions. The data show that national recruitment from provincial legislatures has declined over time, and is particularly uncommon in Ontario and Quebec. Overall, the structure of political careers in Canada is bifurcated rather than integrated; politicians do not move through the ranks but rather face a choice between provincial or national

Canadian Political Ideology: A Comparative Analysis *

This article explores contemporary political ideologies in English Canada, francophone Quebec and the United States using cross-national attitudinal survey data. Drawing central hypotheses from the qualitative Canadian-American political culture literature, the analysis focusses on three dimensions of political ideology—ideological polarization, the issue content of the respective lefts and rights, and ideological coherence. Evidence of distinctive national “lefts,” together with fundamental similarities in the English-Canadian and American ideological “rights” and important differences in the ideological structures of the three political cultures, call into question some conventional generalizations found in the nonquantitative literature.

Local governance and federal political systems

Federal theory and federal scholarship have paid little attention to the role of local communities and their governments, which receive scant recognition in the constitutional and institutional arrangements of mature federal systems such as Australia, Canada, and the United States. However, local governments have become extensively entangled in the fiscal relations and social service delivery of federal political systems. Moreover, it can be argued that localities in general and international cities in particular will play a more important role in the decades to come. This role may be particularly pronounced in emergent federal systems. It is important, therefore, to bring local communities and their governments into play as we try to understand the evolving nature of federal governance.

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.

Government and politics in Alberta

Albertas politics are changing in response to powerful economic, social and political forces. The contributors focus on developments since the election of the Progressive Conservatives in 1971.

Book Reviews : Richard Franklin Bensel, Sectionalism and American Political Development 1880-1980. Madison: The University of Wisconsin Press, 1984, pp. xx, 494,

In Sectionalism and American Political Development, Bensel vigorously contests an important point of consensus in the American political science literature, that sectionalism is a waning and even insignificant influence on American political life. To the contrary, Bensel asserts that sectional conflict is the most important influence in American political development, that it has &dquo;fundamentally shaped the institutional