POSC 6700 CANADIAN POLITICS

Transcription

1 DEPARTMENT OF POLITICAL SCIENCE POSC 6700 CANADIAN POLITICS Instructor: Prof. Scott Matthews Semester: Fall, 2012 Time: Thursday, 1:30 to 4:30 pm Location: POSC Seminar Room (SN 2033) Office: SN 2032 Office Hours: Monday, 3:30 to 5:30 pm; Tuesday and Thursday, 4:30 to 5:30 pm COURSE DESCRIPTION This course surveys the major areas of research activity in the field of Canadian politics and the principal debates therein. The goal is to provide students with a foundation for further research and inquiry within the field. While the reading list is not strictly comprehensive, an effort has been made to incorporate a mix of classic and more contemporary research, and also to combine coverage of canonical topics with treatment of issues of more recent interest. FORMAT The class will meet once a week for three hours. Meetings will consist of discussion of the course readings (see Course Schedule, below). Class discussions will be structured by questions generated by students (see Issue Memos, below) that will be organized into a seminar agenda by the instructor. EVALUATION Component % In-class participation 20 Issue memos (12 * 1.5% each) 18 Discussion paper 25 Term paper 37

2 POSC 6700 SYLLABUS 2 IN-CLASS PARTICIPATION Development of sophisticated rhetorical skills is critical to a successful career as a graduate student. Furthermore, high quality student participation will be crucial to the success of this course. Therefore, students must come to class prepared to discuss all of the week s readings. Keep in mind that a failure to participate regularly during class discussions may result in a failing grade on this component of the course. ISSUE MEMOS By 8 am on the day of each class, students are required to submit to the instructor (via ) a brief memo (1-2 double-spaced [12-point font] pages) that sets out i.) two critical issues raised by the week s readings and ii.) two related questions that should be discussed during the seminar. The instructor will incorporate these questions into the agenda for discussion that week. DISCUSSION PAPER Students will prepare a discussion paper of 8 double-spaced (12-point font) pages in length. The paper will be a review and evaluation of the readings from one of weeks 2, 3, 4, 5 or 6 (see Course Schedule, below) and must be handed in at the beginning of the class in which the readings in question are discussed. These papers require no outside research. With respect to the review component of the papers, students will be expected to synthesize the key points in each reading and, in so doing, demonstrate comprehension of the course material. As regards the evaluation component of the paper, students might consider focusing on, among other things, i.) critical assumptions made in particular readings; ii.) points of contention across different readings; iii.) the implications of the readings for broader theoretical or methodological issues in political science; and iv.) applications of the concepts, theories and methodological advice discussed in the readings to substantive empirical questions in the study of politics. It bears emphasis that the intent of this assignment is not to produce summaries of the readings. Indeed, although the paper is discussed here as consisting of review and evaluation components, this should not be taken to imply that these should be formally separated elements of the discussion papers. Students should write argumentative papers that incorporate concise reviews of a week s readings, in the context of original analytical and evaluative claims relevant to those readings. The focus of the paper should be the student s own argument, rather than a recitation of the claims of the authors. Although students are expected to synthesize (that is, produce coherent and analytical reductions or simplifications of) the major elements of a week s readings, they need not in fact, must not prepare exhaustive reviews of the readings. It will suffice to provide comprehensive, but concise, statements of the critical assumptions, findings and conclusions of a given reading. Note, furthermore, that such synthetic statements should be integrated into the larger argument of the discussion paper, rather than offered in a perfunctory and mechanical way at, for example, the beginning of the essay. Students are strongly urged to meet with the instructor to discuss this assignment. It is optimal to do so after work has begun on the assignment, but before the paper is completed. RESEARCH PAPER Students will prepare a research paper of approximately 20 double-spaced (12-point font) pages in length, due on December 14 th, The range of potential topics is very wide and students will be encouraged to focus on a topic that is of particular interest to them, provided it relates in a substantive way to the major themes of POSC Prior to finalizing their topic, students will be required to meet with the instructor, and this meeting

3 POSC 6700 SYLLABUS 3 must occur sometime in the days and weeks before class on November 22 nd, The purpose of the meeting will be to discuss the student s choice of topic for the research paper and to give the instructor the opportunity to head off any problematic topics. Ultimately, however, the student him/herself will be responsible for the conformity of his/her topic with the guidelines of this assignment. PLAGIARISM Memorial University values academic integrity. All students must understand the meaning and consequences of cheating, plagiarism and other academic offences. See COURSE SCHEDULE All readings for this course are available online through the MUN Libraries website ( or on reserve at the Queen Elizabeth II Library. Students are expected to know how to access these materials, or to ask for help in advance. 1. September 6: Introduction No readings. 2. September 13: Parliament and the Executive David E. Smith The People s House of Commons: Theories of Democracy in Contention. Toronto: University of Toronto Press. Chs. 1 to 5. Graham White Cabinets and First Ministers. Vancouver: UBC Press. Foreword and chs. 1, 2, 3 & September 20: Constitutional Pressures Peter Russell Constitutional Odyssey: Can Canadians Become a Sovereign People. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, Third Edition. Chs. 1, 2 & Alan C. Cairns Constitutional Minoritarianism in Canada, in Douglas E. Williams, ed., Reconfigurations: Canadian Citizenship and Constitutional Change. Toronto: McClelland and Stewart. Pp Charles Taylor Shared and Divergent Values, in Taylor, Reconciling the Solitudes: Essays on Canadian Federalism and Nationalism. Montreal: McGill-Queen s University Press September 27: Federalism Richard Simeon (1971). Federal-Provincial Diplomacy: The Making of Recent Policy in Canada. Toronto: University of Toronto Press. Preface to 2006 Edition, chs. 1 & 2, and Postscript. Keith Banting Social Citizenship and Federalism: Is a Federal Welfare State a Contradiction in Terms? in Scott Greer, editor, Territory, Democracy and Justice: Regionalism and Federalism in Western Democracies. London: Palgrave/Macmillan. Pp

4 POSC 6700 SYLLABUS 4 Herman Bakvis, Gerald Baier and Douglas Brown Contested Federalism: Certainty and Ambiguity in the Canadian Federation. Toronto: Oxford University Press. Introduction, ch. 1, and Conclusion. 5. October 4: The Charter and the Courts Miriam Smith Political Institutions and Lesbian and Gay Rights in the United States and Canada. New York: Routledge. Chs. 6 and 7. James. B. Kelly Legislative Activism and Parliamentary Bills of Rights: Institutional Lessons for Canada, in James B. Kelly and Christopher P. Manfredi, eds., Contested Constitutionalism: Reflections on the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. Vancouver: UBC Press. Pp Christopher P. Manfredi and Antonia Maoini Judicializing Health Policy: Unexpected Lessons and an Inconvenient Truth, in James B. Kelly and Christopher P. Manfredi, eds., Contested Constitutionalism: Reflections on the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. Vancouver: UBC Press. Pp Janet L. Hiebert The Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, in John C. Courtney and David E. Smith. The Oxford Handbook of Canadian Politics. New York: Oxford University Press. Pp October 11: Globalization and Public Policy Skogstad, G "Globalization and Public Policy: Situating Canadian Analyses. Canadian Journal of Political Science 33-4: Graefe, P "Political Economy and Canadian Public Policy," in Michael Orsini and Miriam Smith, eds., Critical Policy Studies. Vancouver: UBC Press. Pp McBride, S "Quiet Constitutionalism: The International Political Economy of Domestic Institutional Change." Canadian Journal of Political Science 36-2: October 18: Ethnic Diversity and Differentiated Citizenship Keith Banting, Thomas Courchene and Leslie Seidle, eds Belonging? Diversity, Recognition and Shared Citizenship in Canada. Montreal: Institute for Research on Public Policy. Pp (Kymlicka), (Reitz and Banerjee) and (Johnston et al.). Alain-G. Gagnon and Raffaele Iacovino Federalism, Citizenship and Quebec. Toronto: University of Toronto Press. Ch October 25: Aboriginal Politics Alan C. Cairns Citizens Plus: Aboriginal Peoples and the Canadian State. Vancouver: UBC Press. Chs. 1, 2 & 5. Taiaiake Alfred Peace, Power, Righteousness: An Indigenous Manifesto. Toronto: Oxford University Press. Pp Dimitrios Panagos. N.d. Aboriginality, Existing Aboriginal Rights and State Accommodation in Canada. Chs. 1 to 4. (Unpublished manuscript, to be distributed by instructor.) 9. November 1: Interest Groups and Social Movements Paul Pross Group Politics and Public Policy, 2 nd Edition. Toronto: Oxford University Press. Chs. 1 and 4.

5 POSC 6700 SYLLABUS 5 Leslie Pal Interests of state: the politics of language, multiculturalism and feminism in Canada. Montreal: McGill-Queen s University Press. Introduction and chs. 1 & 2. Miriam Smith A civil society? Collective actors in Canadian political life. Peterborough: Broadview Press. Chs. 1, 2, 3 and November 8: Women and Politics Jacquetta Newman and Linda A. White Women, Politics, and Public Policy: The Political Struggles of Canadian Women. Toronto: Oxford University Press. Ch. 4. Gidengil, Elisabeth, André Blais, Richard Nadeau and Neil Nevitte Women to the Left? Gender Differences in Political Beliefs and Policy Preferences. In Manon Tremblay and Linda Trimble, eds., Women and Electoral Politics in Canada. Toronto: Oxford University Press. Pp Gidengil, Elisabeth Beyond the Gender Gap: Presidential Address to the Canadian Political Science Association, Saskatoon, Canadian Journal of Political Science 40-4: Manon Tremblay Women's Representational Role in Australia and Canada: The Impact of Political Context. Australian Journal of Political Science 38-2: November 15: Parties and Elections Alan Cairns The Electoral System and the Party System in Canada, Canadian Journal of Political Science 1-1: Ken Carty, ed Canadian Political Party Systems: A Reader. Peterborough, ON: Broadview Press. Pp (Carty) and (Johnston). Richard Johnston Political Parties and the Electoral System. In John Courtney and David Smith, eds., The Oxford Handbook of Canadian Politics. New York: Oxford University Press. 12. November 22: Voting and Public Opinion Elisabeth Gidengil Canada Votes: A Quarter Century of Canadian National Election Studies. Canadian Journal of Political Science 25-2: Elisabeth Gidengil, André Blais, Neil Nevitte, and Richard Nadeau Citizens. Vancouver: UBC Press, ch Fred Cutler and Matthew Mendelsohn The Governments and Citizens of Canadian Federalism, in Philip Resnick and Gerald Kernerman, eds., Rethinking Citizenship in the Canadian Federation: Essays in Honour of Alan Cairns. Stuart Soroka and Christopher Wlezien Opinion Representation and Policy Feedback: Canada in Comparative Perspective. Canadian Journal of Political Science 37-3: J. Scott Matthews The Political Foundations of Support for Same-Sex Marriage in Canada. Canadian Journal of Political Science 38-4:

6 POSC 6700 SYLLABUS November 29: Media and Politics David Taras The newsmakers: The media s influence on Canadian politics. Scarborough, ON: Nelson. Introduction. Elisabeth Gidengil and Joanna Everitt Conventional coverage/unconventional politicians: Gender and media coverage of Canadian leaders debates, 1993, 1997, Canadian Journal of Political Science 36-3: Stuart Soroka Agenda Setting Dynamics in Canada. Vancouver: UBC Press. Chs. 1, 2, 6 and 8.