Canada: The Supreme Court Sets Rules for the Secession of Quebec

The Supreme Court of Canada ruled in 1998 that neither the Canadianconstitution nor international law allows Quebec to secede fromCanada unilaterally. Secession would require amending the constitution.However, if a clear majority of Quebecers unambiguously optsfor secession, the federal government and the other provinceswould have a constitutional duty to negotiate. This is an obligationthat the court declared to be implicit in four principles that"inform and sustain the constitutional text"—federalism,democracy, constitutionalism and the rule of law, and respectfor minorities. The same set of principles would govern thenegotiations themselves. Accordingly, Quebec could not dictatethe terms of secession, and one cannot assume that agreementwould be reached. If negotiations fail, and Quebec declaresindependence unilaterally, the international community wouldhave to decide whether Quebec's action was legitimate.     

Problems of Constitutional Design in Canada: Quebec and the Issue of Bicommunalism

This article traces the attempts by Canada to redesign its federalconstitution to reflect that political reality which most effectivelydistinguishes it from its American neighbor, namely, its bicommunalcharacter. Reviewing various explanations for the constitutionalimpasse, notably that of a conspiracy by English-speaking provincesor of bad faith by the Québec provincial government,the author concludes that in the case of two territorially-basedsocieties, constitution-making becomes a battleground wherelocal elites strive to maintain societal autonomy and make useof governmental institutions to achieve their own objectives.Thus the retreat from bicommunalism, which has characterizedthe 1982 and 1987 constitutional reform exercises, should beseen not so much as a failure of federal-provincial diplomacy,but of the difficulties in accommodating two competing and mutuallyexclusive strategies of state-building.     

Indignation or Resignation: The Implications of Transparency for Societal Accountability

International organizations, policy experts, and nongovernmental organizations promote greater governmental transparency as a crucial reform to enhance accountability and curb corruption. Transparency is predicted to deter corruption in part by expanding the possibilities for public or societal accountability, that is, for citizens and citizens associations to monitor, scrutinize, and act to hold public office holders to account. Although the societal accountability mechanism linking transparency and good government is often implied, it builds on a number of assumptions seldom examined empirically. This article unpacks the assumptions of principal‐agent theories of accountability and suggests that the logic of collective action can be used to understand why exposure of egregious and endemic corruption may instead demobilize the demos (i.e., resignation) rather than enhance accountability (i.e., indignation). We explore these theoretical contentions and examine how transparency affects three indicators of indignations versus resignation—institutional trust, political involvement, and political interest—given different levels of corruption. The empirical analyses confirm that an increase in transparency in highly corrupt countries tends to breed resignation rather than indignation.     

Searching for a Cyprus Settlement: Considering Options for Creating a Federation, a Confederation, or Two Independent States

Greek and Turkish Cypriote have had a poor record in managingtheir political differences. The bicommunal government establishedat independence in 1960 at the behest of Greece and Turkey proveda failure after three years. Its collapse triggered communalviolence. No Cypriot government has represented both communitiessince then, and the partition on the island has hardened. Considerablethird-party mediation, spanning a few decades, has failed tofind a compromise settlement. Neither a federation nor a confederationappears to have reasonable prospects of success in view of thedeep mistrust between Greek and Turkish Cypriots. Moreover,it is doubtful whether European Union membership of Cyprus couldprovide a sufficient framework for resolving the island's enduringcommunal dispute. Consequently, the merits of a two-state solutiondeserve serious consideration.     

SARS in Canada and China: Two Approaches to Emergency Health Policy

China and Canada addressed the transnational 2003 SARS outbreak within a common, multilevel network of public‐health expertise. The two countries deployed distinct public‐health strategies, and faced distinct levels of resistance. This article addresses this comparison. During this epidemic “state of exception,” both countries adopted emergency policy instruments and overall policy styles. However, Chinese emergency boundary policing corresponded better to everyday experience than did hospital‐based screening in Canada, and China's policing targeted collectivities where Canada emphasized individual case tracking. While Canadian efforts were smaller in scale and faced infrastructural deficiencies, prior campaigns to address endemic health problems formed a basis for compliant popular subject positions. Power/resistance relations and their cultivation during endemic conditions must become the center of analyzing effective approaches to emergency planning.     

Organizing for Crisis Management: Building Governance Capacity and Legitimacy

What makes a well‐functioning governmental crisis management system, and how can this be studied using an organization theory–based approach? A core argument is that such a system needs both governance capacity and governance legitimacy. Organizational arrangements as well as the legitimacy of government authorities will affect crisis management performance. A central argument is that both structural features and cultural context matter, as does the nature of the crisis. Is it a transboundary crisis? How unique is it, and how much uncertainty is associated with it? The arguments are substantiated with empirical examples and supported by a literature synthesis, focusing on public administration research. A main conclusion is that there is no optimal formula for harmonizing competing interests and tensions or for overcoming uncertainty and ambiguous government structures. Flexibility and adaptation are key assets, which are constrained by the political, administrative, and situational context. Furthermore, a future research agenda is indicated.     

Labour's Transformation: Searching for the Point of Origin

Existing analyses of the Labour Party's recent transformation tend to begin in the period after the 1987 election defeat, and less commonly after the 1985 conference. Because of this, analysts have ignored additional causes and aspects of transformation occurring in the early 1980s in the areas of policy reform, campaign strategy and `ethos'. Once these extra factors are taken into account we can acknowledge that Labour's transformation is more complex than previously recognised. Consequently, what often appears as an origin of change is more accurately a point of transition in an unending process of development and flux.     

A Tale of Two Taxes: The Fate of Environmental Tax Reform in Canada

Policy makers who embrace market‐based approaches to environmental regulation, typically eschew carbon taxes in favor of the political advantages of cap and trade, which offers lower visibility of costs to consumers and the opportunity to allocate valuable permits freely to industry. Against this backdrop, the article examines two surprising proposals for carbon taxes, by the government of British Columbia (BC) and by the federal Liberal Party of Canada. Both reflected a triumph of party leaders' normative “good policy” motives over “good politics.” The BC tax alone succeeded first because it was adopted by a party already in government. Second, the onset of a recession before the next elections shifted voters' attention to the economy, which advantaged the BC Liberals but disadvantaged their federal counterparts. However, proposals for carbon taxes were unpopular in both jurisdictions, offering a cautionary tale concerning the fate of politicians' normative commitments absent electoral backing.     

Searching for Symptoms of Political Shirking: Congressional Foreign Travel

Despite the hypothesized propensity for shirking to marklegislative institutions, the evidence is rather equivocal;moreover, most of the research has focused exclusively onlegislator voting, thereby constraining whatevergeneralizations might emerge. The purpose of this paper is tocontribute to the debate over the question of politicalshirking by extending the range of phenomena examined toinclude congressional foreign travel. Our analysis providesevidence that opportunism is a problem in Congress. We findthat last-period problems have arisen in the area of foreigntravel, and that increased scrutiny to the problem on the partof Congress only shifted consumption patterns, i.e.,legislators began taking foreign junkets near, but not at theend of, their legislative careers. Not all foreign travelshould be construed as worthless junketing since there isstrong evidence that some foreign travel is related tomembers' responsibilities on congressional committees.     

Two political worlds?: The influence of provincial party loyalty federal voting in Canada

Scholars have known for years that many Canadian voters hold different partisan loyalties at the federal and provincial level. In this paper, I address the question of whether provincial party loyalty has an effect on federal level vote choice above and beyond the effects of federal level party loyalty. I also examine whether provincial party loyalty is enough to explain the persistence of the ‘two-party-plus’ system in Canada. In order to address these questions I construct a series of multinomial logit models of federal vote choice in the 1993 and 2000 Canadian elections. I conclude that provincial party loyalty does have an effect on federal level vote choice, but that this influence is not enough to explain the persistence of the ‘two-party-plus’ system.     

South Korea: Searching for a New Direction of Administrative Reform

Government has never been under greater stress all around the world. Fundamental change is occurring at all levels of government. The need to cope with the rapid globalisation of the economy, the so-called borderless economy, and to maintain international competitiveness drives public management reforms. Governments must perform at higher levels of quality and productivity than ever before. The Gore Report, for example, constitutes a major attack on the bureaucratic management paradigm in the United States and its values of entrepreneurial managerialism dominate administrative practices around the world for the time being. This article first identifies a new management paradigm. Then it explores some international experiences with administrative reform in a comparative perspective to suggest a new direction of administrative reform for the future in South Korea.     

India: Searching for a Consensus by Amending the Constitution?

Two major themes have dominated the debate over India's constitutional destiny since the 1980s: parliamentary versus presidential government and federalization of its predominantly parliamentary system. India will do well to continue with its parliamentary form of government. Besides familiarity with it through British colonial experience and practice for nearly half a century, India's social diversity and fragile democracy are better served by a “collective” parliamentary/cabinet system than a “singular” presidential one. The latter may prematurely centralize the system and promote executive aggrandizement and adventurism. But India's continental diversity and complexity cannot be adequately represented solely along the parliamentary axis; they require the additional — and more vigorous — federal axis for democratic accommodation and national integration. The impact on India's parliamentary/federal system of the changing nature of the party system and premiership styles is also analyzed. Six phases of party system evolution are identified: (1) predominant party system-I (1952–1969); (2) multi-party system-I (1969–1971); (3) predominant party system-II (1971–1977); (4) two-party system (1977–1984); (5) (a stillborn) predominant party system-Ill (1984–1989); and (6) multi-party system-II (1989–to date). Three styles of prime ministerial leadership are delineated: (1) pluralist, (2) patrimonial, and (3) federal. Federal forces and features of the political system were generally accentuated when the party system was not a one-party dominant one and the prime ministerial leadership was not a patrimonial one. Some viable constitutional amendments designed to promote federalization are considered. The two particularly promising avenues of federalization that combine “responsible federalism” with “responsible parliamentary government” are those that establish a series of autonomous federal instrumentalities recommended by the Sarkaria Commission and create a President-in-Council interlocked with the Inter-Governmental Council that takes away the power of proclaiming president's rule in a state from the federal Home Ministry.     

Searching for Affordability and Opportunity: A Framework for the Housing Choice Voucher Program

Abstract

Affordability, a key factor in the housing search process, becomes critical when locating rental housing in opportunity-rich areas. The Housing Choice Voucher (HCV) program accommodates low-income households searching for housing and encourages recipients to reside in low-poverty areas. Affordable neighborhoods that are accessible to public transportation are often found in distressed areas, and not all HCV recipients succeed in locating qualified housing. To address these challenges, a housing search framework is developed to assist HCV households in the housing search process. This framework builds on the methodology of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) for the Location Affordability Index and Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing assessment tool by creating multivariate indices that incorporate housing supply, accessibility to opportunity, and neighborhood conditions. The framework serves as a foundation for an online housing search application for public housing authorities to further fair housing goals, HCV recipients to locate qualified housing units, and local governments to assess affordability and opportunity.     

Supreme Court Legitimacy and Group-Centric Forces: Black Support for Capital Punishment and Affirmative Action

The Supreme Court has addressed capital punishment and affirmative action many times and, as a result, has had sweeping policymaking effects. For that reason, we argue that black opinion on capital punishment and affirmative action will be shaped by diffuse support for the Court. We also recognize the important role of group-centric forces in shaping black opinion. We find that diffuse support for the Court leads blacks with lower levels of race consciousness to be more supportive of capital punishment and less supportive of affirmative action, positions in line with the Court's decisions on these issues but contrary to black interests. The Court, however, is not able to throw its cloak of legitimacy around its policy position for blacks with the highest levels of group consciousness.     

The Balancing Act: Using Private Money for Public Projects

As public resources become scarcer, private donations for capital projects and public services may become increasingly important. Modern donors, using the new philanthropy philosophy common now in the nonprofit sector, may desire more control over the use of their funding than in the past. This research examines the effects of private donations on capital decision making, and explores the balancing act required by public officials between best practices and private norms in this process. The study uses the city of Omaha, Nebraska case, where corporate and individual donors have made significant financial contributions for the construction of a convention center/arena and a baseball stadium. Findings include both costs and benefits of this approach, and may be beneficial for theory‐building related to this relatively unexplored topic, as well as for practitioners faced with similar needs and demands.     

Competing for a Better Role Relation: International Relations,Sino-US Rivalry and Game of Weiqi

Journal of Chinese Political Science - We rely on the Chinese game of weiqi to conceptualize China’s rival role conceptions and self-role conceptions. Since weiqi compels rivals endowed with...