Reforming election dates in Canada: Towards an explanatory framework

Since 2001, ten governments in Canada have passed fixed election date legislation. The typical assumption in the literature is that governments did so as a way to address public concerns about the undemocratic nature of calling and timing elections. This argument, however, does not explain the timing (that is, when the legislation was passed by each jurisdiction) of this policy change. We approach this puzzle deductively by applying the theoretical insights of multiple streams theory to the Canadian experiences. Our findings suggest that although all three streams were important, the political stream is crucial for explaining the timing of the legislation.     

Portents of Pluralism: How Hybrid Regimes Affect Democratic Transitions

The original studies of "competitive authoritarianism" and "hegemonic authoritarianism" inspected the occurrence of hybrid regimes during the 1990s but stopped short of testing their propensity for democratic change. This article assesses the causal effects of hybrid regimes, and the post–cold war period itself, on regime breakdown and democratization. Using a dataset of 158 regimes from 1975 to 2004, and a discrete measure for transitions to electoral democracy, I find that competitive authoritarian regimes are not especially prone to losing power but are significantly more likely to be followed by electoral democracy: vigorous electoral contestation does not independently subvert authoritarianism, yet it bodes well for democratic prospects once incumbents are overthrown.     

Democracy@internet.asia? The challenges to the emancipatory potential of the net: Lessons from China and Malaysia

It is a commonly held view that, given the unique characteristics of the internet, it provides real opportunities for democratisation and political transformation, especially in societies where freedom of speech and expression is constrained by government controls. This article challenges this assumption by examining the impact of the internet in Asia with specific reference to China and Malaysia. In particular the article argues that to understand the impact of the internet on developing economies it is essential to examine the political economy of the internet-locally, regionally and globally. While the net may provide a new medium for dissent and opposition, its impact is offset by two principal factors. First, the existence of a marked digital divide between North and South (as well as the discrepancies that exist within specific countries in terms of gender, education and wealth) and second, by growing commercialisation.