Suchergebnisse

On February 20, the long expected parliamentary election was held. As the first expression of national opinion under the manhood suffrage law, its result was awaited with unusual interest. Dissolution of the House of Representatives had been demanded by the liberal press ever since the passage of the election law of 1925, but the old parties had been reluctant to appeal to the electorate. In the fifty-second session of the Diet, the Kenseikai cabinet reaped a harvest of unpopularity by an arrangement with the Seiyukai and Seiyuhonto which prevented a no-confidence vote. When the Seiyukai came into office in April, 1927, it was apparent that any ministry which postponed dissolution would forfeit popular esteem; and in any case the four-year term automatically required a general election before May, 1928. The Kenseikai and the Seiyuhonto made preparation for the coming election by amalgamating into a united opposition under the name of the Rikken Minseito. The Seiyukai prepared by dismissing the governors in twenty-four of the forty-seven prefectures and filling their places with adherents who would promote the party's interests at the polls.

Abstract.The North—defined as the Canadian Arctic—ranks among the most understudied and yet the most promising fields of enquiry for Canadian political scientists. It offers a host of fascinating research topics and intellectual puzzles, many of which entail the often fraught relationship between the Canadian state and Aboriginal peoples. Important conceptual issues await academics studying northern politics and governance. As well, political scientists' work can benefit the governments and the people of the North who are grappling with difficult practical problems as they develop distinctive ways of governing themselves.Academic work on northern politics can be at once intellectually stimulating, professionally rewarding and of significant practical utility. Accordingly, more Canadian political scientists, especially young scholars, should turn their attention northwards.Résumé.Le Nord, ou plus précisément l'Arctique canadien, constitue un des champs les moins explorés et pourtant les plus prometteurs pour les politologues canadiens. Son étude révèle une foule de sujets de recherche fascinants et d'énigmes intellectuelles, dont plusieurs se rapportent aux relations souvent tendues entre l'État canadien et les peuples autochtones. D'importants enjeux conceptuels se posent aux chercheurs de la politique nordique et de la gouvernance. De plus, les recherches des politologues peuvent aider les gouvernements et les habitants du Nord à résoudre des problèmes concrets associés au développement de façons distinctives de se gouverner.En somme, la recherche sur la politique nordique peut être à la fois intellectuellement stimulante, professionnellement gratifiante et pourvu d'une grande utilité pratique. En conséquence, plus de politologues canadiens, et en particulier ceux des nouvelles générations, devraient diriger leur attention vers le Nord.

The political use of political sciencePolitical scientists claim for science and for themselves, as scholars, a maximum of independence in their dealings with government and Parliament. At the same time, science finds itself so inextricably bound up with the actual political process that it has become an "establishment" as strong and formidable as religion was in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. Liberal political scientists put themselves into a contradictory position when they demand for themselves, in the pursuit of their task as scholars, a political status which would protect them from the scrutiny of the elected representatives of the people, a condition which, they would refuse to grant to any other social group, and yet simultaneously in their teaching and writing set themselves up as the ardent defenders of representative and responsible democracy. What must one sacrifice, science or democratic responsibility? Is it necessary to aim at excluding science from the democratic process, at the risk of seeing our society regress towards a pre-industrial age, or should one regard representative and responsible democracy as relevant to questions of minor importance while significant issues which concern the present and future of society are to be dealt with by other political methods?

THE FRANCOPHONIE--THE GROUPING OF MAINLY FRENCH SPEAKING COUNTRIES--HELD ITS SUMMIT IN VIETNAM IN 1997 AND APPOINTED BOUTROS BOUTROS GHALI AS ITS NEW SECRETARY-GENERAL. IN ADDITION, MEMBERSHIP IN THE FRANCOPHONIE IS NO LONGER LIMITED TO STRICTLY FRANCOPHONE COUNTRIES AND CERTAIN EASTERN EUROPEAN COUNTRIES. THE MEMBERS OF THIS FRENCH-SPEAKING COMMUNITY ARE STILL NOT PREPARED TO ALLOW INTERFERENCE IN THEIR INTERNAL AFFAIRS OR THE IMPOSITION OF SANCTIONS IN CASE OF HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATIONS. THE FRANCOPHONIE HAS, HOWEVER, ESTABLISHED A DEMOCRACY OBSERVATORY WHICH WILL MAINTAIN A WATCHING BRIEF ON HUMAN RIGHTS ISSUES.

Scientists cannot take a neutral position regarding the way progress evolves. The environment, social justice and international order are the key factors for constructing peace.