THE POVERTY OF CANADIAN POLITICS?

In: Democratization, Band 3, Heft 1, S. 28-45

Abstract

POLITICAL LEADERSHIP IS KEY VARIABLE IN THE CONTEMPORARY PROCESS OF DEMOCRATIZATION. POWERFUL POLITICAL LEADERS WERE ALSO A SALIENT FEATURE OF CANADA'S TRANSITION FROM THE AUTHORITARIAN, GOVERNOR-CONTROLLED REGIMES IN THE EARLY NINETEENTH CENTURY TO MODERN DEMOCRATIC CONDITIONS IN THE TWENTIETH CENTURY. CANADA'S POLITICAL LEADERSHIP TRADITION, WHICH VALUED COMPROMISE AND ACCOMMODATION, IS OFTEN HAILED AS EXEMPLARY BUT HAS COME IN FOR CONSIDERABLE CRITICISM SINCE 1982 AS CANADIAN POLITICIANS CONTINUE TO FAIL IN THEIR ATTEMPTS TO FIND A BASIC CONSTITUTIONAL DEFINITION OF THE CANADIAN STATE ACCEPTABLE TO QUEBEC AND THE REST OF CANADA. THIS ARTICLE ASSESSES THE CANADIAN TRADITION AND ARGUES THAT THE IMAGE OF PAST CANADIAN LEADERS HAS CONVENTIONALLY BEEN IDEALIZED. AN IMPORTANT LESSON TO BE LEARNED FROM THE CANADIAN CASE IS THAT LEADERS WHO ASSISTED IN THE TRANSITION TO DEMOCRACY IN NORTH AMERICA WORKED IN GENERALLY FAVORABLE CONDITIONS OF ECONOMIC AND TERRITORIAL EXPANSION AND OFTEN RESORTED TO PARTY BUILDING TECHNIQUES OF PATRONAGE, INFLUENCE AND CORRUPTION WHICH ARE DENOUNCED WHEN USED BY CONTEMPORARY LEADERS IN NEW DEMOCRATIC POLITIES.