Suchergebnisse

AbstractStudents of urban politics have in the past tended to neglect the question of gender in their research. Since the early 1970s, however, this question has generated a significant number of studies. Investigation of the role of women in cities, in relation to the various components of urban structure such as transportation and housing, shows that women have a variety of relations with the organization of social space. The results of research to date allow us to define the main aspects of these relationships, and to assess the relevance of these kinds of enquiries. Several trends can be discerned in the literature in this emerging field. These indicate that the strengths and the weaknesses of future research will be at two levels: that of theory-building in the area of gender politics, and that of continuing investigations of this question in the context of more traditional approaches to urban politics.

AbstractOntario's two minority governments provide political scientists an opportunity to analyze how a government and legislature will function when executive control is curtailed by the electorate. It also affords an opportunity to observe the dynamics of legislative reform in a situation where backbenchers have unaccustomed clout. Relying on a survey of "insider" opinion, the article finds that MPPs showed little interest in reforms other than those which improved their services. Further, it finds that all the normal functions attributed to the legislature were performed better in a minority situation. However, while the majority of respondents had positive overall assessments of the minority experience, they had a variety of reservations about perpetuating it in some way. The article points up the dilemma that there appears to be no way to "capture" the widely recognized positive aspects of minority administrations within the norms of parliamentary government accepted by legislators and no willingness on their part to vary these norms.