Suchergebnisse

AbstractUnder what circumstances do central and local party actors engage in gatekeeping to influence the outcomes of local nomination races? In this article, I develop a theory of gatekeeping in Canadian parties by synthesizing past work on candidate selection with a multi-method field study of New Brunswick provincial nominations (2017–2018). I present evidence in favour of this theory from participant-observation of 25 nominating conventions, 93 elite interviews, and an original dataset of major party nominations for the 2018 New Brunswick election. The theory and evidence show how gatekeeping by central party actors helps explain how nominations can go uncontested, even in competitive and safe seats. The theory also generates several testable claims for future studies of candidate selection in other places, time periods and levels of government in Canada.

AbstractFifty years ago, Canadian political science (CPS) debated whether there was an "Americanization problem" in the discipline. Today, the idea does not have the same force. This article revisits the debate by focusing on one of the main points of concerns: the doctoral training of CPS faculty. The article presents an original dataset of tenure and tenure-track faculty at CPS departments. It then provides analysis of where these tenure and tenure-track faculty received their doctorates, by sub-field and rank, paying particular attention to the country of doctoral training. Unlike fifty years ago, Canadian-trained scholars form a much larger share of the professoriate. There is no evidence of a trend towards more American-trained scholars among recent hires of assistant professors. However, the results also suggest a continuing status hierarchy between the two countries. It concludes by arguing that CPS needs to be more reflective about its position within this status hierarchy.

In recent years, there has been growing interest in policies that offer financial incentives to political parties to nominate women. Under what circumstances do political parties agree to adopt financial incentives for women's representation? In this article, we conduct a feminist historical institutionalist case study of the adoption of gender-targeted public finance in the Canadian province of New Brunswick in 2017. We draw on a combination of: direct personal experience advocating for financial incentives for women candidates; interviews with party insiders, policymakers and actors within feminist organisations; and documentary evidence. The results have implications for understanding the potential for success of efforts to adopt financial incentives in other jurisdictions.