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The article discusses key issues and theoretical debates about small nations and minority nations in comparative politics. Its more specific objective is to evaluate the role Quebec plays in those debates. Three questions motivate the authors' inquiry. First, it addresses the main questions and analytical perspectives that characterize the comparative study of small nations. For instance, it examines the key role normative debates have played in our understanding of the nationalism of small nations such as Catalonia, Flanders, Scotland and Quebec as well as more empirical analyses on territorial governance. Secondly, it evaluates the theoretical contributions of studies about Quebec to the field. It discusses the literature in two specific areas, that of paradiplomacy and public policies. Thirdly, the authors ask whether the comparison of Quebec with other small nations and national minorities is the most appropriate in order to understand its own political dynamics. They suggest that Quebec should also be compared with other small societies or small sovereign states such as Ireland, Israel or the Scandinavian countries in order to better understand its actions. In conclusion, the article also serves to underline the limits of such comparison. Adapted from the source document.

This article aims to offer an explanation for the relatively high proportion of women, despite the supposedly disadvantageous majoritarian single-seat system, in the National Assembly of Quebec. According to our hypothesis, the women's good performance is due to the fact that they have campaigned in circumscriptions that were particularly competitive. Competitiveness is operationalised in three dimensions: what is the candidates status, does one party have a particularly strong standing in the respective circumscription, and which party is incumbent? These questions guided the analysis of the campaigns in all the circumscriptions for the Quebec Provincial Elections in 1976, 1981, 1985, 1989, 1994, 1998 und 2003. The results imply two conclusions: (1) there is no evidence for the assumption that women would make more efforts than men to win seats that are supposed to be lost from the outset; (2) there is no evidence for the assumption that the majoritarian single-seat system systematically discriminates against women. Adapted from the source document.

It is argued that Americans have recently acquired a more realistic image of Quebec, seeing it as a modern, open, free-exchange, democratic, & proud state. The US notion of Quebec in the 1970s & earlier, however, had a monolithic quality, tinged by apprehension stemming from the 1976 election of the Quebecois Party. Analysis of the means & objectives of the US environment demonstrates how the current perception of Quebec came to exist. Attention is given to the role of Quebecois & Canadian specialists in the US media, the French-English language question, & the importance of tourism for influencing US ideas. In the final analysis, most Americans are ignorant of Canada, especially Quebec, but Americans who are interested in Quebec are in a good position to influence the US perception as a whole. D. Weibel

Balances perspectives on the international character & activity of Quebec against categories of true foreign policy as it is exercised by sovereign states. While it is here maintained that many of the concerns central to foreign policy may also be adopted into the planning & development of a province, the inability to operate with recognized instruments of sovereignty -- such as diplomatic & military installations -- prevents Quebec both from developing its capacity to act internationally & from having the will to such capacity recognized by other states. Many of the tensions that arise in Quebec's acceptance of these limitations while still persisting in the development of foreign relations are detailed here. Quebec's identity, largely through its cultural connections to other French-speaking parts of the world, is turned outward in an attempt to take as much initiative as possible under the currents of globalization. However, as is demonstrated here, advance in the cultivation of foreign relations & representation does not necessarily equate to establishment or exercise of legitimate foreign policy. 44 References. C. Brunski