Abstracts (Pdf)

Abstracts (Pdf)

2009 ABSTRACTS / RÉSUMÉS 2009 Abu-Laban, Yasmeen Multiculturalism, the State and Political Science This paper concerns itself with the growing attention to ethnic, linguistic, religious and racial diversity paid by both the Canadian state through its policies, as well as the manner in which Canada’s diversity has been both approached within the contemporary Canadian political science tradition. This endeavour suggests that there is an important, and specifically “Canadian” contribution to debates and policies. However, it is argued that in both cases “culture,” has emerged as a central lens by which diversity has been viewed, and that this emphasis alone has limitations in dealing with the historic and contemporary ways in which inequality is experienced. A more adequate approach in both policy and analysis would also explicitly engage themes of racialization (emerging from anti-racist perspectives) as well as themes of power (emerging from colonial and post-colonial perspectives). In making this argument, this paper draws on a wide array of the extant literature, as well as government documents. Adams, Chris, Berdahl, Loleen and Poelzer, Greg On-Reserve Provincial Voting in Manitoba On-reserve Status Indian populations face realities that are distinct from other Aboriginal populations (such as urban Aboriginal and Metis populations), and from the Canadian population as a whole. Many on-reserve populations are impacted affected directly by provincial government policies and initiatives, such as natural resource development, transportation infrastructure, among other things; accordingly, provincial policies are of immediate interest to the on- reserve Aboriginal electorate. Yet despite this, on-reserve Aboriginal provincial voting – and in particular, on-reserve provincial partisanship – has yet to be fully explored in Canada. This paper will examine on-reserve provincial partisanship in Manitoba, and in particular provincial voting in the 2007 Manitoba Election. Two data sources will be used: poll results supplied by Elections Manitoba (which will serve for the ecological analysis portion of the paper) and survey data from Probe Research’s Indigenous Voices Survey. The paper seeks to determine: (1) if on-reserve voting differs from general population voting; (2) if on-reserve residents report different partisan leanings than the general population; and (3) what factors might explain any variations that are found. The paper seeks to contribute to theories of Aboriginal political behavior. The research builds on the authors’ collective interests in Aboriginal governance and political behaviour. Adams, Erika and Maslove, Allan Innovations in Transfer Payments to Local Governments: The Case of the Gas Tax Fund As part of Paul’s Martin New Deal for Cities and Communities the federal government agreed to transfer a portion of the excise tax revenues collected on gasoline to municipalities to support environmentally sustainable infrastructure investments. The original commitment made by the Liberals was for $5 billion, but the Harper Conservatives re-branded the Gas Tax Fund (GTF) under the Building Canada initiative and made it a permanent measure at $2 billion per year in 2008. While transfer payments have been widely used in Canada by the federal government to address provincial and municipal fiscal gaps, deal with interjurisdictional externalities, and achieve fiscal equity, from the perspective of local governments the GTF is innovative because it is a hybrid between a grant and a contribution. The GTF has some characteristics of a contribution because it contains a complex accountability framework that includes an annual expenditure report, an outcomes report, and an audit report. At the same time, it has characteristics associated with grants because the funding is given up-front and, while the agreements specify eligible categories, the federal government is not involved in the selection of projects. Considering that the innovative design of this program, which includes a comprehensive multilevel governance arrangement, is being presented as a valuable alternative that could be used in the future for other transfer programs, this analysis could answer practical questions about the rationale for choosing this particular arrangement, challenges of implementation, and its implications for municipal decision making, autonomy and accountability. Adelman, Howard The Responsibility to Protect: Theory and Practice This paper offers a theory of responsibility rooted in Hegel. The theory of the Responsibility to Protect (R2P) as developed over the last decade and best articulated in the Canadian report of that same name is examined as a contrast. The paper consists of three parts. The first part articulates in a summary form a theory of collective responsibility applied to international organizations, more specifically the United Nations, as best articulated by Toni Erskine’s recent publications, then traces the theoretical roots of that theory to Hegel and examines the practices entailed by that theory. The second part provides a succinct summary of the development of the R2P doctrine beginning with Kofi Annan’s articulation of the doctrine in 1999 up to its unanimous endorsement by the UN in 2005 and then unpacks the theory underlying the doctrine to indicate why its liberal idealism is riddled with inherent contradictions. The third part will articulate how those contradictions played out in practice in Darfur since civil war broke out in that region of Sudan in February of 2003.. Instead of offering protection to those forcefully displaced in Sudan, the practices led to feints and delays, misplaced hopes, a situation of protracted displacement, an illusory use of the international justice system, and an impotent military peacekeeping force. These effects were reinforced rather than mitigated by the Kantian neo-cosmopolitan R2P doctrine. An alternative theory of responsibility and its incumbent practices could have mitigated the distress. Aitken, Rob Post-structuralism and the Critical Project in International Political Economy International Political Economy (IPE) is often conceived as an ‘open terrain’ of interdisciplinary analysis and inquiry. Although Gramscian-Coxian forms of critical theory have introduced a useful critical vocabulary, they have tended to be preoccupied with a somewhat limited range of issues relating to transformations in world order; shifting configurations of social forces in the global political economy; or the prospects for hegemony and counter-hegemony at the global level. Although significant and innovative, this approach has not engaged with recent conversations across the social sciences dealing with issues of language, discourse and representation. In particular critical IPE voices, with some notable exceptions, have not dealt very fully with post-structuralist concerns. This paper explores the limited ways in which post- structuralist approaches have been taken up in IPE and makes the case that one way in which post-structuralist analysis might productively advance the critical project in IPE relating to the ‘making up’ and ‘performance’ of economic categories. Drawing on a recent strand of work related to the ‘performativity’ of economics (work by Timothy Mitchell, Donald Mackenzie and Michel Callon) this paper argues for the importance of analysis which can foreground the mundane ways in which particular economic categories—the ‘firm’, ‘capital’, ‘the economy’—are constituted in forms of discourse and knowledge. To make this case the paper reviews recent regulatory changes across the Anglo-American world relating to payday lending; regulatory and policy practices which constitute payday lending as a formalized and legalized practice in the global political economy. Aivalli, Tejas Pork Barrel Politics at Queen's Park This paper will examine presence,extent and nature of pork barrel politics at Queen's Park firstly by analyzing the expenditure of public funds in the ridings of government backbench MPPs. The research will involve interviews with these MPPs that will center on the justification in their eyes of the riding-specific allocations. Their connection with interest groups and local officials will also be investigated. Pork barrel polics is well-known in the United States but much less studied in Canada. At thsame, while their is an extensive literature on interest association politics, little of it focuses on riding-specfic allocations. Much of the pork barrel spending occurs late in the fiscal and is often called fouth quarter expenditures. This pattern will be explained. Akuffo, Edward Towards Human Security by Proxy? : An investigation of Canada’s support for African Union Mission in Darfur, Sudan (AMIS) in the Post-Liberal Government Era The exit of the Liberal governments of Prime Ministers Jean Chrétien and Paul Martin from power appears to mark the end of human security in Canadian foreign policy as “prophesised” by scholars such as Denis Stairs. Indeed the concept of human security attracts diverse interpretations and understandings, however, within the Liberal government circles the concept was used to connote the protection of people from violent conflict. For some analysts such as John English, human security is entrenched in the liberal internationalist tradition of Canadian foreign policy. In this respect, Canada has played key leadership roles in creating the 1997 Ottawa treaty to ban landmines, the Responsibility to Protect (R2P) doctrine, and the International Criminal

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