Search results for ""Author R. Kenneth Carty""
University of British Columbia Press Pivot or Pirouette?: The 1993 Canadian General Election
Pivot or Pirouette? covers both the backstory and the aftermath of the strangest election in Canadian history, as told by an insider who was involved in the events before, during, and after the ballots were cast.In the early 1990s, a pan-Canadian coalition of Tory voters had been splintered by constitutional politics. Discontented voters flocked to new regional parties; the Conservatives attempted to turn the tide by choosing the first female prime minister, but their efforts fell flat. In the 1993 election, the party was reduced to two seats, the separatist Bloc Québécois became the official opposition, and the Reform Party swept the West. Although the shocking results seemed pivotal, ultimately the pivot turned into a full pirouette as Canadian politics returned to historical norms: new parties shake up the system but are eventually absorbed into it, bringing innovation but not transformation. You can’t understand modern Canadian politics without understanding the 1993 election.
£23.99
University of British Columbia Press Rebuilding Canadian Party Politics
Canadian party politics collapsed in the early 1990s. This book is about that collapse, about the end of a party system, with a unique pattern of party organization and competition, that had governed Canada’s national politics for several decades, and about the ongoing struggle to build its successor. Rebuilding Canadian Party Politics discusses the breakdown of the old party system, the emergence of the Reform Party and the Bloc Québécois, and the fate of the Conservative and New Democratic Parties. It focuses on the internal workings of parties in this new era, examining the role of professionals, new technologies, and local activists.To understand the ambiguities of our current party system, the authors attended local and national party meetings, nomination and leadership meetings, and campaign kick-off rallies. They visited local campaign offices to observe the parties’ grassroots operations and conducted interviews with senior party officials, pollsters, media and advertising specialists, and leader-tour directors.Written in a lively and accessible style, this book will interest students of party politics and Canadian political history, as well as general readers eager to make sense of the changes reshaping national politics today.
£30.60
University of British Columbia Press Rebuilding Canadian Party Politics
Canadian party politics collapsed in the early 1990s. This book is about that collapse, about the end of a party system, with a unique pattern of party organization and competition, that had governed Canada’s national politics for several decades, and about the ongoing struggle to build its successor. Rebuilding Canadian Party Politics discusses the breakdown of the old party system, the emergence of the Reform Party and the Bloc Québécois, and the fate of the Conservative and New Democratic Parties. It focuses on the internal workings of parties in this new era, examining the role of professionals, new technologies, and local activists.To understand the ambiguities of our current party system, the authors attended local and national party meetings, nomination and leadership meetings, and campaign kick-off rallies. They visited local campaign offices to observe the parties’ grassroots operations and conducted interviews with senior party officials, pollsters, media and advertising specialists, and leader-tour directors.Written in a lively and accessible style, this book will interest students of party politics and Canadian political history, as well as general readers eager to make sense of the changes reshaping national politics today.
£84.60
University of British Columbia Press Grassroots Politicians: Party Activists in British Columbia
Grassroots Politicians is the first systematic account ofparty activists at the provincial level in Canada. To understand thepattern of political polarization in British Columbia, the authorsexamine the values and beliefs of those at the party cores -- thepeople behind the party images who elect leaders, nominate candidates,and work in electoral campaigns. In the New Democratic Party they playa crucial role in determining policy, in the Social Credit they help toshape party direction and governing style by their choice of leader,and, among the Liberals, they form the small band that keeps the partyalive in the province. The authors challenge the view that Social Credit is a homogeneouslyright-wing party and that the New Democrats have clearly opted for thepolitical centre. They record how party profiles have changed over theyears -- Social Credit activists becoming better educated, wealthier,and less diverse in terms of ties to national parties, while the NDP isnow more middle-class, white collar, and professional. They exploresuch questions as why individuals stay in a weak party like the B.C.Liberals, how the New Democrats interpret successive Social Creditvictories, and to what extent B.C. activists are similar to those inother provinces or in national parties. They offer an analysis of theleadership selection process in each party and a detailed account ofthe convention that chose Bill Vander Zalm. By examining the attitudesand ideologies of party activists, they are able to pinpoint theirlocations on the left/right spectrum, identify internal divisions, andassess the problems and opportunities they pose for party leaders andelection strategies. As the British Columbia case illustrates, partymilitants carry distinctive subcultures which have a significant impacton the ongoing dynamics and immediate outcomes in competitive partysystems. The study also shows that the partisan involvement ofactivists in national political parties is one of the major forces thatlinks the otherwise separate provincial and federal political worldsinhabited by British Columbians.
£75.60
