1 / 7

Region and Regionalism

Region and Regionalism. Pols 322 Atlantic Canada http://www.stfx.ca/academic/political-science/BROWN/PSCI322.htm. Region and Regionalism. Regionalism: the identity and organization of society/politics around region Where is it strongest in Canada and why?

abel-charles
Télécharger la présentation

Region and Regionalism

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript

  1. Region and Regionalism Pols 322 Atlantic Canada http://www.stfx.ca/academic/political-science/BROWN/PSCI322.htm

  2. Region and Regionalism • Regionalism: the identity and organization of society/politics around region • Where is it strongest in Canada and why? • What sustains it…or weakens it, over time and why? • Do provincial politics trump regional politics? • Region as a flexible, contested and often inexact concept • Compare: Maritimes/ Atlantic/ “East coast” • Northeast region • sub-regions such as Labrador, ‘Acadie’, Cape Breton

  3. Geography, Economy and Society • Canada is composed of distinct ecological regions, some of which shared with USA • Canadian economy is regionalized: • By predominance of resource staples • By position within metropolitan-hinterland patterns • By effect of power elite decisions in politics • Social patterns, networks, and unique cultures emerge within specific regional identities

  4. Institutions • Federalism: organizes the state into provinces and territories • Senate and other central representative institutions use region as an organizing device • Cabinet: the rise and fall of regional chieftains • Constitutional amending formula employs regional concept • Regional intergovernmental relations (eg Council of Atlantic Premiers) • Party system –sometimes regionally based (e.g. Reform, Bloc québécois) • …Why no Atlantic or Maritime Party?

  5. Regional Political Culture Differentiation by region of values, beliefs, behaviours Distinct regional patterns of support for specific parties. Contested generalizations: 1. People in the Atlantic Provinces are less trusting, more cynical, tied to clientist politics. 2. Michael Bliss: old Canada vs. new Canada: myth or reality?

  6. Regionalism in National Politics..1 • Macdonald’s National Policy (1878) and the regional politics of post-Confederation integration • East-west economy: winners and losers • Issue of economic allocation; regional protest and accommodation • Post WWII: the politics of regional redistribution • Issue of compensation for effects of national policy: the “equity bargain” • Fiscal federalism, including equalization; Regional development programs

  7. Regionalism in National Politics…2 • Province-building and regional consciousness, especially after 1970 • Provincial governments shape their own economies • Huge fed-prov tension: economic intervention in bitter dispute • Globalization and the redefinition of region and regionalism • National policy that is not free trade is not feasible? • Regionalism not contained by national borders

More Related