Political Science

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This is the collection for the University of Waterloo's Department of Political Science.

Research outputs are organized by type (eg. Master Thesis, Article, Conference Paper).

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Now showing 1 - 20 of 62

Against the Grain: Globalization and Agricultural Subsidies in Canada and the United States
(University of Waterloo, 2003) Wipf, Kevin
This thesis investigates whether developments associated with globalization and regional integration have caused the levels of government support provided to agricultural producers in Canada and the United States to converge in a downward direction. The literature is sharply divided as to whether governments retain the ability to pursue an independent agricultural policy course. To shed light on this debate, the levels of government assistance payments made to farmers in six contiguous Canadian provinces and American states (Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberta, North Dakota, South Dakota, and Montana) are compared over the 1990-2001 period. This time-frame allows for sufficient periods both before and after the establishment of NAFTA and the WTO to study the effects of these developments on the relevant policy outcomes. After outlining the programs and policy changes that drove the shifts in levels of government support provided to farmers, the paper argues that although the levels of government payments made to farmers in the six sub-units converged in the mid-1990s, they diverged thereafter. The evidence drawn from this examination supports the contention that governments do possess considerable room to manoeuvre in the agricultural policy making arena and significant ability to chart an independent policy course.
ECOLOGICAL CRISIS AND HUMAN NATURE: The Green and Liberal Approaches
(University of Waterloo, 2003) Nestaiko, Marta
The concept of human nature profoundly shapes our understanding of how political and social life ought to be organised. This thesis examines the concept of human nature developed by the Green political perspective and its impact on the Green understanding of economy, society and technology. By comparing the Green and Liberal concepts of human nature (and by extension their respective conceptualisation of society, economy and technology), it is argued that the roots of present day environmental crisis could be traced to the Liberal concept of human nature and the Liberal conceptualisation of the relationship between humanity and nature.
Collaboration, Competition, and Coercion: Canadian Federalism and Blood System Governance
(University of Waterloo, 2004) McDonald, Adam
The blood supply occupies a special place within the provincial public health systems: it is something that Canadians expect to be safe, well run, and available when needed. In the 1970s and 1980s, the Canadian blood system dealt with a significant crisis: a tainted blood scandal. The federal Commission of Inquiry into the Blood System in Canada issued a report condemning, among other things, the governance structure of Canada's blood system. As a result, the provincial and federal governments worked to make changes to the way they funded, oversaw, and regulated the blood industry in Canada. It appears that the changes they instituted resulted in an improved blood system and improved the relationship between the governments and the blood system. Traditional models of federalism do not account for how the federal and provincial governments interacted. In their response to a crisis that affected thousands of Canadians, there were elements of collaboration, competition, and coercion. It is possible that a new "mode" of federalism is emerging as a result of these changes; it is more likely, however, that the crisis forced the governments to collaborate and create a national system to supply Canadian needs.
Healthy Competition: Federalism and Environmental Impact Assessment in Canada - 1985-1995
(University of Waterloo, 2004) Greenwood, David
The effect of federalism on the development of public policy is a widely debated topic. In terms of environmental policy, this issue assumes greater importance because of the lack of clarity in the constitutional division of powers. It is the purpose of this research to examine environmental impact assessment (EIA) — one of the higher-profile aspects of environmental policy — in order to establish how intergovernmental relations in Canada have affected policy and process development in this area. It is hypothesized that unilateral federal action in this policy area contributes to a corresponding increase in the stringency of provincial EIA processes. To test this, a two-step analysis is adopted: first analyzing developments at both the federal and provincial levels from 1985-1995 — a period which witnessed exceptionally high levels of public concern for the environment and increased federal involvement in EIA — and second discussing key events and agreements which affected intergovernmental relations and determining whether these related to those developments identified. This research finds that greater federal involvement in EIA was a catalyst for some positive reform at the provincial level, although this result varied significantly between the provinces examined. Based on the evidence gathered, it is concluded that some form of intergovernmental collaboration and competition both have a place in the development of EIA policy and that neither should be pursued as an end in itself.
Democratic Equality and Responsibility: the Opportunity Costs of Primary Goods
(University of Waterloo, 2005) Hill, James
This thesis first critically analyzes John Rawls?s second principle of justice as a democratic conception of equality and the challenge posed to that conception by Ronald Dworkin?s 'Equality of Resources. ' Democratic equality is defended over luck egalitarianism as an articulation of liberal egalitarianism. However, where Rawls deems social primary goods to be unconditionally regulated by institutions, Rawls is largely silent about the fair assignment of costs and burdens that correspond to the fair provision of opportunities and primary goods. Dworkin?s notion of 'opportunity costs' is argued to improve on the role of responsibility in democratic egalitarianism by making clear that the provision of primary goods creates costs and burdens within a system of social cooperation. The second section illustrates this argument by considering claims to self-government by Canadian Aboriginals. By formulating a distributive criterion that treats Aboriginal self-government as a primary good, I show that claims of culture and identity can be resolved responsibly within the framework of distributive justice.
Change in International System: a Comparative Study of Hierarchic and Anarchic Systems
(University of Waterloo, 2005) Yazgan, Korhan
This thesis focuses on change and persistence of the structure of the international system. It attempts to address the question why hierarchic structures prevailed during the Ancient and Classical eras (3000 B. C. ? 1500 A. D. ). The thesis compares and contrasts the Roman Empire (the Pax Romana period 1st century B. C. -3rd century A. D. ) and the Chinese Empire (the T?ang Dynasty 618-907 A. D. ) as hierarchic structures and the multi-state system of ancient Greece (8th-4th century B. C. ) and the multi-state system of ancient China (The Spring and Autumn and the Warring States Period 722-221 B. C. ) as anarchic structures. The thesis suggests that the moral purpose of the state, the competitive security environment, the desire for benefits and geopolitical and strategic advantages played the major role in the immediate transformation from anarchy to hierarchy. The thesis asserts that the generation of common goods, the decline in transaction costs and the success in securing the commitment of the members and the legitimacy of the system enabled and encouraged the persistence of hierarchic structures. It also re-emphasizes that whereas the persistence of hierarchic systems depends on the existence of several factors, only one factor can promote the persistence of anarchic structures e. g. the moral purpose of the state.
The Single-Member Plurality and Mixed-Member Proportional Electoral Systems: Different Concepts of an Election
(University of Waterloo, 2006) Anderson, James C.
The thesis is an analysis of the different concepts of an election reflected in the single-member plurality (SMP) electoral system and the mixed-member proportional (MMP) electoral system. These different concepts reflect the views held by proponents of the respective electoral systems about what an election is to accomplish and what an electoral system is to provide. Attention is paid to whether the concept of an election recognizes the "new reality" that is introduced. Such intentions embedded in the concept contribute to whether the respective electoral system successfully achieves the most important criteria which will be emphasized for measuring a "good" electoral system. It is argued in the thesis that, as a result of its wider and more modern concept of an election - to be explained - which focuses more on aggregate vote totals, the mixedmember proportional system better achieves the criteria which underpin a "good" electoral system.
Chaoulli v. Québec (Attorney General): Understanding Provincial Reactions to the Decision
(University of Waterloo, 2007-05-18T19:37:34Z) Sadler, Daniel J.
This thesis focuses on provincial reactions to the Supreme Court decision on 5 June 2005, Chaoulli v. Quebec (Attorney General). In this decision, the Court struck down the government of Québec’s ban on private insurance for publicly-insured services, on the grounds it violated the Québec Charter of Human Rights and Freedoms, while the decision on the Canadian Charter ended in a 3:3 tie with one abstention. It is the purpose of this research to examine the reactions of each provincial government to the decision in an attempt to understand why each province responded in its chosen manner. In order to make this determination, four hypotheses were constructed in order to test four separate variables: court interference, current law, ideology, and political calculation. These hypotheses were tested against provincial reactions in the media, legislatures, court documents, and E-mail administered questionnaires. This research finds that each hypothesis had some success in predicting provincial reactions to the decision, with a government’s current law and ideology proving to be the most accurate predictors. Based on the evidence gathered, three conclusions were arrived at: first, a government’s law and its ideology will often predict how a government will behave; second, that governments are open to Supreme Court decisions in the area of health care, and, finally, that if provincial governments were to make the decision to increase the role of the private sector in health care, political leaders would require public opinion be in support of such a decision rather than act solely on an ideological predisposition to greater private sector involvement.
The Balancing Act: Economic Determinism and Humanism in Marxism
(University of Waterloo, 2007-09-25T23:39:39Z) Taylor, Christopher Leighton
I argue that there are two interpretations of the Marxist dialectic, both of which examine how human beings interact with objects around them conceptually and how society evolves over time, from different points of view. In the present paper, I undertake three tasks. First, I demonstrate that there is a clear difference between these two strains of Marxist thought which I here call humanist and determinist. Second, I show how Marxist thought has evolved from Hegel and Marx to the present in light of these two different models. Last, I argue that the determinist model is flawed, and that the humanist model stands as a more solid logical and epistemological perspective for Marxist theory.
Hobbes' foundation for peace and property
(University of Waterloo, 2008-09-26T18:19:00Z) Cust, Michael Shaun Christopher
I defend Hobbes’ foundation for peace and property. His foundation for peace and property is his major argument for why society’s moral order (i.e. collection of rules of interaction) should be based on the principles of non-interference and exclusive use of material objects. His foundation is that in the absence of both a recognised moral order and government, it would be rational, or felicity maximising, for individuals to agree to a moral order constituted by peace and property. The cogency of his foundation depends on the accuracy of the second of the two steps of his state of nature thought experiment. In the first step, he formulates the state of nature by defining it as a social state of affairs with no government, by arguing that, as a consequence of there being no government, there would be no recognised moral order, and by assuming there would be relievable scarcity. In the second step, he theorises that interactions this anarchic state of affairs would be periodically violent. Also, the second step is informed by his theory of human nature, that is, his theory of the major characteristics common to all humans. Given that his foundation’s cogency is subject to the accuracy of the second step of his state of nature thought experiment and that the second step of his thought experiment is informed by his theory of human nature, my defence of his foundation involves arguments in favour of his theory of human nature, his state of nature, and his foundation. I first contend that the six characteristics that compose his theory of human nature are true. I next argue that the second step of his state of nature thought experiment – his theory that state of nature interactions would be periodically violent – is accurate. Lastly, I argue that his foundation is true, that it would be felicity maximising for individuals to agree to a moral order based on peace and property in the absence of government and a recognised moral order. To make my argument, I construct a hypothetical bargain between individuals in the state of nature where they choose between Hobbes moral order based on peace and property and the sort of moral order most contemporary political philosophers would propose as alternative (e.g. one based on general non-interference and a redistribution requirement) as their improvement over the state of nature. I argue that individuals would choose the former over the latter as their improvement because the former is purely mutually beneficial while the latter is only partly mutually beneficial.
Canada en(counters) terrorism: US-Canada relations and counter-terrorism policy
(Taylor and Francis, 2009-01-15) Kitchen, Veronica; Sasikumar, Karthika
This paper examines the role of identity in shaping counter-terrorism policy in Canada. We show that identity functions in three ways: constitutively by defining the range of choices a state is likely to consider; strategically by being a resource to buttress arguments based in economic or sovereignty interests; and heuristically by using identity as a marker for risk. This three-faceted explanation helps explain why, despite close economic, social, and political links between Canada and the United States which might lead us to expect Canada to follow American counter-terrorism policy, Canadian counter-terrorism policy often diverges from the American lead.
Argument and Identity Change in the Atlantic Security Community
(Sage, 2009-02-01) Kitchen, Veronica
The Atlantic community shares more than just dependable expectations of peaceful change. Its members also share a reflexive political community they sense is worth preserving and a view that their security is intertwined. Existing accounts of the Atlantic security community have identified the importance of renewed emphasis on common values as a factor in preserving and expanding the security community after the Cold War. But, debates at the end of the Cold War also turned on the question of what the allies would do together and what responsibilities they had to each other and to other states. This article outlines a discursive framework and a set of rhetorical strategies used by members of the Atlantic community that explain how they worked to maintain and change their community during debates about their mandate for cooperation. This framework is then applied to the Atlantic community's debates over common action during the Yugoslav wars.
Democracy Sub Specie Aeternitatis: The Theological and Metaphysical Foundations of Thomas Garrigue Masaryk's Political Philosophy
(University of Waterloo, 2009-03-11T15:42:00Z) Uhde, Jan A.
Thomas Garrigue Masaryk’s (1850-1937) reputation as one of the pre-eminent philosopher-kings of the twentieth century in Europe has not been tarnished nor has it been much revised by historians. Masaryk’s philosophical opinions continue to be studied in current academic literature, especially in the Czech Republic where the issue of Masaryk’s legacy as both thinker and politician remains alive. The author of the following thesis recognizes that although other studies have noted the religious element in Masaryk’s philosophy, they have not analysed it for its inherent theology and have therefore not made the important link between the philosophy of Thomas Garrigue Masaryk and the theology of Jan Amos Komenský (1592-1670). The following thesis examines Masaryk’s works for evidence demonstrating the fundamental place of theology in Masaryk’s political philosophy and argues that although Masaryk distanced himself from theology as ancillary to medieval theocracy, and from metaphysics as purely theoretical speculation, the fundamental assumptions upon which Masaryk constructed his political philosophy and philosophy of history were theological and metaphysical and borrowed from Komenský.
The Global Fight Against HIV/AIDS: Has the United Nations Successfully Securitized HIV/AIDS?
(University of Waterloo, 2009-05-05T18:20:56Z) Kay, Meagan Anne
HIV/AIDS is an urgent health issue in many areas of the world, particularly in Africa. In addition to reaching pandemic status, HIV/AIDS is also being elevated to the level of a security threat. While this is occurring both nationally and internationally, the United Nations is leading this securitization attempt. The UN has been able to engage in this attempt as it is the most influential international organization and the leading norm promoting organization. Securitization is an analytic process that traces how issues become identified and understood as security threats. This concept originated within the Copenhagen school of security studies, and this is the framework that this paper relies on to analyze the connection between HIV/AIDS and security. The connection between HIV/AIDS and security is now widely internalized, accepted and even promoted by national governments, international organizations, and non-governmental organizations. However, the successful securitization of HIV/AIDS has yet to be fully explored, understood, or tested. This paper undertakes this task, and relies on the Copenhagen process of securitization to trace the security discourse initiated from the UN, down through four selected case studies. It identifies which of the key Copenhagen requirements for securitization have been met, and which have not been met, ultimately leading to the conclusion that the United Nations prompted a successful internal securitization and an unsuccessful external securitization. This paper concludes that the current Copenhagen school process of securitization is flawed and is inadequate for studying today’s emerging non-traditional threats. In particular, it is unable to trace the securitization of HIV/AIDS as a result of stringent and unrepresentative criterions. It attempts to move forward by offering a rationale and direction to begin updating the Copenhagen process of securitization.
The NDP and the Third Party Curse in Canada
(University of Waterloo, 2009-05-05T18:26:30Z) Mavrikkou, Maria
This thesis evaluates the position of the NDP as Canada’s third party in federal electoral politics. It analyzes three external factors, the electoral system, the party finance system and the effects of voter behaviour and low voter turnout on the electoral success of the NDP. This work aims to discover why the NDP is seemingly caught in what this thesis refers to as a third party curse. Each of the three external factors which are susceptible to change are analyzed individually to discover whether they have a negative effect on the electoral success of the party.
The 2006 Russia-Ukraine Natural Gas Dispute: A mechanisms based approach
(University of Waterloo, 2009-08-26T18:57:05Z) Daley, Stephen
This thesis addresses the factors which lead the Russian government to increase natural gas prices for Ukraine in 2006. Through the use of methodological individualism, an explanation which links system, state, and individual levels of analysis is constructed. The system level variables concerned include global energy prices and the increasing importance of Turkmen natural gas to Russia and other regional gas consumers. State level variables, include changes in Russia’s patrimonial society (changing source of rents, increased authoritarianism); and increasing state control over Russia’s natural gas industry. Changes in these conditioning factors influence individuals’ beliefs about their preferred source of rents, and the nature of their rent seeking and distributing. The resulting actions bring about variations in Russia’s natural gas price for Ukraine. This framework is tested over three time periods (1995-1999, 2000-2004, 2004-2008) selected based on the nature of the conditioning variables over those years. Evidence from these case studies suggests that the above mentioned factors played a large role in the Russian government’s decision. Further, it is concluded that methodological individualism offers a way to bring together system, state, and individual levels of analysis when explaining this event, and perhaps other events in international politics.
National Interests and International Consensus: The Case for a Human Rights Approach to Canadian Foreign Policy
(University of Waterloo, 2009-09-02T19:56:49Z) Sarson, Leah
The inclusion of human rights in Canadian foreign policy is typically rationalized as corresponding to the fundamental Canadian value of respect for human rights; however, Canada’s limited appeals to human rights, couched in the rhetoric of values, altruism, and morality, have not produced a substantive policy that adequately considers or sufficiently protects human rights. Although human rights are generally considered subordinate to security, economic, and other national interests, this thesis will argue that these are mutually inclusive concepts that serve to support each other. By examining Canadian engagement in Afghanistan through the theoretical perspective of the English School solidarists, this thesis contends that Canada national interest can be realized through a commitment to a human rights foreign policy, thereby providing concrete justification for the inclusion of human rights in Canadian foreign policy. The objective of such an approach is to improve Canada’s ability to protect and promote international human rights, leaving little doubt in the minds of Canadian foreign policy-makers that there is undeniable value in a human rights foreign policy and that such a policy will produce national interest ends.
A Study of Middle Power Diplomacy : as a Strategy of Leadership and Influence
(University of Waterloo, 2009-10-08T18:28:41Z) Yamasaki, Michi
The main goal of this research is to clarify the concept of “middle power” and to employ the idea to understand the diplomatic strategies that allow so called secondary powers, which are countries without substantial national power, to actively exercise remarkable influence in international politics. In general understanding, this diplomacy is called “middle power diplomacy” or “middlepowermanship” which particularly means diplomacy excising influence and taking international initiative through international co-operation and regimes. This diplomacy is distinguishable in that it is not based on overwhelming national power such as military power, but on persuasion and reconciling with other actors. By such activities, some secondary countries achieved considerable involvement, strong influence, and impressive positive reputation in the world despite their intermediate or small national power. This research examines in what conditions some of these secondary powers can employ this type of active international policies and show remarkable influence in certain international issues. Research for this project involved three processes of examination in five chapters on the topic of middlepowemanship, presented in five chapters. Part I of the thesis contains history and literature review of the idea “middle power”. Based on the review of history and literature, this research assumes the middle power diplomacy or middlepowermanship in this research has theoretically four main features. Firstly middlepowermanship means taking leadership employing cooperation with other actors, including other countries and international organizations, and international institutions rather than just its own national power. Secondly, this type of leadership tends to be entrepreneurial or intellectual leadership, which does not always require massive national power and resource input. Thirdly, this diplomatic option is basically available to very wide range of countries, classified as “possible middle powers” in this research, as one of the policy options. Fourthly, the country applying middle power diplomacy does not always describe itself as “middle power”; in addition, the country calling itself “middle power” is not always conducting middle power diplomacy. The political rhetoric “middle power” and middle power diplomacy is not always inter-related. Lastly, only under certain conditions this policy is chosen and successfully practiced. One distinguishable feature of this research is that it is assuming the neither “possible middle powers” nor self-indicated middle powers always apply middle power diplomacy. The “possible middle powers” have middlepowermanship strategy as an available option. The “possible middle powers” have middlepowermanship strategy as an available option and decide whether middlepowemanship strategy is practicable and effective or not on a case by case basis. This research suggested that if “possible middle powers” seek to show strong influence and leadership, they have to select issues and approaches which their limited diplomatic resource can accomplish. For this selection of issues, firstly, there needs to be domestic agreement. In other words, domestic support and available diplomatic resource have to become available on the right political timing. Particularly for “possible middle powers” the constraints and available resources strongly affect the countries’ approaches to the large scale international policy and new projects. Secondly, “possible middle powers” need to persuade other international actors for support and co-operation to excise international leadership because of their limited national and diplomatic capability. In Chapter 5 of this thesis, a case study is presented on Japanese diplomacy on the idea “human security”. Japanese active policies under the name of human security were middlepowemanship because of the three following features. Firstly, Japanese human security policy has been conducted in cooperation with the United Nations and other countries. Secondly, the Japanese government was seeking the entrepreneurial leadership and influence in these policies. Thirdly, the government consistently put emphasis on the aspect of “freedom from want” of human security and limited its initiative to economy related issues. This case study focuses on factors underlying the policy decision choosing middlepowermanship. Prime Minister Obuchi’s leadership backed up his intellectual advisors who were supporting the idea of “human security” matched the political timing brought by the Asian financial crisis and the Ottawa Process in 1997. The constraints and available diplomatic resources led the Japanese government to take the middlepowermanship approach. The government had certain constraints due to the constitutional restraints in military activities and complexity of relationships with neighboring countries. These restrictions on the approaches resulted in Japan pursuing limited initiative only on economy related issues even though the idea of human security contains “freedom from want” and “freedom from fear.” Combining with the existing Japanese Official Development Assistance (ODA) policies and upcoming ODA policy reform realized the human security as a large scale international initiative, such as the Trust Found for Human Security. In the international sphere, support from other countries and the UN made it possible for Japan to conduct such large scale international policy conducted by Japan.
NATO’s Out of Area Norm from Suez to Afghanistan
(Taylor & Francis, 2010) Kitchen, Veronica
The Atlantic community shares more than just dependable expectations of peaceful change. Its members also share a reflexive political community they sense is worth preserving and a view that their security is intertwined. Existing accounts of the Atlantic security community have identified the importance of renewed emphasis on common values as a factor in preserving and expanding the security community after the Cold War. But, debates at the end of the Cold War also turned on the question of what the allies would do together and what responsibilities they had to each other and to other states. This article outlines a discursive framework and a set of rhetorical strategies used by members of the Atlantic community that explain how they worked to maintain and change their community during debates about their mandate for cooperation. This framework is then applied to the Atlantic community's debates over common action during the Yugoslav wars.
Western European Arms Export and Asylum Immigration: A Connection? On the Determinants of Asylum Immigration to Western Europe
(University of Waterloo, 2010-01-25T19:53:10Z) Eriksson, Lina
My contribution is focused to a modest framework creation for asylum-immigration theory. By means of arms-export data from 17 Western European countries, tested against inflow of asylum seekers to these countries, covering the past 26 years, it is clear that arms-export from these countries do not contribute to their own asylum-inflow. The main theoretical contribution to existing literature on arms export and migration is therefore that I separate plausible causes of outgoing migration (arms export to countries from where asylum flows are generated) from determinants of asylum immigration. Empirically, I disprove such hypothetical indirect connections put forward both within academic literature and by NGOs like Amnesty International. Instead, I find the counter-intuitive, namely that increased arms export leads to less asylum immigration. Also, in contrast to previous literature on asylum immigration, I build on Granovetter (1973) and propose that diffusion of information through asylum networks depend on weak social connections as opposed to close relationships like ethnic bonds, family ties and friendships. In addition, I problematize the tendency of existing literature to treat asylum seekers as labor migrants and argue for a framework founded on principles which account for the unique circumstances and life situations faced by asylum seekers. In doing so I also extend on previous quantitative works and find that crucial determinants for inflow are signified by the generosity of the welfare state, absence of far right sentiments, and religious diversity. The wealth of a country, its general quality of life, its linguistic and ethnic fractionalization, do not appear to matter.

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