Theses (Political Science)

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Emergency climate governance: Surveying provincial opportunities for leadership on emissions mitigation through emergency management legislation
(2025) Wade, Dawson; Lawson, James Charles Barkley
Greenhouse gas emissions are undeniably the greatest contributor driving a changing climate, and as the climate continues to change, we have moved into a climate emergency with increasingly frequent, longer, and more severe climate-driven disasters and biospheric destabilization. This thesis takes up the question of what it means to deal with the climate emergency as an actual emergency, not a symbolic one, and how emergency power could be exercised for drastic change. Provinces appear the most capable head level of government to engage with the climate emergency as a real emergency through provincial emergency management (EM) legislation, and in doing so could benefit provincial jurisdiction with a sensitivity to regional contexts while also bolstering nationally (and globally) felt climate action. Provinces are constitutionally tied to high GHG emitting industry, and EM is already tied to traditional emergencies, many of which a changing climate is exacerbating. But most of the focus in emergency management, as it relates to the climate-driven aspects of hazards, remains on response and recovery. EM should be leveraged to further include the mitigation of emergency, and directly consider the climate case, meaning GHG mitigation and reduction. In making the argument for provincial EM to be exercised for emergency climate governance, this thesis considers the hypothetical opportunities and benefits to be had from emergency climate action, the conceptual potential for the application of EM for climate action in different provincial political contexts, and offers some practical examples for how EM could be engaged through EM regulations and emergency planning to impact the highest GHG producing and emitting sectors in all provinces. To explore this, British Columbia and Alberta are comparatively assessed, with these provinces representing the two different provincial sub-types (more climate action progressive and more climate action restrictive) that appear to bear the most meaning for whether real provincial emergency action on the climate emergency would occur in Canada. This thesis also attends to the dangers and fears associated with emergency power use, and offers lessons learned from past province-led emergency response, including during the COVID-19 pandemic. The thesis culminates with reflection on how its arguments might translate into three potential futures, with lessons for each: widespread provincial emergency climate action; asymmetric emergency climate action; or, no provincial emergency climate action.
"The sentence of history": The politics of death and life-writing
(2002) Raymundo, Jose Emmanuel; Magnusson, Warren
As illustrated in the essay "The Snake Twins of the Philippines," traditional Western narratives- in political theory, the social sciences and literature- either exclude or exoticize the lives of non-Western, racialized people. Framing the works or Jamaica Kincaid in conjunction with postcolonial and critical race theory, this thesis argues that the genre of life-writing is important for racialized people to challenge racist exclusion and exoticization. Through life-writing, we who have been left out of (or been objectified by) History, can then become fully speaking, thinking and writing subjects who can relay for ourselves our unarticulated (and therefore "unreal") experiences and realities. In so doing, we then confront and challenge racist notions of the static and unchanging "Other" by articulating a dynamic diasporic identity that, in the words of Paul Gilroy, "is always unfinished, always being remade."
'We' are not amused: R. B. J. Walker on the state of the political imagination
(2000) Matthews, Ian Douglas; Tully, James
This thesis is a critical conversation with the work of R. B. J. Walker, major theorist of international relations, and political theory. The attempt here has been to read Walker specifically as a theorist of political imagination, proper, this although he presents no explicit theory of political imagination. He does, however, appear to write according to an implicit and codified theory/praxis of imagination roughly informed by phenomenological concepts of poetic imagination, particularly those of Gaston Bachelard. His major works, we contend, ultimately read as 'super-historical' attempts to convince the reader of the very possibility of political possibility, as opposed to the timeless reign of political essentialisms. Ultimately, it is the principle of sovereignty, he claims, which is, in the modem era, the constitutive principle of the political itself. As such it is also said to present itself as the only alternative to itself. The transfixing idealism of this 'historically specific' principle is what must be overcome.
Canadian newspaper coverage and transnational human migration discourses: The 2015-2016 migrant and refugee crisis in Europe
(2024) Beaupré, Claude; Brunet-Jailly, Emmanuel; Schmidtke, Oliver; Wassenberg, Birte
The current dissertation serves as the only Canadian media analysis of the Refugee and Migrant Crisis in Europe (RMC) of its kind, using said “crisis” as a case study of a time when migration was at the forefront of political and social debates. The project had two aims. The first was to fill in the gap in the academic literature on discursive formations of migration in Canadian media coverage. There have been a total of seven studies that examined the potential links between the Canadian media and the migratory wave that occurred in Europe in 2015–2016. Each of these focused on the so-called ‘Syrian Refugee Crisis’ (SRC) and Canada’s role in it and either briefly alluded to the events in Europe or simply ignored them altogether, which is an oversight of key contextualizing elements of the time. The current research project demonstrates that Canadian media extensively covered the events in Europe during the 2015 Federal Election and the development of the SRC. The SRC might not exist, or at least not have been developed as such nor had the political and social support it received, without the constant and sizeable media coverage of the events in Europe not the least of which are the Alan Kurdi photograph and the numerous migrant-associated terrorist attacks throughout Europe between 2015 and 2016. The second aim of this project has been to contribute to the growing body of critical scholarship linking media coverage and transnational human migration discourses, researching how media acts as a discursive actor. It has served to decipher the narratives that emanated from said coverage and how these might change over time in reaction to the events unfolding. The project posits, therefore, that the media acts simultaneously as agent and field of discursive deliberation, whose coverage has a complex and multi-layered influence on perception and discourse creation – especially when it comes to politically charged issues such as transnational human migration. As both field and agent, media coverage thus has an indirect discursive influence on how a subject matter is constructed and acted upon. It investigated the media coverage of 4 highly read newspapers in Canada (the Globe and Mail, the Toronto Star, the Montreal Gazette, and the Vancouver Sun). The qualitative and quantitative approach taken by the project allowed for the content and discourse analysis to be performed organically through the constant comparison method, not the least of which came from the careful and numerous reading and re-reading of each article to decipher the key events, topics, contextualisation, and so forth.
Education as strategy: Vocational reform and social mobility in neoliberal China
(2024) Lu, Yifan; Xu, Feng
This thesis explores the evolution of vocational education policies in China, analyzing how market forces, neoliberal ideology, and the centralized control of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) interact. I argue that while China aims to modernize and enhance its vocational education system to meet changing economic demands, these reforms serve dual purposes. On one hand, they aim to create a market-oriented education system that supports China’s broader economic objectives; on the other, they direct migrant and rural populations into vocational tracks, masking deeper socio-economic divides and using education reform as a tool for political stability rather than social equity. I situate China within the global trends of ‘vocationalism’ which promotes vocational education as a solution to economic and employment challenges. I then explore how vocational education reforms in China, articulated through the 1996 Vocational Education Law and its amendments, align with neoliberal trends that promote “suzhi” (quality) and “talent” to meet industrial demands. I also probe into China’s unique governance model, which combines market- driven reforms with authoritarian controls to shape its education reform. This governance strategy allows for a prioritization of national economic objectives over educational equality and perpetuates class distinctions by directing disadvantaged groups into vocational paths. I conclude that these reforms fail to uplift disadvantaged groups as claimed by state propaganda but only reinforce existing social stratifications. Empirical data for the thesis come from government reports, public media, secondary ethnographic literature and legal research.
Colonial reproductions of everyday spaces: An analysis of the Empress Hotel
(2024) Milanova, Maria; Marin, Mara
My thesis argues that the Empress Hotel functions as a colonial infrastructure that not only normalizes but actively reproduces colonial power dynamics through its spatial organization. This landmark embodies and reinforces historical colonial power structures while simultaneously generating new forms of colonial relations, thereby perpetuating the disruption of Indigenous relationships with the land. I make three arguments about how colonialism and colonial relations are embodied and reproduced through the material and spatial structure of the Empress. First, I argue that the Empress Hotel's strategic location atop reclaimed land asserts colonial domination by rendering Indigenous lands as "waste" to be “civilized”. Second, I argue that the Empress’ architecture, the Baronial-Chateau style inspired by European traditions, symbolizes the Canadian state's efforts to legitimize its colonial project and assert its sovereignty. Third, I argue that the practices and artifacts of colonial spaces, including the themed rooms of the Empress, the Bengal Lounge and Palm Court, and ritualized practices like afternoon tea, recreate colonial social hierarchies and relations. I further argue that the organization of these colonial social spaces is inextricably linked to the production of power, with the two being mutually dependent. By examining the micro-level manifestations of colonial power in the Empress Hotel, I illuminate the broader mechanisms of macro-level political domination. This approach addresses a gap in political science, which traditionally overlooks how power manifests in everyday colonial structures. The study contributes to our understanding of how colonial power manifests in everyday structures by critically expanding Henri Lefebvre's work through integration with Glen Coulthard's notion of "colonial relations" to provide a more comprehensive framework for analyzing settler colonialism and the reproduction of colonial relations spatially. At the same time, the research also discloses the potential for resistance in relation to alternative ways of inhabiting these spaces. In so doing, I emphasize the need for critical engagement with the spaces we inhabit and experience.
Pursuit of the unknown: Understanding refugee decision-making
(2024) Hashemirahaghi, Seyedmehdi; Watson, Scott D.
The 2015 refugee ‘crisis’ resulted in one of the largest refugee movements since the Second World War. The construction of refugee movements as a ‘crisis’ contributed to state centric responses primarily dehumanizing refugees and promoting restrictive protection policies. The 2015 refugee ‘crisis’ was a reminder that there is a gap in understanding how refugees make their decisions along their journeys as refugee movements of the mid-2010s defied the conventional expectations, in both legal and theoretical realms, for refugee behavior. To fill these gaps, this study explores refugee decision-making by investigating refugees’ own stories. The primary question driving this study is how do refugees make their decisions? And why do different refugees make different decisions within seemingly similar situations? Building on legal, historical, and theoretical accounts of refugee behavior, this study proposes a new theoretical framework, called Interactive Decision-making Model. This model is composed of three main components: spectrum of coercion, spectrum of time, and decision-making environment. Through interactions with these components, refugees make their decisions along their journeys. Utilizing a qualitative narrative analysis approach, this study develops and explores the viability of this model. Through interviews with forty-four refugees from Iran and Syria, it demonstrates how coercion, time, and decision-making environment inform refugees’ decisions throughout their journeys. The findings of these interviews highlight the diversity of refugees’ experiences and behaviors. They also call for more inclusive protection policies that are reflective of refugees’ experiences and decision-making processes.
The internet in China : a new arena for government individual interaction
(2002) Zhang, Rong
China has fallen in love with the Internet. The Internet not only promotes the new information economy, but also fosters Chinese political reform. The fact that millions of Chinese netizens have already access to the wealth of information challenges the traditional model of the governance, which was dominated by a centralized and propagandized approach to governance. The Chinese government is simultaneously promoting the development of the Internet and constructing a strict censorship and license system to limit network content and use. Internet technology will continue to evolve and will have an increasingly profound impact on Chinese society. But it is not likely that the technology will transform China into a Western-type liberal democracy even in the long run. A more probably outcome is that a modern Internet will have strong Chinese characteristics, and diverge from the capitalist-oriented model of the advanced industrial countries in significant ways.
The concept of security and Canadian defence policy
(1991) Young, Jennifer Mary
Conventionally the concept of security has been defined as the ability of autonomous states to protect all national interests by whatever means considered necessary. Sovereign states were seen to have the right to protect their territory and citizens from internal instability and especially external threats. This conception has been viewed as increasingly problematic. Many have argued, for example, that the traditional conception of security does not take into account the increasing permeability of states economically, environmentally, technologically and culturally. Consequently, unless a revised concept of security has been developed it is difficult to conceive of policies that might generate more effective forms of global stability. This analysis is less concerned with developing a new or revised concept of security, than with an analysis of the limits of the present conceptualization. The approach taken in this thesis involves an examination and use of the concept of security, through a form of discourse analysis in both an official state policy position paper (the 1987 Canadian White Paper on Defence Policy) and in a theoretically sophisticated reappraisal of the concept of security by Barry Buzan in People, States, and Fear; The National Security Problem in International Relations. In order to situate these two works, the thesis begins with a broad assessment of contemporary theories of international relations and their assessment of the concept of security. The thesis then goes on to analyze, compare, and contrast the four Canadian government White Papers on Defence Policy issued since the end of the Second World War, exploring how the 1987 paper fits into the overall policy direction of the successive Canadian governments. In each of these White Papers, the concept of security has been presented in the conventional sense of protection of sovereignty, territorial integrity, participation in collective security arrangements (NATO and NORAD), prevention of internal strife, and participation in global peacekeeping. This thesis shows the limitations of the discourse used by both the White Paper and by Buzan and how this has the effect of marginalizing positions that are critical of the security. Building on assumptions that are taken for granted, but which express an understanding of political life that is arguably inconsistent with contemporary realities, these texts simply reproduce the problems they seek to resolve.
Examining EMU : neoliberal hegemony and the future of the 'Social Market Europe'
(2002) Wylie, Lloy Amber Christine
This thesis examines whether European integration will uphold or undermine the model of 'Social Market Europe'. Regional integration, combined with changes in the international economy and ideological shifts regarding appropriate social and economic policy, have substantially redefined the character of Europe. This thesis examines a wide range of literature that addresses economic transformation and the development of neoliberal hegemony over the past three decades. The material addressed throughout the thesis points to the conclusion that developments in European integration have weakened the social market model identified as a key feature of continental Europe. Rather than institutionalising the social market model on the supranational level, European integration, and EMU in particular, provides the obligation and legitimacy for the reduction of the redistributive aspects of the social market at the national level. Neither the political will nor popular pressure is there to effectively defend, let alone extend 'social market Europe'.
Ideas in international political economy : the liberalization of trade in services
(1997) Williams, Russell Alan
This thesis contends that in the process by which the liberalization of trade in services became institutionalized in the Final Text of the General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS), analysis must include consideration of the role of internationally-disseminated ideas. Currently, structural approaches which reduce all consideration to actors' functionally determined material interests dominate the study of international trade agreements. Such approaches, which assume that rising support for trade liberalization is a simple consequence of the globalization of actors' interests, cannot explain the movement towards the GATS due to the overall low level of globalization in the service economy. As such, the author proposes to test the utility of Transnational Historical Materialism and the epistemic communities approaches, which both include consideration of the causality of ideas, as guides to the trade in services story. While the evidence suggests the importance of internationally-disseminated ideas in this process and the unworkability of narrowly-structuralist theories, conclusions as to the usefulness of the two ideational approaches is necessarily more tentative. While the epistemic communities approach is hampered by its failure to theorize the contestable and normative nature of ideas, the approach does provide several useful concepts. Transnational Historical Materialism is hampered by its generality as a theorization of international political economy, however, its emphasis on international class formation and the role of ideas in that formation do provide important insights into the trade in services story.
The Victoria Eaton Centre and the discursive construction of local politics
(1992) Williams, Judith-Anne
The framing of Greenpeace in the mass media
(1992) Widdowson, Frances
David Harvey : space, limits and the politics of movement
(1998) Whitehall, Geoffrey Alexander Wallace
There is a trend towards thinking about movement in contemporary social and political thought. However not all movement is the same. I focus on one dominant attempt to think about movement of which David Harvey's dialectic and his relational metaphysics are exemplary. I argue that although Harvey is attentive to movement, his politics remain caught within a spatial discourse that he claims to avoid. This discourse is based on an Euclidian, Newtonian and Kantian conception of absolute space and spans the work of Kant, Hegel and Marx. As such, I argue that this discourse has grave implications for David Harvey's project in particular and progressive politics in general. Specifically, the discourse condemns any attempt to think about movement and change within an eternally recurring infinite form. Change and movement are only possible within this form since the latter acts as their condition of possibility. Therefore, Harvey is caught within this discourse and thus working at odds with the revolutionary goals of his project.
The lobbyist in British Columbia in 1978
(1980) Vance, Kenneth C.
This thesis examines the place of the designated lobbyist in British Columbia's political system, within the context of a communication framework. It examines his role from the perspectives of the lobbyist, the interest group on whose behalf he is employed, and the government. Initially, it reviews the relevant literature concerning these lobbyists - as they are found elsewhere in Canada and the United States. Out of this survey of the literature emerges an underlying hypothesis which is explored throughout the thesis. This is to the effect that the lobbyist in British Columbia can be expected to act primarily as a communication link - as do his counterparts elsewhere, notwithstanding the differences between this province's political system and others on this continent. The conclusion which emerges from this study is that the lobbyist in British Columbia does act as a communication link as suggested in the hypothesis. Furthermore, a second hypothesis, which is implicit throughout the thesis, suggests that there are constraints on the lobbyist's role in British Columbia which contribute to and shape the lobbyist's behaviour as a communication facilitator. The dissertation examines the impact of the interest groups concerned - their objectives, their size, and their resources - on the role of the lobbyist. In addition, it explores the effect of the political and institutional environment in British Columbia on the lobbyist's role. More precisely the thesis examines the effect of the parliamentary structure of government and the associated policy-making process on the performance of the lobbyist in this province in the calendar year 1978. Overall, the lobbyist in British Columbia emerges from this study as a communication facilitator binding key personnel in interest groups with those in the legislative and executive branches of government. The designated lobbyists in British Columbia, though few in number, in performing this function have served to strengthen our democratic system by ensuring greater input into and a better understanding of the policy-making process.
National ideology : rhetoric or reality? : An examination of the third United Nations Conference on the Law of the Sea
(1986) Verwolf, Dinah Corrie
This thesis examines whether or not there is a significant correspondence between the ideological principles adhered to by a nation and its subsequent behavior in issues of international significance. The thesis further attempts to determine if there i s a greater correspondence between ideology and behavior among some nations or blocks of nations, as opposed to others. To limit the scope of the study, five states were selected as representative of the ideologically-distinctive Western Bloc and Eastern Bloc. Chosen to be representative of the Western Bloc were the United States, Canada and Britain. The nations selected to represent the Eastern Bloc were the USSR and Cuba. The Third United Nations Conference on the Law of the Sea, which took place between 1973 and 1982, was selected as the data base for this study for the following reasons: The Law of the Sea Conference involved many issues of ideological as well as practical significance which are of some, if not major, importance to every nation in the world: Discussions over these issues (of which four were used for this study) continued for eight years and made it possible to distinguish consistent behavioral patterns from singular responses. Chapter One outlines the objectives of the thesis and defines the use of ideology as the medium for studying national behavior. Chapters Two and Three outline the key ideological principles of the Eastern Bloc and the Western Bloc respectively. These principles were used as the basis for determining what response would be expected by each nation towards each issue, if ideological disposition played a distinguishable role in shaping national behavior. The four Law of the Sea issues selected for this study are detailed in Chapter Four and include: a) the establishment of the International Seabed Authority ; b) the establishment and funding of the Enterprise as a supranational seabed mining company; c) the right of the Enterprise/ISA to demand and receive all technological and military information related to the oceans, from all nations; and d) the obligation of all nations/ companies involved in seabed mining to share resulting revenue. Chapters Five and Six detail what responses were expected from each Bloc if ideology were a significant behavioral determinant and then examines the actual position of each nation toward each issue. The primary source for each state's position are the official records of UNCLOS III. Chapter Seven summarizes the findings, compares the expectations with the responses and postulates various conclusions which can be drawn given the results of the comparison.
Canadian immigration policy : a critique of intent and practices
(1996) Versaevel, Jaqueline Nancy Dawn
Immigration policy is an area of government decision-making where the beliefs and assumptions are unclear and, often entirely deceptive. Every Canadian federal government since 1967 has claimed to remove racial discrimination and to balance the opposing goals of global responsibility and national self-interest. Since conflicts in immigration policy are great, one must question the motives behind these goals. The Immigration Act of 1993 represents a range of beliefs that include a priority on immigrants' wealth rather than social contribution, differentiation between immigrants and citizens' rights, and allows immigration officials and the federal Minister much broader discretionary powers than in previous legislation. This thesis argues that the implicit agenda undermining all efforts to reform this system can be understood through a critique of the prevalence of xenophobia or "otherness" in the policy-making process. Because these beliefs and norms have not been explicitly addressed, discrimination and arbitrariness have continued. In this study, historical research and textual analysis provide a broad examination of the underlying beliefs, and how issues have changed or remained the same over time. Efforts to improve legislation, regulations, research information, and consultation cannot overcome the established societal norms which place a greater priority on deterring immigration than on enhancing it.
Millennium federalism
(2002) Vaive, Justin Robert
In 1998, the federal Liberal Government ushered in the post-deficit era with the first balanced budget in a generation. With good prospects for continued surpluses for the foreseeable future, it is important to determine if the federal government will launch a campaign to intercede in exclusive provincial jurisdictions. The institutions of federalism, and its renewed spending power suggest it will. In hoped by provinces that the 1999 Social Union Framework Agreement (SUF A) would limit the federal government's ability to unilaterally use its spending power, however, SUFA preserved the spending power's legitimacy with only cosmetic restrictions. The establishment of the Millennium Scholarship Foundation serves as a template of how the federal government will uses its spending power to influence policy fields in exclusive provincial jurisdictions. It becomes evident that the federal government is not shy to use its spending power unilaterally by bypassing provinces, and establishing organizations and foundations administer new federal initiatives. This provides the federal government with maximum visibility, with a limited and short-term financial commitment.
Death of providence/dance of the liminal : Mabo and the politics of postcolonial identities
(1996) Twigg, Peter John
This thesis develops a reading of the politics of postcolonial identities that emerged in Australia between the Bicentennary celebrations in 1988 and the Native Title Act of 1993. It suggests that contemporary identity politics in Australia can be understood as an expression of dilemmas associated with the subjectivities of modernity. It argues that conflicts have arisen when Aboriginal communities and organizations represent themselves on a continuum of aboriginality formalised by the Native Title Act, and that Friedrich Nietzsche's analysis of the 'Death of God' offers a powerful account of the problem of modern subjectivities, an account that has been taken up by a broad range of contemporary postcolonial scholars. Drawing from these scholars, the thesis provides a critical reading of the Native Title Act as a modernist project, and, on this basis, offers suggestions about how remote aboriginal communities can respond to a politics framed through a modernist reification of cultural identities.
At the CORE of consensus : the Vancouver Island and East Kootenay land use processes
(1996) Turley, Dominic
This thesis analyzes and compares regional land use processes on Vancouver Island and the East Kootenays. Each process consisted of an unsuccessful consensus-based approach and a later successful government plan. The Vancouver Island Commission on Resources and Environment (CORE) process failed miserably. The major reason was the lack of a transition strategy to offset the significant economic losses of several bargaining sectors. In the end a land use plan for Vancouver Island was determined through a political process. The East Kootenay CORE process benefited from a significant transition strategy and minimal economic consequences, but still could not get agreement on the most contentious issues. As with Vancouver Island, the government used a political process to get agreement where CORE could not. The thesis concludes that the consensus approach attempted by CORE was based on literature that was overly optimistic, tautological and of limited utility in the reallocative land use planning that CORE was attempting. In a re-distributive setting, where one side's loss is another's gain, it is impossible to recast the dynamics into a situation where all sides gain. The government processes were better at taking this into account and were able to get successful deals using classical bargaining techniques.

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