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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?

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Region and Regionalism

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  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

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