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Political Science and Democratic Governance*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 November 2009

Peter Aucoin
Peter Aucoin
Affiliation:
Dalhousie University
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Abstract

This address examines the relationship of political science and democratic governance by considering changes in both the political world and the discipline in Canada since the 1960s. It argues that the developing dynamics in political life, as significant as they have been, have not fundamentally altered the essential features of democratic governance in Canada. It suggests that a number of factors account for the diminished capacity of the discipline, as a collective scholarly and teaching enterprise, to contribute to democratic political life. On the one hand is the relative paucity of institutional mechanisms in Canada to link political science to democratic governance; on the other is the discipline's own fragmentation that lessens its focus on questions central to democratic governance.

Résumé

Ce discours traite de la relation entre la science politique et la gouverne démocratique, à la lumière des changements qu'ont connu le monde politique et la discipline au Canada depuis les années soixante. On y allègue que la dynamique de la vie politique, aussi importante fût-elle, n'a pas modifié de façon importante les caractéristiques fondamentales de la gouverne démocratique au Canada. Un certain nombre de facteurs ont plutôt réduit l'appartenance de la discipline à la politique démocratique, vue comme entreprise de savoir et d'enseignement collectifs. Ce phénomène s'explique, d'une part, par la pénurie relative de mécanismes institutionnels au Canada susceptibles d'assurer le lien entre la science politique et la gouverne démocratique et, d'autre part, par le morcellement de la discipline, ce qui contribue à affaiblir sa position sur les questions déterminantes en matière de gouverne démocratique.

Type
Research Article
Information
Canadian Journal of Political Science/Revue canadienne de science politique , Volume 29 , Issue 4 , December 1996 , pp. 643 - 660
Copyright
Copyright © Canadian Political Science Association (l'Association canadienne de science politique) and/et la Société québécoise de science politique 1996

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