To illuminate the debate about the traditional role of the state in Quebec, the article suggests Quebec's traditional political culture prior to the Quiet Revolution was shaped by the “dialectic of patronage.” Economic need encouraged Québécois to exploit the political process for advancement. The resulting preoccupation of the political process with patronage prompted two contradictory impulses—devotion to, yet suspicion of, the political process—and efforts to insulate “government” from “politics.” This perspective helps to reveal the thematic and chronological continuities in Quebec history, to illuminate the Quiet Revolution, and to evaluate competing theories of Quebec's social evolution.

This article is a critique of C. B. Macpherson's interpretation of Hobbes's Leviathan. In reading possessive individualism into Hobbes's work, Macpherson assumes two basic theses: a logical claim, that a specific model of society is required to derive a universal opposition among men's powers; and a textual claim, that this universal opposition is implied by Hobbes as an unstated postulate in chapters 10–11 of Leviathan. These basic claims are both unfounded. Logically, the postulated universal opposition of powers does not require Macpherson's model of society for its derivation. Indeed, on premisses preferred by Macpherson, the two are logically inconsistent. Textually, the postulated universal opposition of powers does not occur in Leviathan: a careful sifting of the text indicates that there is no direct evidence at all for this postulate. Notwithstanding the brilliance of possessive individualism as a contribution to modern political understanding, this theory cannot properly be ascribed to Hobbes.

A great power in a dispute with a minor state does not require the weight which a coalition with a peer would provide, and may require peer toleration in order to throw its own weight around. An alliance with the rival is a prudent step fora predatory great power. This article examines nondefense alliances among the European great powers and activist wars with minor states during 1815–1939. Weak commitments favour activist war and strong ones induce such warfare. The strength of the commitment varies with the geopolitical location of the target.

Although more and more common, the equality measures in employment have little effect on the structure of double-standard employment (the one, masculine: the other, feminine). After having dealt with the development of the job structure in Canada, this article initiates a reflection on the inherent limitations of catch-up measures, in suggesting that the sexual segregation of jobs is a sociocultural construct recreated, at least in part, at the administrative level. Even if the present measures to achieve equality remain inoperative they are nonetheless useful, especially in the context of the present economic crisis.

The origins of judicial review in this country have been the subject of debate among legal scholars. This article examines the conflicting accounts provided by W. R. Lederman and B. L. Strayer, and attempts to assess them in the light of the Confederation debate, 1864–1867, and the debate surrounding passage of the Supreme Court Act in 1875. It arrives at these considerations: that the intentions of the founders are of greater significance than has hitherto been suggested; that both the founders themselves and the legislators in 1875 held conflicting expectations on the role of the Supreme Court in constitutional matters; and that this conflict has left its mark on the court. The article concludes that reflection on the origins of judicial review ought to temper the enthusiasm with which many Canadians have greeted the advent of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

This note considers the possibility that the format of the interview schedules in the 1965 and 1968 national election surveys may have influenced respondents' ratings of the major political parties on the seven-point left-wing/right-wing scale. It argues that the use of 12 additional scales, defined by more widely understood adjectives such as good/bad and powerful/weak, reduced the willingness of respondents to admit their ignorance and increased their use of the midpoint on this scale. The instructions in 1968 also urged respondents to use the scales even if they were unsure of their meanings. Some idea of the magnitude of these effects is provided by the 1979 survey in which only the left/right scale was employed. Eliminating these artifacts in 1979 contributed to a picture of a party system that was more clearly differentiated and polarized along the left/right continuum.