scholarly journals The Turmoil Surrounding the Prorogation of Canada’s 40th Parliament & the Crown

2011 ◽  
Vol 18 (1, 2 & 3) ◽  
pp. 2009
Author(s):  
Kenneth Munro

The prorogation of the first session of Can- ada’s fortieth Parliament awakened Canadians to the intricacies of their political system and it brought the Canadian Crown to the fore of our history once more. Acceding to her Prime Min- ister’s advice on that cold, dreary, snow-covered morning of 4 December 2008, the Governor General, Michaëlle Jean, sparked the interest of Canadians in their monarchical institutions. A docile and politically bored population refused in large numbers to cast their ballots in a general election in October. Less than two months later, the prorogation of the first session of their new Parliament sparked a new-fired enthusiasm for politics, and throughout the country Canadians became constitutional experts overnight. They voiced their opinions on talk shows, at work and at leisure, in bars and over formal dinners, sud- denly manifesting astonishing skill at discuss- ing the strengths and weaknesses of their sys- tem of government with particular emphasis on the Maple Crown. Many based their opinions about the Crown on whether or not they liked the Prime Minister. Only a handful focused on the essential issue of the prorogation: was Prime Minister Stephen Harper abusing the preroga- tive and reserve powers of the Crown for parti- san political advantage? This issue was raised by David Smith over a decade ago in his book The Invisible Crown1 and it remains an unresolved question for constitutional observers today.

Significance Seven months after a general election, the country remains without a government amid a dispute between Hezbollah, a Shia group, and the Sunni Prime Minister-designate Saad al-Hariri. Yet the government formation crisis is not only a product of Sunni-Shia tensions in the region; it stems equally from deep schisms in the Christian community. Impacts Continued confrontation will keep Christians divided and weak in the political system. If Aoun is incapacitated, the interim government would disagree over the process to replace him, triggering a much deeper governing crisis. If Washington implements a full range of sanctions against Hezbollah-linked activities, the financial system would threaten to collapse.


1993 ◽  
Vol 36 (1) ◽  
pp. 161-178 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jeremy Smith

ABSTRACTThe article attempts to show that Bonar Law had an effective and coherent strategy towards home rule. Previous interpretations have stressed his weakness and inexperience, either his ‘pandering’ to the extremists in the Tory party or his readiness to seek a compromise, when civil war began to loom large, in the autumn of 1913. Much of the blame for the political stalemate from 1912 until 1914 is directly, or implicitly, laid upon Bonar Law. Yet the tory leader was a more consummate politician. He sought to use the home rule crisis not only to reinforce his own fragile leadership but to return the Conservatives to office. This he proposed to do by allowing the political system to reach an impasse over home rule, by not helping the Liberals reach a compromise and yet inciting Ulster to resist the bill on its implementation. This left Asquith, the Liberal prime minister, with the impossible choice of imposing the bill onto Ulster (so provoking civil war) or of holding a general election when his government was perceived as unpopular. Bonar Law counted on Asquith preferring to hold an election though Asquith was saved from such a decision by the outbreak of war. It was, then, a ‘high-risk’ strategy to win office for the party he led.


Author(s):  
Nguyen Van Dung ◽  
Giang Khac Binh

As developing programs is the core in fostering knowledge on ethnic work for cadres and civil servants under Decision No. 402/QD-TTg dated 14/3/2016 of the Prime Minister, it is urgent to build training program on ethnic minority affairs for 04 target groups in the political system from central to local by 2020 with a vision to 2030. The article highlighted basic issues of practical basis to design training program of ethnic minority affairs in the past years; suggested solutions to build the training programs in integration and globalization period.


1972 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 287-291
Author(s):  
James Lightbody

Modestly impressive by its lack of mention both in a recent examination of the political leadership of the prime minister and the more traditional texts of the Canadian political process, is serious notice of environmental limitations on the prime ministerial prerogative in dissolving the Legislative Assembly and announcing a general election.


1996 ◽  
Vol 31 (4) ◽  
pp. 449-466 ◽  
Author(s):  
David Capitanchik

The Israeli General Election of 1996 Has Been Described as a ‘referendum’ on the Middle East peace process, the central issue in the campaign. However, important as it was, the outcome of the election was determined not so much by the issue of peace, as by a change in the electoral law providing for the direct election of the prime minister. On 29 May, for the first time, Israelis went to the polls to elect a prime minister as well as a new Knesset and the result was yet another upheaval in Israeli political life.


2017 ◽  
Vol 13 (3) ◽  
pp. 325-340 ◽  
Author(s):  
Laura Sjoberg

This article argues anarchy is undertheorized in International Relations, and that the undertheorization of the concept of anarchy in International Relations is rooted in Waltz’s original discussion of the concept as equal to the invisibility of structure, where the lack of exogenous authority is not just a feature of the international political system but the salient feature. This article recognizes the international system as anarchical but looks to theorize its contours—to see the invisible structures that are overlaid within international anarchy, and then to consider what those structures mean for theorizing anarchy itself. It uses as an example the various (invisible) ways that gender orders global political relations to suggest that anarchy in the international arena is a place of multiple orders rather than of disorder. It therefore begins by theorizing anarchy with orders in global politics, rather than anarchy as necessarily substantively lacking orders. It then argues that gender orders global politics in various ways. It concludes with a framework for theorizing order within anarchy in global politics.


2020 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
pp. h33-38
Author(s):  
SHAUQAT ADAM SHAMSUL JIHAR

New history is created in Malaysia. After over six decades of Federal rule, the Barisan Nasional (BN) government has been replaced by a coalition of opposition parties, the Pakatan Harapan (PH) in the most recent general election. PH also managed to form several state governments traditionally held by BN in Peninsular Malaysia. This study aims to seek the perception of the Malays in West Malaysia in accepting the return of Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad into power. It focuses on the so-called political comeback of Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad – the first leader to be appointed Prime Minister twice considering this rarely happens in Malaysia. This study was conducted in West Malaysia involving eighty-eight respondents using the 5-point Likert-scale survey questionnaire. Respondents were given an option to answer the questionnaire in Bahasa Malaysia or English. The general result showed that perception towards political issues in Malaysia, especially with regard to Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad’s comeback drew mixed reactions. On the same note, it showed that people could have lost their hopes and direction of Malaysian politics.


2021 ◽  
Vol 7 (13) ◽  
pp. 415-449
Author(s):  
Vecih Cüzdan ◽  
Nazlı Koca

The Lebanese lands, which hosted many different ethnic and religious identities under the Ottoman Empire's rule, could not bring together the plural and distinctive differences within it on common ground. The most crucial factor for the lack of common ground is the Mutasarrifate system established with the interference of France and other European states under the Ottoman rule in the country. The Mutasarrifate system's institutionalization and the building of administrative changes on this system in Lebanon's historical breaking moments brought the fragmented structure to the present day. As a result, this political system based on ethnic and religious differences prevented a Lebanese state citizen identity based on common rights and responsibilities. In the continuation and afterward of the demonstrations that started right after the assassination of former Prime Minister Rafiq Hariri in Lebanon in 2005, a broad social consensus ground could not be established. Considered as the reflection of color revolutions in the Middle East, the Cedar Revolution could not produce more democratic and inclusive results as claimed.


Author(s):  
John S. Dryzek

Both paradigms and discourses are a type of inter-subjective understanding that condition individual action, and social outcomes, in the international system no less than elsewhere. They have no formal existence resembling that of organisations, constitutions, laws, and treaties. Yet paradigms and discourses can be none the less effective in coordinating the behaviour of large numbers of actors, and this is especially true in a political system as de-centralised as the international one, where formal sources of order are weak. It is impossible to understand international environmental law without getting to grips with the informal understandings that condition its creation and operation. This article explores basic concepts about paradigms and discourse, the transition from industrialism to environmentalism, and major environmental discourses including survivalism and its Promethean opposite, problem-solving discourses, sustainability, and green radicalism.


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