Lost on Division: Party Unity in the Canadian Parliament (Political Development: Comparative Perspectives) - Softcover

Godbout, Jean-François

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1487524757 ISBN 13: 9781487524753

Publisher: University of Toronto Press, 2020

Synopsis

Compared to other countries, Canada’s Parliament shows a high level of party unity when it comes to legislative voting. This was not always the case, however. One hundred years ago, this sort of party discipline was not as evident, leading scholars to wonder what explains the growing influence of political parties in the Canadian Parliament.

In Lost on Division, Jean-François Godbout analyses more than two million individual votes recorded in the House of Commons and the Senate since Confederation, demonstrating that the increase in partisanship is linked to changes in the content of the legislative agenda, itself a product of more restrictive parliamentary rules instituted after 1900. These rules reduced the independence of private members, polarized voting along partisan lines, and undermined Parliament’s ability to represent distinct regional interests, resulting in – among other things – the rise of third parties.

Bridging the scholarship on party politics, legislatures, and elections, Lost on Division builds a powerful case for bringing institutions back into our understanding of how party systems change. It represents a significant contribution to legislative studies, the political development literature, and the comparative study of parliaments.

About this title

About the Author

Jean-François Godbout is a professor in the Department of Political Science at the Université de Montréal.

Edition details

• Publisher: University of Toronto Press
• Publication date: 2020
• ISBN 10: 1487524757
• ISBN 13: 9781487524753
• Binding: Paperback
• Language: English
• Number of pages: 277