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Texte remanié de: Diss.--Mannheim--Universität, 1991.

Relatively few inquiries have been made into the section-ally-derived characteristics of Canadian political parties. The British Columbia Progressive Conservative Party had been exhibiting signs of stress between factions interested in attaining national power and those interested in provincial government objectives. The inquiry, which relied chiefly upon personal interviews and accounts in periodicals, examined the beginnings of partisanship in B.C. provincial politics. Party groups were organized along provincial lines and, when working toward electing federal representatives, they did so wholly under the provincial leader's control. Until the second world war the national party was a confederation of provincial parties loosely linked across the top. As an important force in B.C. the Conservatives died during the early thirties. When national leaders attempted reconstruction, they found provincial Conservatives in a coalition government dominated by the Liberal Party. Even after the second world war ended, the provincial leader refused to break with the Liberals and clung to sole control of a moribund provincial association. Attempts to revivify the association failed and personality clashes between the provincial leader and the national leader's personal representative brought into the open a bitter quarrel between the provincial and federal wings. A new federal party structure institutionalized the division of interests and labour between federal and provincial spheres. Acceptance of the changed structure came with the provincial group's realization of the extent of the damage done by the quarrel. Two groups promote Conservative interests in B.C., the Federal Council and the B.C. Progressive Conservative Association. The Council is the national association's chief agent in B.C. for federal matters although the association is also recognized. The latter group, which is left free to pursue provincial objectives, nominally claims but does not exercise authority in federal work. The leader of each group is not a member of the other group. The provincial leader enjoys much independence, accepts the division and seeks to heal', the rupture. Important power was not vested in the national leader's personal representatives although they performed important services. A survey indicates more co-operation existing at the grass roots level of federal and provincial wings than the leadership quarrels might suggest. Public policy issues have not divided party members, largely because ideology is not too important in the party and because there have been few periods when the party held office simultaneously at Ottawa and Victoria. National Conservative election victories eased financial difficulties for both groups and promoted reconciliation. Federalism in government and the diversity of Canada's major regions decided the organizational character of the Conservative party until about the second world war. Extra-parliamentary political associations were slow to develop. The growth of important inter-sectional interests and of feelings of nationhood was accelerated by urbanization, economic depression, war, technological advances and sociological evolution. The political party that used a Confederation framework was becoming obsolete. New forms of organization were needed that recognized the sociological changes and were equipped to handle techniques of influencing voters in the mass. Coalition government made the changes even more necessary in British Columbia and, perhaps, facilitated their realization in some ways. The B.C. Conservative organization appears to be evolving toward a new type of structure that reflects the crumbling of strong sectional feeling. Many problems remain to be examined, especially those involved in the inter-relationships of the various types of elected persons within the federally-organized political party. / Arts, Faculty of / Political Science, Department of / Graduate

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Thesis (M.A.)--University of Nebraska.

In the postwar era, there has been a change in the nature of the British Conservative Party caused by the adoption of classical liberal ideas antithetical to its principles. This trend rapidly accelerated during the leadership of the Party by Margaret Thatcher who appeared oblivious to the fundamental incompatibility of liberalism and conservatism. She attempted to weld them together in her economic and social policies creating strong internal tensions within what was dubbed "Thatcherism". This clash became more pronounced as her reign as British Prime Minister continued and was part of the reason for her eventual downfall at the hands of her own party. To illustrate the conversion of the Conservative Party to a more liberal standpoint we will consider two modern day political thinkers and the popularity of their positions. This approach is taken because their philosphies parallel the thinking of the postwar Conservative Party before Thatcher and under Thatcher's leadership. Michael Oakeshott, who fits into the conservative tradition and Friedrich Hayek, who embodies liberalism. Oakeshott's philosophy is in sharp contrast at important points to the ideas of Hayek, a self-confessed and proud liberal, whose ideas nevertheless found favour within the Conservative Party while many integral parts of conservatism, of which Oakeshott is a representative, were pushed aside. The stridency and harshness with which Thatcher preached the doctrine of economic liberalism and ideology and also tried to retain certain conservative ideals such as, authority, nationalism and militarism constituted a serious and damaging tension within her programme as well as demonstrating the depth of the change that had occurred in the Conservative Party. This thesis seeks to point out these changes and illustrate the adverse effects caused by attempting to turn the Conservative Party into a promoter of classical liberal ideology and thereby partially explain the increasing shakiness of Thatcherism in the 1980's. Even though its leader never lost faith in its convictions or her determination to translate them into concrete policies . / Arts, Faculty of / Political Science, Department of / Graduate

In 1928 the Conservative Party of British Columbia won an impressive electoral victory, taking 35 of the 48 seats in the legislature. The victory was a comeback for Conservatives since after forming consecutive governments during the years 1903-1916, they remained in opposition from 1916-1928. The comeback, however, was not to be permanent. Five years later, in the 1933 election, the Conservative Party met disaster. Not a single candidate running with the Conservative label was elected. Although their fortunes improved in the 1937 and 1941 elections, Conservatives would not again form a government on their own in British Columbia. Throughout the 1940s they shared power in a coalition government, but in so doing the forces were set in motion which culminated in the party's collapse in the early 1950s. The party suffered a massive defeat in the 1953 election, an event which marked the end of the Conservative Party as a serious contender in the province's electoral politics since Conservatives have been unable to make a showing in provincial elections in the 21 years since. What happened to the provincial Conservatives is the question addressed in this study. How did a party which has enjoyed a history of success in both the province's federal and provincial arenas lose, almost entirely, its support base in the early 1950s? The general approach of this study is historical-interpretative. An account and interpretation of the Conservatives' fate is given through a detailed analysis of the party's internal politics. The focus is on politicians (party leaders) and their efforts to build and maintain a party clientele, their definition of goals and the strategies devised to attain them. The major theme which emerges is that the party's ultimate failure to survive as a contender in provincial politics is inextricably bound up with the internal fractionalization that continued to plague it. This study begins by examining the period when the Conservative Party was one of two major parties in British Columbia. The background of this early period is important in understanding the principal actors and political conflicts which set the context for later events. The main body of the study examines the personalities and conflicts in the party during the years 1933-1954. The years of coalition government (1941-1952) are singled out for special treatment because the chain of events precipitated by the coalition ultimately led to the party's disintegration and collapse. / Arts, Faculty of / Political Science, Department of / Graduate

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