<p>Karl Marx's political and social theory has its awn distinct and special account of the position of women and the family in pre-bourgeois and bourgeois society. It also has a special conception of human nature in terms of the nature of men and women in bourgeois society. There are partial statements on women and the family in many of the early writings of Marx. These statements, although they do not provide a full analysis, provide a framework for an early Marxist theory of the position of women and the family in bourgeois society. There presently exists no one source that has attempted to bring together for analysis and discussion all the collected statements on women and the family that were presented in Marx's early writings. This thesis is the first scholarly work to do so. There are twenty-seven distinct references to women and the family that appear in eight of Marx's works written between 1840 and 1850. For Marx, the position of women in society was at least partially determined by their place in the family unit which usually consisted of the husband, the wife, and the children and which was based upon relationships of private property. When Marx's early writings on women and the family are viewed together, they provide an historical and theoretical account of the position of women in pre-bourgeois and bourgeois society in terms of what constitutes such a position, what causes such a position, and how such a position can be improved.</p> / Master of Arts (MA)

<p>The prevalent conception of the British and Canadian parliamentary systems is one of executive-centred, party government control of the legislative process. This conception assumes that first, the governing executive will be drawn from that political party which controls the majority of seats in the House of Commons, and thus can withstand a vote of confidence in the House of Commons; and second that the prime minister and cabinet dominate the formal, parliamentary portions of the legislative process. "[The prime minister and cabinet] have a virtual monopoly of the relevant information, access to outside interests, the capacity to manipulate caucus, and control over the legislative agenda". Furthermore, using data drawn from analyses of the success rate of government bills within broad time-frames (i.e. the success of government bills post-1945), academic studies have confirmed this conception of parliament noting that the governing party is able to pass successfully: between 70 and 90 percent of its legislative package.</p> <p>This thesis examines the dominant conception of parliament, as' it applies to Canada. In order to achieve this, the thesis moves through an exploration of how the dominant conception is postulated and. used by those political scientists who study parliament. From this a deductive and testable model of party government is developed. Next, the thesis empirically and systematically tests the hypotheses of the party government model in two majority Canadian parliaments --the 30th Parliament of prime minister Trudeau, and the 34th Parliament led by prime minister Mulroney.</p> <p>The findings of the empirical tests are revealing. First we find that when policy saliency is tested for mandates, throne speeches and legislative packages it appears that governments do in fact attempt to implement their electoral platforms. In fact, there is a large degree of similarity in the emphasis given to salient policy domains by the respective governing parties when tested at all three points in time. Second, the legislative process for government bills in the two parliaments are examined. Here we note that the legislation for the 30th and 34th Parliaments demonstrates high success rates, and similar patterns of processing. These results suggest, among other things, that we should not underestimate the institutional constraints acting on governments in their attempt to pass their legislation.</p> <p>The final two chapters further examine the institutional constraints acting upon government legislation. In particular, the role of the opposition parties ill effectively amending and opposing government bills, and their ability to draw-out the sitting time required for the passage of government bills are examined. It is in these two chapters that we find that the two governments do face active opposition parties, but that these opposition parties do not affect the governments' ability to pass their legislative packages intact and free from opposition sponsored amendments. Furthermore, while the opposition do actively sponsor amendments and division votes in the House of Commons, this activity is not consistently applied to all legislation. On the contrary, the opposition parties demonstrate a degree of selectivity when choosing which government bills to oppose. And on those bills where scrutiny is constant we find that the amount of time governments need to! pass their legislation is increased significantly.</p> <p>Overall, the party government model does operate in the 30th and 34th parliaments. Moreover, the evidence suggests that the power differential of parliament is executive-centred as the governing party successfully implements over ninety percent of its legislative package. However, the data do not suggest that governments are omnipotent, rendering opposition futile. Rather the thesis concurs with Ryle and Giffith when they suggest that, "governments must govern with the opposition in mind."</p> / Master of Arts (MA)

<p>In 1982, the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms was entrenched as a part of our Constitution. This thesis attempts to determine what effect the Charter will have on the practice of judicial review of administrative action and on the policy-making role of the Canadian judiciary. In so doing, I focus on the concept of due process of law. Prior to 1982, due process of law in Canada was enforced largely by the application of the principles of natural justice. With the passage of the Constitution Act, 1982, due process will also be enforced through the requirements of fundamental justice in s. 7 of the Charter. While "fundamental justice" in the Charter constitutionalizes the existing preconditions for applying the procedural rules of natural justice, it also empowers the courts to examine legislation or administrative action on the basis of non-procedural or substantive violations. This latter understanding of due process was uncharacteristic of the pre-1982 constitutional arrangement in Canada, and of the principles of natural justice.</p> / Master of Arts (MA)

<p>In 1973, the United Kingdom entered the European Community, joining the two other West European powers of France and West Germany in the organization. With the addition of Britain, a new nucleus developed within the EC. The traditional Franco-German alliance which was driving the Community, gave way to a triangular association which included the United Kingdom. However, the three countries have often found it difficult to coordinate their policies to advance European unity. Indeed, EC integration was characterized by "Eurosclerosis" for much of the 1970s and early 1980s since the three major member states were unwilling to abandon independent national policies in favour of Community programs. Nonetheless, in recent years the organization has made several noteworthy advancements towards integration as changing domestic and international environments required the three countries to reevaluate their strategies, including their views regarding Community policies. Thus, under this setting the core member states were willing to use Community solutions to problems plaguing their countries and proceeded to advance EC integration through the signing of the Single European Act and the Maastricht Treaty. This thesis advances the hypothesis that it is the triangular relationship which shapes the integration process. For European unity to occur, the agreement of France. Germany and Britain is required. Chapter One discusses the theoretical aspects of the triangular model. The strength of the bilateral ties are explored as are other factors which influence the model. Chapter Two provides the historical background material to the shaping of the association and examines the reasons behind the Eels years of stagnation. The movement towards increased EC integration, as demonstrated through the SEA is highlighted in Chapter Three, followed by a fourth chapter exploring the Maastricht Treaty. Finally, in the concluding chapter. the main points of the thesis are reviewed. In the end, the reader will recognize the validity of the triangular association and its importance to European integration.</p> / Master of Arts (MA)

<p>Subversion, the same as espionage, foreign influenced activities, and terrorism represents a unique threat to national security. It has been included within the security mandates of several western democracies such as Great Britain, Australia, New Zealand, and the united States. In Canada, subversion and the investigation of its activities have played a significant role in the history and development of the country's security and intelligence organizations. In 1984, the Canadian Security Intelligence Service Act became law, and paragraph 2(d) of the threat definitions section of the Act was intended to allow the Service to investigate subversive activities.</p> <p>The debate over subversion as a threat to Canadian national security began in 1987 with the findings and recommendations of the Security Intelligence Review Committee's 1986-1987 Annual Report which questioned the validity of the counter-subversion branch of CSIS. In 1990 the debate continued when the Five-Year Parliamentary Review Committee of the CSIS Act recommended to the Solicitor General of Canada that section 2(d) be repealed from the legislation. The Committee's decision was based primarily on the belief that the other threat definitions of the Act could adequately cover the subversive threat in Canada.</p> <p>Subversion is ideologically neutral and even though a particular organization may decrease in political significance the methodologies of subversion remain constant, and available to any movement on either the left or right of the political spectrum. Paragraph 2(d) therefore remains an integral part of CSIS' overall mandate and without it the Service would be incapable of advising the government as to the true extent of the subversive threat against the constitutionally established system of government.</p> / Master of Arts (MA)

<p>The liberal notion of freedom, that the individual has a right to pursue his own self-ascribed interests in his own way, is an intuitively appealing account of political freedom. On a theoretical level, however, this notion of freedom has traditionally been linked with justifications of capitalist market relations. These relations have themselves persistent+'Y been criticised by humanist theorists who have argued that they entail coercion and are "dehumanising". In their turn, humanist positions have consistently been criticised by liberals for opening up the possibility of coercion in the name of freedom. This raises the immediate question of whether liberals and humanists appeal to similar or substantially different notions of freedom in their arguments for and against capitalism.</p> <p>In addressing this question this thesis raises a number of important theoretical issues. Through an examination of Lockean liberalism it is argued that there is, in fact, no necessary link between the liberal notion of freedom and the justification of capitalist appropriation. Indeed, it is argued that this notion of freedom could be used as a foundation for arguing in support of and justifying other forms of appropriation. Via a consideration of Marx's critique of capitalism it is argued that the concept of freedom that can be drawn out from this can be understood to be compatible with the liberal concept. By considering Marcuse's critique of advanced industrial society it is argued that it is only under certain conditions that humanist positions tend to justify coercion in the name of freedom.</p> <p>Through a consideration of the compatibility between the liberal notion of freedom and that which is drawn out of Marx's critique of the capitalist mode of production, it is suggested that it would be possible to launch a critique of contemporary capitalism from the foundation provided by the liberal premise that the individual has a right to pursue his own self-ascribed interests in his own way. Finally, pointers are provided to the form that such a critique could take.</p> / Master of Arts (MA)

<p>This study examines the nature of internal decision making in the two major political parties in Canada as it relates to leadership selection. The thesis argues that, as essentially electoral-competitive (cadre-style) organizations, the Liberals and Conservatives do not rigidly adhere to democratic principles in the selection of their leaders. To support this contention, an examination of the representativeness, openness and the extent of membership control in the leadership selection process is undertaken in order to determine what factors facilitate and restrict intra-party democracy. The thesis also offers an analysis of motivational factors affecting delegate preference in order to test the validity of the winnability thesis, i.e., that the candidate perceived as the best vote-getter for the party is selected as leader regardless of his experience or loyalty to the party organization. In conclusion, it is argued that the Liberals and Conservatives, although primarily oriented towards electoral activity, should be understood as more than mere electoral machines unconcerned with internal democracy. Rather, the parties have displayed a steady, though as yet incomplete, movement towards a more open and democratic leadership selection process involving grassroots participation.</p> / Master of Arts (MA)

<p>This thesis explores how Scottish devolution has affected the representation of Scottish interests in the UK foreign policy process and in international affairs. The literature on non-central governments in foreign policy is used to indicate the specific motivations, methods and conditions which contribute to effective representation of NCGs' interests in external affairs. This is complemented by the literature on European integration which describes the most prominent international arena for Scottish international activity and the conditions conducive to NCG activity in it. The argument of the thesis is that the institutional arrangements for Scottish activity in the UK foreign policy and international affairs, while defining a clear role for Scotland, do not fulfill the conditions which the literature suggests will result in the effective representation of Scottish interests. This will be demonstrated through an exploration of the institutional arrangements for Scottish international activity - most clearly defined by the Memorandum of Understanding and supplementary agreements - and the likely impact of these arrangements on the conduct of Scottish representation in the UK foreign policy process and in international affairs.</p> / Master of Arts (MA)

<p>In the mid 1990s the Progressive Conservative Government of Ontario implemented a series of policies that transformed the institutional relationship between the Province and its municipal subordinates. Such policies were designed to create a system that would be more streamlined, rational, and most importantly, cost-effective. To achieve these goals, municipalities across Ontario were consolidated on the assumption that larger municipalities would have the capacity to operate in a more cost-effective manner. Quite perversely however, the opposite effect has been observed as the costs of municipal operations have increased. . Taking such factors into account, this thesis examines the rational surrounding these policy decisions. More specifically, it seeks to answer the following question in the context of organization theory: In light of the empirical evidence that demonstrates that the perceived benefits of municipal consolidation are difficult to attain, why did the Government of Ontario choose to amalgamate municipal governments in an attempt to create a more cost-effective system of municipal governance? I argue that there are two main factors that can account for this policy decision. First, relevant policymakers did not possess the necessary expertise to impose major legislative and structural changes. Secondly, by not sufficiently engaging experts at the municipal level, policymakers placed themselves in a significant knowledge deficit problem. By taking these factors into account, we can begin to understand why this policy decision was taken. It is hoped that this research will contribute to the academic debate on the municipal restructuring policies of the former Progressive Conservative Government of Ontario. Much of the academic literature that has preceded this research tends to take a non-analytical approach. As such, very few theoretical explanations have been offered in an attempt to demonstrate why such a policy was adopted. This research demonstrates the importance of placing policy decisions in an analytical framework.</p> / Master of Arts (MA)

<p>The 1968 Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, together with the International Atomic Energy Agency's safeguard system, stands at the center of international efforts to control the spread of nuclear weapons. The NPT, in particular, represents the culmination of a decade long debate on the question of non-dissemination. It seeks primarily to halt the spread of nuclear weapons to states not already possessing them, and at the same time, seeks to halt and reverse the existing arms race. Negotiated in the mid-1960's, it was largely a product of its time. More than two decades have elapsed since the NPT was open for signature, and the nuclear environment has changed profoundly.</p> <p>This study investigates the evolution of the NPT regime from the immediate aftermath of World War II, to the present. It is an attempt, above all, to recapture the historical negotiating context of the NPT in order to account for its provisions, and assess its current stability in light of a new and changing environment.</p> / Master of Arts (MA)