<p>The purpose of this thesis is two fold. First of all it demonstrates clearly and precisely exactly what Jurgen Habermas understands by a legitimation crisis and secondly it demonstrates how fundamentally this conception rests upon background assumptions which are not always made explicit. To this end the thesis delves into Habermas' understanding of advanced capitalism, his understanding of the concept of rational-legal legitimacy and finally it shows how the conclusions he reaches are fundamentally based upon his reconstruction of historical materialism and the notion of a colonization of the life-world that he ultimately derives from this reconstruction. In the end it will be demonstrated that a thorough understanding of the concept of legitimation crisis cannot be achieved without reference to Habermas' reconstruction project and in this regard he remains firmly in the Marxist tradition.</p> / Master of Arts (MA)

<p>This thesis explores three theories of the state's role in shaping civil consciousness, as they are presented in the writings of G.W.F. Hegel, Karl Marx, and V.I. Lenin. The immediate purpose of this study is to compare and contrast the essential features of these theories, and, in particular, to use this comparison as a means to better understanding the problematic relationship between Marx and Lenin.</p> <p>For Hegel, the state is not to be understood in the usual liberal fashion, simply as a coercive instrument, but, rather, as the objective standard of rationality in the world and the repository of what Hegel calls "ethical life". The state, as it is described in Hegel's <em>Philosophy of Right</em>, represents the abolition of the conflict between private life and the community which is typical of bourgeois society. This is accomplished, to Hegel's mind, by the intervention of the state's mediating structures.</p> <p>Against Hegel, Marx demonstrates in his "Critique of Hegel's Doctrine of the State" that it is not the ostensibly universal state which is the basis of civil society's rationality, but egoistic civil society which is the basis of the inherently irrational state. The purpose of the state, thought Marx, is not to engender universality in civil society but simply to represent the sectional interests of classes within civil society, and the interests of private property. For Marx, the reconciliation of the individual with the community occurs not under the tutelage of the state, but with the reabsorption of the state into civil society.</p> <p>Lenin's <em>State and Revolution</em> affirms Marx's belief in the contingency of the state upon class interests; however, its theory of socialist revolution also demonstrates Lenin's belief in the capacity of the state to alter civil consciousness. Thus, while being nominally Marxist, Lenin's theory of the revolutionary state contains elements more typical of Hegel. To the extent that Lenin's theory attributes capacities to the state which Marx rejected in his critique of Hegel, Marx's explicit critique of Hegel provides grounds for questioning Lenin's claim to the torch of Marxism.</p> / Master of Arts (MA)

<p>This thesis investigates the emerging political party system in Russia, from the beginnings of pluralism in 1986 through 1992. It does so in the context of the theoretical and methodological implications of the literature on transitions to democracy, and with reference to literature on political party systems. This thesis examines the beginnings of independent group activity, the groups' formation into movements and blocs and their participation in elections, and their evolution into proto-parties as the USSR collapsed and the Russian state gained independence and its own identity.</p> <p>The literature on transitions to democracy is agency-oriented, in that it places an emphasis on political parties in the transition process. While it is unclear at this point in time whether Russia is indeed undergoing a transition to democracy, proto-parties in Russia have played - and will continue to play - a key role in the transformation of Russia from Communism to post-Communism. The future shape and structure of the Russian multi-party system is, however, difficult to predict, because of the nascent and immature nature of the system in the time period this paper examines.</p> / Master of Arts (MA)

<p>Political theorists have identified envy to be of political concern. While it is generally agreed that certain forms of envy are socially disruptive, there is relatively little agreement as to the nature of this threat, and how to address it. This difference seems to stem from different understandings of the nature of the emotion itself. This thesis examines the place of envy within the context of Aristotle's political philosophy. Aristotle, it is argued, has an accurate understanding of the nature of envy and he offers a political arrangement that seems to successfully undermine the most socially dangerous forms of envy, without compromising the potential for social progress. Aristotle recognizes that envy arises when one is insecure or anxious with respect to their own self-worth. He presents a political arrangement that is designed to engender a more secure basis for individual self-worth, which is also feasible among those who lack this security.</p> / Master of Arts (MA)

<p>This thesis represents an attempt at a philosophical inquiry into the nature of political action and its place in liberal theory.</p> <p>I begin by considering whether action must be explained teleologically and whether non-purposive accounts of behaviour can be generally adequate. In finding that purposive behaviour fundamentally characterizes action, I question the assumption in liberal political theory, beginning with Hobbes, that mechanistic laws of behaviour can provide man with a science of politics.</p> <p>Hobbes , represents for me, the first stage in the revolt against teleological politics. I consider the important contributions that Immanuel Kant and finally John Rawls make to the liberalism of anti-telelogical politics.</p> <p>I then consider the liberal critique of Hobbes' portrait of man. This is represented by Jean-Jacques Rousseau. Rousseau's critique is undermined by his failure to reject market politics.</p> <p>Finally, I consider the market-model of society, which is seen to be the ultimate embodiment of mechanistic, anti-teleological politics.</p> / Master of Arts (MA)

<p>Bernstein scholarship has not clearly identified the philosophical intentions of the "arch-Revisionist", but has confined itself to noting general characteristics of his mode of thought and possible influences upon it, as well as situating it vaguely or negatively in terms of contemporary "schools." Justification for not proceeding further with analysis has been sought in the circumstances that Bernstein was self-taught, that he had an enormous range of intellectual contacts, that the Marxism of the Second International was incoherent, and that Marxism is, itself, a protean doctrine.</p> <p>This thesis attempts to illuminate Bernstein's philosophical intentions by reviewing his development against a much broader intellectual background than has been customary. Following the methods of "comparative philosophy" of Henry Corbin, Hans Jonas, Eric Voegelin and Ernest Tuveson, it outlines several stages in the process of the gradual supplanting of Middle Platonism by the Hermetic gnosis in the modern period, and notes the distinctive attitudes to being characteristic of them. It examines the roots of the Hegelian dialectic, and those of its more philosophically conservative rival, German Romanticism, and points out the affinity of Bernstein's structure of consciousness with the latter movement.</p> <p>The philosophical content of Bernsteinian Revisionism is presented as the result of the outworking of an essentially Romantic cast of mind, accelerated by Bernstein's period of "socialist scholarship" and close association with Christian Socialists and unorthodox philosophical Naturalists during his years of exile in London.</p> <p>Bernstein1s "evolutionary socialism" is distinguished from the nationalist-socialism of the Blochian Revisionists, the panpsychic evolutionism popular with the German working-class, Anarchist thought, and monistic Naturalism generally. It is shown to be structurally analogous to the pluralistic notion of progress of the "common sense" component of German Romanticism (a residue of Middle Platonic noetic experience), derived from the Scottish Enlightenment.</p> <p>The call to go "back to Lange" thus appears to have been little more than a groping attempt, on Bernstein's part, to focus his return to what was, in effect, a Pragmatic version of the Aristotelian "natural law" world-view.</p> / Master of Arts (MA)

<p>The laws of Ontario operate on the principle that individuals should govern their own conduct unless it affects others adversely. The laws are created to protect individuals and their property and to ensure that citizens respect the rights of others. However, laws are protected and entrenched which defy this principle by permitting and fostering intolerance.</p> <p>This thesis addresses the local option laws of Ontario's liquor legislation which protect and legitimize invasion of personal liberty. These laws permit municipalities to prohibit or restrict retail sale of liquor within their boundaries by vote or by council decision. Local option has persisted throughout Ontario's history and is unlikely to be abolished despite the growing acceptance of liquor in society.</p> <p>To explain the longevity of these law, J.R. Gusfield's approach to understanding moral crusades is used. Local option laws have become symbols of the status and influence of the sober, industrious middleclass of the 1800's who founded Ontario. The right to control drinking reassures people who adhere to the traditional values that their views are respected in society.</p> <p>John Stuart Mill's proposed guidelines for handling potentially harmful commodities, like liquor, are revealed as being consistent with the intention of Ontario's liquor laws but inadequate for symbolic issues. If tolerance of personal liberty is to be acheived, then the issues must be transformed from evocative ones into quiescent ones. The study of local option is used to assess how a symbolic issue can be recast to induce people to tolerate the self-regarding pursuits of others.</p> / Master of Arts (MA)

<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)