On May 2, 2011, as Canadians watched the federal election results roll in and Stephen Harper’s Conservatives achieve a majority, it appeared that we were witnessing a major shift in the political landscape. In reality, Canadian politics had been changing for quite some time. This volume provides the first account of the political upheavals of the past two decades and speculates on the future of the country’s national party system. By documenting how parties and voters responded to new challenges between 1993 and 2011, this book sheds light on one of the most tumultuous periods in Canadian political history.

Alain-G. Gagnon and A. Brian Tanguay present a multi-faceted image of party dynamics, electoral behaviour, political marketing, and representative democracy, with chapters written by an outstanding team of political scientists.

On 2 May 2011, Canadians watched as the Stephen Harper Conservatives won their first majority government. Jack Layton led the NDP to its best performance in history, and Michael Ignatieff and the federal Liberals had their worst showing to date. For most casual observers, this election marked a major shift in Canadian politics. In reality, the country’s political landscape and national party system had been changing for quite some time. Parties, Elections, and the Future of Canadian Politics offers the first comprehensive account of political change in Canada over the past two decades. It explores developments in the political landscape from both historical and contemporary perspectives and speculates on the future of the national party system. By documenting how parties and voters responded to new challenges between 1993 and 2011, this volume enhances our understanding of one of the most tumultuous periods in Canadian political history.

Canada: The State of the Federation 2000/01 probes beneath the surface to determine if the obvious changes - the fractious federal party system, the "common sense revolution" in government budgeting, the re-birth of the sovereignty movement in Quebec, and the re-assertion of Aboriginal claims - are symptomatic of a shift in Canadian political culture.

The new, fourth, edition of Canadian Politics continues the work of earlier editions in offering a comprehensive introduction to Canadian government and politics by a widely recognized and highly respected group of political scientists, writing on subjects on which they are acknowledged experts. For this edition, the editors have reorganized the book into four sections: Part I: Citizenship, Identities, and Values; Part II: The Canadian State; Part III: Civil Society, Democracy, and Governance; and, Part IV: Globalizing Trends and International Pressures. The fourth section, comprised of five chapters, develops a new focus for this edition by examining the diverse and increasingly important influences of globalization on the Canadian polity and system of governance. Of the twenty-three chapters, those retained from earlier editions have been entirely revised and updated. This edition adds twelve new authors and eleven completely new chapters.