Northern political culture?: Political behaviour in Nunavut

Les faits saillants de la vie politique au Nunavut suggèrent que les taux d’engagement politique sont inférieurs à ceux du sud canadien. L’absence de partis politiques a un effet sur les méthodes de campagne et sur les opérations de la législature. L’existence d'organisations inuit offre un système de gouvernance parallèle et de multiples occasions de voter ou de se proposer comme candidat. Les taux de participation électorale sont inférieurs pour les élections fédérales, et plus inférieurs encore pour les élections d'organisations inuit. Par contre, pour les élections territoriales, les taux de participation électorale sont plus élevés. Une analyse des indicateurs démographiques du comportement électoral démontrent que l’âge, les revenus et l’éducation ont un effet positif sur la participation. Les Inuit, et les personnes qui évaluent l’effet des revendications territoriales et le nouveau territoire d’une manière positive, ont plus tendance à voter. L’article démontre qu’il y a plus d’occasions de se porter candidat aux élections: il y a des postes pour 1% de la population du Nunavut, comparé à .0075% dans une communauté canadienne typique. L’article est le premier à examiner le comportement politique du Nord d'une une manière quantitative et illustre les questions et problèmes méthodologiques qui ont un effet sur le traitement des données. On y conclut que pour le Nunavut, il ne faut pas y appliquer trop vite des modèles de comportement politique venant du Sud.The realities of political life in Nunavut suggest that levels of political engagement would be lower than that found in southern Canada. The absence of political parties affects both the method of political campaigning and the operation of the legislature while the existence of Inuit birthright organizations provide a parallel system of governance and several more opportunities to vote and to stand for election. Levels of turnout are lower than average for federal elections and lower still for the birthright organizations. For territorial elections, however, turnout levels are much higher. An analysis of predictors of voting demonstrates that age, income and education have a positive impact on turnout. Inuit, and those with positive evaluations of the land claim and Nunavut, are also more likely to vote. In its investigation of political office, the paper also demonstrates that there are elected positions for 1% of the population in Nunavut, compared with .0075% in a typical Canadian community. The paper is the first to examine political behaviour in the North from a quantitative perspective and carefully points out methodological issues affecting the treatment of data. It ends by arguing that southern models of political behaviour should be treated with caution in Nunavut

The Dog that Finally Barked:England as an Emerging Political Community

This report presents evidence which suggests the emergence of a new kind of Anglo-British identity in which the English component is increasingly the primary source of attachment for English people. It also suggests that English identity is becoming more politicised: that is, the more English a person feels, the more likely they are to believe that the current structure of the UK is unfair and to support a particularly English dimension to the governance of England

Risk attitudes and independence vote choice

In this article, we examine the impact of risk attitudes on vote choice in the context of a salient referendum with high levels of uncertainty about the consequences of the ballot proposal. Using data from a pre- and post-referendum panel survey conducted in the context of the 2014 independence referendum in Scotland, and a specific battery to measure attitudes to risk, we determine how these attitudes operate in such political contexts. We reach two main conclusions. First, risk attitudes have a direct effect on vote choice, even after controlling for alternative explanations of vote choice such as party identification and leaders’ evaluations. In the aggregate, the effect of risk attitudes on the vote choice contributes to the status quo bias found in referendums. Second, we find that information moderates the effect of risk attitudes on vote choice. Voters who are politically knowledgeable have a greater capacity to predict the consequences of political outcomes and, therefore, they are less affected by their risk attitudes when making their ballot choices

Unions of the mind:The UK as a subjective state

Those seeking to understand attitudes to decentralization focus on attitudes to constitutional change or to the ideal level of government to control particular areas of jurisdiction. Within this is a wider approach to understanding subjective dimensions of multi-level states and the different communities of interest or polities that exist within them. Drawing on data from successive rounds of the Future of England (including parallel surveys in Scotland and Wales), this article develops a conceptual framework through which to understand political unions as well as a multi-dimensional measure through which to evaluate the location of unions from a scale that runs from subjective unionism to subjective autonomism. It outlines the various unions of the mind, including an identity union, a union of economic solidarity, of social solidarity and of fairness (or legitimacy) and then proceeds to map these within the UK. It then evaluates what impact each of these has on attitudes to the wider state, including attitudes to its continued survival. The article draws primarily on individual-level survey data collected by the authors but refers also to campaigns for constitutional change in unions and relates this to what we know about how individuals conceive of the states in which they live

Community-based child health nurses: An exploration of current practice

The purpose of this research was to define, the practice domain of community-based child health nursing in light of widespread political, economic and social changes in Western Australia. The project was conducted by a group of nurse researchers with experience in child health nursing from the School of Nursing and Midwifery at Curtin University and the Child and Adolescent Community Health Division at the Department of Health, Western Australia. The overall aim of the project was to map the scope of nursing practice in the community child health setting in Western Australia and to identify the decision making framework that underpins this nursing specialty. Given the widespread social, economic and health service management changes, it was important for nurses involved with, or contemplating a career in, community-based child health to have the role accurately defined. In addition, consumer expectations of the service needed to be explored within the current climate.A descriptive qualitative study was used for this project. A purposive sample of 60 participants was drawn from the pool of child health nurses in the South Metropolitan Community Health Service, North Metropolitan Health Service and Western Australian Country Health Service. Following ethical approval data was collected via participants keeping a 2-week work diary. The data was coded and thematic analysis was applied. Several themes emerged from the analysis which were validated by follow up focus group interviews with participants. This clearly demonstrated common, recurring issues. The results identified that the community-based child health nurses are currently undertaking a more complex and expanded child health service role for an increasingly diverse client population, over their traditional practices which are still maintained. Excessive workloads and lack of human and non human resources also presented challenges. There are increasing requirements for child health nurses to engage in community development and capacity building, often through a multidisciplinary partnership, which requires them to have sound brokerage and facilitation skills to enable community inclusion and inter-agency collaboration at the local level.The study has highlighted the importance and multifaceted nature of the role of the community-based child health nurse. To enable them to function optimally, the following suggestions/recommendations are offered. These being: More physical resources be allocated to community-based child health nursing, More resources allocated to assist community-based child health nurses to support culturally and linguistically diverse families, Mapping of child health nurses' workloads, The development of community health client dependency rating criteria reflecting the social determinants of health in order for health service refinement of staffing allocations based on an acuity scale, Specific staff development opportunities to reflect the increased workload complexity, Managerial support for the implementation of formal clinical (reflective) supervision, Additional clerical assistance with non-nursing duties

Exit Polling in Canada: An Experiment

Although exit polling has not been used to study Canadian elections before, such polls have methodological features that make them a potentially useful complement to data collected through more conventional designs. This paper reports on an experiment with exit polling in one constituency in the 2003 Ontario provincial election. Using student volunteers, a research team at Wilfrid Laurier University conducted an exit poll in the bellwether constituency of Kitchener Centre to assess the feasibility of mounting this kind of study on a broader scale. The experiment was successful in a number of respects. It produced a sample of 653 voters that broadly reflected the partisan character of the constituency, and which can hence be used to shed light on patterns of vote-switching and voter motivations in that constituency. It also yielded insights about best practices in mounting an exit poll in the Ontario context, as well as about the potential for using wireless communication devices to transmit respondent data from the field. The researchers conclude that exit polling on a limited basis (selected constituencies) is feasible, but the costs and logistics associated with this methodology make a province-wide or country-wide study unsupportable at present

Collaborative Action Retreat Report: Summary of Retreat Held in June 2015

No abstract available