Federalism as friendship, renegotiating sovereignty and the Canadian case

dc.contributor.authorGood, Kristinen_US
dc.date.accessioned2007-05-18T19:58:59Z
dc.date.available2007-05-18T19:58:59Z
dc.date.issued1999-08-01T00:00:00Zen_US
dc.degree.disciplinePolitical Studiesen_US
dc.degree.levelMaster of Arts (M.A.)en_US
dc.description.abstractQuestions as to whether Canadians can constitute themselves as a sovereign people and, more generally, whether a "solution" to the question of Canadian unity will be found are not new. There is a general feeling that Canadian constitutionalism is at a point of stalemate. This thesis is more positive in tone and is premised on the idea that we are asking the wrong questions. Transcending the current impasse requires that we question our most basic assumptions. The thesis therefore examines the most basic principle of political organization, the notion of sovereignty. Sovereignty, it is argued, is best conceived as a historically-specific, inherently social and dynamic institution that emerged with the constitutive idea that a single legitimate authority should exist on a continuous and contiguous territory. Social norms concerning the scope and nature of legitimate sovereign authority, although structured by its constitutive idea, nevertheless change across time through state practice. Changing state practice results in new norms that account for and "rebundle" the practical imperfections of the idea of "sovereignty" across time. Understanding Canada requires situating it historically in the "sovereign" conversation. The thesis deconstructs "Canada" similarly and uncovers its constitutive idea as well as how organic or "conservative" change occurs. (Abstract shortened by UMI.)en_US
dc.format.extent13968474 bytes
dc.format.extent184 bytes
dc.format.mimetypeapplication/pdf
dc.format.mimetypetext/plain
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/1993/1795
dc.language.isoengen_US
dc.rightsopen accessen_US
dc.titleFederalism as friendship, renegotiating sovereignty and the Canadian caseen_US
dc.typemaster thesisen_US
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