The once and future Canadian democracy : an essay in political thought / Janet Ajzenstat.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Ajzenstat, Janet, 1936-

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Democracy--Canada.

Democracy.

Political culture--Canada.

Political culture.

Political participation--Canada.

Political participation.

Canada--Politics and government.

Canada.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (x, 192 pages)

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Montreal ; Ithaca : McGill-Queen's University Press, c2003.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

To revitalize politics we need to abandon the idea that ideologies evolve from "right" to "left", from conservatism to socialism, and look at our political differences in terms of the distinction, more familiar in the arts, between classicism and romanticism. She argues that by abandoning our current modes of debate and rediscovering the Enlightenment liberalism that is an enduring part of our political tradition we will help to recreate Canada as a place of debate on fundamentals, not one in which a monolithic definition of identity answers all questions in advance.

Contents:

""Contents""; ""Preface""; ""PART ONE Liberals and Romantics""; ""1 Prenez Garde!""; ""2 Beyond Right-Centre-Left""; ""3 The Evil Futures""; ""PART TWO Getting to Democracy""; ""4 What Romantics Say""; ""5 Are We There Yet? Liberal Arguments""; ""6 Why Historians Can't Put a Date to Democracy""; ""7 What Did the Fathers Say?""; ""8 The Monarchical Element""; ""9 Parliament: The Talking Shop""; ""PART THREE Bringing in the Future""; ""10 Last Train from Right-Centre-Left""; ""11 Romantic Ideas: George Grant""; ""12 Romance in a Democratic Clime"" ""13 The Romantic Artist in Her Lonely Garret""""14 The Three Deaths of the Canadian Constitution""; ""Sources""; ""Index""

Notes:

Bibliographic Level Mode of Issuance: Monograph

Includes bibliographical references (p. [149]-188) and index.

ISBN:

1-282-86166-2

9786612861666

0-7735-7168-X

OCLC:

76898714