The Parliamentary Regime
The Political Philosophy of Confederation
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 6237240 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Ryan Alexander Mckinnell (0000-0002-4646-4949, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2023 |
| Volume | 56 |
| Issue | 3 |
| Pages | 550-570 |
| Publication date | 2023-09-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Canadian Journal of Political Science (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0008-4239 • E-ISSN: 1744-9324 |
| Publisher | Cambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.1017/s0008423923000409 |
| OpenAlex | W4385985818 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 27 |
This article clarifies the intellectual origins of Canadian parliamentary government by situating Confederation within a specific strand of liberal political thought. My argument is that the Fathers of Confederation adhered to the political theory of parliamentarianism. Though liberal constitutionalists, the Fathers of Confederation expressly defended a parliamentary political framework that they considered superior to the American system of checks and balances—one characterized by a powerful elected assembly restrained by an unelected upper house, responsible ministers serving in Parliament, and a constitutional monarch. In elucidating the theory of parliamentarianism that underlies the political project of Confederation, my goal is not only to examine a problem in nineteenth-century Canadian political thought but to ground our current political situation within a larger historical perspective
Argument (complex analysis · Constitutional theory · Constitutionalism · Democracy · Government (linguistics · Law and economics · Parliament · Political philosophy · Political science · Politics · Sociology · American Constitutional Law and Politics · European Political History Analysis · Law · Philosophy · Political Theory and Influence
Constitutional odyssey
The Politics of Liberty in England and Revolutionary America
Parliamentarism
The Idea of Liberty in Canada during the Age of Atlantic Revolutions, 1776-1838
Canada’s Origins
Getting it Wrong
The English Constitution
Conservatism, Liberalism, and Socialism in Canada
Popular Sovereignty in Historical Perspective
Political Representation
Canada's Founding Debates
Documents on the Confederation of British North America
The Canadian Founding
Canada’s Odyssey
On Parliamentary Government in England
The crisis of parliamentary democracy
The Ideological Origins of Canadian Confederation
The Political Wisdom of Sir John A. Macdonald
Canadian Confederation and the Influence of American Federalism
Between Populism and Juristocracy
John Locke Two Treatises of Government
| Citation velocity | historical |
|---|---|
| Highly cited | No |