Chapter 1 - Canada's Regime Principles

Regime

• The form of government and the underlying political principles that provide the legitimate basis for that form of government

• A system of rule

Two Things Regime is Comprised of

1. Institutions of government (physical and ephemeral)

2. Principles that inform those institutions

The Four Rs

Rex/regina, representation, reconciliation, revolution

Aristotle’s Questions about Political Order

1. Are the rulers just or unjust?

2. Do they rule in their own interest or the common good?

3. Who rules?

4. Who is being served?

5. What purpose?

6. Whose interests are being served by the regime 

Kingship

• Just

• Commitment to the greater public good

• Benevolent dictatorship

Tyranny

• Unjust

• Devotes itself to gain/aggrandizement of one individual 

• Few/ no pretensions to the public good

Aristocracy

• Just

• Elites are pledged to the greater good

• Ex: City states (leader of community, work towards public good)

• Rarest type of regime

Oligarchy

• Unjust

• Few rulers

• Arrogance

• Elites work together to ensure own dominance and well-being

Democracy

• Unjust

• Rule by many rulers

• Aristotle thought it was flawed because the many tend to oppress the few

Many Rulers

• Just

• Polity

• Broad participation and commitment to the public good

• Also rare

• Elections

Tyranny of the Majority

• Distrust of democracy

• Interests of the majority dominate political landscape 

  • Potentially represses minority groups 

Canada’s Regime Principles

1. Equality

2. Liberty

3. Popular Rule 

4. Reconciliation

Equality

• Granting political power to all citizens equally

  • Equal right to run for office and vote

• Does not mean sharing of equal social or economic status

• Regime belongs equally to all

• Equality of citizenship

• Gov’t’s accountability is to all citizens

Popular Rule

• Sovereignty

• Two ways of practicing:

  • Direct Democracy (referendum, plebiscite, initiative, recall)

  • Representative Government

Direct Democracy

Regimes in which all citizens are directly involved in political decisions

Referendum

• Binding vote or public participation

• Opportunity for involvement

Plebiscite

• Advisory vote

• Public participates in informing government of decisions in enacting policies

Initiative

Government doesn’t start direct question

Recall

Initiative style process to remove elected representatives from office

Parliamentary Democracy

• Form of representative government

• Political decisions made by representative body called parliament
  Indirect selection of the executive

• Accountability filtered through representatives

• More limited form of democracy

• Ex: how Carney was elected

Representative Democracy

• Delegated responsibility for public matters to small group of elected representatives

• Limited form of democracy

Independent Boundary Commissions

Try to minimize the political concerns people may have

Rep by Pop

• Rough equality of voice representation by population

• Makes constituencies relative to population

• Seek equality in a representation

Liberal Democracy

• Combines political principles of liberty and democracy

• Mitigate the excesses of democracy

• Preserve freedom and private sphere

Liberty

• Private sphere of human thought and action

• Right to make choice by ourselves as long as it abides by the law 

• Freedom

Threats to Political Equality

• Economic and social inequality

  • Wealth can influence decisions

  • However, electoral systems are designed to try and preserve electoral equality

Non-Political Equality

• I.e. Constitutions and Human Rights Acts

  • The Charter of Rights and Freedoms

• Positive equality = protection of minorities

Arguments for liberalism

• Natural rights (what’s given)

  • Human rights cannot be taken away (inalienable rights) I.e. rights to life, liberty, property, privacy

  • Inherent and universal

• Utilitarianism (what works)

  • Usefulness 

  • Promoting human happiness

  • Utilitarians believe that there aren’t permanently valid natural rights

Harm Principle

• People should have freedom as long as it does not harm others

• Government should not interfere if it does not harm

• Limits of rights are acceptable to reduce harm

Three Principles of Liberal Democracy

1. Protection of the private sphere

2. Respect for minority rights

3. The rule of law

The Rule of Law

1. The gov’t isn’t above the law

2. Law is applied equally and impartially

3. Every action taken by the gov’t must be grounded in legal authority

Reconciliation

• Colonial Context of Canada

• Work on relationships with Indigenous communities 

• Self-determination

UNDRIP

• United Declaration of Rights of Indigenous Peoples

• Bill 41 commits BC to “take all measures necessary to ensure the laws of British Columbia are consistent with the Declaration”

Constitutionalism

• The idea that the regime itself must be ordered in accordance with agreed-upon rules that will be supreme

• Important aspect of the rule of law

Consent

• Liberal democracies are based on this

• Provides primary basis of political obligation

  • Freely consent to be government by a particular regime and its laws

  • Obligated to obey those laws

  • In return, the regime must exercise its authority over its citizens by the laws that constitute the regime

• Two types

  • Implicit and explicit

Implicit Consent

• Can be established in two ways 

  • Growing up under the laws of Canada

  • Opportunity to periodically express consent in elections at all government levels

Citizenship

• General right to participate in the regime on those who have consented to accept its authority

Regime Principles of all the World’s Liberal Democracaies

1. Equality

2. Liberty

3. Consent

Republican

A regime in which full and final authority is placed in the hands of the people’s elected representatives and officers