Category Archives: Responsible Government

Consensus Government & Confirmation Voting in Nunavut

Posted on 2021/11/19 by J.W.J. Bowden

My presentation at The Institute for the Study of the Crown in Canada’s Conference in Toronto in June 2019: “The Authorities of the Territorial Commissioners: Responsible Government in Yukon vs Consensus Government in Northwest Territories and Nunavut“ Consensus Government Nunavut … Continue reading →

Posted in Comparative, Confirmation Voting, Consensus Government, Individual vs Collective Ministerial Responsibility, Responsible Government | 1 Comment

The Nature of the “Democratic Deficit” and Executive Federalism in Canada

Posted on 2018/02/01 by J.W.J. Bowden

Introduction The “Democratic Deficit” first referred to a critique from the late 1970s on how the European Economic Community ran its Parliament vis-a-vis its executive-like Commission. Canadian scholars took up the term in the 1980s and applied it here. In … Continue reading →

Posted in Parliamentarism v Presidentialism, Responsible Government, Separation of Powers | 1 Comment

A New Year’s Resolution for Political Scientists: Stop Saying That Parliamentarism “Fuses” The Executive and Legislature

Posted on 2017/12/31 by J.W.J. Bowden

Introduction: A Lazy and Stupid Metaphor  Political scientists like taking shortcuts and writing in shorthand. But sometimes, these cause them to get hopelessly lost rather than shortening their journey toward fact and truth. For instance, too many political scientists of … Continue reading →

Posted in Reaffirmation of, Responsible Government, Separation of Powers | 4 Comments

A Classical Liberal Defence of Constitutional Monarchy

Posted on 2017/07/20 by J.W.J. Bowden

Introduction: The Strange Americanism of Canadian Libertarians  Since 2011 when I attended one of the Institute for Liberal Studies’ Liberty Summer Seminars (LSS), I’ve noticed that Canadian libertarians often demonstrate a strange American streak, and that their understanding of constitutions and … Continue reading →

Posted in Monarchism v Republicanism, Parliamentarism v Presidentialism, Responsible Government, Separation of Powers | 5 Comments

Harjit Sajjan and the Architecture of Ministerial Responsibility

Posted on 2017/05/04 by J.W.J. Bowden

Introduction A controversy has erupted around Harjit Sajjan, Minister of National Defence and a retired Lieutenant-Colonel in the Canadian Army who served three tours of duty in Afghanistan, over remarks that he made in a speech to the Observer Research … Continue reading →

Posted in Individual vs Collective Ministerial Responsibility, Responsible Government | 2 Comments