POLI 410 Lecture Notes - Lecture 4: Party System, Thesis Statement, Research Question
15 Jun 2018
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1.25: 1/29/2018 8:59:00 PM
POLI410 Party Structures Lecture Notes
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Paper proposal
• Follow posted template on my courses
• Main question or a few interrelated questions
• Paper can end up being diff from proposal
• Analytic, not descriptive – explaining why a particular phenomenon
occurs
• When you submit paper, staple proposal to the back
• Half a page to a page, 1-2 paragraphs explaining the broad context
of the paper
• Then provide evidence for the existence of that puzzle or
phenomenon
o Either through empirical examples or draw on secondary
literature
• Then offer justification for why it’s important to look at these issues
o For ex, why is women representation in politics important
o Why has the NDP consistently formed government in
Saskatoon whereas it has been conservative governments in
Alberta
o Usually presumes a certain statement or fact → asking why it
is this way
• Can have bullet points, as long as it’s polished
• Something on municipal parties?
• Can use things like newspaper sources
o At least 5 peer reviewed sources in bibliography, but in
addition can draw on examples from newspapers
• Four parts
o Introduction and brief context
▪ Context of your topic
▪ Why this topic important/worth studying
o Research question
o Paper structure and arguments
o Preliminary bibliography
• Two main approaches
o A problematic observation
o A puzzle
• Describe the broad context of your project or present a puzzle
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• Provide evidence
o Empirical examples
o Secondary literature
• Provide justification for why examination of this issue is important
Outline
- 1-2 pages
- how your paper will go about analyzing your response question
- includes a clear thesis statement
- LOOK ON J25 SLIDES FOR EXAMPLE
Preliminary Bibliography
- At least 5 sources
Canada’s party systems
• Looking at party systems allows us to look at the ways in which
parties interact with each other, rather than just as sole individual
actors
• A party system:
o Examines the interactions between parties across times
o Seeks to draw broad generalizations of alignment or de-
alignment
o Allows for the analysis inter and intra party dynamics
o Also allows us to compare across countries – between parties
and intra party relations, how parties change to adapt to
different party systems
o Helps us understand not just what happens within individual
elections, but across elections, across times – macro analysis
• Raises insights about:
o Organization structure
o Policy and idelogy development and circulation
o Campaign/voter behaviour
• Looking for a few things:
o In Canada we generally talk about 4 party systems, but
increasingly 5 – the 5th is said to have emerged in 2003 with
the rise of the united right in Canada
o The 4 allow us to understand:
▪ Organizational structure and how they changed
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Document Summary
Saskatoon whereas it has been conservative governments in. How your paper will go about analyzing your response question. Look on j25 slides for example includes a clear thesis statement. Entourage of professionals running campaigns: professionalization of the party, more competitive elections, 2 million dollars by 1980 to run a leadership campaign, parties introduce soft measures to throw leaders out of caucus leadership review. Comes in the wake of diefenbaker losing 2 consecutive elections, party needs to get rid of him and has no way to do it. Ex: debate around the nakab is not one that affect many people, but was intended to stoke divisions, particularly in quebec in the federal election. Ex: liberal party and use of pro-choice platform. Not a response to anything, brought up out of nowhere, but want to stoke these divides, think it will benefit them.
