Speech was "vintage Barack Obama"
Barack Obama spoke well yesterday – and as was appropriate, he did it his way. It might seem odd that a speech could be both so ambiguous and so inspiring, until you reflect that this has been his secret all along. He’s the sensitive new-age guy with both pecs and a spine of steel. For [...]
Historian Yonatan Eyal on the pageantry and meaning of the presidential swearing-in
Q. When was the last time the presidential inauguration attracted so much interest and excitement? Moments of crisis or transition naturally come to mind: Thomas Jefferson as the first successful opposition candidate in 1801, Andrew Jackson as the first westerner in 1829, John Tyler as the first to succeed a fallen president in 1841, as [...]
Janice Stein on why Egypt is still the most important Arab country. Janice Stein is TVO’s international affairs analyst, the Belzberg professor of Conflict Management in the Department of Political Science and the director of the Munk Centre for International Studies at the University of Toronto.
One-on-one with Nelson Wiseman, associate professor, political science
One-on-one with Nelson Wiseman, associate professor, political science. Q. You say that December 4, 2008 was a historic day in Canadian political history. Why? The decisions that were made represented precedents of various sorts. It represented the continuation of tradition—that the Governor General never turns down a request from her first minister (the Prime Minister) [...]
Q. Why did Obama win? Much of the movement in the polls that seemed to decide the election took place immediately after the Republican National Convention in early September and ended or was solidified by the first debate. So it was that narrow two- to three- week period after McCain hit his peak level of [...]
In Australia, voting is mandatory. Skip the polls on election day and you’ll find yourself with a ticket.
Canadians wouldn’t have fared so well in this system. Turnout in the recent Canadian federal election was a record low of 58 per cent. In North America more generally , voter turnout statistics hover around 50 per cent. Why? A lot of it, says Professor Renan Levine of political science, depends on the country’s electoral [...]
Urban issues important for all
Cities must be an issue in the federal election and are being ignored to everybody’s detriment, a panel of urban experts said yesterday at the University of Toronto. continue
As the drama of the Republican and Democratic conventions in the U.S. recedes, our attention north of the border has turned toward our own election. Why are there almost always just two political parties in the U.S., while we have several in Canada?
There are a few interrelated answers, according to Professor Lawrence LeDuc of political science. First, the U.S. has a different electoral structure. “Some of the third party movements that we’ve traditionally had in Canada get absorbed in the U.S. through the primaries,” he says. For example, “there’s not much of a movement to start a [...]
Management prof analyses campaign advertising
In the idealistic world of U.S. politics, it is tempting to believe that, this time, things will be different. Barack Obama gives a rousing speech at the Democratic convention that dares Americans to dream. In an ad, John McCain acknowledges Mr. Obama’s moment. Mr. Obama returns the compliment by praising Mr. McCain’s war record. Relatively [...]
