CEU Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2015
| Author | Fournier, William |
|---|---|
| Title | Carving out a Federal Space from a Colonial Wound: US and Canadian Federal Arrangements and Indigenous Integration |
| Summary | The study of democracy continues to be of vital importance in western countries who have a long history of representative government. Not only to measure the general quality of democracy, but also how outside minority groups can become incorporated into democratic practices. Federalism in both the US and Canada can serve as a tool to help bring indigenous peoples into the fold while also allowing them to exercise some form of representative governance. Similarities and differences are present in comparing these two cases. Both the US and Canada shared similar practices growing out of colonial legacies with techniques and institutions designed to focus on assimilation without providing opportunities to take part in the political community. The current situations in both countries dictates a need for compromise between the indigenous who seek a sovereign presence within their affairs and the overarching federal government who seeks to integrate them into the larger political and social community. The Canadian case displays an evolution of practices from assimilation to accommodation through institutional methods following a constitutional framework which provides a space for the indigenous within the federal model. The US has also altered its initial practices, however the limited institutional framework and constitutional inflexibility favors the status quo and retains the ambiguous nature initially internalized at the US Constitution’s origins. Piecing together these many themes at work in how indigenous groups interact with the federal framework within both cases illustrates the emergence of a pattern. In particular, if a constitution of a country is flexible in its structure allowing for change then the institutional opportunity is far greater for indigenous peoples. This also influences the way in which indigenous groups respond to government policies and how they try to achieve their goal of having a seat at the table where decisions are made effecting their daily lives. |
| Supervisor | Bogaards, Matthis |
| Department | Political Science MA |
| Full text | https://www.etd.ceu.edu/2015/fournier_william.pdf |
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