Big Tent Politics

The Liberal Party’s Long Mastery of Canada’s Public Life

By R. Kenneth Carty
Categories: Political Science, Government & Elections, History, Canadian History, Canadian Political Science
Series: Brenda and David McLean Canadian Studies
Publisher: UBC Press
Paperback : 9780774830003, 176 pages, December 2015
Ebook (PDF) : 9780774830010, 176 pages, September 2015
Ebook (EPUB) : 9780774830027, 176 pages, September 2015
Ebook (MobiPocket) : 9780774830034, 176 pages, December 2016

Table of contents

1 An Unnatural Party

 

2 The Natural Governing Party

 

3 Four Eras, Four Liberal Parties

 

4 A Different Kind of Party

 

5 The Life of the Party

 

6 The Chief Broker

 

7 Brokerage, the Liberal Party, and Canadian Politics

 

Appendix: Liberal Party Leaders, 1887 to the Present

 

Notes

 

Further Reading on the Liberal Party of Canada

 

Index

A masterful account of the Liberal Party’s long domination of Canadian politics.

Description

The Liberal Party of Canada is one of the most successful parties in the democratic world. It dominated Canadian politics for a century, practising an inclusive style of “big tent” politics that enabled it to fend off opponents on both the left and right. This book traces the record of the party, unwrapping Liberal practices and organization to reveal its distinctive “brokerage” approach to politics and franchise-style structure. A masterful analysis of how one party came to define the nation’s public life, this book also identifies the challenges that lie ahead as the Liberals reinvent themselves for the twenty-first century.

Reviews

Carty … is a leading authority on Canada’s political parties. He traces the history of the party, paying attention to its cycles against important changes in Canada’s demography (e.g., when increased immigration changed regional and national dynamics) and when parties entered the system.

- G.A. McBeath