Browsing by Author "Thomas, Melanee"

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    A Comparative Analysis of Political Finance Regulation in the Maritime Provinces
    (2016) Johnson, Anna Elizabeth; Stewart, David; Sayers, Anthony; Thomas, Melanee
    Money is crucial to the functioning of democracy and is often used as a tool to influence the political process. However, concerns about real or perceived corruption has led many jurisdictions to regulate political finances. Politics in the Maritime Provinces have long been notorious for corrupt practices. Yet, political finance regimes have existed in these provinces for several decades. Using historical and political contexts and three benchmarks for political finance regulation—equality of opportunity for political actors, equality of opportunity for private actors, and mitigation of corruption—the effectiveness of the regimes in the Maritime provinces is assessed. Differing experiences with internal and external pressures for reform have led to varying results. In Nova Scotia and New Brunswick, internal pressures due to shifting attitudes toward equality led to more comprehensive and effective regimes than that of PEI, which was spurred by external forces through a contagion effect.
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    Contagion in the West: The Survival and Success of the CCF-NDP in Western Canada
    (2021-04-30) Molineaux, Connor John; Sayers, Anthony M.; Lucas, Jack; Thomas, Melanee
    The CCF-NDP is the lone survivor of a number of new political parties to emerge in Western Canada around the mid-twentieth century. While most of those parties long ago disappeared, the CCF-NDP has not only survived, but has thrived. The CCF-NDP has successfully formed government in all four western provinces, even as it faces a very different combination of parties in each. In Alberta, the NDP first formed government in 2015, an astounding seventy-five years after its first election in the province. How did the CCF-NDP manage to persist and succeed in Alberta, British Columbia, Manitoba, and Saskatchewan for so long when most other parties have failed? In this thesis, I argue that the CCF-NDP has managed to survive because it possesses certain organizational features that other parties lack. As a social democratic party, the CCF- NDP has maintained a core base of committed activists who sustain the organization even when it is electorally weak. The party competes in elections across multiple provinces and at the federal level, giving it organizational redundancy that most other parties lack. And the party has consistently been willing to reach out to new groups of voters by moderating its policies, but without losing its central identity as a social democratic party. I show this using process tracing by identifying the factors that contribute to the success or failure of several insurgent parties, including the CCF-NDP, at critical moments of electoral dealignment across each of the four western provinces.
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    Continuity or change? Immigration policy in Chile
    (2020-01-10) Pando Burciaga, Elizabeth; Franceschet, Susan; Franceschet, Susan; Policzer, Pablo; Thomas, Melanee; Rice, Roberta; Bonner, Michelle D.
    Since the return to democracy in the 1990s, Chile has become a destination for immigrants from South American countries. Responding to increases in immigration, governments have enacted a series of policies aimed mainly at social assistance and regularization for immigrants. These policies, however, have been adopted without repealing Decree-Law 1094 of 1975 (DL 1094), Chile’s law on immigration, created by presidential decree during the military government of Augusto Pinochet. Far from managing immigration and the integration of immigrants into Chilean society, DL 1094 was conceived as an instrument to securitize immigration policy and keep foreigners out. This dissertation addresses the question of how Chilean governments after the return to democracy have expanded the rights of immigrants when they should have been constrained by DL 1094. The study reveals that such advances have been made possible thanks to a gradual process resulting from the accumulation of small changes as policy actors find gaps and ambiguities and “build around” formal immigration institutions. The policy-making process is analyzed in three distinct venues: central government, municipal governments, and the judicial branch. The study reveals first, that while actors in these three venues have no formal authority over immigration policy, they have acquired new responsibilities and created policies that effectively put boundaries around DL 1094; second, actors recruited into this policy area employ frames that discuss immigration policy in depoliticized ways, arising from each group of actors’ particular venue; and third, this study finds that actors advance policies without dismantling the existing rules, but instead bypass, reinterpret, and build around them.
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    The Evolution of Candidate Vetting in the Liberal Party of Canada 1993-2015
    (2023-03) Thorkelson, Ruth; Stewart, David; Thomas, Melanee; Brodie, Ian
    Candidate selection for political parties in Canada plays a critical role in the democratic process. As part of candidate selection, most parties require candidates for nomination to go through a vetting exercise. This exercise is little known, however, and has not been widely reviewed in academic literature. Using a series of interviews with senior Liberal Party of Canada campaign personnel, this thesis will review the vetting exercise for candidates of the Liberal Party of Canada from 1993 to 2015. This thesis considers the evolution of candidate review, or “green lighting,” within the context of theories of party organization in Canada. It argues that the green lighting process has contributed to the weakening of a dynamic interplay between areas of authority at the local level that has provided equilibrium against the power of the leader within Canadian political parties. It argues that the stratarchical imperative within the franchise model of party organization in Canada that had provided the capacity for local autonomy as exercised uniquely and individually by constituencies is diminished by the entrenchment of the green lighting process. As a result, the green lighting exercise has contributed to the continuing centralization of power of the leader. As arguably the only brokerage political party in Canada, the candidate selection process of the Liberal Party of Canada is important, given how often it forms government, and how many Liberal Members of Parliament may be elected during each election. The vetting process across parties in general also directly affects representation in Parliament and in government.
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    Game-Based Assessments of Cognitive Ability: Validity and Effects on Adverse Impact through Perceived Stereotype Threat, Test-Taking Motivation and Anxiety
    (2017) Gödöllei Lappalainen, Anna Fanni; Griep, Yannick; Bourdage, Joshua; O'Neill, Thomas; Thomas, Melanee
    Games offer an innovative new method for assessing cognitive ability. We hypothesize that game-based assessments correlate with traditional assessments of cognitive ability, and exhibit smaller racial differences in performance. We integrate perceived stereotype threat, test-taking motivation, and anxiety to explain how games might reduce racial differences in performance. In a mock selection situation, participants applied for a job by completing game-based and traditional assessments. Results showed that game-based assessments were positively correlated with traditional assessments (r = .35-.50), and exhibited smaller racial differences than one of the traditional assessments. We found that perceived stereotype threat mediated the race-performance relationship and that game-based assessments were associated with higher test-taking motivation and lower anxiety than some of the traditional assessments; however, our proposed mechanisms did not account for the reduction in racial differences on the game-based assessments. We recommend further investigation into the validity of game-based assessments for selection.
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    Gendered News Coverage and Women Heads of Government
    (2020-06-02) Thomas, Melanee; Harell, Allison; Rijkhoff, Sanne A. M.; Gosselin, Tania
    Women politicians have long faced a gendered media environment, where their novelty, potential (in)competence, family, and appearance have been over-emphasized in comparison to men. Much of this literature has focused on politicians running for office and women who hold legislative office. Little research investigates gendered news media presentations of women as heads of government. While the literature predicts that women heads of government should experience gendered differences in news coverage, there is also good reason to expect that news about government operations should not vary based on the gender of the government leader. Using their first year of online news coverage (N=11,675), we build a series of dictionaries and use automated content analysis to assess how frequently heads of government’s uniqueness, gender, family, appearance, sexual orientation, character, and competence are presented. We also assess the tone of news about each head of government. Results show that gendered coverage exists for women heads of government in potentially surprising ways. Fewer new stories are written about them, on average, than men. Women’s coverage features more feminine and masculine gendered identifies, as well as more coverage about their clothing. We find little evidence for increased personalization, and women’s character and competence is presented more positively than men’s. Though blunt, this analysis shows that news about heads of government remains gendered.
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    Impact and Utility of the Alberta Narratives Project
    (2020-08) Andrews, Sarah; Thomas, Melanee; Hughes, Laura
    Alberta’s economy heavily relies on the traditional extraction of fossil fuels, which makes discussing their role in anthropogenic climate change intensely polarizing. The Alberta Narratives Project (ANP) represents the work of Alberta environmental non-government organizations to create a narrative connection between the general public, science, and policy makers. My Capstone aims to answer how effective the language and delivery of the ANP were at creating positive discussions surrounding energy, behaviour change (on the individual level), and overall environmental impact. Interviews provided the basis for an online survey of 365 individuals. Participants found their communications capacities increased and felt confident talking about climate change and energy in Alberta. However, participants also felt unsupported by their employers and facilitators, particularly with respect to follow-up. The ANP created more confident, informed climate science communicators close to the project, but to reach the public with the ANP, ENGOs need to offer more long-term support.
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    In Crisis or Decline? Selecting Women to Lead Provincial Parties in Government
    (Cambridge University Press, 2018-06) Thomas, Melanee
    The majority of Canada's women premiers were selected to that office while their parties held government. This is uncommon, both in the comparative literature and among premiers who are men. What explains this gendered selection pattern to Canada's provincial premiers’ offices? This paper explores the most common explanation found in the comparative literature for women's emergence as leaders of electorally competitive parties and as chief political executives: women are more likely to be selected when that party is in crisis or decline. Using the population of women provincial premiers in Canada as case studies, evidence suggests three of eight women premiers were selected to lead parties in government that were in crisis or decline; a fourth was selected to lead a small, left-leaning party as predicted by the literature. However, for half of the women premiers, evidence of their party's decline is partial or inconclusive. As a result of this exploration, more research is required to draw generalizations about the gendered opportunity structures that shape how women enter (and exit) the premier's office in Canada.
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    Indigenous Feminist Philosophy in Idle No More: Theorizing the Space-Time of Canada’s Settler Colonial Politics and Alternative Decolonial Imaginaries
    (2022-08) Peacock, Cara Melodie; Starblanket, Gina; Voth, Daniel; Goldstein, Joshua D.; Thomas, Melanee; Franceschet, Susan
    In this thesis, I explore Indigenous feminist philosophy from the ground up through a case study of Indigenous women’s political organizing through Idle No More (INM). Specifically, I examine the ways in which Indigenous feminist resistance in INM identifies a spatiotemporal configuration of both Canadian settler state politics and decolonial alternatives. To do so, I use state, media, and public responses, rhetoric, and actions that emerged in response to the Idle No More movement, as well as the actions, rhetoric, written works, and Indigenous political orders of the Idle No More protestors. These interventions illustrate that: (1) settler colonialism constitutes the spatiotemporal configuration of Canadian politics, functioning to contain and eliminate Indigenous political life; (2) Idle No More was configured by the spatiotemporal configuration of Indigenous political orders, which express temporal relations that span the past, present, and future, enabling them to create alternative, decolonial imaginaries with novel forms of politics and power. Drawing on Idle No More’s political interventions, I theorize new Treaty imaginaries.
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    Perceptions of Risk and Coping Mechanisms Among Victims of Domestic Violence
    (2016) Kembel, Lorena; Gibbs-Van Brunschot, Erin; Thomas, Melanee; Adorjan, Michael; Brodie, Ian
    Given evolving technological advances, GPS technology has increasingly been applied to domestic violence situations. In Central Alberta, a project was undertaken to equip high-risk domestic violence offenders with GPS tracking technologies. In addition to this, a GPS tracking device, equipped with an alert button, has also been made available to victims of domestic violence. This study examined perceptions of risk and coping mechanisms among victims of domestic violence, with a specific focus on GPS technology and the nature of victim protection in the context of technologies proposed to increase perceptions of safety in circumstances of domestic violence. Overall, the study found that the devices did not appear to create a false sense of security, but were rather seen as another tool the women were able to use in order to manage their risk of abuse.
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    Playing in the Margins: Collaboration Between Local Party Organizations in the Canadian Party System
    (2016) Currie-Wood, Robin; Sayers, Anthony M.; Stewart, David K.; Thomas, Melanee
    Collaboration between local party organizations is a peculiar organizational trait for Canadian political parties. It is peculiar because local party organizations were once conceived to be solely concerned with electoral activities in their own district, while central parties helped local campaigns in strategically important ridings. Collaboration also goes against the prevailing theory that political parties will centralize operations under new party finance law. Despite this some local party organizations in the Conservative Party of Canada began helping campaigns in other ridings. The population of financial data are assessed for the Conservative, Liberal, and New Democratic Party between 2007 and 2011 in order to determine why parties at the constituency level mobilize their own resources in other constituencies. Playing in the Margins reveals that collaboration occurs in order to better utilize campaign effort made in competitive and uncompetitive ridings, and may even be a new component of intra-party contests.
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    Unraveling The Impact Of Media Use On Political Knowledge
    (2014-12-24) Pike, Ryan; Young, Lisa; Thomas, Melanee
    Contributing to the effort to explain declining political knowledge levels among young Canadians, this thesis examines the relationship between an individual's media use and their level of political knowledge. Its core hypothesis held that reliance on online media for political information – as many young Canadians do – would result in lower levels of political knowledge. Using a multi-dimensional operationalization of political knowledge, this thesis finds that Canadians most likely to be knowledgable about domestic politics are older men with higher levels of education and income who read news from online sources. Canadians most likely to be knowledgable about international politics are men with higher levels of education who read news from online sources. Canadians most likely to be knowledgable about the practical application of government programs and policies are older women. In contrast with both public perception and a section of the literature, reliance on online news sources for political information is the strongest positive media influence on political knowledge for two of the three types of political knowledge, while age, gender and education are strong influencers on knowledge across all types.
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    Women in the Office: MP Staff in Canada
    (2019-08-23) Cloutier, Meagan Nicole; Thomas, Melanee; Franceschet, Susan; Young, Lisa
    In Canadian political science, Member of Parliaments’ (MP) staff are rarely studied. When mentioned, research only examines staff in relation to MPs’ interaction with their constituency office. As an understudied, poorly understood group, this thesis investigates who works for an MP and why they do so. I argue MP staff are important to study due to their direct interaction with constituents dealing with federal government issues. Using two unique datasets, – the Government Electronic Directory Services dataset and data collected in November and December 2018 from a survey of MPs’ employees across Canada - this study addresses four main research questions: who works for an MP and why; who uses their staff position to advance their political ambition; what are the main benefits and drawbacks for working for an MP; and how are these processes gendered? Results show that across Canada, regardless of political party, the gender of the MP and region, more women are employed by MPs than men. Helping constituents and their communities are rewarding aspects of working for an MP, though women report different, more rational motivations for their work than do men. Staff report poor office management, long hours, and low compensation as consistent drawbacks. Approximately one in four staff experience harassment within their jobs, the majority being women. As a starting point, this thesis aims to ignite future research about staff’s role in representation in Canada, our understanding of how gender influences this process, and staff’s overall involvement in Canadian politics.