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Explaining Aboriginal Turnout in Federal Elections: Evidence from Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba
| Content Provider | Semantic Scholar |
|---|---|
| Author | Harell, Allison Panagos, Dimitrios N. Matthews, Jamaal S. |
| Copyright Year | 2010 |
| Abstract | Widespread and inclusive political participation is a central value for liberal democrats (Dahl 1989). Accordingly, the recent slide—some would say collapse— in voter turnout in Canadian national elections has occasioned much commentary (see, for example, Howe 2004; Blais et al. 2004). Against this backdrop is set the case of turnout among Aboriginal peoples, a group commonly thought to participate at much lower levels than the general electorate (Ladner and McCrossan 2007). For this group, low turnout is an enduring rather than a recent phenomenon. Even so, unlike the case of the broader Canadian electorate, turnout rates among Aboriginal Canadians have rarely been the focus of commentary, much less the focus of sustained empirical investigation. The present paper aims to fill this gap. The analysis draws on data from the Equality, Security, and Community (ESC) survey, which includes both a general population survey and a sample of self-identified Aboriginals living in Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba. These data permit us to shed some light on the nature and sources of Aboriginal turnout. They also allow us to address the question of contrasts between Canada's Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal populations as regards the structure of political participation. Our analysis is motivated by contrasting interpretations of Aboriginal political participation inspired by, on the one hand, the mainstream of research in political behaviour and, on the other hand, the wider literature on Aboriginal politics. The political behaviour interpretation assumes that Aboriginal peoples are, to put it simply, just like other Canadians, at least with regard to the determinants of their political participation. What differs is the level at which Aboriginal peoples are endowed with the various resources (e.g., socio-economic status) that promote voter turnout. The logical consequence of this view is, of course, that if Aboriginals and non-Aboriginals enjoyed equal endowments of “political resources,” then Aboriginals would vote at the same rate as other Canadians. The Aboriginal politics interpretation, in contrast, directs our attention to factors and circumstances uniquely affecting Aboriginal peoples that might account for their lower |
| Starting Page | 3 |
| Ending Page | 3 |
| Page Count | 1 |
| File Format | PDF HTM / HTML |
| Volume Number | 10 |
| Alternate Webpage(s) | https://ir.lib.uwo.ca/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1407&context=aprci&httpsredir=1&referer= |
| Alternate Webpage(s) | http://apr.thompsonbooks.com/vols/APR_Vol_10Ch1.pdf |
| Language | English |
| Access Restriction | Open |
| Content Type | Text |
| Resource Type | Article |
