The Canadian Theories of Origin and Evolution of Canada’s Political Culture: Critical Analysis

• Main Author: Ilya A. Sokov
• Format: Article
• Language: Russian
• Published: Volgograd State University 2017-03-01
• Series: Vestnik Volgogradskogo Gosudarstvennogo Universiteta. Seriâ 4. Istoriâ, Regionovedenie, Meždunarodnye Otnošeniâ
• Subjects: Canada; Canadian political culture; H. Innis; G. Horowitz; N. Wiseman
• Online Access: http://hfrir.jvolsu.com/index.php/en/component/attachments/download/1331

The author of the article analyzes the most famous Canadian theories of origin and evolution of the Canadian political culture (CPC) during the first half of the 20th century. He marks the weak and strong points of these theories, their contradictions and evaluates these theories. The article also deals with the economic theory of the staples goods of Harold Innis, the theory of the Canadian regional political cultures of G. Horowitz, the theory of wave immigration of Nelson Wiseman. The general defect of these theories consists in the fact that their authors take into account one and only factor as the basic one for constructing the functional and structural scheme of the ideological and the political development in Canada. Besides, the last two theories about the Canadian political culture are based on the historical context and at the same time their construction’s base is represented by the ideological concepts of the American scientists –fragments” by Lous Hartz and “forming events” by Seymour Martin Lipset in the communities of the New World. According to the author, the adoption of these concepts does not only reflect the past historical events but also the current processes in Canada’s political culture. The author concludes that the Canadian political culture is the unique historical phenomenon only for Canada and he also says about that the functional-structural schemes are developed within the individual scientific disciplines. The interdisciplinary approach is necessary for studies of the Canadian political culture, and the development of the original theory is based on the use of the numerous factors of the historical-cultural development of the Canadian society.