University of Northern British Columbia: Open Journal Systems
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The Special Council of Lower Canada and the Origin of Canadian Sovereignty
Full text linkTurning to Agamben’s notion of the decision of the “state of exception” as the fundamental act of the sovereign, this article traces the origin of Canadian sovereignty through a legal history of the suspension of habeas corpus in Lower Canada. Building both on the work of Canadianists engaging the political and legal theory of Giorgio Agamben and the work of Canadian historians on the Special Council of Lower Canada, this article demonstrates how Governor Colborne’s declaration of martial law in response to the 1837-1838 rebellions in Lower Canada reveals the genesis-moment of Canadian sovereignty. This historical contextualization of the Special Council fills an important gap in the historiography of the Council, as well as the continental approaches to applied theory in Canadian political science
Brazeau, Robert, and Derek Gladwin. Eco-Joyce: The Environmental Imagination of James Joyce. Cork: Cork University Press, 2014. 329 pp. ISBN: 978-1-78205-072-8.
No full textRetailing and Retelling: Capitalism and Nature in “A monk walks along Orchard Road”
Full text linkAnalysing Rodrigo V. Dela Peña, Jr’s poem “A monk walks along Orchard Road,” this paper argues that Peña’s work characterises Singapore’s Orchard Road as an example of what Edward W. Soja refers to as “Thirdspace.” Contradictory in nature, “Thirdspace” questions the epistemic boundaries between binaristic categories. With Orchard Road, these include ostensible dichotomies such as nature and capitalism, urban and natural, asceticism and desire, and past and present. Such questioning is also reified through formal poetic techniques, including polyvalent images and enjambment, which in turn lead to ideological ambiguity. Focalised through the persona of the monk, this multiplicity of meanings paradoxically embodies both a Buddhist abstinence from desire and a hyper-capitalistic yearning after such desire. Thus, Peña’s poem ultimately depicts the very nature of city space as a realm of epistemic and cross-temporal flux. In Orchard Road, the contemporary, cosmopolitan landscape remains possessed by—and tied to—the imagistic residues of its agrarian past
Foster, John Wilson. Pilgrims of the Air. Devon, UK: Notting Hill Editions, 2014. Print.
No full textDesign Research and Practice for the Public Good: A Reflection
Full text linkPublic sector managers and policymakers have begun to work with design researchers and design practitioners in an effort to create citi- zen-centric polices and user-centered public services. What role can design play in the approach taken by the public sector in organizational develop- ment and innovation? This paper reflects on an innovation project at a Bra- zilian Ministry where human-centered design was chosen as an approach to integrate innovation efforts among different government agencies and ministries. It offers an example of how human-centered design approaches can support efforts by civil servants to change their own design practices
Regulation crash-test: applying serious games to policy design
Full text linkSuccessful policy solutions rely on policy addressees responding in certain ways. Policy designers need an analytical method that allows them to anticipate impact of a new intervention, while tak- ing into account bounded rationality of policy actors and sociopo- litical complexity. The article proposes using serious games at the stage of policy formulation to test the architecture of a new regulation in a safe environment. It provides a blueprint for using games in policy design, consisting of conceptual framework, design procedure, and techniques for strengthening game valid- ity. The application is illustrated with an example of a draft regu- lation on rural transport in Poland. The case study points out three advantages of game method: (1) revealing mechanisms trig- gered by the architecture of regulation, meaning actors’ initial assumptions, decisions, and feedback loops created by actors’ responses, (2) demonstrating the consequences of mechanisms over time, that in real life would occur with a long delay, and (3) creating a risk-free environment where policy actors can verify their assumptions and experiment with ways of interpreting and responding to new regulation. The article concludes that serious games are a promising method for anticipating impact of complex policy regulation
Feder, Helena. Ecocriticism and the Idea of Culture: Biology and the Bildungsroman. Burlington: Ashgate Publishing Company, 2014. Print.
No full textReview Essay - Democratic Leviathan: Defending First-Past-the-Post in Canada
Full text linkThis review essay examines a number of recent books claiming to offer a defence of Canada's traditonal first past the post voting system. The works can be divided into two camps, one Conservative, the other liberal, though their logic, arguments, and evidence are surprisingly similar. Through a detailed engagement with each work, this review argues that both versions ultimately defend first past the post as an effective ‘democratic leviathan’ in that the voting system tends to produce a strong, single party legislative majority government that can rule unhindered while it remains in office. Thus, for these authors, considerations of stability and legislative efficiency trump all other concerns e.g. representation, diversity, majority rule, electoral competitiveness, etc. However, in making their case, the contributors largely fail to seriously engage opposing views or the relevant academic literatures, particularly relevant Canadian work
Piper, Karen. The Price of Thirst: Global Water Inequality and the Coming Chaos. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 2014.
No full textImagining Oneness: Charting Ecological Currents in Edwin Thumboo’s Poetry
Full text linkEco-poetry is a special kind of expression that effects an imaginative unification of the human mind and the more-than-human natural world, thereby leading/guiding the former to an alternative way of being in the world. It is an efficient system for evoking the feelings of a community. It is also an artwork that evinces the interrelatedness of all life forms and preservation of landscapes. Keeping this in view, the paper examines the unexplored poems of Edwin Thumboo to accentuate how these serve the aforementioned functions, despite the inconsistencies in the poet’s ecosophy, that is, his representation of nature as an independent, healthy place, and having spiritual significance. It discusses Thumboo’s continuous engagement with the more-than-human natural world: his identification with other life forms, expression of concern for non-human spaces, and representation of viable ecological communities in his poetry