University of Northern British Columbia: Open Journal Systems
Not a member yet
560 research outputs found
Sort by
Thawing the tuition freeze: The politics of policy change in comparative perspective
Full text linkThis study examines the process by which two provinces made major change in tuition policies in Canada. The approach uses two alternative theories of policy change, the advocacy coalition framework and multiple streams of problems, policies, and politics. Using purposive sampling, the two cases selected were from British Columbia and Manitoba, and data were collected through systematic investigation using two key research tools: content analysis of relevant documentary materials and interviews of policy actors
Different Shades of Green: African Literature, Environmental Justice, and Political Ecology
No full textA virtual environment for the formulation of policy packages
Full text linkThe interdependence and complexity of socio-technical systems and availability of a wide variety of policy measures to address policy problems make the process of policy formula- tion difficult. In order to formulate sustainable and efficient transport policies, develop- ment of new tools and techniques is necessary. One of the approaches gaining ground is policy packaging, which shifts focus from implementation of individual policy measures to implementation of combinations of measures with the aim of increasing efficiency and effectiveness of policy interventions by increasing synergies and reducing potential contradictions among policy measures. In this paper, we describe the development of a vir- tual environment for the exploration and analysis of different configurations of policy mea- sures in order to build policy packages. By developing systematic approaches it is possible to examine more alternatives at a greater depth, decrease the time required for the overall analysis, provide real-time assessment and feedback on the effect of changes in the config- urations, and ultimately form more effective policies. The results from this research dem- onstrate the usefulness of computational approaches in addressing the complexity inherent in the formulation of policy packages. This new approach has been applied to the formulation of policies to advance sustainable transportation
Design Thinking for Social Innovation
Full text linkDESIGNERS HAVE TRADIIONALLY FOCUSED ON ENHANCING THE LOOK AND FUNCTIONALITY OF PRODUCTS. RECENTLY, THEY HAVE BEGUN USING DESIGN TOOLS TO TACKLE MORE COMPLEX PROBLEMS, SUCH AS FINDING WAYS TO PROVIDE LOW-COST HEALTH CARE THROUGHOUT THE WORLD. BUSINESSES WERE FIRST TO EMBRACE THIS NEW APPROACH—CALLED DESIGN THINKING—NOW NONPROFITS ARE BEGINNING TO ADOPT IT TOO
Better by design: Rethinking interventions for better environmental regulation
Full text linkBetter regulation seeks to extend existing policy and regulatory outcomes at less burden for the actors involved. No single intervention will deliver all environmental outcomes. There is a paucity of evidence on what works why, when and with whom. We examine how a sample (n=33) of policy makers select policy and regulatory instruments, through a case study of the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra), UK. Policy makers have a wide range of instruments at their disposal and are seeking ways to harness the influence of non-governmental resources to encourage good environmental behaviour. The relevance of each influence varies as risk and industry characteristics vary between policy areas. A recent typology of policy and regulatory instruments has been refined. Direct regulation is considered necessary in many areas, to reduce environmental risks with confidence and to tackle poor environmental performance. Co-regulatory approaches may provide important advantages to help accommodate uncertainty for emerging policy problems, providing a mechanism to develop trusted evidence and to refine objectives as problems are better understood
Newfoundland and Labrador Votes: An Account of the Determinants of Vote Choice in the 2011 Election
Full text linkThe 2011 Newfoundland and Labrador election would mark a turning point in provincial politics. The exit of the extraordinarily popular former premier, Danny Williams, in the year prior to the contest guaranteed that the election would, at a minimum, diverge from the pattern set in recent years. Equally significant, Williams’ successor, Kathy Dunderdale, is a historic figure: she is the first woman to lead the province and one of only six women ever to hold the top office in a Canadian province. We give an account of the determinants of the vote decision in the 2011 election. We conclude that a fairly standard set of demographic and long-term dispositional influences were highly influential in voters’ choices. At the same time, our analysis suggests that strategic considerations – especially concerning the Liberals and NDP – are critical to an understanding of the final outcome
Not Quite the Death of Organized Feminism in Canada: Understanding the Demise of the National Action Committee on the Status of Women
Full text linkIn the mid-1980s the National Action Committee on the Status of Women (NAC) was considered the main “face” of the Canadian women’s movement and a major player in Canadian politics. However, by the end of the decade, NAC began losing crucial federal funding and suffered internal divisions amongst member groups. By the 2000s, NAC slowly became a less relevant feminist political advocate and has since completely disappeared from Canadian politics. This paper explains the decline and disappearance of NAC from the 1980s to the present day to help understand the state of the national-level women’s movement in Canada. Drawing largely on the political opportunity structure approach and a neo-institutional focus on changes in federalism and the rise of neoliberal ideas in Canada, the paper argues with NAC gone, opportunities for the emergence of a new national voice for Canadian women are limited at best. Even though this does not in and of itself signify an end to organized feminism in the country, it does not bode well for the health of the national-level women’s movement
Priming the Voter: Assessing the Implications of Economic Perceptions on Evaluations of Leaders and Parties
Full text linkThis article examines the effects of economic perceptions on party leader evaluations and on the overall feelings of voters towards the various parties contesting the election. We find that positive feelings towards incumbent parties and premiers and negative feelings towards the primary opposition parties and their leaders increase when voters feel that the provincial economy is strong. However, such ‘sociotropic’ economic perceptions do not affect feelings towards third parties and their leaders. In this sense, economic perceptions are important for the battle between the governing party and its primary challenger: they prime voters to like either the incumbent party and Premier, or like the government-in-waiting and the Premier-in-waiting. On the other hand, voters’ evaluations of third parties and their leaders seem to be based on factors other than economic perceptions
The Accuracy of Public Polls in Provincial Elections
Full text linkThis study extends work on the accuracy of polls released in the final week of election campaigns in Canada, using data from the nine provincial elections held in Canada between 2011 and 2013 to identify what might affect the accuracy of those polls. Specifically, we attempt to empirically test two arguments - mainly that some methodologies are better than others in measuring voter preferences and that the nature of the election itself might make accurate forecasts more difficult. We find that absolute change in voter turnout was the strongest predictor of polling accuracy. In contrast, sample size, survey mode, or electoral volatility were statistically significant predictors of polling accuracy
