Posters

P01 - Poster Sessions - Group 1

Date: May 30 | Time: 08:45am to 10:15am | Location: Laboratory - LB 142 - Lab Café Room ID:15688

Judges/Juges: : Frédéric Bastien (Université de Montréal) / Joshua D Goldstein (University of Calgary) / Tamara Small (University of Guelph)

CPSA Poster Prize - Terms of Reference
Prix de l’ACSP pour une présentation visuelle - Mandat

Technological Nationalism in Contemporary Canada: Pipeline Politics in the Age of Neoliberalism and Indigenous Resurgence: Miranda Leibel (Carleton University)
Abstract: This research explores the theory of technological nationalism, which argues that the Canadian nation and the Canadian state are politically constituted and mediated through technology (Charland 1986). I am interested in the relevance of technological nationalism in the age of pipeline expansion, neoliberalism, and Indigenous resurgence. Specifically, my project asks: Can the theoretical frame of technological nationalism offer insight into contemporary pipeline politics in Canada? I undertake a Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) of responses to the Kinder Morgan Trans Mountain Pipeline, focused on three standpoint positions: those of the Federal Government, those of Kinder Morgan, and those of Indigenous activists. In this CDA, I am interested in examining discourses of nation, national belonging, and sovereignty, and how these discourses are uniquely articulated between groups. My analysis of technological nationalism is twofold, focusing on both economic and communication technologies. I understand pipelines as a form of economic technology, whereas the communication technology examined is the various media used by different agents to communicate, organize, and promote their visions of nation. This includes websites, YouTube videos, webinars, and social media. I have three main sources for my CDA: Trudeau’s speeches, the Kinder Morgan TrnsMtn project YouTube page, and the Pull Together activist online hub. I propose that Charland’s connections between technology and Canada are crucial, but I reframe these connections as technological sovereignty. By returning to the theoretical frame of technological nationalism, this paper centers pipeline development, contemporary neoliberal politics, and questions of decolonization within the historical trajectory of Canadian political economy.

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Government and NGO Use of Information Communication Technologies to Promote Popular Participation in Domestic Politics in Ghana and Uganda: Pamela Simpson (Queen's University)
Abstract: This paper seeks to answer the question of what factors in ICT initiatives lead to the successes or failures of government and NGOs in Ghana and Uganda in engaging popular participation in politics. Beginning by engaging with literature examining NGOs operations promoting popular participation, and ICT growth in Uganda and Ghana creates the base for analyzing the effectiveness of ICT initiatives undertaken by the NGOs in the case study. The paper focuses on six domestic and one international NGO looking to promote popular participation in the democratic process in both countries. The state-sanctioned electoral commissions are used as a comparison to the NGOs for each country, demonstrating how maximum resources, mobility, and accessibility can be utilized for promoting voter turnout and education. The NGOS are evaluated on their ability to exhibit accountability and transparency to the regions they operate, number of socio-political initiatives, use of ICT in employing these initiatives, and financial resource mobilization. The paper will qualitatively compare these initiatives, looking to voter turnout by region, and local engagement with the NGOs’ projects. The paper concludes that local NGOs operating with ICT driven initiatives engage a larger audience in more districts through targeted projects designed to promote popular participation. Should international organizations donate to promote popular participation in Uganda and Ghana, local NGOs with more ICT initiatives and previous successful projects are the most effective domestic resource.

“When You’re Finished Strategic Voting, Dinner’s Ready”: Assessing Representations of Canadian Voters in Editorial Cartoons During the 2015 Federal Election: Wilissa Reist (University of Alberta)
Abstract: This study explores the relationship between masculinity, femininity and political agency during the 2015 Canadian federal election. It uses the gendered mediation thesis to develop an understanding of how voters are incorporated into the gendered narrative of Canadian politics. Gendered mediation demonstrates that media representations of political life favour masculine leadership traits and subvert the authority of women. While considerable research exists on the presentations of individual politicians, little attention has been paid to how voters are integrated into this gendered political narrative. In this project, I conduct a content and discourse analysis of Canadian voters in Canadian editorial cartoons during the 2015 federal election. A total of 124 cartoons from 16 different Canadian newspapers were assessed. The following question guides this research, to what extent does the gendered mediation thesis apply to contemporary portrayals of voters in Canadian political cartoons? The findings reveal that the stereotyped imagery regularly used by the media to discuss female politicians is also applied to female voters. Cartoonists consistently used images of the submissive women and the politically unengaged women to show female voters. Women voters speak less in political cartoons and are also shown dependent on men to interpret the election for them. Through this analysis, I argue that representations of voters in political cartoons normalize an acceptance of masculine-style politics and subvert the autonomy and agency of women within politics.

988.Reist.pdf

Discrimination and Social Exclusion in Educational Policy: Assessing the Integration Challenges of the Somali-Canadian Community in Toronto: Abdiasis Issa (Queen's University), Pamela Simpson (Queen's University)
Abstract: This paper examines the socio-economic circumstances that have led to the social exclusion of the Somali-Canadian community living in Toronto. It explores contemporary challenges including the disproportionately high homicide rate, and unemployment and patterns of marginalization, and demonstrates how it can be traced back to discriminatory education policies. Building on a diverse set of scholarship and literature, including a recent research project undertaken by one of the authors, this paper will argue that contemporary sources of social exclusion are primarily due to exclusionary effects of discriminatory educational institutions. The paper contributes to the existing scholarly literature by exploring how perverse forms of deliberate streaming, ethnic grading, and discriminatory ‘zero-tolerance’ policies have negated the educational and enrichment opportunities of Somali youth, effectively excluding a generation of youth from schools. Utilizing process-tracing, this paper demonstrates how these discriminatory practices in the Toronto educational system have created and recreated barriers to integration and have contributed to the further marginalization of an already vulnerable community. Ultimately, this paper seeks to demonstrate how social exclusion of minority communities poses a threat to democracy, particularly given recent trends of polarization across North America and Europe. Lastly, this paper calls for using the ‘lived-experiences’ of the Somali-Canadian community in the Toronto education system to inform better public policy. We conclude that if these issue go unaddressed, very serious pushback from multiple channels may lead to conflictual relations between Somali-Canadians and the wider Toronto community.

1115.Issa.Simpson.pdf

Resetting The Authoritarian Clock: Instability And Il(Liberalizing) Politics In Post-Mubarak Egypt: Ahmed Khattab (Georgetown University)
Abstract: The Cold War’s end coincided with a surge in regimes that intertwined authoritarian and democratic patterns of behavior. Scholars have attempted to theorize how these regimes prolonged their survival through a combination of liberalization and repression strategies. Yet, it is increasingly important to consider when such alternation in tactics might become disadvantageous. While autocratic practices often erode formal and informal channels of political competition, they arguably remain fruitful for the robustness of hybrid regimes. Yet, empirical evidence suggests that major political instability and its ramifications induces a strong shift away from semi-authoritarianism towards full autocracy. Hybrid regimes that do not encounter major political instability continue to tolerate oppositional activity within a controlled and contained political space. Conversely, these regimes find it increasingly easier and arguably popular to suppress political liberalization when confronted by major political instability. This research would compare Egypt's 2008 and 2012 World Values Survey responses, measuring major political (in)stability by observing levels of ministerial cabinet turnover, average daily protest rate, and incidence of political violence, while using indicators and tracing toleration of oppositional activity to observe political liberalization. This allows for a closer examination of why a gradual resurgence in political stability fails to resurrect limited political liberalization.

1180.Khattab.pdf