Quasi-Democracy

In Quasi-Democracy? David Stewart and Keith Archer examine political parties and leadership selection in Alberta using mail-back surveys administered to voters who participated in the Conservative, Liberal, and NDP leadership elections of the 1990s. Leadership selection events, they contend, provide rare opportunities for observing the internal workings of the parties and people who "stand between the politicians and the electorate." Using participant accounts and material from the media, the authors analyze the factors that influence leadership selection in each party, develop attitudinal profiles of the supporters of the parties, and examine the party activists with respect to their background in provincial and federal politics.
Quasi-Democracy? will be valuable reading for students and scholars of party democracy and representation, and for those interested in the intricate machinations of the political process in Alberta.

David K. Stewart is a member of the Department of Political at the University of Alberto.