Les citoyens et le fédéralisme. Perceptions et préférences fédérales en Belgique et au Canada

This doctoral dissertation aims at studying the relationships between the perceptions of federalism and the preferences for its future, through deliberative citizens panels which offer beter informed opinions and through a comparison of four fields of investigation whose dynamics converge and diverge. The rationale of this endeavour is twofold. On the one hand, studies – which are usually quantitative – on the opinions about federalism focus mainly on a few dimensions, leaving aside a deeper investigation of all the factors at stake. A qualitative approach may therefore offer a more comprehensive understanding of the relations between perceptions and preferences. On the other hand, such an analysis of the citizens’ opinions and especially of the diversity of their positions on this issue bears the potential to shed light on the federal dynamics in their country. This endeavour seems even more fruitful that it compares four political contexts where the future of federalism is persistently a hot topic. To fulfil this objective, a specific method – the deliberative citizens panels – was developed in order to collect beter informed opinions through a dual process of information and interaction, across the four different fields: Liège in French-speaking Belgium, Antwerp in Dutch-speaking Belgium, Kingston in English-Canada and Montréal in Québec. To do so, the thesis is divided in three parts. The first part puts forward the general and the methodological framework of the research. Thus, chapter 1 presents the origins, the formation and the evolution of federalism in Belgium and in Canada. On this background, chapter 2 builds the method and the methodology behind the deliberative citizens panels. The second part explores each specific field in order to draw from the empirical data several ideal types which summarize the different visions of federalism. Chapters 3 and 4 present the results respectively of the French-speaking Belgium panel and the Dutch-speaking Belgium panel while chapters 5 and 6 analyze the data gathered in the English-speaking Canada panel and the Québec panel. The third and last part concludes the dissertation. Chapter 7 compares the ideal types and offers a rich four-faced comparison. The conclusions assess the methodology of the research as well as its results. Finally, on this basis, new avenues of research are highlighted.

Grantor dc:publisher

ULiège - Université de Liège

Year dc:date

2010

Author dc:creator

• Reuchamps, Min

Contributors dc:contributor

• Fournier, Bernard

• Federalism
• Belgium
• Canada
• Citizens
• Fédéralisme
• Belgique
• Citoyens
• Social & behavioral sciences, psychology
• Sociology & social sciences
• Law, criminology & political science
• Political science, public administration & international relations
• Sciences sociales & comportementales, psychologie
• Sociologie & sciences sociales
• Droit, criminologie & sciences politiques
• Sciences politiques, administration publique & relations internationales

Statement dc:rights

• open access
• info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess

Licence

• http://purl.org/coar/access_right/c_abf2

Language dc:language

fr

Identifier

info:hdl:2268/61155

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:orbi.ulg.ac.be:2268/61155