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Political Science General

Governments, Parties, and Public Sector Employees

Canada, United States, Britain, and France

by (author) André Blais & Donald E. Blake

Publisher
McGill-Queen's University Press
Initial publish date
Jun 1997
Category
General
  • Paperback / softback

    ISBN
    9780773516960
    Publish Date
    Jun 1997
    List Price
    $37.95
  • Hardback

    ISBN
    9780773516953
    Publish Date
    Jun 1997
    List Price
    $110.00
  • eBook

    ISBN
    9780773580947
    Publish Date
    Jun 1997
    List Price
    $95.00

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Description

Public sector employees, as part of both society and government, offer an excellent case study to test the autonomy of politics from society. After rigorous research, André Blais, Donald E. Blake, and Stéphane Dion confirm that in the great majority of cases the Left is indeed more generous to employees than the Right, with some unusual and provocative exceptions. There is an alliance, albeit a loose one, between public sector employees and the Left, an alliance consistent over time in Europe and North America.

Governments, Parties, and Public Sector Employees also shows that when the Left has to choose between more employment and higher wages for public employees, it tends to choose the former, suggesting that ideology is more important than supporters' pressures in inducing party divergence.

About the authors

Andr� Blais is Professor of Political Science and Canada Research Chair in Electoral Studies at the Universit� de Montr�al.

André Blais' profile page

Donald E. Blake's profile page

Editorial Reviews

"This is a solid piece of comparative analysis. Rather than just supporting conventional wisdom, [the authors] find enough odd cases, nuances, and surprises to fully justify their analysis as something new and very interesting. Its combination of accessibility and solid social science should make this book useful to both advanced undergraduates, the informed public, and the social science community." David Loweny, University of North Carolina