Nunavut: Rethinking Political Culture explores the complex processes at work in the generation of political cultures. Drawing upon extensive fieldwork and quantitative analysis, it provides the first systematic, empirical study of political life in Nunavut, offering comprehensive analysis of the evolving nature of aboriginal self-government in the Arctic and shedding crucial light on Inuit–non-Inuit relations.

Political culture in Nunavut has long been characterized by different approaches to political life: traditional Inuit attitudes toward governance, federal aspirations for the political integration of Inuit, and territorial strategies for institutional development. Ailsa Henderson links these features to contemporary political attitudes and behaviour, concluding that a distinctive political culture is emerging in Nunavut.

Original and provocative, Nunavut explores political attitudes, behaviour, and institutions in Nunavut before, during, and after the creation of the new territory, challenging our understandings of how political cultures are generated and sustained.

This book will appeal to political scientists, sociologists, and others interested in culture and politics, Aboriginal studies, and northern development.

Ailsa Henderson is professor of political science at the University of Edinburgh and the author of Hierarchies of Belonging: National Identity and Political Culture in Scotland and Quebec.

Ailsa Henderson's profile page

• Short-listed, Donald Smiley Prize, Canadian Political Science Association

This is a pioneer text tracing the shaping of a new political entity. It will be a useful source of material on indigenous governance. Lawyers working in the field of aboriginal affairs will find it to be a guideline for them in Inuit to Non Inuit relations.

Barrister, Issue 87

Ailsa Henderson’s Nunavut: Rethinking Political Culture is an exemplary work asking the question of how well a population with set attitudes and behaviours copes with having institutions foisted upon them over a short period of time. […] The author makes a convincing case that the mismatch of institutions and political culture continues to have ramifications for the peoples and governance of Nunavut. […] For those interested in the political life of Canada’s Arctic population, decentralisation, and the interconnectedness of institutional design and political behavior, Ailsa Henderson’s Nunavut: Rethinking Political Culture is a worthy addition to the bookshelf.

British Journal of Canadian Studies, Vol. 21.2, Autumn 2008

This is a pioneer text on the shaping of political life in Nunavut as a new political entity. It will be a useful source of material on indigenous self-governance. Lawyers working in the field of aboriginal affairs will be pleased on the commentary provided on Inuit and non-Inuit relations.

Verdict, Issue 116