Speechwriters : performing politics in documentary

What role do speechwriters play in Canadian Federal politics? How do they affect the political process? In what ways do they influence how we imagine and articulate ideas? How much of the words spoken in parliament are those of the politician and how much are those of the speechwriter? Speechwriters is a short documentary film that explores the above questions with humour, criticism, and sincerity. This paper explores these topic by discussing notions of performativity in both the political arena and the documentary film tradition.

Speechwriters : performing politics in documentary

What role do speechwriters play in Canadian Federal politics? How do they affect the political process? In what ways do they influence how we imagine and articulate ideas? How much of the words spoken in parliament are those of the politician and how much are those of the speechwriter? Speechwriters is a short documentary film that explores the above questions with humour, criticism, and sincerity. This paper explores these topic by discussing notions of performativity in both the political arena and the documentary film tradition.

Wielding Power in the Capital

Delhi’s electricity sector represents a case of privatization in the face of electoral populism. Publicly-supported privatization-based reform, introduced by the Congress government, yielded some service quality gains to customers and political advantage to the government. However, these reforms also sowed the seeds of future discontent by introducing tension between the credibility of reforms and that of the regulator. Reforms became politically unpopular, as the public was mobilized to protest tariff hikes and question the gains from reform. Moreover, financial pressures rose as a result of two forces: growing regulatory assets allowed by the regulator as a way of staving off tariff increases and increases in power purchase costs due to imprudent contract lock-in. A new AAP in government sought consumer gains through transparency-focused reform along with targeted subsidies, but this fell afoul of Delhi’s federal politics. Reform allowed Delhi to change the equation between politics and electricity, but not in a manner that was sustainable.

Canada asylum pressures may bring political friction

Subject Asylum-seekers and Canada. Significance After an uptick in asylum claims in recent months, including via the United States, asylum policy is likely to feature more heavily in Canadian state and federal politics. Impacts New migrant flows to Canada will likely be triggered as the US government reduces its grants of Temporary Protected Status. Quebec’s government will face off against the Ottawa federal government over responsibility for new migrant arrivals. Ottawa and Washington will likely eventually update the Safe Third Country Agreement, but this could require bargaining. Canada may invest more in border policing and associated technologies.

Social Media in Australian Federal Elections: Comparing the 2013 and 2016 Campaigns

Against a backdrop of substantial and persistent disruption in Australian federal politics, this article examines the uses of Twitter in campaigning in the 2013 and 2016 federal elections. We comprehensively tracked the tweets posted by, and directed at, all candidates during the final 2 weeks of these campaigns, and compare patterns in candidate and audience activity across the two elections. This documents considerable shifts in campaigning strategies, electorate responses, and central themes of the debate from 2013 to 2016; we show that these shifts are in line with the changing electoral fortunes of Australia’s major party blocs during an exceptionally tumultuous period in federal politics.

The Political Representation of Asian-Australian Populations since the End of White Australia

The racial and ethnic landscape in Australia has changed markedly since the beginning of the postwar migration period in which migrants arrived from Europe, and later from Asia in the late 1970s. While Australians with European ancestry have gradually made it into state and federal parliament, there has been less visibility for Australians of Asian descent. This article provides an overview of demographic migration trends and levels of Asian-Australian political representation in state and federal politics, drawing on data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics and parliamentary websites. In doing so, we reflect on why political representation of Asian-Australian populations appears to be lagging so far behind.