In Search of Political Stability: Comparative Study of New Brunswick and Northern Ireland by Edmund A. Aunger (review)

230 THE CANADIAN HISTORICAL REVIEW addressed the 'transformation of Canadians' and the creation of'a new cosmos' in its Canadian context. Forthosewhodeplorecreeping Thompsonian culturalism andtheimportationof foreignmodels, then,adose of Pentland maybejustwhatthese doctors should orderup asacurefor theirapoplectic reaction towhathasbeenrather incorrectlydubbedthe 'new'labour history.Instead,Pentland's name has recently beenhauledupbeforethereadersof thisreviewtopillorystudies that drawuponinsights firstarticulated in'LabourandIndustrialCapitalism.' KennethMcNaughttakesideasgleanedfrom Pentland's •968reporttotheTask Forceon Labour Relationsand suggests that the only meaningfulpursuits withinlabourhistorycentreondevelopments thathavetakenplacesince the mid-•93os.The authorof Labour andCapital in Canada wouldalmostcertainly have agreedthat the studyof socialdemocraticleadershipof the workers' movement, the evolution of collective bargaining structures,and the emergenceof variousreforms affectinglabour are areasof vital concern demandingscholarlytreatment.But H. Clare Pentland,who spentfifteen yearsof hislife probingtheeighteenth andearlynineteenth centuries (anda further fifteenyearsreconsidering hisinterpretations), wouldnotlikelyhave takenkindlytothesuggestion thattheseissues, andthesealone,encompass the experience of labour.He wastoomuchthe historianto accept theboundaries McNaughterectsaroundthe 'acceptable' fieldsof labourhistory;he wastoo muchthedissident, andhadbeentoolongatbreakingdownsuchbarriersto understanding, to acceptpassively the throwingup of suchcrudeideological fences. BRYAN D.PALMER Simon Fraser University In Search ofPolitical Stability: Comparative Study ofNewBrunswick andNorthern Ireland.EDMUND A.AUNCER. Montreal,McGill-Queen's Unversity Press, •98•. Pp.xiv,224.$2• .95cloth. New Brunswick and Northern Ireland share a number of social characteristics. Bothare Britishprovinces createdin the imperialinterest.Bothare cultural frontiersof empire.Historically, eachhashadamajoritywhichprideditselfon beingpart of a BritishProtestant civilization anda minoritywhichfoundno placefor itselfinsuchacivilization. Yet,despite these similarities, thepolitical behaviourofthetwocommunities hasbeenverydifferent.In thisstudyProfessorAungerfirstmeasures thedegreeof politicalstability, usingthecategories of durability,legitimacy, efficacy, and civilorder, and determines that New Brunswick emerges asoneofthemoststable communities inthewestern world whileNorthern Ireland,notsurprisingly, emerges neartheopposite pole.The bodyof the studyisdevotedto discovering the reasonfor thesedifferences. Ethnic,religious, andclass cleavages inthetwocommunities areexamined asis REVIEWS 251 themannerin whichthe politicalculturesof thetwosocieties haveresponded to the cleavages. Aunger concludes that while both communitiesare fragmented ,theethnicandclass divisions in Northern Ireland arecongruentwith the Protestant-Catholic cleavage; in New Brunswick bothreligiousandclass cleavages cut across the English-French divide.A further vital differenceis foundintheauthorityexercised bythepolitical6litesin thetwoprovinces: the New Brunswick 6liteeffectivelydictates policyto itsconstituencies whileits Irishcounterpart isacaptive toitsconstituencies. It isdifficultto quarrelwith eitherof thesegeneralizations in thecontextof the presentsituationin the twocommunities, but historians will feel uncomfortableaboutaccepting suchbroadgeneralstatements astheexplanation of a century's experiencein two complexsocieties. For despitetheir seeming similarities, Northern Ireland and New Brunswickare in factquitedissimilar communities. The factthat makesthe cleavages of Northern Ireland socongruentwith theculturaldivisions of thesociety isthe paranoiaon the part of theProtestant majoritythattheywillbeconsumed bytheCatholicRepublic of Ireland,afatesorepugnantthatmuchofthepopulationisactually preparedto killandbekilledinanefforttoprevent itsrealization. ButwhereistheCatholic republicthat threatensthe culture of the ProtestantNew Brunwickers? An independentQuebecmight conceivably play this role, but it is difficult to imaginea comparable fear of, say,New England,or an Ontario-dominated Canada. Anotherproblemconcerns thecategories usedbytheauthor.Tobalancethe Protestant-Catholic dichotomy of Northern Ireland, a Loyalist-Acadian dichotomyiscreatedfor New Brunswick. All New Brunswickers falleitherinto an'Englishsubculture' or a French.Suchaninterpretationdoesgreatviolence tothesocial andpolitical realities of theprovince overthepastcentury. Traditionally ,Irish Catholics haveplayedmanyrolesin the life of New Brunswick but theyhaveno more beenpart of the 'Englishsubculture'than havetheir counterparts in Northern Ireland. Until recentlyreligionwasa strongertie than ethnicity and it was the Irish who spoke for Catholicismin New Brunswick.Historically, politicalleadershipof both major partieshasbeen dominated byProtestants, whohavegivendueregard,atleastafter•87•, tothe sensibilities of the IrishCatholiccommunity. It wasonlywiththevictoryof L.J. Robichaud in •96othattheAcadianpeople cametoplayasignificant roleinthe political lifeoftheprovince. Anyattempttoequatethepolitical assumptions of the Northern Irish Catholic with those of the Acadians is doomed to failure. Evenwereone ableto speakof all francophoneNew Brunswickers as'Acadians ,'thereislittle evidence to suggest that theyhavetradtionallyactedto overthrowthe existingconstitutional arrangements,or, despitethe unfortunateincidents in •755-6,thattheyhaveevenopenlyoffendedanglophone sensibilities concerningloyalty and the British connection.The Acadians appearamostunlikelysetof revolutionaries atanytime. 232 THE CANADIAN HISTORICAL REVIEW In Search of Political Stability providesthe reader with an overviewof the literature of the politicalculture of Northern Ireland and New Brunswick. Unfortunately, theNewBrunswick literatureissparse andtheauthorisunable todealadequately withquestions whichheraises. •r.w.^cI-IESO• University ofNewBrunswick Constitution-making: Principles, Process, Practice. Er•w^Rr> MCWHINNEY. Toronto, UniversityofTorontoPress, •98•. Pp.xiv,23•. $2o.oo. Despite thefortuitous timing,thisbookisnotprimarilyintended asacontribution to the Canadanconstitutional debate.Professor McWhinney's concerns are sketched on a muchlargercanvas. The casual sweep of hiscommentaryis breathtaking, ashecovers thewholeperiodof modernconstitutionalism from the'firstwave'ofthelateeighteenth centurytothepresent day,andhisexamplesareaslikelytobepluckedfrom theChineseConstitution of •978 asfrom theAmericanConstitution or theGermanGrundgesetz. The bookbreaks intoanumberof clearlydefinedparts. The firstestablishes thegeneralgrounds ofthediscussion, layingouttheideaofconstitutionalism (chapter•), and then ranging quicklyover suchquestions as'constituent power' (chapter2), 'the constitution-makers' (chapter3), and 'the art of constitution-making' (chapter 4).The second section deals withbasic problems confronting contemporary constitution-makers: strongexecutive or strong legislature (chapter5), federalism/regionalism (chapter 6...