The Quebec sovereignty referendum of 1995: how not to manage a multinational polity

Abstract

The first part of the article uses a bare tactic‐strategy model to explain the passivity of the Canadian government in the face of Quebec's near approval of the sovereignty option of the 1995 referendum. The second part considers some of the cultural and sociological obstacles to Canada changing its political system to adapt it to the needs of a multinational society. The analysis is restricted to the relations between Quebec and Canada to the exclusion of the problems posed by Indians and Inuit.