Corruption, Underdevelopment and the State

Abstract

The nature of Canadian democracy is constantly changing as the roles of citizens and government are redefined and their relationships to each other are reconceived. Recent trends in governance have engendered among citizens a lack of trust in political institutions and a lack of engagement in political affairs; these sentiments have resulted in what has been named a ‘democratic deficit’ by many scholars. This paper begins by examining various interpretations of the democratic deficit in order to determine a comprehensive understanding of the problem as it applies to the Canadian context. Not only do these perspectives point to an institutional deficit at the local level, but they also produce a set of criteria for evaluating successful citizen engagement processes. These criteria are then applied to evaluate specific institutional reforms that have been implemented at the local level in an attempt to reduce the democratic deficit. The shortcomings of these reforms reveal an additional principle necessary for genuine citizen engagement at the local level: a corresponding devolution of political power and authority. To support this conclusion, current political, structural, and financial limitations on municipal powers are detailed. Therefore, this paper argues that Canada’s ‘democratic deficit’ can be significantly decreased by enhancing the ability of local institutions to facilitate and encourage genuine citizen engagement in the political arena.