Statecraft

While this book focuses on the management of cabinet, Azzi and Dutil provide clear explanations of the other statecraft functions, which allows the reader to understand and assess how well prime ministers perform in those areas, too.

This collection, though written by a range of political and historical scholars, takes a strongly coordinated historical approach to establishing a dialogue on the nature of Canadian cabinet governance. It showcases how the Canadian system inevitably favours pragmatism and decisiveness as the qualities that determine successful political leadership. We see how identity politics is far from a recent addition to the cabinet appointment process — though earlier considerations of religious representation have yielded to those of gender and race, while regional and linguistic representation remain consistent priorities, reflecting each government’s various policy priorities and voting bases.

Rather than providing an overarching narrative to explain the development of Canadian cabinet governance, Statecraft emphasizes each prime minister’s unique circumstances and governing style. The book provides a functional insight into the ever-shifting yet consistently complex political context that’s given rise to Canada’s unique approach to cabinet government.