Centrism: Difference between revisions

{{for|the Marxist categorisation|Centrist Marxism}}

{{for|the post-World War II political alliance in Italy|Centrism (Italy)}}

Throughout modern history [[Canadian government]]s at the federal level have governed from a [[moderate]], centrist political position,<ref>{{cite book|author1=Amanda Bittner|author2=Royce Koop|title=Parties, Elections, and the Future of Canadian Politics|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=TdFTCgAAQBAJ&pg=PA300|date=1 March 2013|publisher=UBC Press|isbn=978-0-7748-2411-8|page=300|quote=Domination by the Centre The central anomaly of the Canadian system, and the primary cause of its other peculiarities, has been its historical domination by a party of the centre. In none of the other countries is a centre party even a major player, much less the dominant....}}</ref> practicing "brokerage politics".{{efn| name=politics|Brokerage politics: "A Canadian term for successful [[big tent]] parties that embody a [[Pluralism (political philosophy)|pluralistic]] catch-all approach to appeal to the median Canadian voter ... adopting centrist policies and [[Electoral alliance|electoral coalitions]] to satisfy the short-term preferences of a majority of electors who are not located on the ideological fringe."<ref name="MarlandGiasson2012">{{cite book|first1=Alex |last1=Marland |first2=Thierry |last2=Giasson |first3=Jennifer |last3=Lees-Marshment |title=Political Marketing in Canada|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GSeSaYPa2A4C&pg=PA257|year=2012|publisher=UBC Press|isbn=978-0-7748-2231-2|page=257}}</ref><ref name="CourtneySmith2010">{{cite book|author1=John Courtney|author2=David Smith|title=The Oxford Handbook of Canadian Politics|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5KomEXgxvMcC&pg=PA195|year=2010|publisher=OUP USA|isbn=978-0-19-533535-4|page=195}}</ref>}}<ref name="Brooks2004">{{cite book|first=Stephen |last=Brooks|title=Canadian Democracy: An Introduction|url=https://archive.org/details/canadiandemocrac0000broo_m5a9|url-access=registration |year=2004|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0-19-541806-4|page=[https://archive.org/details/canadiandemocrac0000broo_m5a9/page/265 265]|quote= two historically dominant political parties have avoided ideological appeals in favour of a flexible centrist style of politics that is often labelled "brokerage politics"}}</ref><ref name="Johnson2016c">{{cite book|first=David |last=Johnson|title=Thinking Government: Public Administration and Politics in Canada, Fourth Edition|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=I_HzDQAAQBAJ&pg=PA13|year=2016|publisher=University of Toronto Press|isbn=978-1-4426-3521-0|pages=13–23|quote=...most Canadian governments, especially at the federal level, have taken a moderate, centrist approach to decision making, seeking to balance growth, stability, and governmental efficiency and economy...}}</ref><ref name="BaumerGold2015">{{cite book|first1=Donald C. |last1=Baumer|first2=Howard J. |last2=Gold|title=Parties, Polarization and Democracy in the United States|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uBbvCgAAQBAJ&pg=PT152|date= 2015|publisher=Taylor & Francis|isbn=978-1-317-25478-2|page=152}}</ref> Both the [[Liberal Party of Canada]] and the [[Conservative Party of Canada]] (or its [[Conservative Party of Canada#Predecessors|predecessors]]) rely on attracting supports from a broad spectrum of voters.<ref name="Smith2014">{{cite book|first=Miriam |last=Smith|title=Group Politics and Social Movements in Canada: Second Edition|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=iG4rAwAAQBAJ&pg=PA17|year=2014|publisher=University of Toronto Press|isbn=978-1-4426-0695-1|page=17|quote=Canada's party system has long been described as a “brokerage system”  in which the leading parties  (Liberal and Conservative) follow strategies that appeal across major [[Cleavage (politics)|social cleavages]] in an effort to defuse potential tensions.}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Plurality-Majority Electoral Systems: A Review |url=http://www.elections.ca/content.aspx?section=res&dir=rec/fra/sys/courtney&document=courtney&lang=e |website=Elections Canada|quote= First Past the Post in Canada has favoured broadly-based, accommodative, centrist parties...|author=Elections Canada|year=2018}}</ref><ref name="Olive2015c">{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Bvw_CwAAQBAJ&pg=PA55|title=The Canadian Environment in Political Context|author=Andrea Olive|date=2015|publisher=University of Toronto Press|isbn=978-1-4426-0871-9|pages=55–60}}</ref>  The historically predominant Liberals position themselves at the centre of the Canadian political scale being more moderate and centrist than the [[center-right]] Conservative.<ref name="BittnerKoop2013">{{cite book|author1=Amanda Bittner|author2=Royce Koop|title=Parties, Elections, and the Future of Canadian Politics|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=TdFTCgAAQBAJ&pg=PA300|date=1 March 2013|publisher=UBC Press|isbn=978-0-7748-2411-8|pages=300–}}</ref><ref name="BaumerGold2015"/><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/liberal-party|title=Liberal Party |publisher = The Canadian Encyclopedia|year=2015 }}</ref> In the late 1970s, Prime Minister [[Pierre Trudeau|Pierre Elliott Trudeau]] claimed that his Liberal Party of Canada adhered to the "[[Radical centrism|radical center]]".<ref name="Graham">Graham, Ron, ed. (1998).  ''The Essential Trudeau''.  McClelland & Stewart, p.&nbsp;71.  {{ISBN|978-0-7710-8591-8}}.</ref><ref>Thompson, Wayne C. (2017).  ''Canada 2017–2018''.  Rowman & Littlefield, p.&nbsp;135.  {{ISBN|978-1-4758-3510-6}}.</ref> [[Far-right]] and [[far-left]] politics have never been a prominent force in Canadian society.<ref>{{Cite journal | doi=10.1080/13537113.2015.1032033|title = Canadian Multiculturalism and the Absence of the Far Right| journal=Nationalism and Ethnic Politics| volume=21| issue=2| pages=213–236|year = 2015|last1 = Ambrose|first1 = Emma| last2=Mudde| first2=Cas|s2cid = 145773856}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2017/06/27/world/canada/canadas-secret-to-resisting-the-wests-populist-wave.html|title=Canada's Secret to Resisting the West's Populist Wave|newspaper=The New York Times|year=2017|last1=Taub|first1=Amanda}}</ref><ref name="MarlandGiasson2012"/><ref>{{cite journal |title= Left/Right Ideology and Canadian Politics|author= Christopher Cochran|journal= Canadian Journal of Political Science