Calgary School
Encyclopedia
University of Calgary
The University of Calgary is a public research university located in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. Founded in 1966 the U of C is composed of 14 faculties and more than 85 research institutes and centres.More than 25,000 undergraduate and 5,500 graduate students are currently...
’s Political Science
Political science
Political Science is a social science discipline concerned with the study of the state, government and politics. Aristotle defined it as the study of the state. It deals extensively with the theory and practice of politics, and the analysis of political systems and political behavior...
, Economics
Economics
Economics is the social science that analyzes the production, distribution, and consumption of goods and services. The term economics comes from the Ancient Greek from + , hence "rules of the house"...
, and History
History
History is the discovery, collection, organization, and presentation of information about past events. History can also mean the period of time after writing was invented. Scholars who write about history are called historians...
departments in Calgary
Calgary
Calgary is a city in the Province of Alberta, Canada. It is located in the south of the province, in an area of foothills and prairie, approximately east of the front ranges of the Canadian Rockies...
, Alberta
Alberta
Alberta is a province of Canada. It had an estimated population of 3.7 million in 2010 making it the most populous of Canada's three prairie provinces...
, Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
. The term, originally a play on the Chicago school of economics, was coined by American political scientist David Rovinsky.
Members
The School is not an official organization and has no membership list. The first six below were included in the group in an article in The WalrusThe Walrus
The Walrus is a Canadian general interest magazine which publishes long form journalism on Canadian and international affairs, along with fiction and poetry by Canadian writers. It launched in September 2003, as an attempt to create a Canadian equivalent to American magazines such as Harper's, The...
, the rest in a letter by Tom Flanagan to the Literary Review of Canada
Literary Review of Canada
The Literary Review of Canada is a Canadian magazine that publishes ten times a year. The magazine publishes essays and reviews of books on political, cultural and social topics, as well as Canadian poetry...
:
- David BercusonDavid BercusonDavid Jay Bercuson, OC, FRSC is a Canadian labour, military, and political historian.Born in Montreal, he attended Sir George Williams University and graduated from there in 1965 with a BA in History and was awarded the Lieutenant-Governor's Silver Medal for the highest standing in history...
, history professor and director of the university's Centre for Military and Strategic Studies. - Barry F. CooperBarry F. CooperFraser Barry Cooper is a Canadian Political Scientist at the University of Calgary's Department of Political Science. Born in Vancouver, British Columbia, he teaches courses in Political philosophy. Before coming to Calgary, he taught at Bishop's University , McGill University, and York University...
, political science professor and fellow of the Canadian Defence and Foreign Affairs Institute. - Tom FlanaganTom Flanagan (political scientist)Thomas Eugene Flanagan is an American-born political science professor at the University of Calgary, author, and conservative political activist. He also served as an advisor to Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper until 2004. Flanagan's scholarship has focused on Native and Metis rights in...
, senior fellow at the Fraser InstituteFraser InstituteThe Fraser Institute is a Canadian think tank. It has been described as politically conservative and right-wing libertarian and espouses free market principles...
and former adviser to ConservativeConservative Party of CanadaThe Conservative Party of Canada , is a political party in Canada which was formed by the merger of the Canadian Alliance and the Progressive Conservative Party of Canada in 2003. It is positioned on the right of the Canadian political spectrum...
Prime MinisterPrime ministerA prime minister is the most senior minister of cabinet in the executive branch of government in a parliamentary system. In many systems, the prime minister selects and may dismiss other members of the cabinet, and allocates posts to members within the government. In most systems, the prime...
Stephen HarperStephen HarperStephen Joseph Harper is the 22nd and current Prime Minister of Canada and leader of the Conservative Party. Harper became prime minister when his party formed a minority government after the 2006 federal election...
. - Roger Gibbins, president of the Canada West Foundation and former political science professor.
- Rainer KnopffRainer KnopffRainer Knopff is a writer, professor of political science at the University of Calgary, Canada, and member of a group known as the Calgary School. He especially well-known for his views about the influence of judicial decisions on Canadian public policy...
, political science professor. - Ted MortonTed MortonFrederick Lee Morton , known commonly as Ted Morton, is a Canadian politician and Minister of Energy for the Province of Alberta. As a Member of the Legislative Assembly of Alberta he represents the constituency of Foothills-Rocky View as a Progressive Conservative...
, former political science professor and current AlbertaAlbertaAlberta is a province of Canada. It had an estimated population of 3.7 million in 2010 making it the most populous of Canada's three prairie provinces...
cabinet minister who finished third in the December 2006 and fourth in the September 2011 leadership race of the province's governing Progressive ConservativeProgressive Conservative Association of AlbertaThe Progressive Conservative Association of Alberta is a provincial centre-right party in the Canadian province of Alberta...
party. - Danielle SmithDanielle SmithDanielle Molles Smith is one of five martial artists who developed the women's self-defense system known as "Model Mugging" and is the current head teacher dojo cho of Aikido of Monterey in California."...
, leader of the Wildrose Party. - Ian BrodieIan BrodieIan Brodie, is a Canadian political scientist and was Chief of Staff in Stephen Harper's Prime Minister's Office from Harper's ascension to the position of prime minister until July 1, 2008. The news that he was leaving the post came days before the release of a report on the Clinton/Obama NAFTA...
, studied at the University of CalgaryUniversity of CalgaryThe University of Calgary is a public research university located in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. Founded in 1966 the U of C is composed of 14 faculties and more than 85 research institutes and centres.More than 25,000 undergraduate and 5,500 graduate students are currently...
and former Chief of Staff to Stephen Harper. - Mark Milke, studied at the University of CalgaryUniversity of CalgaryThe University of Calgary is a public research university located in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. Founded in 1966 the U of C is composed of 14 faculties and more than 85 research institutes and centres.More than 25,000 undergraduate and 5,500 graduate students are currently...
and Director of Alberta Policy Studies at the Fraser InstituteFraser InstituteThe Fraser Institute is a Canadian think tank. It has been described as politically conservative and right-wing libertarian and espouses free market principles...
. - Marco Navarro, studied at the University of CalgaryUniversity of CalgaryThe University of Calgary is a public research university located in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. Founded in 1966 the U of C is composed of 14 faculties and more than 85 research institutes and centres.More than 25,000 undergraduate and 5,500 graduate students are currently...
and Director of Research at Frontier Centre for Public Policy, Director at Rights and Democracy, Fellow at The Latin American Research Centre, University of CalgaryUniversity of CalgaryThe University of Calgary is a public research university located in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. Founded in 1966 the U of C is composed of 14 faculties and more than 85 research institutes and centres.More than 25,000 undergraduate and 5,500 graduate students are currently...
. - Mercedes Stephenson, studied at the University of CalgaryUniversity of CalgaryThe University of Calgary is a public research university located in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. Founded in 1966 the U of C is composed of 14 faculties and more than 85 research institutes and centres.More than 25,000 undergraduate and 5,500 graduate students are currently...
and reporter for CTV News Channel of Canada.
The 'School' has at times included other academics from the University of Calgary and other Universities, many of whom would strongly disagree on important matters of politics and political theory. As well, it is politically and socially connected to others who share a common view of politics, including members of the former Reform Party
Reform Party
The Reform Party can refer to a number of current and disbanded political parties of various ideologies.-Canada:*Reform Party of Alberta*Reform Party of Ontario*Reform Party of British Columbia...
, Canadian Alliance Party and current federal Conservative Party of Canada
Conservative Party of Canada
The Conservative Party of Canada , is a political party in Canada which was formed by the merger of the Canadian Alliance and the Progressive Conservative Party of Canada in 2003. It is positioned on the right of the Canadian political spectrum...
.
Political philosophy
The School is politically conservativeConservatism
Conservatism is a political and social philosophy that promotes the maintenance of traditional institutions and supports, at the most, minimal and gradual change in society. Some conservatives seek to preserve things as they are, emphasizing stability and continuity, while others oppose modernism...
and has been described in the The Walrus
The Walrus
The Walrus is a Canadian general interest magazine which publishes long form journalism on Canadian and international affairs, along with fiction and poetry by Canadian writers. It launched in September 2003, as an attempt to create a Canadian equivalent to American magazines such as Harper's, The...
magazine as supporting "a rambunctious, Rocky Mountain
Rocky Mountains
The Rocky Mountains are a major mountain range in western North America. The Rocky Mountains stretch more than from the northernmost part of British Columbia, in western Canada, to New Mexico, in the southwestern United States...
brand of libertarianism
Libertarianism
Libertarianism, in the strictest sense, is the political philosophy that holds individual liberty as the basic moral principle of society. In the broadest sense, it is any political philosophy which approximates this view...
" that seeks "lower taxes, less federal government, and free market
Free market
A free market is a competitive market where prices are determined by supply and demand. However, the term is also commonly used for markets in which economic intervention and regulation by the state is limited to tax collection, and enforcement of private ownership and contracts...
s unfettered by social programs such as medicare that keep citizens from being forced to pull up their own socks."
There does, however, seem to be tension between the socially conservative
Social conservatism
Social Conservatism is primarily a political, and usually morally influenced, ideology that focuses on the preservation of what are seen as traditional values. Social conservatism is a form of authoritarianism often associated with the position that the federal government should have a greater role...
and economically conservative factions within the school. Bercuson publicly criticized Morton's social policies, saying "[they] were hard to stomach for a libertarian." Such division brings into question whether its members reflect a coherent "school" of thought.
The members of the School, particularly Flanagan, are also said to be followers of the American political philosopher
Political philosophy
Political philosophy is the study of such topics as liberty, justice, property, rights, law, and the enforcement of a legal code by authority: what they are, why they are needed, what, if anything, makes a government legitimate, what rights and freedoms it should protect and why, what form it...
Leo Strauss
Leo Strauss
Leo Strauss was a political philosopher and classicist who specialized in classical political philosophy. He was born in Germany to Jewish parents and later emigrated to the United States...
, their detractors interpreting this as sharing his "deep suspicion of liberal democracy". Flanagan himself has specifically denied charges that he is a Straussian, calling himself rather a Hayekian, referring to the Nobel Prize winning economist and political philosopher, Friedrich Hayek
Friedrich Hayek
Friedrich August Hayek CH , born in Austria-Hungary as Friedrich August von Hayek, was an economist and philosopher best known for his defense of classical liberalism and free-market capitalism against socialist and collectivist thought...
.
Influence
While it is always difficult to gauge the impact or influence of such groups, it appears that its members have played a role in the reshaping of Conservative politics in Canada since 1993. The long dominance of the centrist Liberal Party of CanadaLiberal Party of Canada
The Liberal Party of Canada , colloquially known as the Grits, is the oldest federally registered party in Canada. In the conventional political spectrum, the party sits between the centre and the centre-left. Historically the Liberal Party has positioned itself to the left of the Conservative...
at the federal level in Canadian politics was maintained in part during the 1990s by competition between two right wing parties, the older Progressive Conservative Party of Canada
Progressive Conservative Party of Canada
The Progressive Conservative Party of Canada was a Canadian political party with a centre-right stance on economic issues and, after the 1970s, a centrist stance on social issues....
and the newer Reform Party of Canada
Reform Party of Canada
The Reform Party of Canada was a Canadian federal political party that existed from 1987 to 2000. It was originally founded as a Western Canada-based protest party, but attempted to expand eastward in the 1990s. It viewed itself as a populist party....
. Members of this group, notably Flanagan, worked hard to turn the Reform Party
Reform Party of Canada
The Reform Party of Canada was a Canadian federal political party that existed from 1987 to 2000. It was originally founded as a Western Canada-based protest party, but attempted to expand eastward in the 1990s. It viewed itself as a populist party....
into the dominant right wing party, later to encourage a coalition of right wing parties, and finally to facilitate the merger of the two parties into the new Conservative Party of Canada
Conservative Party of Canada
The Conservative Party of Canada , is a political party in Canada which was formed by the merger of the Canadian Alliance and the Progressive Conservative Party of Canada in 2003. It is positioned on the right of the Canadian political spectrum...
. Flanagan played a key role in the development of the platform and in particular the campaign and fundraising strategies of the new party. Leader of the party, and later Prime Minister Stephen Harper
Stephen Harper
Stephen Joseph Harper is the 22nd and current Prime Minister of Canada and leader of the Conservative Party. Harper became prime minister when his party formed a minority government after the 2006 federal election...
, had been a student at the University of Calgary
University of Calgary
The University of Calgary is a public research university located in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. Founded in 1966 the U of C is composed of 14 faculties and more than 85 research institutes and centres.More than 25,000 undergraduate and 5,500 graduate students are currently...
, participating in discussions with members of the School and Preston Manning
Preston Manning
Ernest Preston Manning, CC is a Canadian politician. He was the only leader of the Reform Party of Canada, a Canadian federal political party that evolved into the Canadian Alliance...
in the lead up to the formation of the Reform Party of Canada
Reform Party of Canada
The Reform Party of Canada was a Canadian federal political party that existed from 1987 to 2000. It was originally founded as a Western Canada-based protest party, but attempted to expand eastward in the 1990s. It viewed itself as a populist party....
.
Ted Morton
Ted Morton
Frederick Lee Morton , known commonly as Ted Morton, is a Canadian politician and Minister of Energy for the Province of Alberta. As a Member of the Legislative Assembly of Alberta he represents the constituency of Foothills-Rocky View as a Progressive Conservative...
's elevation to the cabinet of the Progressive Conservative
Progressive Conservative Association of Alberta
The Progressive Conservative Association of Alberta is a provincial centre-right party in the Canadian province of Alberta...
government of Alberta and later to the position of Finance Minister
Finance minister
The finance minister is a cabinet position in a government.A minister of finance has many different jobs in a government. He or she helps form the government budget, stimulate the economy, and control finances...
in the Ed Stelmach
Ed Stelmach
Edward Michael "Ed" Stelmach, MLA is a Canadian politician and served as the 13th Premier of Alberta, Canada, from 2006 to 2011. The grandson of Ukrainian immigrants, Stelmach was born and raised on a farm near Lamont and speaks fluent Ukrainian. He spent his entire pre-political adult life as a...
government and Energy Minister
Energy minister
An energy minister is a position in many governments responsible for energy production and regulation, developing governmental energy policy, scientific research, and natural resources conservation...
in the first Alison Redford
Alison Redford
Alison Merrilla Redford Q.C., MLA, is a Canadian politician, and the 14th and current Premier of Alberta, Canada. Upon winning the leadership of the Progressive Conservative Association of Alberta, in October 2011, she became the first female premier in Alberta...
-led government is another perceived route of influence for the School.
At the same time, members of the School are involved in the Wildrose Party led by Danielle Smith
Danielle Smith
Danielle Molles Smith is one of five martial artists who developed the women's self-defense system known as "Model Mugging" and is the current head teacher dojo cho of Aikido of Monterey in California."...
, which hopes to dethrone the incumbent Progressive Conservative
Progressive Conservative Association of Alberta
The Progressive Conservative Association of Alberta is a provincial centre-right party in the Canadian province of Alberta...
government, indicating differences among its members in how best to pursue any shared political agenda.