Overview

This book studies the ""disciplinary divides"" between law and political science, including conceptual, methodological, and normative differences in how each field approaches policy, institutions, and legal phenomena. Disciplinary Divides in the Study of Law and Politics critically analyses these fault lines and proposes strategies to bridge them. The chapters identify key gaps, disagreements, and challenges in the study of law and politics through fresh empirical analyses, including studies of rights (such as Charter and Indigenous rights) and of institutional actors and processes courts, legislatures, executives, expert witnesses, judicial selection, constitutional amendment, and government lawyers. The volume addresses a wide range of legal domains, including constitutional, administrative, immigration and refugee, federalism, and electoral law, while also highlighting areas where deeper interdisciplinary engagement is needed. Several chapters contribute to theoretical development, and many adopt a forward-looking perspective, identifying urgent research questions and setting future research agendas. Collectively, the contributions demonstrate how greater interdisciplinary collaboration can enhance our understanding of law's relationship to power, public policy, and society.

Full Product Details

Author:   Emmett Macfarlane ,  Kate Puddister
Publisher:   University of Toronto Press
Imprint:   University of Toronto Press
Dimensions:   Width: 15.90cm , Height: 2.70cm , Length: 23.50cm
Weight:   0.700kg
ISBN:  

9781487513283

ISBN 10:   1487513283
Pages:   386
Publication Date:   16 June 2026
Audience:   College/higher education ,  Professional and scholarly ,  Tertiary & Higher Education ,  Professional & Vocational
Format:   Hardback
Publisher's Status:   Active
Availability:   Not yet available, will be POD  
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Table of Contents

Foreword The Honourable Justice Malcolm Rowe Introduction: Political Science and Law: Shared Foundations and Disciplinary Divides Kate Puddister and Emmett Macfarlane Part I: Examining the Divides Chapter 1: Legal Blindspots in Canadian Political Science Dennis Baker and Byron Sheldrick Chapter 2: Who Cites Who? An Empirical Study of the Research Foundations of the Canadian Law and Politics Subfield Andrew McDougall and Charles Buck Chapter 3: Taking Power Seriously: Studying Aboriginal Rights in Formal and Informal Loci of Power Minh Do Chapter 4: Portrait of the Political Scientist as an Expert Witness Christopher Manfredi Chapter 5: The Role of Government Lawyers Matthew Hennigar Chapter 6: Dialogue Theory and Legislative Responses: What the Metaphor Missed (or Perhaps Misunderstood about Courts and Legislatures) James B. Kelly Part II: Dialogues across the Disciplinary Divide Chapter 7: Partisan Divides and Disciplinary Divides? Political Scientists, Legal Scholars, and the Politics of Judicial Selection Mark Harding Chapter 8: Response: Canada’s Indispensable Legal and Political Constitutionalism: Some Observations on Constitutionalism from a (Primarily) Legal Perspective Warren Newman Chapter 9: Canadian Political Science’s Unfortunate Neglect of Administrative Law David Said and Dennis Baker Chapter 10: Response: Collaboration at the Intersection of Administrative Law and Political Science Paul Daly Chapter 11: Law and Social Science: A Sustainable Jurisprudence of Canadian Federalism Peter C. Oliver Chapter 12: Response: On Being Judgmatical: Judicial Choices and How to Think about Hard versus Easy Cases Christa Scholtz Chapter 13: Political Revival, Scholarly Renaissance: Academic Writing on the Notwithstanding Clause, 1982–2023 Dave Snow Chapter 14: Response: Notwithstanding Constitutional Law, Politics, and Scholarship Eric M. Adams and Catherine Ford Chapter 15: Why Law Was Late to Comparative Constitutional Amendment Richard Albert Chapter 16: Response: Political Science and the Study of Constitutional Amendment Emmett Macfarlane Part III: Disciplinary Dexterity and Scholarly Collaborations Chapter 17: Parallel Narratives, Divergent Disciplines: Examining Advisory Opinions Carissima Mathen and Kate Puddister Chapter 18: Finding Common Ground? Campaign Finance Law Erin Crandall and Michael Pal Chapter 19: The Anti-Disciplinary Divide: Canada’s Safe Third Country Agreement, Roxham Road, and the Politicization of Legal Loopholes Megan Gaucher and Shauna Labman Selected Bibliography

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Author Information

Emmett Macfarlane is a professor of political science at the University of Waterloo. Kate Puddister is an associate professor of political science at the University of Guelph.

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