LE3 .A278 2012

2012

Stewart, Ian

Acadia University

Bachelor of Arts

Honours

Political Science

Politics

There has been little research conducted within Canada on the entourages of people that assist and support our political leaders. While much research has been done at the international level, there is a dearth of information available at the provincial level in Canada. Until now, we have had no definitive academic knowledge of how a provincial entourage might function. This thesis sets out to determine whether or not Dr. Sid Noel’s theory of leaders’ political entourages within Canada at the federal level generally applies to the entourages of two recent leaders of the Nova Scotia New Democratic Party. Using an elite theory approach, I interviewed thirteen past members of Robert Chisholm and Darrell Dexter’s Central Campaigns. While Noel’s work refers to leaders’ entourages – a fact that produced multiple expressions of concern from many of the interviewees as they did not identify as being part of an entourage, but rather as NDP workers primarily – I show that Noel’s work on federal entourages does, in fact, apply within the Central Campaign structure. In both case studies, the same results appeared: four characteristics were affirmed and one characteristic was largely inaccurate. Based on these conclusions, further research can be conducted on the structure and function of provincial leaders’ entourages across Canada, research that will gain importance as leaders’ entourages continue to grow more influential and organized despite having no official acknowledgment within the formal Canadian political system.

The author retains copyright in this thesis. Any substantial copying or any other actions that exceed fair dealing or other exceptions in the Copyright Act require the permission of the author.

https://scholar.acadiau.ca/islandora/object/theses:869