Recherche

Mebs Kanji est professeur agrégé au Département de science politique de l'Université Concordia. Expert des politiques canadiennes, il s'intéresse aux questions de diversité des valeurs et de cohésion sociale. Ses récentes publications portent sur le soutien accordé aux politiciens et les valeurs démocratiques au Québec. M. Kanji participe également à une recherche sur la religion et les États.

Axes de recherche

Axe 2 : Pratiquer la citoyenneté dans un monde de scepticisme - The practice of democratic citizenship is undergoing a multifaceted transition. There are fundamental changes in conceptions of democratic citizenship and in its practice as well as the targets of citizen action. Scepticism about representative democracy as a system of governance is growing and citizens across established democracies are withdrawing from politics. Their perception about the political world is impacted by transformations in the news media practices and by online content, including social media. Voting and party politics have been the basis of conventional interpretations of citizenship, but there is ample evidence that this conception is much too limited. New forms of communication are providing citizens with novel ways to gather information and to engage in politics.

Axe 3 : Représenter et gouverner les citoyens dans des temps critiques - After learning and practicing democratic citizenship, the next critical steps are representation and governance. Democratic institutions are key elements. They shape the norms and incentives for active citizenship and they link citizens and their representatives in ways that foster accountability, legitimacy and representation. In Québec and Canada, as well as in other countries, confidence of citizens toward the institutions is low, as many dislike the way that members of parliaments behave and consider that politicians don’t honour their promises, hence various political endeavours to reform these institutions. Research on this axis will focus on the role of electoral systems, parliaments, parliamentary debates, and political parties.

theme

Percevoir le monde politique

Faire des choix dans la vie publique

Les défis pour l’apprentissage de la citoyenneté

Publications