DeValera and Duplessis: Integralism and Postcolonial Conservatism

• In Event: Political Party Strategies and Ideologies / Electoral Boundaries

Abstract

The proposed paper is a comparative study of the fusion of nationalist politics and Catholic social teaching in the administrations of DeValera in Ireland and Duplessis in Quebec. Such a comparison offers potential for insights into one party dominance, Catholic integralism, censorship regimes, and a brand of pseudo-postcolonial conservatism replicated in few other jurisdictions. The study is especially valuable in the contemporary political moment as the reputation of Duplessis and what his Union Nationale government stood for is reevaluated in light of the current brand of nationalism adopted by the CAQ. It is also valuable in light of the growth of the intellectual basis for legal/constitutional Integralism in the United States.

Author

• Donal Gill, Concordia University