Dr. Valérie Vézina

Chair, Political Science

Kwantlen Polytechnic University

Abstract: Why do new political parties develop and become successful to the point of altering party systems in internal national communities where politics is most often structured by questions of self-determination? Puerto Rico and Québec are meaningful case studies for answering this question since they share an outcome (challenger parties have undermined the strength of previous stalwarts) while also presenting  a key difference (party system change in Québec has involved a loss of salience of the self-determination option whereas in Puerto Rico it has featured the crisis of a specific constitutional position, the autonomist option represented by the current status) As an alternative to the traditional issue-based approach to party systems change, historical institutionalism offers some clues as to why and how such a transformation  happens in internal national communities. An historical institutionalist perspective on change suggests that parties embody the preferences, ideas, norms, and power relations of the time of their creation. As all of these features evolve, the parties representing constitutional positions  may become incongruent with the new circumstances and surroundings. The resulting tension between parties  that represent constitutional positions rooted in specific configurations  of one point in time (in the past) and these new environments typically yields some type of change.

Speaker's Bio: Dr. Valérie Vézina is Chair of the Department of Political Science at Kwantlen Polytechnic University (KPU) and an Adjunct Professor at Memorial University of Newfoundland. Her research focuses on island nationalism. A specialist of Newfoundland and Labrador and Puerto Rico, she has published numerous articles on the topics in journals such as the Canadian Journal of Political Science, Island Studies Journal and Shima. Originally from rural Québec, Dr. Vézina has always stay grounded to her modest origins by volunteering in various organizations. She is the recipient of many awards, including the 2024 Teaching Excellence Prize from the Canadian Political Science Association, the 2024 KPU Faculty of Arts Equity, Diversity and Inclusion award for her work advocating for a better inclusion and conciliation of work/life balance for people with various abilities. When she is not teaching politics, Dr. Vézina enjoys hiking, swimming and teaching yoga.