2010 Donald Smiley Prize

Winner: Éric Bélanger and Richard Nadeau

Le Comportement électoral des Québécois (Montréal (QC), Presses de l’Université de Montréal)

Excerpt from jury report: This work brilliantly revives a tradition of empirical research once prevalent in Quebec political science. With a rigorous and direct style the two authors attempt to provide “avenues of explanation and analysis” illuminating fluctuations in Quebecers’ electoral behaviour. Relying on 2007 and 2008 election results and an empirical model drawn from a highly sophisticated original survey, Bélanger and Nadeau draw clear and convincing conclusions about the political and ideological determinants of the vote. Their interpretation of the electoral effects of the debate on the national question and the role of government will undoubtedly influence the political parties and their strategies in the years ahead. More broadly, this book should be mandatory reading for all political commentators in Quebec, who will thereby avoid much misinterpretation – particularly with regard to the ADQ and the party system. Éric Bélanger is Assistant Professor with the Department of Political Science at McGill University; Richard Nadeau is Professor of Politcal science with the University of Montreal.