Understanding Majority Attitudes toward Minority Nations in Multinational Federations: The Case of Canada

Abstract

While a relatively large body of literature has explored the conditions that might promote either reform or the status quo in multinational federations, few studies have explored majority attitudes toward minority nations in the context of multinational federations. In this article, we ask what factors account for majority attitudes toward minority nations in multinational federations. In making use of data from the 2011 Canadian election study (CES), we explore both attitudes toward Quebec in general and the willingness to do more for Quebec, which we refer to respectively as "affective attitudes" and "policy attitudes." Our findings demonstrate the key role played by generalized prejudice and perceptions of how one's province is treated in the Canadian federation in structuring both sets of attitudes. The impact of Canadian identity, on the other hand, is more limited. Meanwhile, conservative ideological predispositions are a predictor of policy attitudes but not affective attitudes.