The Politics of Culture and The Culture of Politics: Democratic struggles in Quebec’s Charter of Values Debate
This article seeks to clarify the relationship between politics and culture in the process of nation-building in diverse societies. Based on a thorough analysis of the debates around the main political parties of the Quebec Charter of Values (2013), we posit that this relationship has two main dimensions. The first dimension—the “political culture”—identifies the role of political parties in the re-articulation of cultural norms through established political practices. The second dimension—the “politics of culture”—emphasizes the ability of political parties to generate new cultural meanings as they try to obtain or maintain political power. By separating these two dimensions in the context of the Quebec Charter of Values, we are better able to understand how culture nourishes, and is produced by, the conflicts between political parties concerning nationality, diversity and belonging.