Research Chair in Democracy and Parliamentary Institutions

The Chaire de recherche sur la démocratie et les institutions parlementaires officially came into existence on November 20, 2007.  The Chair is the result of a joint initiative of the National Assembly, the Faculty of Social Sciences and the Faculty of Law of Université Laval.  It also has four partners, namely the Québec Ombudsman, the Auditor General, the Lobbyists Commissioner and the Directeur général des élections du Québec.

The Chair holder is Mr. Louis Massicotte, Political Science Professor at Université Laval.

The Chair has four objectives:

• Create a university hub of excellence on democracy and parliamentary institutions;
• Make parliamentary institutions a specific research, teaching and training subject in political science and the social sciences;
• Promote the awareness of students about all aspects of parliamentarism in modern democracies;
• Foster the openness of the parliamentary community concerning its environment.

At the research level, the Chair coordinates projects in the field of democracy and parliamentary institutions. Four main lines of knowledge have been identified in this respect:

• Parliamentarism and political representation;
• Compared parliamentary procedure and the legislative process;
• Parliament and the exercise of governance;
• Parliamentarism and elections.

To learn more about the Chaire de recherche sur la démocratie et les institutions parlementaires, visit its web site at the following address: www.democratie.chaire.ulaval.ca.