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 Contents vii

Conclusion 44
Self-Assessment Questions 44
Weblinks 45
Further Reading 45
Film and Video Clips 45

3 Political Thought, Philosophy, and Ideology 47

Learning Objectives 48
Introduction 48
What Is Political Philosophy? 48
The History of Political Thought 51
Ideology 55
The Left–Right Spectrum 57
Liberal Thought 58
Neo-Liberalism 61
Conservatism 63
Socialism 65
Nationalism 68
Other Systems of Thought 70
Feminism 70
Post-Colonialism 72
Environmentalism 73
Fascism 75
Anarchism 76
Political Islam 77
Confucian Political Thought 78
The Relevance of Ideas 79
Conclusion 80
Self-Assessment Questions 80
Weblinks 81
Further Reading 81
Film and Video Clips 81
viii Contents

4 The Role of Government 83

Learning Objectives 84
Introduction 84
What Do Governments Do? 86
What Can Cause a Government to Fail? 89
Some Shared Objectives of Government 90
Some Activities of Government 91
Schools of Thought Regarding the Role of Government 94
Objectives of Political Systems 97
Constitutions: The “Basic Law” 99
Liberal Democracy 102
Authoritarianism 104
Totalitarianism 104
Government and Canada 106
Conclusion 108
Self-Assessment Questions 108
Weblinks 109
Further Reading 109
Film and Video Clips 109

5 Branches of Government 111

Learning Objectives 112
Introduction 112
Institutions of Government 112
The Executive 115
The Legislature 119
Legislative Structures 121
Legislative Functions 122
The Judiciary 124
Constitutionality Ruling 124
Judicial Legal Interpretation 126
Judicial Dispute Adjudication 126
The Bureaucracy 126
 Contents ix

Presidential and Parliamentary Systems 129

Government in Canada 131
Canadian Federalism 132
Canadian Courts and the Constitution 133
The Charter of Rights and Freedoms and Individual Citizens 133
Canadian Law 135
Conclusion 135
Self-Assessment Questions 136
Weblinks 136
Further Reading 137
Film and Video Clips 137

6 Political Systems 139

Learning Objectives 140
Introduction 140
Distributing Power within the State: To Centralize or Share? 141
Unitary Systems 143
Federal Systems 145
Canadian Federalism: An Evolving History 149
The Division of Powers 152
The Evolution of Canadian Federalism 155
Quebec and Canadian Federalism 160
Conclusion 163
Self-Assessment Questions 164
Weblinks 164
Further Reading 164
Film and Video Clips 165

7 Political Participation: Elections and Parties 167

Learning Objectives 168
Introduction 168
Democracy and Voting 168
Types of Electoral Systems 174
Political Parties 177
x Contents

Canada’s Political Parties 179

Election Campaigns 183
Campaign Financing 185
Direct Democracy and the Referendum 186
Elections and Political Parties in Canada 187
Conclusion 188
Self-Assessment Questions 188
Weblinks 189
Further Reading 189
Film and Video Clips 189

8 Political Socialization and Culture 191

Learning Objectives 192
Introduction 192
Political Culture 192
Categories of Political Culture 195
Political Socialization 197
Public Opinion 199
The Media and Politics 200
Civil Society and Non-Governmental Organizations 204
The Participation of Private Actors in the
Decision-Making Process 205
Policy Communities 207
Advocacy Groups 207
Lobbying 210
Corporatism 212
Canadian Political Culture and Socialization 213
Conclusion 214
Self-Assessment Questions 214
Weblinks 215
Further Reading 215
Film and Video Clips 215
 Contents xi

9 Politics in Developed States 217

Learning Objectives 218
Introduction 218
Comparative Politics 219
What Are Developed States? 220
Challenges Facing Developed States Today 220
A Brief Post-War History of the Developed World 223
Post-Industrialization and Political Authority 225
Case Studies 226
Canada 227
The United States 231
South Korea 237
The European Union 240
Conclusion 247
Self-Assessment Questions 248
Weblinks 248
Further Reading 248
Film and Video Clips 249

10 Politics in Developing States 251

Learning Objectives 252
Introduction 252
A Note about Terminology 252
Political and Social Development 253
Democracy and Political Development 255
The Role of the Military 258
Health Care 259
Economic Development 261
The Link between Political and Economic Development 263
xii Contents

Population Growth 264

The Role of International Organizations 265
China: The Politics of an Emerging Global Power 265
China’s Political System 265
Chinese History: The Heritage of Imperialism and Revolution 266
The Origins of Modern China 267
Chinese Economic Reform 268
Future Challenges for China 270
Mexico: The Challenges of Democratization 271
History 271
Mexico’s Political System 272
The Mexican Presidency 273
The Mexican Congress 273
A Brief History of Elections in Mexico 274
The Mexican Economy 274
Economic Liberalization and Openness 276
Organized Crime, Drugs, and Public Security 277
The Future of Mexico 277
India: Politics and Development in the World’s Largest
Democracy 278
History 278
India’s Political System 279
Indian Development 280
The Future of India 281
Afghanistan: The Legacies of Conflict in a Developing State 282
The History of Modern Afghanistan 282
The People of Afghanistan 283
The Political System of Afghanistan 284
The Future of Afghanistan 285
Conclusion 286
Self-Assessment Questions 286
Weblinks 286
Further Reading 287
Film and Video Clips 287
 Contents xiii

11 International Politics and Foreign Policy 289

Learning Objectives 290
Introduction 290
International Politics, International Relations, Foreign Policy,
and the State 291
The International System 295
Actors in World Politics 297
Globalization 300
Competing Approaches to International Politics 305
Power Politics: The Realist Approach 305
Process and Co-operation: The Liberal Approach 306
Rejecting Realism: The Marxist Approach 307
Perception and Politics 309
Diplomacy and Foreign Policy 309
Geography 310
Natural Resources 311
Population 312
Technological Development 312
Internal Political Structures and Processes 313
Canada and the World 314
Conclusion 316
Self-Assessment Questions 316
Weblinks 316
Further Reading 317
Film and Video Clips 317

12 International Security 319

Learning Objectives 320
Introduction 320
Security and Insecurity 321
War in International Relations 325
Terrorism 329
Humanitarian Intervention 332
Peacekeeping, Conflict Management, and Resolution 335
xiv Contents

Canada in Afghanistan 337

Conclusion 339
Self-Assessment Questions 340
Weblinks 340
Further Reading 340
Film and Video Clips 341

13 International Political Economy 343

Learning Objectives 344
Introduction 344
What Is IPE? 345
The Perspectives of IPE 346
Economic Interdependence 347
International Economic Co-operation 348
The World Trading System 349
The Growth of Trade since 1846 350
The GATT 351
The WTO 352
Present and Future Challenges for Trade 353
The International System of Money and Finance 354
What Is the International Monetary System? 355
What Is the International Financial System? 355
The Bretton Woods System 356
The Latin American Debt Crisis 358
International Finance and the Late 1990s Crisis 360
The Global Financial Crisis of 2008 360
Economic Regionalism 362
Oil and Oil Prices 363
Multinational Corporations 366
Conclusion 367
Self-Assessment Questions 368
Weblinks 368
Further Reading 368
Film and Video Clips 369
 Contents xv

14 Conclusion 371
Learning Objectives 372
Introduction 372
What Have We Learned? 372
Where Do We Go from Here? 378
Conclusion 380
Self-Assessment Questions 380
Weblinks 380
Further Reading 381
Film and Video Clips 381

Notes 382
Glossary 389
Index 396
Boxes
1.1 Career Paths for Political Studies Graduates 7 5.7 Can Government “Stop”? Lessons from the Clinton Era
1.2 Behaviouralism after World War II 13 and Today 123
1.3 Involvement: Apathy to Action 17 5.8 Does a Cabinet Minister Have to Be Elected? 131
1.4 Citizenship Quiz 20 5.9 The Charter: Individual or Collective Rights? 134
2.1 Institutions and Development 27 6.1 The European Union: A Modern Confederation 142
2.2 The Concept of Nation and Sovereignty 6.2 Scottish Independence 144
in Canada 28 6.3 Switzerland 147
2.3 The Abuse of Power 31 6.4 The United States 147
2.4 The Cult of Personality 32 6.5 The United States of Mexico 148
2.5 Charismatic Leadership 34 6.6 India: Centralized Government in the World’s Largest
2.6 Rising Violent Crime and the Crisis of State Legitimacy Democracy 151
in Central America 38 6.7 Why Ottawa? 153
2.7 Economic Justice and the Welfare State 40 6.8 Fiscal Federalism 157
2.8 Community and the Individual 42 6.9 Natural Resources 159
3.1 Plato (427–347 BCE) 50 7.1 Who Gets to Vote? 170
3.2 Aristotle (384–322 BCE) 51 7.2 Gerrymandering 172
3.3 Deductive and Inductive Methods 52 7.3 Rock the Vote 173
3.4 Niccolò Machiavelli (1469–1527) 53 7.4 The Suffragette Movement 173
3.5 Thomas Hobbes (1588–1679) 55 7.5 Negative Campaigning 184
3.6 John Locke (1632–1704) 59 7.6 Campaign Finances and the 2016 US Presidential
3.7 Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712–78) 60 Campaign 185
3.8 Adam Smith (1723–90) 62 8.1 The Symbols of Canada as a Form of Political
3.9 John Stuart Mill (1806–73) 63 Socialization 196
3.10 Karl Marx (1818–83) 67 8.2 How to Remember Canada’s First Prime Minister? 198
3.11 Energy Efficiency 73 8.3 Citizen Kane 201
3.12 John Rawls (1921–2002) 76 8.4 Aló, Presidente: Hugo Chavez and the Control of
4.1 The Problem with Sovereignty 91 Venezuelan Television 202
4.2 Equalization in Canada 94 8.5 Rupert Murdoch and News Corporation 203
4.3 The Welfare State 96 8.6 Civil Society and Globalization 205
4.4 Unwritten Constitutions 100 8.7 International Trade and Public Relations: The NAFTA
4.5 The Constitution Act, 1982 101 Lobby 212
4.6 Democracy Topples Authoritarianism? 105 9.1 What Is “Development”? 222
4.7 Are Governors General Just Ceremonial? 107 9.2 Political Economy 223
5.1 Gun Laws and Levels of Government 114 9.3 One World? 224
5.2 VP or Senator? Joe Lieberman and the 2000 US 9.4 Bretton Woods and Political Order 226
Election 116 9.5 Slavery and the American Civil War 232
5.3 Question Period or Shouting Match? 117 9.6 “Third” Parties in US Politics 234
5.4 When Parties Must Co-operate: Coalition 9.7 Will Turkey Join the EU? 242
Governments 118 9.8 Why Brussels? 244
5.5 The Ultimate Power? The Right to Declare War 120 10.1 The Human Development Index 254
5.6 Constitutionality and Same-Sex Marriage 121 10.2 The Beijing Olympics and Internet Censorship 257
 Boxes xvii

10.3 Colombia: The War on Drugs and the FARC 258 11.9 The End of the Soviet Union 304
10.4 AIDS, Maternal Health, and the 11.10 Woodrow Wilson and the Failure of the League of
Developing World 260 Nations 308
10.5 Education, Gender, and the Oportunidades 11.11 Diplomacy Goes Awry: April Glaspie and Saddam
Program 261 Hussein 311
10.6 The Brundtland Commission Report and Sustainable 12.1 Human Security 323
Development 262 12.2 “Anarchy in the UK” 324
10.7 The Politics of Population: Nigeria 264 12.3 Just Wars 327
10.8 The Tiananmen Square Massacre 268 12.4 “Video Game” War, 1991 329
10.9 Taiwan 271 12.5 The Debate on Terror in the United States 332
10.10 Mexico’s Student Movement, Media Bias, and the 2012 12.6 Intervention Failure: Rwanda 333
Elections 275 13.1 International Economic Organizations and Their
10.11 Canada in Afghanistan 283 Functions 348
11.1 Domestic and International Politics: Building a Wall 291 13.2 The US–EU Banana Dispute 354
11.2 The Twitter Effect: Elections in Iran 292 13.3 The Great Crash of 1929 356
11.3 Cliché Alert! The “Global Village” 293 13.4 The Euromarkets 358
11.4 Patriotism or Nationalism? 295 13.5 Foreign Aid and Tied Aid 359
11.5 NATO 298 13.6 The G7 and Multilateral Leadership 361
11.6 Human Migration 299 13.7 The New NAFTA 363
11.7 The Occupy Movement 300 13.8 Brazil and Renewable Energy 365
11.8 Cultural Sensitivity: Torres Strait Islanders and 14.1 From “Me to We”: Marc and Craig Kielburger 374
Australia 302 14.2 The Politics of Climate Change 375
Preface
One of the most difficult tasks for a professor in introducing students to the study of pol-
itics is choosing the right textbook. Every instructor has his or her own preferences about
the material, concepts, themes, and pedagogy contained in a first-year political science
text; therefore, no book could possibly meet every requirement and partiality. Putting
together an introductory text, then, is a delicate endeavour. How might one assemble a
coherent volume that both addresses disparate views on what is to be presented and poses
some fresh and innovative ideas?
This book is an attempt to answer that question. Fundamentally, its intent is to pro-
vide undergraduate students with a comprehensive and thoughtful introduction to the
study of politics. This text incorporates some essential questions that define politics, such
as: Who has power in society, and why? How do individuals and groups participate in pol-
itics and governance? How can we distinguish among so many types of political systems?
Why is conflict so prevalent in the world today? How is wealth distributed, and why does
such inequity exist? In our design of this book, we considered a wide variety of theoretical,
analytical, and empirical ways to answer these questions. We decided that the best method
was to lead you through different approaches, topics, and examples. This text presents you
with a challenge: you may or may not already have views on politics, but by the time you
finish this book and course, you will likely have more questions than before. You might
also think differently and more critically about what you assume you already know! If
that’s the case, this book will have done its job.

Organization
This book is organized to introduce you to the study of politics in a comprehensive and
constructive manner. Chapter 1 presents the fundamental nature of politics and the field
of political studies. We explore some major approaches, concepts, and themes in the study
of politics in this chapter, as well as how politics affects so many aspects of our daily lives.
We also discuss the nature of citizenship and what it means in the specific context of being
Canadian. The substance of this chapter lays the foundations for the rest of the text.
Chapters 2 and 3 examine some of the major terms and areas of political thought in
greater detail. Chapter 2 begins with an exploration of some important political concepts,
including power, government, the state, legitimacy, equality and justice, and sovereign-
ty. You will need a solid understanding of these terms and ideas in order to articulate
your own ideas about politics and governance and to understand relationships between
­political actors and institutions. The chapter also addresses identity and how we connect
with and relate to others in society. Chapter 3 follows with an overview of political philoso-
phy and the major schools of thought used in political science, such as liberalism, socialism
and communism, conservatism, environmentalism, feminism, post-colonial thought, na-
tionalism, and fascism. It looks at both traditional and critical political ideologies and the
ideas that have driven the study of politics. The chapter identifies influential thinkers as-
sociated with each of these schools of thought and attempts to plot each perspective on an
ideological spectrum. This chapter refers to ideologies and political philosophy in Canada
and provides an overview of other approaches, such as Confucianism and political Islam.
 Preface xix

Chapters 4, 5, and 6 focus on the importance of government and the roles and re-
sponsibilities that governments have in our lives. These chapters begin to unpack the com-
plexity of government organizations and their internal checks and balances, to give you
a more concrete sense of how government works (or doesn’t). In Chapter 4, we examine
the main forms of government throughout history and into the present day. The chapter
deals with systems of government, the nature of government, objectives and activities of
different governments, and points of view regarding the fundamental role that govern-
ment ought to play. In this chapter, we explain the distinctions among liberal democracies,
authoritarian governments, and totalitarian systems. Government in Canada is given spe-
cial attention here. Chapter 5 covers primary structures and roles of government agencies
and institutions. It delves into the important levels of government activity, including the
executive, legislative, judicial, and bureaucratic divisions. The two main types of govern-
ment systems in the world today, parliamentary and presidential, are also compared and
contrasted. Finally, Chapter 6 considers how different political systems are organized in
terms of their responsibilities and decision-making systems. Unitary, federal, confederal,
and devolved political systems are all examined, with special attention to the history and
development of power-sharing in Canada.
Chapters 7 and 8 are concerned with the roles played by individuals and groups in
society. Chapter 7 considers decision-making and electoral systems, campaign contribu-
tions, elections and referendums, and political parties. Chapter 8 picks up the theme and
looks at the social and political process of participation. Education, opinion polls, social-
ization, advocacy groups, media, and culture all have abundant effects on how our polit-
ical systems are run and the role we play in them. Together, these two chapters trace the
formulation of ideas and information that influence citizens and the way in which these
ideas are played out on the political stage.
The next section of the book is dedicated to country case studies. This examination
of politics is undertaken in a comparative context, considering the multitude of paths to
development in today’s world and the struggles that countries confront along the way. We
begin in Chapter 9 with a consideration of politics and economics in what are commonly
defined as “developed” countries, including Canada, the United States, South Korea, and
members of the European Union. These cases offer distinct examples of how political and
economic spheres influence governance. Chapter 10 carries this discussion to what we
often call the “developing world,” contemplating some of the significant approaches and
perspectives regarding development and, in particular, how the development process is as
varied as the countries involved. By way of example, the chapter surveys the development
experiences in China, Mexico, India, and Afghanistan, presenting a diverse stance on the
myriad issues facing countries in the developing world. As part of the analysis in these
chapters, we acknowledge the complexity in defining a country as either “developed” or
“developing” and assert that this dichotomy might not be as useful as we once thought it
was. A country might be considered “developed” according to some criteria, but “devel-
oping” in others, which suggests that a tendency towards blanket categorizations might
obscure the truth on the ground in any given country.
The final chapters take on the study of politics on the world stage, using some of the
primary concepts and themes discussed earlier in the book. Chapter 11 examines the state
and sovereignty in a modern world, as well as the nature of and approaches to the interna-
tional system. This chapter scrutinizes some current themes and issues in global politics,
xx Preface

including globalization, foreign policy-making, geography and population, diplomacy,

nationalism, and different actors (e.g., states, non-state actors, individuals, and multina-
tional corporations). Chapter 12 is dedicated to the complicated issue of global insecurity:
war, terrorism, peacekeeping, intervention, and conflict management. Here we also look
at Canada’s changing role in the world. Chapter 13 turns its attention to the important
dynamic of the international political economy and its impact on domestic politics. This
chapter illustrates the importance of international trade, production, and finance, as well
as current themes such as world debt, leadership, and economic regionalism.
Finally, Chapter 14 provides some concluding thoughts by focusing on an important
question: Where do we go from here? Future studies, careers in political studies, and the
ways we can apply what we have learned are all given some thought in this chapter.

Key Features
Pedagogical Features
Political studies, like any other academic discipline, has its own vocabulary and terminol-
ogy. Marginal definitions, provided in each chapter, emphasize key terms and concepts,
and a full glossary is included at the end of the book. Every chapter contains self-assessment
questions, a list of further readings, and suggested websites. Throughout the chapters,
boxes provide specific examples of important themes, events, and actors. Images, tables,
graphs, and figures illustrate important points without interfering with the text itself.
­Finally, an index of all important terms, concepts, themes, events, and individuals is
­included at the end of the book.

Theoretical Framework
Most introductory textbooks begin with a survey of significant concepts (e.g., the state,
power, government, legitimacy, etc.) and a review of the philosophical tradition of politi-
cal analysis (Plato’s Republic, Aristotle’s Politics, Hobbes’s Leviathan, and so on). Taking a
comparative theoretical approach (meaning that no specific theory is used as a core focus),
this text shows how the development of theory in political studies flavours the manner in
which we must consider a contemporary and changing political climate, both domestic and
international. The methodology of this text is not intended to be heavy-handed or overly
theoretical; theory is central to the purpose of the book, but the book’s principal goal is to
demonstrate the sensitive and changing nature of philosophical thought in politics.

Acknowledgements
Like any book project, this text is the product of various contributions from many people.
In the very early stages, Oxford University Press sales and editorial representative Alan
Mulder and acquisitions editor Katherine Skene were largely responsible for urging us to
move ahead with a prospectus for a new introductory textbook in political studies. We are
grateful to them for their vision and support.
A number of developmental editors were involved with the production of this
book and its three editions. Peter Chambers deserves recognition for his good humour,
Discovering Diverse Content Through
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"Now I shall be able to have my friends at the house without their
being insulted," cried Eurydice, triumphantly. "Last time when Mr.
Bolt was in the middle of reading his new poem, 'The Whirl,' a most
delicate and difficult poem set to a secret rhythm, Cicely burst in and
asked for the slop-pail. It looked so lovely! I had covered it with
autumn leaves and placed it half-way up the chimney. It might have
been a Grecian urn, but of course she dragged it out. She drags out
everything."
Eurydice had a profession, too. She was a suppressed artist. She felt
that she could have painted like Van Gogh, only perfectly
individually. She saw everything in terms of color and in the shape of
cubes. Railway lines reminded her of a flight of asterisks. Flowers
subdivided themselves before her like a tartan plaid. She saw human
beings in tenuous and disjointed outlines suggestive of a daddy-
long-legs. She could not afford paint and canvas, so she had to leave
people to think that the world looked much as usual.
Eurydice had always felt that she could write out her thoughts as
soon as she and Stella were alone and able to arrange her room in
black and scarlet. When Cicely left, Stella bought black paper and
pasted it over the walls, and dyed a white-wool mat, which had long
lost its original purity, a sinister scarlet.
Eurydice did not want very much, either. None of the Warings
wanted very much. What as a family they failed to understand was,
that not having the money to pay for what they wanted, some more
personal contribution of time and effort was necessary in order to
attain it.
Stella grasped this fact when she was about eighteen. She said
afterward that she never would have thought of it if it had not been
made plain to her by Cicely. Still, before Cicely had gone to the
hospital Stella was taking cheap lessons in the City in shorthand and
type-writing. None of the three girls had what is called any "youth."
They were as ignorant of young men as if they had been brought up
in a convent. Neither Professor nor Mrs. Waring had ever supposed
that parents ought to provide occupations or social resources for
their children, and the children themselves had been too busy
contributing to the family welfare to manage any other life. Cicely
had read statistics and mastered physiological facts at fifteen. She
was under the impression that she knew everything and disliked
everything except work. Her feeling for men was singularly like that
of a medieval and devout monk toward women. She had an
uncomfortable knowledge of them as a necessary evil, to be evaded
only by truculence or flight. When her work forced her into dealings
with them, she was ferocious and unattractive. She was a pretty girl,
but nobody had ever dared to mention it to her.
Even Stella, who in an unaggressive, flitting way dared most
questions, had avoided telling Cicely that she herself liked men.
Stella often felt that if she could meet a man who was capable of
doing all kinds of dull things for you, very charmingly, and had a
pretty wit, it would add quite enormously to the gaiety of life to put
yourself out a little in order to make him laugh.
The men Stella worked with wouldn't have done at all. They
wouldn't have cared for the kind of jokes Stella wanted to make, and
of course Stella hadn't time to meet any other men. Perhaps she
wouldn't have believed there were any if it hadn't been for Marian.
Marian knew them; she knew them literally in dozens, and they were
generally in love with her, and they always wanted to make her
laugh and to do dull things for her. Stella used to be afraid
sometimes that Marian, in an embarrassment of riches, might
overlook her destiny. But Marian knew what she wanted and was
perfectly certain that she would sooner or later get it. Stella had no
such knowledge; she had long ago come to the conclusion that the
simplest way of dealing with her life was to like what she had.
She took a scientific secretaryship at nineteen, and left it only at
twenty-six, when her scientist, who was very stout and nearly sixty,
died inconveniently from curried lobster. He left Stella an interesting
experience, of which she could make no immediate use, and a
testimonial which won her job at the town hall. It was very short.
"This young woman," the learned scientist wrote, "is invaluable. She
thinks without knowing it. I have benefited by this blessed process
for seven years."
It did not seem to Stella that she was invaluable. She always saw
herself in the light of the family failure, overlooking the fact that she
was their main financial support.
Cicely was the practical and Eurydice the intellectual genius; but she
was content if she could be the padding on which these jewels
occasionally shone.
Sometimes she met Cicely in a tea-shop and had a real talk, but
Eurydice was her chief companion. Eurydice shared with Stella
nearly every thought that she had. She seized her on the stairs to
retail her inspirations as Stella went up to take her things off. She
sat on her bed late at night, and talked with interminable bitterness
about the sharpness of life. Even while Stella buttoned up her boots
and flung things at the last moment into her despatch-case,
Eurydice pelted her with epigrams. She sometimes quoted
Swinburne while Stella was jumping on the corner bus, till the bus-
conductor told her not to let him catch her at it again. There was
only one subject they did not discuss: neither of them voluntarily
mentioned Mr. Bolt. Mr. Bolt was the editor of a magazine called
"Shocks," to which Eurydice with trembling delight contributed
weekly. Mr. Bolt had met her at a meeting of protest against
Reticence, and he had taken to Eurydice at once; and almost at once
he told her that her charm was purely intellectual. Emotionally he
was appealed to only by fair, calm women with ample figures.
Mr. Bolt knew plenty of fair, calm women with ample figures.
Eurydice only knew Mr. Bolt. She made an idol of him, and he used
her like a door-mat. No early-Victorian woman ever bore from a male
tyrant what poor, passionate twentieth-century Eurydice bore from
Mr. Bolt, and Stella could not help her. Stella abhorred Mr. Bolt. She
would not listen to his Delphic oracle utterances upon style and art
and life. She was outraged at his comments upon sex. She was
desperately, fiercely angry with a secret maternal anger that
Eurydice should have to listen to these utterances. It carried her as
far as an abortive appeal to her mother.
"My dear," said Mrs. Waring, placidly, "these things are outworn.
They are stultified thought products; they do not really exist. Sex is
like dust upon the house-tops; a cleansing process will shortly
remove it. Mr. Bolt is a misconception, a floating microcosm. I really
should not bother about Mr. Bolt. He is not nearly so tangible as the
butcher, and I have made up my mind never really again to bother
about the butcher. Perhaps you will see him for me if he calls about
his bill to-morrow.
"It seems so strange to me that business men should not
understand that when there is no money bills cannot be paid. Even
the minor regions of fact seem closed to them."
Stella agreed to dip into the minor regions of fact with the butcher,
but she went on bothering about Mr. Bolt. It seemed to Stella that
he was the only real bother that she had.
 CHAPTER IV
Darling:
Do come Sunday to tea. Mama is out of town, and I must have
some support. Julian is going to bring his mother to see me for
the first time. I believe she's rather alarming—awfully blue and
booky; just your sort. I haven't had time to tell you anything.
It's so jolly being engaged; but it takes up all one's spare
moments. I didn't mean to marry Julian; he swept me off my
feet. I suppose I must be awfully in love with him. You know
what explorers are. They go away for years and leave you to
entertain alone, and then people say you don't get on; and of
course exploring never pays. He has a little place in the country
and about £2000 a year. It's awfully little, really, but it's
wonderful what you can put up with when you really care for a
man; besides, he's sure to get on. Don't fail me Sunday. I shall
really be rather nervous. Old ladies never have been my forte.
Julian is such a dear! You're sure to like him. He wants to meet
you awfully, but he doesn't think women ought to work. He is
full of chivalry, and has charming manners. It doesn't in the
least matter what you wear. Heaps of love.
Marian.

It was this last reflection that gave Stella courage to ring the bell.
She had never been in the Youngs' house before. She had vaguely
known that it was in a very quiet square, with a garden in the
middle, quite near everything that mattered, and quite far away
from everything that didn't. It was the kind of house that looks as if
no one was in it unless they were giving a party. The interior was
high, narrow, and box-like. A great deal of money had been
unpretentiously spent on it, with a certain amount of good-humored,
ordinary taste.
The drawing-room ran the whole length of the house, and was pink
and gray, because the Youngs knew that pink and gray go well
together, just as blue and gold do, only that blue fades.
The chairs were very comfortable, the little tables had the right kind
of ornaments, the pictures were a harmless, unenlightening addition
to the gray-satin walls.
The books that lay about were novels. They were often a little
improper, but never seriously so, and they always ended in people
getting what they wanted legally.
It was a clean, comfortable, fresh room and nothing was ever out of
place in it.
Marian was sitting under a high vase of pink canterbury-bells; by
some happy chance her dress was the same pale pink as the bells.
She looked, with her hands in her lap, her throat lifted, and the sun
on her hair, like a flower of the same family. Her manner was a
charming mixture of ease and diffidence.
Stella was late, and Lady Verny and Julian had arrived before her.
Lady Verny was like her son. She was very tall and graceful, and
carried herself as if she had never had to stoop. Her eyes had the
steady, frosty blueness of Julian's, with lightly chiseled edges; her
lips were ironic, curved, and a little thin.
She had piles of white hair drawn back over her forehead. When
Marian introduced her to Stella, she rose and turned away from the
tea-table.
"I hope you will come and talk to me a little," she said in a clear,
musical voice. "We can leave Julian and Marian to themselves."
Lady Verny leaned back in the chair she had chosen for herself and
regarded Stella with steady, imperturbable eyes. It struck Stella as a
little alarming that they should all know where they wanted to sit,
and with whom they wanted to talk, without any indecision. She
thought that chairs would walk across the room to Lady Verny if she
looked at them, and kettles boil the moment Julian thought that it
was time for tea. But though she was even more frightened at this
calm, unconscious competency than she had expected to be, she
saw it didn't matter about her clothes. She knew they were all
wrong, as cheap clothes always are, particularly cheap clothes that
you've been in a hurry over and not clever enough to match. Her
boots and her gloves weren't good, and her hat was horrid and
probably on the back of her head. Her blue-serge coat and skirt had
indefinite edges. But Stella was aware that Lady Verny, beautifully
dressed as she was, was taking no notice whatever of Stella's
clothes. They might make an extra point against her if she didn't like
her. Stella could hear her saying, "Funny that Marian should make
friends with a sloppy little scarecrow." But if she did like her, she
would say nothing about Stella's clothes. As far as the Vernys were
concerned, the appearances of things were always subsidiary.
"Engagements are such interrupted times," Lady Verny observed,
with a charming smile. "One likes to poke a little opportunity toward
the poor dears when one can."
"Yes," said Stella, eagerly, with her little, rapid flight of words.
"You're always running away when you're engaged, and never
getting there, aren't you? And then, of course, when you're married,
you're there, and can't run away. It's such a pity they can't be more
mixed up."
"Perhaps," said Lady Verny, still smiling. "But marriage is like a
delicate clock; it has to be wound up very carefully, and the less you
take its works to pieces afterward the better. Have you known
Marian a long time?"
"Three years," said Stella; "but when you say 'know,' I am only an
accident. I don't in any real sense belong to Marian's life; I belong
only to Marian. You see, I work." She thought she ought, in common
fairness to Lady Verny, not let her think that she was one of Marian's
real friends.
Lady Verny overlooked this implication.
"And what is your work, may I ask?" she inquired, with her grave,
solid politeness, which reminded Stella of nothing so much as a
procession in a cathedral.
"I was a secretary to Professor Paulson," Stella explained, "the great
naturalist. He was a perfect dear, too,—it wasn't only beetles and
things,—and when he died, I went into a town hall,—I've been there
for two years,—and that's more exciting than you can think. It isn't
theories and experiments, of course, but it's like being a part of the
hub of the universe. Rates and taxes, sanitary inspectors, old-age
pensions, and the health of babies run through my hands like water
through a sieve. You wouldn't believe how entertaining civic laws
and customs are—and such charming people! Of course I miss the
other work, too,—it was like having one's ear against nature,—but
this is more like having one's ear against life."
"I think you must have very catholic tastes," said Lady Verny, gently.
"My son knew Professor Paulson; it will interest him to know that
you worked for him. And Marian—did she take any interest in your
scientific experiences?"
Stella moved warily across this question; she had never spoken to
Marian about her work at all. Marian, as she knew, thought it all very
tiresome.
"You see," she explained, "they weren't my experiences; they were
Professor Paulson's. Marian couldn't very well be thrilled at third
hand; the thrill only got as far as me. Besides, half of what I do as a
secretary is confidential, and the other half sounds dull. Of course it
isn't really. I've been so lucky in that way. I've never had anything
dull to do."
"I can quite imagine that," said Lady Verny, kindly. "Dullness is in the
eye, not in the object. Does Marian like life better than intellect,
too?"
"Ah, Marian's life," said Stella, a little doubtfully, "is so different!"
They glanced across at the distant tea-table. Julian was leaning
toward Marian with eyes that held her with the closeness of a frame
to a picture.
He was laughing at her a little, with the indulgent, delighted laughter
of a man very deeply in love. She was explaining something to him,
simply and gravely, without undue emphasis. Stella guessed that it
was one of the things Marian wanted, and she did not think that
Julian could get out of giving it to her by laughter.
"Marian's life hasn't got divisions in it like mine," she explained.
"She's just a beautiful human creature. She is equable and strong
and delightful and absolutely honest. She's as honest as crystal; but
she hasn't had to bother about choosing."
"Ah," said Lady Verny, "you think that, do you? But, my dear Miss
Waring, sooner or later we all have to bother about choosing. Beauty
and strength don't save us. Absolute honesty often lets us in, and
sometimes, when the scales weigh against us, we cease to be
equable."
"But they won't, you see," Stella said eagerly. "They can't weigh
against her now, Lady Verny. Don't you see? There's your son—it's
why one's so delighted. An engagement to him is like some
thumping insurance which somehow or other prevents one's house
being burned."
Lady Verny laughed.
"Let us hope your theory is a correct one," she said, rising from her
seat. "I am going to talk to her now, and you can talk to the
insurance company."
Stella gasped. She wanted to run away, to catch Lady Verny's
graceful scarf and tell her she couldn't really talk to anybody's son.
Agreeable, massive beings who explored continents and lived in
clubs oughtn't to come her way. But Julian crossed the room to her
side with the quickness of a military order. His manners hid his
reluctance. He was at her service in a moment. His keen eyes,
harder than his mother's and more metallic, met hers once and
glanced easily away. They said nothing to Stella except that he was
a watchful human being who couldn't be taken in, and was
sometimes perhaps unduly aware that he couldn't be taken in.
"I'm very glad indeed," he said cordially, "to meet Marian's greatest
friend. You must tell me all about her. You see, I'm a new-comer;
I've known her only six weeks, and I've been so busy trying to
impress her with my point of view that I quite feel I may have
overlooked some of hers. Women always understand women, don't
they?"
He wasn't going to be difficult to talk to. That unnecessary
ingredient in his composition saved Stella. As long as she had a brain
to call to, and wasn't only to be awed by splendor of appearance and
forms as difficult for her to cross as five-barred gates, she needn't
be afraid of him. It never was people that Stella was afraid of, but
the things, generally the silly things, that separated her from them.
"We do and we don't understand each other," she said swiftly. "I
don't think women can tell what another woman will do; but granted
she's done it, I dare say most could say why."
Julian laughed.
"Then have the kindness to inform me," he said, "why Marian has
consented to marry me. Incidentally, your reply will no doubt throw
a light for me upon her mental processes."
Stella saw he did not want any light thrown anywhere; he was
simply giving his mother time to get to know Marian. Then he was
going back to her; that was his light.
She gave a vague little smile at the sublimated concentration of
lovers. She liked to watch them; she would never have to be one.
It was like seeing some beautiful wild creature of the woods. It
wouldn't be like you at all, and yet it would be exceedingly amusing
and touching to watch, and sometimes it would make you think of
what it would feel like to be wild and in those woods.
She reminded herself sharply, as her eyes turned back to Julian, that
it wouldn't do to let him think she thought him wild. He was
behaving very well, and the least she could do was to let him think
so. She gave herself up to his question.
"You're very strong," she said consideringly. "Marian likes strength.
She's strong herself, you know; probably that's one of her reasons."
"Good," he said cheerfully. "Physically strong, d' you mean, or an
iron will? Iron wills are quite in my line, I assure you. Any other
reason?"
"Strong both ways," said Stella; "and you're secure. I mean, what
you've taken you'll keep. I think some women like a man they can
be sure of."
"Let us hope they all do," said Sir Julian, laughing. "It would imply a
very bad business instinct if they didn't."
"I do not think I agree with you," said Stella, firmly. "The best
business is often an adventure, a risk. Safe business does not go far;
it goes only as far as safety."
"Well, I'm not sure that I want women to go particularly far," said Sir
Julian. "I like 'em to be safe; let 'em leave the better business with
the risk in it to men. I shall be content if Marian does that."
"I think Marian will," said Stella. "But there are other things, of
course, besides you and Marian: there's life. You can only take all
the risk there is if you take all the life. I see what you would like, Sir
Julian: you want a figurehead guaranteed against collisions.
Unfortunately there's no guarantee against collisions even for a
figurehead. Besides, as I told you before, Marian's strong. Iron wills
don't make good figureheads."
"Ah, you're one of these new women," said Sir Julian, indulgently. "I
don't mind 'em a bit, you know, myself—all steel and ginger,—and
quite on to their jobs. I admit all that. But Marian ain't one of them.
Her strength is the other kind—the kind you get by sitting still, don't
you know; and if I may say so in passing, if I run a ship, I don't
collide. But let's have your third reason. I see you're keeping
something back. She's going to marry me because I'm strong and
because I'm sure; I approve of both of them, sound business
reasons. Now, Miss Waring, what's the third?"
"Ah, the third isn't a reason at all," said Stella; "but it's the only one
that I thoroughly agree with as a motive: she likes you for yourself."
Sir Julian's eyes suddenly softened; they softened so much that they
looked quite different eyes, almost as if they belonged to a very
pleased little boy.
"Oh," he said, looking back at Marian. "I shouldn't in the least mind
being guaranteed that, you know."
Lady Verny rose and walked toward them.
"I have some other calls to make," she said to her son. "You'll stay,
of course."
Stella joined her as soon as she had given the happiest of her smiles
into Marian's expectant eyes. Lady Verny's face, as they stood
together outside the door, was perfectly expressionless.
Without a word she descended the stairs side by side with Stella.
When she reached the front door she held out her hand to Stella
and smiled.
"I hope I shall meet you again some day," she said, with gracious
sincerity. "I enjoyed our little talk together very much."
She said nothing whatever about Marian.
 CHAPTER V
It was a very hot morning in July, a morning when work begins
slowly, continues irritably, and is likely to incite human paroxysms of
forgetfulness and temper. It took the form with Mr. Leslie Travers of
his being more definite than usual. He was an extremely intelligent
man, and most of his intelligence consisted in knowing where other
people were wrong. The heat lent an almost unbearable edge to
these inspirations; the office boy, the mayor's secretary, and two
typists withdrew from his sanctum as if they had been in direct
contact with a razor.
Stella wished, as she had often wished before, that the inner office
in which she worked could not be invaded by the manner in which
Mr. Travers conducted his interviews. She respected him as her chief,
she even considered him with a kind of loyal awe augmented by her
daily duty. She pleased him, she catered for him, she never in any
circumstances let him down or confused him by a miscalculation or a
mistake.
It is impossible to do this for any man for two years and, if he has
treated you with fairness and respect, not at the end of that time, to
regard him with a certain proprietary affection. This was how Stella
regarded Mr. Travers. He was a clever man, and he never expected
any one under him to work miracles or to give him trouble. He knew
what you were worth, and sometimes he let you see it.
He was handsome in a thin, set, rather dry way, and when he put his
finger-tips together and smiled a little ironic smile he had, and
leaned forward with his shoulders hunched and his eyes unusually
bright, as if they'd been polished like a boot-button, he had an air of
intellectual strength which usually brought terror to an opponent. He
always knew when his adversary was in the wrong. It sometimes
seemed to Stella as if he never knew anything else.
He had reduced life to a kind of game in which you caught the other
fellow out. She got very tired of hearing him say, "You see, Miss
Waring, the weak point of this case is—" or, "I think we may just
point out to him that he renders himself liable to—"
He was a master hand at an interview. To begin with, he always let
the interviewer state his case completely. He never interrupted; he
would sit there smiling a little with his steady, observant eyes fixed
on the man before him, saying in a suave, mild voice, "Yes, yes; I
quite see. Exactly. Your point is—" and Stella, listening, would feel
her heart sink at the dangerous volubility of his opponent. She would
have liked to spring from behind the screen where she was sorting
the correspondence and say, "For Heaven's sake! keep that back!
You're letting yourself in!" As soon as the usually verbose and
chaotic applicant had drawn his final breath, Mr. Leslie Travers gave
him back his case with the points eliminated, and the defenseless
places laid out before him as invertebrate and unmanageable as a
jellyfish. It was hardly necessary for Mr. Leslie Travers to say, with
his dry little smile, "I think you see, my dear fellow, don't you, that it
would really be advisable in your own interests not to go on any
further with the matter? It will be no trouble to us at all if you decide
to push it, but if you take my advice, you will simply go home and
think no more about it." People usually went home, and if their case
had been important to them, they probably thought about it to the
end of their lives; but that didn't affect Mr. Travers. It was his
business to safeguard the interests of the town hall, and the more
cases you could drop, the better. Of course he never dropped a case
that could be used against him; he held on to these until they
couldn't. He had to perfection the legal mind. He never touched
what wasn't a safe proposition. A peculiar idea seized Stella as she
listened to him dismissing a worried rate-payer who had asked for
lowered rates, claiming the decreased value of his property, "We
shall act immediately," Mr. Travers said benevolently. "We receive
proof that your property has decreased in value, but it doesn't do,
you know, to come here and tell me the neighborhood isn't what it
was. No neighborhood ever is. Good morning."
What, she asked herself, would Mr. Leslie Travers be without his
impeccable tie, his black coat, and definitely creased gray trousers,
the polish on his boots, the office background, and, above all, the
law? Was he really very awe-inspiring. Wasn't he just a funny little
man? It was curious how she felt this morning, as if she would have
liked to see some one large and lawless face Mr. Travers and show
him that his successes were tricks, his interviews mousetraps, his
words delusive little pieces of very stale cheese. He was too careful
of his dignity, too certain of his top-hat. You couldn't imagine him
dirty and oily at the north pole, putting grit into half-frozen, starving
men. You couldn't, that is to say, imagine him at a disadvantage,
making the disadvantage play his game.
His games were always founded on advantages. He wasn't, in fact,
at all like Julian Verny, nor was there any reason why he should be.
But yesterday Stella had seen Julian Verny, and to-day she saw, and
saw as if for the first time, Mr. Leslie Travers.
"Now, Miss Waring," Mr. Travers said, looking up from his desk, "the
correspondence, please, if you are ready." He always spoke to her,
unless he was in a hurry, as if he were speaking to a good, rather
bright little girl who knew her place, but mustn't be tempted unduly
to forget it. When he was in a hurry he sometimes said, "Look
sharp."
Stella brought the correspondence, and they went through it
together with their usual celerity and carefulness, and all the time
she was thinking: "We've worked together every day for two years
except Sundays, and he's afraid to look at me unless we're
discussing a definite question, and he won't risk a joke, and he'd be
shocked if I sneezed. He's just a very intelligent, cultivated, knowing
clerk, and he'd be awfully upset if I told him he had a smut on his
collar."
Mr. Leslie Travers put to one side the two or three letters he had
reserved for himself to answer. Stella gathered hers together into an
elastic band; but as she turned to leave him he said:
"Miss Waring, one moment. You came to me on the understanding
that your work here was to be purely temporary. Circumstances have
prolonged your stay with us until it seems to me that we may fairly
consider you, unless you have other plans, a permanent member of
our staff!"
"I hope so," said Stella, with a sudden flicker in her eyes, "unless
you think women shouldn't be permanent."
Mr. Leslie Travers permitted himself a very slight smile.
"That disability in your case," he said, "we are prepared to overlook
in view of your value as a worker. As my permanent secretary I
should wish to raise your salary ten pounds yearly. I have put this
before our committee, and they have seen their way to consent to
it."
Stella's eyebrows went up. Ten pounds were worth so much to that
muddled, penurious household standing behind her on the verge of
utmost poverty! The man whose place she had taken had been paid
three hundred a year; her rise brought up her salary to one third of
this amount.
"It is a disability, Mr. Travers," she said gently, "being a woman. I see
that it is going to cost me two hundred a year."
Mr. Travers looked at her very hard. He knew that she did her work
twice as well as the man she had replaced. That is why she had
replaced him. He thought of her market value as a worker, and he
knew that he was doing a perfectly correct thing. A hundred a year
was a fair wage for a woman secretary. He said:
"You see, Miss Waring, you have not got a family to support."
Stella flushed. She had a family to support, but she did not intend to
admit it to Mr. Travers.. She said:
"I beg your pardon. I had not understood that wages were paid
according to a worker's needs. I had thought the value of the work
settled the rate of payment."
Mr. Travers was astonished. He had never dreamed that Miss Waring
would argue with him. He had looked forward to telling her of this
unexpected windfall; he had expected a flushed and docile gratitude.
She was a little flushed, it is true, but she was neither docile nor
grateful, and he did not quite see his way to continuing her line of
argument. She had, however, put herself in the wrong, and he
pointed this out to her.
"I am afraid I cannot see my way to offering you more than the
increase I have suggested," he said; "but as you were apparently
satisfied to accept a permanent post at my original offer, I may hope
that an extra ten pounds will prove no obstacle to our continuing to
work together."
"I do not suppose," said Stella, quietly, "that it will be any obstacle
to you that I do not think it fair."
"Really, Miss Waring, really," said Mr. Travers, "I do not think you are
quite yourself this morning. The heat, the disquieting news in the
papers—Perhaps you had better go on with the correspondence.
These questions are not personal ones, you know—they—"
Stella interrupted him.
"All questions that deal with human beings, Mr. Travers," she said,
"are personal questions, and the heat does not affect them."
For one awful moment Mr. Travers thought that Miss Waring was
laughing at him; there was that strange glint in her eyes that he had
noticed before. She had extraordinarily pretty eyes, usually so
gentle. It was most upsetting.
She disappeared with her correspondence before he could think of a
suitable reply. Legally he had been perfectly justified, more than
justified, because he was under no obligation to offer her ten
pounds more.
This is what comes of generosity to women. If he hadn't offered her
that ten pounds she wouldn't have laughed at him, if she really had
laughed at him.
It was a most disquieting thought; it haunted him all day long, even
more than the possibility of a European war. He couldn't help the
European war if it did come off, but he wished very much that he
had been able to prevent Miss Waring's enigmatic laughter.
 CHAPTER VI
When anything happened, Julian's first instinct was to happen with
it. He had never been in the rear of a situation in his life. The blow
of the Austrian ultimatum reached him on a yacht in mid-channel.
There was a cabinet minister on board, for whose sake the yacht
slewed round to make her way swiftly back to port. Julian went
directly to him.
"Look here," he said, "we've got to go in. You grasp that, don't you?"
Julian had one idea in his head, the cabinet minister had a great
many; every one but Julian was leaving him alone to sort these
ideas out. Julian spent the six hours in which they were flying to port
in eradicating one by one every idea except his own.
The two men stood together, leaning over the ship's side. It was a
clear summer evening, with a bloom upon the waters. The lights of
the boats they passed—green and red and gold—were like glow-
worms in a Southern night. The sea was very easy under them; it
had little movement of its own, and parted like riven gauze to let the
ship through.
"We can't let France go under," Julian pleaded. "Look at her, son—
stripped, after 1870. How she's sprung up! But thin, you know—thin,
like a gallant boy.
"Immoral small families? By Gad! how righteous comfortable people
are! How could she help it? Look what she's had to carry—
indemnities, cursed war burdens, and now the three-years service!
But she's carried 'em. I know the French. I've Irish in me, and that
helps me to value their lucidity. Lucidity's sense, you know, it ain't
anything dressy or imaginative, it's horse-sense gone clean as
lightning. The French are a civilized people. Go to Paris,—not the
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