All of the following offer broad coverage of Canadian government and politics. More specialized subject bibliographies in Canadian government and politics are listed in Special Topics.
NOTE: Similar to these bibliographies, but listed separately, are government publication catalogues (See Finding Information: Government Publication Lists), and listings of certain types of government documents, such as green papers, royal commissions, etc. (See Selected Primary Sources and their Finding Aids: What was Written: Government Publications.)
Bibliographical Guide to Canadian Government and Politics, 1968 to 1980. By Jan Gregor. Montecello, Ill.: Vance Bibliographies, 1986. Public Administration Series: Bibliography P 1918 to P 1926. 9 vols.
Description: Includes 9 sections by subject: 1. Reference literature and general political readings, 2. Canadian constitution and national institutions, 3. Foreign political and economic relations, 4. Issues in Canadian politics and federal-provincial responsibilities, 5. Political parties and elections, 6. Political behavior and public policy, 7. Canadian ethnic mosaic, 8. Provincial government and politics, 9. Municipal government and politics. Sections further divided into subsections by subject.
Coverage: Selective; 5,033 entries.
Includes: Monographs, doctoral and masters dissertations, government and public documents and research papers published in the period 1968 to 1980. Serial monographs are included but periodical articles are excluded.
Tips: Entries are listed in alphabetical order by author. No title or keyword index but 9 sections and 31 subsections (overall) mean it is not difficult to find what you are looking for. Numerous subsections means that lists of publications are not too long and the researcher is saved from scrolling through a lot of literature.
biblioPOL: banque bibliographique pour l'enseignement en français de la science politique. By François-Pierre Gingras and Ricky G. Richard, Département de science-politique, Université dé Ottawa).
Subjects: Political science literature in French with emphasis on Canada, Canadian government and politics and Canadian authors.
Description: Main page includes a table of contents with 8 subsections: Généralit's, administration publique, politique canadienne, nouvelle questions politiques (Écologie, féminisme), méthodologie, politique comparée, relations internationales, théorie politique.
Coverage: All literature up to 1998, notes also indicate the intended audience is undergraduate students.
Includes: Books, journal articles, and some reference works (dictionaries, etc). Does not include: most works in English, classic texts and specialist writings
Tips: French language material is sometimes not well covered in commercial databases made for the English language market. In addition, the bibliography goes back in time beyond the reach of most commercial databases. This makes this a useful research resource. However, no annotations are provided.
Canadian Official Publications. By Olga B. Bishop. Oxford: Pergamon Press, 1981. 297 p.
Description: Describes the major types of publications issued by the federal government and the information in them. Provides a succinct and clear introduction to historical federal documents.
Coverage: Selective. 1867-1980.
Includes: Publications of Parliament, government agencies and departments, statistics, Reference books, policy papers, etc.
Tips: Good subject index in the back
Canadian Political Parties, 1867-1968: A Historical Bibliography. By Grace Heggie. Toronto: Macmillan, 1977. 603 p.
Description: An excellent bibliography for political history. Sections cover biographies, individual political parties, the Constitution, federal-provincial relations and more. Has some annotations.
Coverage: Over 8,000 entries published up to 1970.
Includes: Books, articles, theses.
Tips: Has subject and author indexes.
Canadian Politics. By James Bickerton and Alain G. Gagnon. Ottawa: Canadian Studies Directorate, Department of the Secretary of State of Canada, 1992. Canadian Studies Resource Guides. Second series. 28 p.
Description: Includes an introductory overview of the subject, commentary on significant works and suggestions for further reading.
Coverage: Selective.
Includes: Mainly books and articles.
Tips: This bibliographic essay is a good place to start research since it provides an overview of the discipline as well as recommended readings. If you have trouble finding this item, a modified and updated version of this is in the widely available James Bickerton and Alain-G Gagnon, Canadian politics. 2nd ed. (Toronto: Broadview Press, 1994). Chapter 1: The study of Canadian politics, pages 9 to 36. Unfortunately, this chapter is not included in Bickerton and Gagnon, Canadian politics. 3rd ed. (Toronto: Broadview Press, 1999), or in the 4th ed. 2004. However, the lengthy lists of suggested readings at the end of each chapter make these a useful resource as well.
Canadian Politics, 1950 to 1975: A Selected Research Bibliography. By John Dreijmanis. Monticello, Ill.: Council of Planning Librarians, 1976. 16 p.
Coverage: Selective listing of 241 scholarly books.
Includes: Does not include government publications
Canadian Public Administration: Bibliography / Administration publique canadienne: bibliographie. By W. E. Grasham and Germain Julien. Toronto: Institute of Public Administration of Canada, 1972. 261 p. (Supplements: Vol. 2, 1977, Vol. 3, 1978, Vol. 4, 1979/82.)
Description: Bilingual bibliography, no annotations. Entries in alphabetical order within each subject. Subject sections include municipal administration, public finance, administrative sectors, etc. subdivided into more specific topics.
Coverage: Selective, 1930-1971. (Supplements: to 1982.)
Includes: Books, articles, theses and government publications, except annual reports.
Tips: Use Table of Contents to find topics of interest. Lists other related bibliographies and reference works that cover related topics.
Contemporary Canadian Politics: An Annotated Bibliography, 1970-1987. By Gregory Mahler. New York: Greenwood Press, 1988. 400 p.
Description: Contains almost 4,000 entries. Designed for students and scholars starting research in Canadian government and politics.
Coverage: Selective - all entries are predominantly political in focus (not historical, sociological or economic),
Includes: Books, articles and government documents. (Not included are biographies, political history where publication is more history than politics, studies of political sociology and political economics which are also not predominantly political, collections of political cartoons, government documents and reports which are too statistical.)
Tips: Strongly recommended - provides an excellent access point into the literature. 14 chapters organized by subject and a comprehensive keyword index at the back make it very easy to find what you are looking for.
Contemporary Canadian Politics: An Annotated Bibliography, 1988-1994. By Gregory Mahler. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1995. 204 p.
Description: Contains over 1,500 entries. Designed for students and scholars starting research in Canadian government and politics.
Coverage: Selective - all entries are predominantly political in focus (not historical, sociological or economic),
Includes: Books, articles and government documents. (Not included are biographies, political history where publication is more history than politics, studies of political sociology and political economics which are also not predominantly political, collections of political cartoons, government documents and reports which are too statistical.)
Tips: Strongly recommended - same as above.
CPOL (Bibliography of Canadian Politics and Society). By Iza Laponce, Librarian, University of British Columbia.
Description: This bibliography is "designed to provide a starting point for research in Canadian government and politics". It contains over 33,000 entries
Coverage: Selective, 1929 to 1996 and 200-2003, but with emphasis on materials published 1960 to 1994 and 2000-2003. No entries after 2003.
Includes: Journal articles, proceedings, reports, symposia, festschriften, data files and dissertations.
Tips: See main page for search instructions.
A broader bibliography which could also be useful:
International Bibliography of Political Science. London: Routledge, 1953- .
Description: Annual volumes designed for retrospective research. (Volumes are published a few years after the fact.)
Coverage: Selective - includes thousands of entries considered the most significant new material published during the year.
Includes: Books, journal articles, government publications, articles, pamphlets in many languages. (Does not include previously published materials including translations, textbooks, articles from newspapers and news magazines, material which is primarily the presentation of primary data, legislative and judicial texts and material which is mostly of local interest.)
Tips: Use the place name index to find material about Canadian government and politics. Not particularly well indexed so users have to work through a long list of numbered citations and check each one to see if it is relevant. (There is also a subject and author index). However, the fact that this bibliography is ongoing and covers a broad range of international publications makes it a useful place to look