- INRS Publications
Urban studies professor Sandra Breux has co-produced a new reference book on Quebec’s municipal reality.
Sandra Breux, INRS professor. Photo : Phil Bernard
Published by the Presses de l’Université Laval, the new Dictionnaire politique de la scène municipale québécoise (French only) has emerged as a reference for understanding the specific features of municipal life across the province.
Over fifty specialists contributed to this ambitious work, spearheaded by Sandra Breux of the Institut national de la recherche scientifique (INRS) and her colleague Anne Mévellec of the University of Ottawa. This encyclopedic work is aimed at academics, elected officials, journalists, or anyone else in the general public who is keen to learn more about municipal politics.
“With the Dictionnaire politique de la scène municipale québécoise, we wanted to offer a book that would be accessible to everyone. Local governments, embodied by municipal administrations, are at the heart of citizens’ daily lives. This is the reality we wanted to convey in this major collective work.”
Sandra Breux, Professor at the INRS Urbanisation Culture Société Research Centre
In addition to a range of definitions organized into 70 themes, from “aménagement et urbanisme” (urban planning and development) to “ville de compagnie” (company town), “ombudsman,” and “paradiplomatie” (paradiplomacy), this book provides a detailed portrait of how municipalities operate, their responsibilities, and the emerging issues they face today. It is also punctuated by historical facts and concrete ties to the current political arena.
About the book
The Dictionnaire politique de la scène municipale québécoise was published in 2024 by the Presses de l’Université Laval. Professors Andrew Sancton of the University of Western Ontario and Alain Faure of the Université Grenoble Alpes both contributed a preface, while Professor Zack Taylor of the University of Western Ontario provided the book’s afterword.
Professor Breux also holds the Canada Research Chair in Municipal Elections and is the scientific director of the Villes Régions Monde (VRM) network. Over the past ten years, she has led a number of research projects on the municipal world in Quebec and Canada. Her research interests focus on municipal representative democracy, and more specifically on voter behaviour, elected officials, and municipal political parties.
