A Study On Québécois' National Identity And Ethnic Identity In The Past 60 Years

Quebec issue has always been the top political issue of Canada.The history of Quebec issues has a long history,and its history can be traced back to 17th Century or even earlier.Since the 1980s,Québécois have begun to seek political independence and created two waves of independence movement respectively in 1980 and 1995.However,ushering in the 21st.century,this issue seems to become silent.Quebec issue possesses strongly continuous history and complexity,and,in essence,is about the relationship between Québécois' national and ethnic identity.The research on Québécois' national and ethnic identity can do good to how to explain the huge change in their cognitive sense of belonging in recent 60 years,and thus becomes beneficial to the research on the governing rules of the regions(countries)with multi-ethnic races and cultural diversity,especially to the profound theoretical understanding on ethnic fusion,national cohesiveness,and the construction of modern nation-state.Taking Quebec as the research subject and utilizing the historical evolution of Quebec issue from 1960 to present as a clue,the paper analyzes the factors that influence the changes of the relationship between Québécois' national identity and ethnic identity in the current stage of the latest political developments on 'Canada.Using PEST analysis method,namely the political economy(politics),economy,society,technology,owing to its direction,the paper mainly uses the political and economic environment(independence and dependence of the economy of Quebec)and its social environment(population,environment and cultural background)of PEST to analyze,and includes geographical factors to do a preliminary analysis on the influencing factors of Québécois' national identity and ethnic identity changes.The paper takes Québécois as the research object,the historical evolution of Quebec issue from 1960 to today as clue and nationalðnic identity as core topic.By using PEST analysis method,this article undertakes a preliminary analysis of the change in Québécois' national and ethnic identity in recent 60 years and of the factors influencing the change,from the perspective of political environment(the political ecology of Canada and Quebec),economic environment(the independence and dependence of Québécois' economy),and social environment(population environment and cultural environment)as well as geographical factors,etc.The factors affecting the changes of Québécois' national identity and ethnic identity are mainly analyzed from the aspects of economic,political and cultural factors.Among the economic factors,the GDP change,the employment rate and the unemployment rate in Quebec are the important indicators.In the political factor,by analyzing the change of the federal and provincial internal party and the government policy,we can see that the attitude and tendencies of the party are the important factors affecting the Québécois,sense of belonging to Canadian federation.In the cultural factors,the internal demographic composition and intergenerational factors,and the external international society and the international situation greatly affect the change of Québécois' national identity and ethnic identity.Among that,the influence of intergenerational factors is particularly prominent.Thus,it can be seen that the change of national identity and ethnic identity in Quebec is a comprehensive phenomenon of various factors interwoven with each other.It is held in the article that either conflict or oneness might exist between national and ethnic identity and that the different priority positionings of the two and their change is the key to the separation psychology,which threatens the union of a state,in the country with multi-ethnic races and cultural diversity.Based on such theoretical point,this article sorts out the historical origin and current evolution of Québécois' national and ethnic identity.Québécois' political situation "being federated" and cultural disputes centering around French during post-colonial period and the conflict between"British-Canadians" and "French-Canadians" during the economic growth of Quebec,foreshadow the separation psychology of Québécois who "insist" on withdrawing Quebec from Canada and making Quebec an independent state during recent 60 years.The separation psychology of Québécois triggered three separation movements during the last 40 years of the 20th century.Consequently,the ethnic identity of Québécois dominated their national identity and what Québécois admitted was only national identity,rather than national identity.Such political psychology reached its peak at that time.In the 21st century,the conflict between Québécois' national and ethnic identity grew to alleviate.To be specific,Québécois' have transformed from "attack" to "defense" and the call for Quebec's separation movement declined.It seems that Quebec issue has gradually disappeared from view.This article claims that the reasons for the "weakened" separation psychology of Québécois do not lie in the essential change in ethnic fusion or national identity but in the priority change of national and ethnic identity or the change in power,due to the impact of economic,cultural and political factors,etc.Speaking of economic factors,the insufficient stamina of Quebec's economic development,high unemployment ratio and heavy tax burden as well as the diminished competitive advantage against other regions plus the increased economic dependence of Quebec,make Québécois,as rational businessman,believe that the loss resulted from Quebec's withdrawal from Canada outweighs the gain.When it comes to political factors,the political party alternation of Canada and Quebec as well as the change in governmental policy,especially the reception and tolerance of the political uniqueness and cultural&political psychology of Quebec,affect and improve,to a certain degree,Québécois' sense of belonging toward Canada.As to cultural factors,the change in the population component,the intergenerational transform of national and ethnic identity as well as international community and situation,influence,to a great degree,the change of Québécois' national and ethnic identity.Among the factors,the most outstanding one is intergenerational one.Therefore,this paper believes,based on those mentioned above,that the change in Québécois' national and ethnic identity is a complex consequence resulted from interwoven various factors.This article goes through the evolution of Québécois' national and ethnic identity,with an emphasis on analyzing the transformation of national and ethnic identity from fierce conflict into alleviated situation and the deep-rooted reasons for the transformation.As predicted,Quebec will move towards virtuous evolution in the future and Quebec issue will be continuously alleviated,though there might still exist uncertainties.The transformation in Québécois' national and ethnic identity proves that modern states should depend on culture to fuse separation psychology,depend on the balanced development of regional economy to reorganize and consolidate the conflict of identity and depend on the.ongoing adjustment of political power and right to make system innovations and eliminate conflicts.