Jim Farney
Director and Stauffer Dunning Chair
School of Policy Studies
Robert Sutherland, 325
Dr. Jim Farney is Director and Stauffer Dunning Chair at the School of Policy Studies at Queen's University.
Prior to this, he served as Professor and Regina Director at the Johnson Shoyama Graduate School of Public Policy at the University of Regina, where he was responsible for academic oversight, strategic planning, faculty development, and administrative operations for a vibrant unit providing both graduate training and executive education. Dr. Farney also served as Head of the Department of Politics and International Studies at the University of Regina, where he focussed on the undergraduate experience.
Holding a PhD in Political Science from the University of Toronto and an MA and BA in Political Studies from the University of Saskatchewan, Dr. Farney has built a national reputation for his contributions to the study of political development, provincial politics, education policy, and conservatism in Canada.
His current research program focuses on school choice, including religious and independent schools, and the governance of education systems. He is the principal investigator on a SSHRC Insight Grant examining the financial, governance, and public opinion dimensions of parental and school choice in Canada. Dr. Farney is also the co-author (with Clark Banack) of Faith, Rights, and Choice: The Politics of Religious Schools in Canada, which received an honourable mention for the Seymour Martin Lipset Book Award from the American Political Science Association in 2023. Previous work on conservative party politics resulted in three books: Social Conservatism and Party Politics in Canada and the United States, Canadian Conservatism (edited with David Rayside), and Open Federalism Revisited (edited with Julie Simmons) as well as a number of scholarly articles.
Committed to public engagement, his media commentary has appeared on CBC Radio and CBC TV, CTV, and CNN, and BBC Radio as well as in The Regina Leader Post, The Economist, The London Times, The Guardian, Agence France-Press, The Washington Post, The New York Times, Policy Options, and The Conversation. He has served as President of the Prairie Political Science Association, Senior Saskatchewan Social Scientist for Elections Saskatchewan, and is a member of the board of the Canadian Association of Programs in Public Administration.
2023 SSHRC Insight Grant. “Assessing the Financial, Governance, and Parental Feedback Effects of School Choice in Canada”. James Farney (PI), Adrienne Davidson (co-applicant), Sophie Borwein (co-applicant), Iryna Khovrenkov (collaborator), Haizhen Mou (co-applicant), Triadafilopoulos Triadifilopolous (co-applicant), Linda White (co-applicant). $396,885
2022. Loleen Berdahl (PI). James Farney as collaborator. Contract with Government of Canada Future Skills Centre to convene Saskatchewan municipalities as a sector to foster policy learning and development in the area of “Governing Sustainable Municipalities.” Total Contract $1.75 million.
Books
James Farney and Clark Banack (2023) Faith, Rights, and Choice: The Politics of Religious and Independent Schools in Canada: University of Toronto Press. Book received an honourable mention for the Seymour Martin Lipset Book Award of the American Political Science Association 2023.
Julie Simmons and James Farney (eds.) 2021. Open Federalism Revisited: Regional and Federal Dynamics in the Harper Era. University of Toronto Press.
James Farney and David Rayside (eds). 2013. Canadian Conservatism. Toronto: University of Toronto Press.
James Farney. Social Conservatives and Conservative Party Politics in North America. University of Toronto Press, 2012.
Book Chapters and Articles
Sophie Borwein, James Farney, Iryna Khovrenkov, and Linda A White. 2023. “Not Hidden But Not Visible: Government Funding of Independent Schools in Canada.” Canadian Journal of Political Science, 56, 698–714.
Salar Asadolahi, James Farney, Triadafilos Triadafilopoulos, and Linda A. White. 2022a. “Charting the Rise of School Choice across Canadian Provinces: A Policy Index.” Canadian Journal of Political Science 55:1, 188-207. Salar Asadolahi, James Farney, Triadafilos Triadafilopoulos, and Linda A. White. 2022b.
‘School Choice, Policy Feedback Effects and Policy Outcomes: Theorizing the Relationship between Policy Design and Parent Decisions to “Stay” or “Defect” from Public Education.’ Online pre-published Comparative Education January.
James Farney. 2021. ’Political Parties and Regional Integration the 21st Century: Are We Beyond Brokerage?’ in Julie Simmons and James Farney (eds.) Canadian Federalism under Stephen Harper.
James Farney and Julie Simmons. 2021. ’Introduction’ In Julie Simmons and James Farney (eds.) Canadian Federalism under Stephen Harper.
Julie Simmons and James Farney. 2021. ’Conclusion: The Harper Legacy’. In Julie Sim mons and James Farney (eds.) Canadian Federalism under Stephen Harper. David McGrane, Tom McIntosh, James Farney, Loleen Berdahl, Gregory Kerr, and
Clifton Van Der Liden. 2019. “The 2016 Saskatchewan Provincial Election: The Solidification of an Uncompetitive Two-Party Leader-Focused System or Movement to a One-Party Predominant System?”, Canadian Political Science Review, 13: 1, 145-185.
James Farney. 2019. “Cross-Border Influences or Parallel Developments? A Process-Tracing Approach to the Development of Social Conservatism in Canada and the USA.” Journal of Political Ideology 24:2, 139-57.
James Farney. 2019. “From Grant to Hayek: The Shifting Nature of Canadian Conservatism”. In David McGrane and Neil Hibbert (eds) Canadian Political Thought. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 21-42.
James Farney and Royce Koop. 2018. ‘Auditing Party Democracy: The Case of Canadian Party Constituency Associations.’ Comparative and Commonwealth Politics 56:1, 84-102.
James Farney and Royce Koop. 2017. ’The Conservative Party in Opposition and Government.’ 25-45 In J.P. Lewis and Joanna Everitt (eds) Slow Right Turn: Conservatives and Canadian Politics 1993-2003. University of Toronto Press.
James Farney. 2017. “Stability Amidst Change: Ontario's Religious Schools and Canada's Regime of Secularism” American Review of Canadian Studies spring. 1-15.
James Farney. 2016. ‘Potash Development in Saskatchewan: Policy Development in the face of Ideological Change’. Prairie Forum 39:1, 142-157.
James Farney and David Rayside. 2013. 'The Meaning of Conservatism' 3-21 in Farney and Rayside, Canadian Conservatism.
James Farney 'Canadian Populism in the Era of the United Right' 43-59 in Farney and Rayside, Canadian Conservatism.
David Rayside and James Farney. 'The Distinctive Evolution of Canadian Conservatism' 339-353 in Farney and Rayside, Canadian Conservatism.
James Farney and Jonathan Malloy, 2011. ‘Ideology and Discipline in the Conservative Party of Canada,’ 247-271 in Pammett and Dornan (eds) The Canadian Federal Election of 2011. Toronto: Dundurn.
James Farney. 2009. 'The Personal is not Political: The Progressive Conservative Response to Social Issues.' American Review of Canadian Studies. 39: 3, 242-253.
James Farney and Renan Levine, 2008. 'Canadian Voting Behaviour in Comparative Perspective.' 194-205 in Linda A. White, Richard Simeon, Rob Vipond, and Jennifer Wallner (eds.) The Comparative Turn in Canadian Political Science. Vancouver: UBC Press.
James Farney and Bohdan Kordan. 2005. 'The Predicament of Belonging: The Status of Enemy Aliens in 1914 Canada.' Journal of Canadian Studies. 39:1, 74-90.