Jim Farney PhD, MA, BA

Jim Farney is Professor and Regina Director at JSGS. Prior to this, he served as the head of the U of R Department of Politics and International Studies. With a PhD from the University of Toronto and an MA and BA from the University of Saskatchewan, he has published and taught on themes such as political parties, education policy, Canadian politics, and institutional change. He’s author of Social Conservatism and Party Politics in Canada and the United States, co-editor of Conservatism in Canada and Open Federalism Revisited, as well as a number of scholarly articles on Canadian political development, provincial politics, political parties, and education policy.

His most recent book (with Clark Banack) is Faith, Rights, and Choice: The Politics of Religious Schools in Canada, which received an honourable mention for the Seymour Martin Lipset Book Award of the American Political Science Association 2023. A co-investigator in the SSHRC funded Comparative Education Policy Network, he is currently PI on a SSHRC Insight grant investigating the fiscal, governance, and public opinion impacts of school/parental choice.

Designations

• Ph.D. in Political Science, University of Toronto
• M.A. in Political Studies, University of Saskatchewan
• B.A. in Political Studies, University of Saskatchewan

Please note that the supervisory capacity for Fall 2026 will be updated in Summer 2025.

Jim Farney's research areas: Canadian education policy, provincial institutional and governance change, Canadian political development, and Canadian conservatism.

• 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.