View source for Étapisme

'''Étapisme''' ([[French language|French]] for ''gradualism'') is the term for a strategy for independence dominant in the [[Parti Québécois]] since 1974. It is associated with the figure of [[Claude Morin (PQ politician)|Claude Morin]],<ref>Political fallout intensified by Parti Quebecois nostalgia: SIBLIN, ERIC. The Vancouver Sun; Vancouver, B.C. 19 May 1992: A8.</ref> who convinced Parti Québécois leader [[René Lévesque]] and eventually a majority of party delegates to adopt its principles. Proponents of the strategy are called ''étapistes''.
It advocates a [[gradualism|step-by-step approach]] to achieving independence. Before 1974, the Parti Québécois programme stipulated that independence would be declared upon electing a majority of Parti Québécois Members of the [[National Assembly of Quebec]] (MNAs), under Quebec's [[Plurality voting system|first-past-the-post electoral system]] and its [[British parliamentary system]]. Under ''étapisme'', the Parti Québécois would promise a good government first and propose a referendum on independence second.
At the [[1980 Quebec referendum|first referendum of 1980]], ''étapisme'' was also implemented in the referendum process, since the question asked for a mandate to negotiate [[sovereignty-association]] with Canada with the commitment to hold a second referendum to ratify the resulting agreement.
From time to time, this approach has been challenged by [[pur et dur|hardliners]]. Two of the most famous challenges to ''étapisme'' were at the 1981 National Congress, colloquially known as the ''Renérendum'' (because René Lévesque put his leadership in question in an internal vote on the question), and with the so-called Parizeau-Laplante Proposition of the 2000s. [[Jacques Parizeau]] was opposed to this strategy<ref>Political fallout intensified by Parti Quebecois nostalgia: SIBLIN, ERIC. The Vancouver Sun; Vancouver, B.C. 19 May 1992: A8.</ref> and ratification in a second referendum would not be proposed again in the [[1995 Quebec referendum|referendum of 1995]].
== See also ==
* [[Pur et dur]] - opposing tendency in the Quebec sovereignty movement
* [[SNP gradualist|SNP gradualism]] (similar strategy in the Scottish National Party)
* [[Gradualism]]
* [[Incrementalism]]
* [[Quebec sovereignty movement]]
* [[Realos]], gradualist tendency in [[Green politics]]
* [[Reformist socialism]] and [[Possibilism (politics)|Possibilism]], gradualist tendencies in the socialist movement
* [[Libertarian possibilism]], current in the Spanish anarchist movement supporting participation in parliamentary politics
==References==
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[[Category:Parti Québécois]]
[[Category:Quebec political phrases]]