had been at the University of Calgary since 1970, had earned his PhD in history at the University of Toronto with a focus on liberal and social democratic theory. Over the years he became more conservative. Bercuson was not a political scientist like Flanagan, Knopff, Morton but he co-published with Cooper because of a shared interest in military history. Bercuson was an "economic and foreign policy conservative" like the other four, but he was more of a "social liberal". He supported pro-choice on abortion, and was in favor of legalizing gay marriage, unlike the others. He did not support Harper in 1993 as did the others, although he did support him in 2006. While the others supported Ralph Klein, Bercuson supported a Liberal candidate. The four professors said that the competition between the historical Progressive Conservative Party of Canada and the Reform Party of Canada, was helping the centrist Liberal Party of Canada. The Calgary School aimed to reshape of Conservative politics in Canada in the early 1990s. Members of the school, notably Tom Flanagan, worked hard to turn the Reform Party into the dominant right-wing party and later to encourage a coalition of conservative parties. Flanagan, who has widely published in areas such as political science, public policy, political theory and aboriginal land claims, from a libertarian perspective, and has self-described as a Hayekian, was associated with the Calgary School from its inception in the 1990s. In 1997, Harper and Flanagan co-authored a "detailed, persuasive and deeply-researched" article calling on opposition parties in the federal government to compromise and form a coalition governments to "curb the tendency to a 'one-party state'", which they called "a benign dictatorship." detailed, persuasive and deeply-researched plea for governments to be forced to compromise with opposition coalitions. That's the only way, said Harper and Flanagan, to curb the tendency to a "one-party state" induced by Canada's "winner take all" system. They cited the "forced cohabitation" during the presidency of Bill Clinton who had to work with a Republican Congress after 1996. Stephen Harper, who had been a student at the University of Calgary, participating in discussions with members of the school and Preston Manning in the lead up to the formation of the Reform Party. Harper played a role in the development of the Blue Book; which help developed the policies of the Reform Party. In a 1998 Center for Strategic and International Studies