Author: R. L. Morrill
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages :

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Author: Richard L. Morrill
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 92

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Book Description
Intended for geography students, professors, and researchers, this publication deals with the process of political redistricting and shows how geographers can help devise plans that are responsible to office-holders, to voters, to legitimate community interests, and to a sense of territorial integrity. There are eight chapters. Chapter 1 examines the territorial basis of redistricting. Chapter 2, focusing on redistricting in the United States, discusses malapportionment and gerrymandering. The third chapter looks at criteria for redistricting, discussing constitutional, geographic, political-geographic, and political criteria. Electoral reform is the focus of chapter 4. Redistricting methods are examined in chapter 5. Chapters 6 and 7 deal with redistricting in the Mississippi legislature and in the State of Washington, respectively. The concluding chapter emphasizes the importance of a sense of community in the drawing of electoral districts. A bibliography is provided. (RM)

Author: Clive Barnett
Publisher: SAGE
ISBN: 1446223310
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 268

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′This volume successfully exposes the "ghostly presence" of democracy in the field of geography and shows the value of thinking about democracy geographically. It is a major contribution to serious examination of a normative political issue from a geographical perspective. This is welcome above all because geography is a field whose cultural and economic branches, though often claiming the appellation "critical", are currently dominated by unexamined radical political fantasies′ - John Agnew, University of California, Los Angeles In an historically unprecedented way, democracy is now increasingly seen as a universal model of legitimate rule.This work addresses the key question: How can democracy be understood in theory and in practise? In three thematically organised sections, Spaces of Democracy uses a critical geographical imagination (informed by thinking on space, place, and scale) to interrogate the latest work in democratic theory. Key ideas and concepts discussed include globalization and transnationalism; representation; citizenship; liberalism; the city and public space; and the media. This volume comprises commissioned work by leading academics investigating democracy. Historical and comparative, animated by wider debates on globalization, it will facilitate the critical discussion of core questions on citizenship, the state, and democracy. Spaces of Democracy is essential reading for students of human geography, political science/international relations, and political sociology.

Author: Ze Ming Cheng
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Apportionment (Election law)
Languages : en
Pages :

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Author: Moon Duchin
Publisher: Birkhäuser
ISBN: 9783319691602
Category : Mathematics
Languages : en
Pages : 436

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Book Description
“Why does my congressional district look like a salamander?” Politically engaged citizens have been asking this question for far too long. This volume collects perspectives from a wide cross-section of disciplines to explain what drives gerrymandering, why it can be hard to stamp out, and how we might go about fixing it. With topics ranging from the Voting Rights Act to Markov chains to the geography of communities, this book serves as a 21st century toolkit for how we can better approach this corrosive phenomenon. The volume editors gather experts from a variety of fields to provide as many different perspectives on gerrymandering as possible. Thanks to the breadth of expertise found across these chapters, ranging from lawyers to mathematicians to civil rights activists, readers will discover new ways of thinking about redistricting in the United States. Illustrations and helpful walkthroughs appear throughout to clearly explain otherwise complex ideas from these areas. Political Geometry is a must-have for anybody interested in political representation in the United States elections, and for anyone who’s ever thought, “There must be a better way to do this.”

Author: Alex Keena
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1009002554
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 248

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Book Description
State legislatures are tasked with drawing state and federal districts and administering election law, among many other responsibilities. Yet state legislatures are themselves gerrymandered. This book examines how, why, and with what consequences, drawing on an original dataset of ninety-five state legislative maps from before and after 2011 redistricting. Identifying the institutional, political, and geographic determinants of gerrymandering, the authors find that Republican gerrymandering increased dramatically after the 2011 redistricting and bias was most extreme in states with racial segregation where Republicans drew the maps. This bias has had long-term consequences. For instance, states with the most extreme Republican gerrymandering were more likely to pass laws that restricted voting rights and undermined public health, and they were less likely to respond to COVID-19. The authors examine the implications for American democracy and for the balance of power between federal and state government; they also offer empirically grounded recommendations for reform.

Author: Jonathan Leib
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1317063465
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 251

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Book Description
Electoral Geography, the analysis of spatial patterns of voting, is undergoing a renaissance with new methodological advances, theoretical shifts and changes in the political landscape. Integrating new conceptual approaches with a broad array of case studies from the USA, Europe and Asia, this volume examines key questions in electoral geography: How has electoral geography changed since the 1980s when the last wave of works in this sub discipline appeared? In what ways does contemporary scholarship in social theory inform the analysis of elections and their spatial patterns? How has electoral geography been reconfigured by social and technological changes and those that shape the voting process itself? How can the comparative analysis of elections inform the field? In addressing these issues, the volume moves electoral geography beyond its traditional, empiricist focus on the United States to engage with contemporary theoretical developments and to outline the myriad theoretical, conceptual and methodological perspectives and applications that together are ushering in electoral geography's revitalization. The result is a broader, comparative analysis of how elections reflect and in turn shape social and spatial relations.

Author: Gary F. Moncrief
Publisher: Lexington Books
ISBN: 0739167626
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 295

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Book Description
In Reapportionment and Redistricting in the West, Gary F. Moncrief brings together some of the best-known scholars in American state and electoral politics to explore the unique processes and problems of redistricting in the western United States. These political scientists examine the specific challenges facing western states in ensuring fair and balanced political representation. Western states tend to be geographically large and experiencing rapid population growth and the chapters in this enlightening volume discuss the changing demographics in western states, paying special attention to the rise in the Latino population and the effect this has had on reapportionment and redistricting. They describe the ways in which some of these states achieve redistricting through independent redistricting commissions—a process rarely found in other regions—and they provide policy prescriptions for the future.

Author: Mark Monmonier
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
ISBN: 0226534251
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 221

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Book Description
For years Mark Monmonier, "a prose stylist of no mean ability or charm" according to the Washington Post, has delighted readers with his insightful understanding of cartography as an art and technology that is both deceptive and revealing. Now he turns his focus to the story of political cartography and the redrawing of congressional districts. His title Bushmanders and Bullwinkles combines gerrymander with the surname of the president who actively tolerated racial gerrymandering and draws attention to the ridiculously shaped congressional districts that evoke the antlers of the moose who shared the cartoon spotlight with Rocky the Flying Squirrel. Written from the perspective of a cartographer rather than a political scientist, Bushmanders and Bullwinkles examines the political tales maps tell when votes and power are at stake. Monmonier shows how redistricting committees carve out favorable election districts for themselves and their allies; how disgruntled politicians use shape to challenge alleged racial gerrymanders; and how geographic information systems can make reapportionment a controversial process with outrageous products. He also explores controversies over the proper roles of natural boundaries, media maps, census enumeration, and ethnic identity. Raising important questions about Supreme Court decisions in regulating redistricting, Monmonier asks if the focus on form rather than function may be little more than a distraction from larger issues like election reform. Characterized by the same wit and clarity as Monmonier's previous books, Bushmanders and Bullwinkles is essential background for understanding what might prove the most contentious political debate of the new decade.

Author: Thomas E. Mann
Publisher: Brookings Institution Press
ISBN: 0815797923
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 141

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Book Description
The legitimacy of the American electoral system depends on sustaining reasonable levels of fairness, accountability, responsiveness, and common sense. Recent Congressional elections fly in the face of those requirements, however, with a startling lack of competition, growing ideological polarization, and a fierce struggle between the parties to manipulate the electoral rules of the game. Party Lines addresses these problems head on in an authoritative and timely analysis of redistricting in the United States. The practice of state legislatures redrawing district lines after the decennial census has long been a controversial aspect of our governing system. Recent developments have added new urgency to earlier debates. The sorry spectacle of mid-decade partisan gerrymandering in Texas renewed public attention to the potential problems of redistricting, reinforcing the view that it is unfairly dominated by self-serving elected officials and parties. The perfunctory character of Congressional elections is another growing problem—in 2002, only four House incumbents were defeated in the general election, the lowest in American history. Despite a hotly contested presidential contest in 2004, that number increased by only three. In Pa rty Lines, eminent political analysts explain the legal and political history of redistricting since the one person–one vote revolution in the 1960s and place it in the larger context of American politics. The authors document the impact of redistricting on competition, polarization, and partisan fairness, and they assess the role technology played in the redistricting process. The final chapter analyzes options for reform, including most importantly the use of independent redistricting commissions as an alternative to the normal state legislative process. Redistricting reform is no panacea but it is a start toward ensuring that American voters still have the largest say in who will represent them. Contributors include Micah