Demographic Foundations of Political Empowerment in Multiminority Cities

Clark, William A. V.; Morrison, Peter A.

doi:10.2307/2061739

Cited by 15 publications

(9 citation statements)

References 2 publications

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“…Democratically controlled legislatures created districts with extraordinarily irregular boundaries to avoid the tradeoff between nonwhite-majority districts and partisan advantage (22). Local jurisdictions also used convoluted boundaries to create separate black-and Latino-majority districts in areas where these two groups were relatively integrated (23). The Supreme Court struck down such ''bizarre'' districts but never articulated an objective standard for the shape of districts (20).…”

Section: Racial Gerrymandersmentioning

confidence: 99%

The changing demographic, legal, and technological contexts of political representation

Forest

2005

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

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Three developments have created challenges for political representation in the U.S. and particularly for the use of territorially based representation (election by district). First, the demographic complexity of the U.S. population has grown both in absolute terms and in terms of residential patterns. Second, legal developments since the 1960s have recognized an increasing number of groups as eligible for voting rights protection. Third, the growing technical capacities of computer technology, particularly Geographic Information Systems, have allowed political parties and other organizations to create election districts with increasingly precise political and demographic characteristics. Scholars have made considerable progress in measuring and evaluating the racial and partisan biases of districting plans, and some states have tried to use Geographic Information Systems technology to produce more representative districts. However, case studies of Texas and Arizona illustrate that such analytic and technical advances have not overcome the basic contradictions that underlie the American system of territorial political representation.redistricting ͉ gerrymandering ͉ geographic information systems

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Section: Racial Gerrymandersmentioning

confidence: 99%

The changing demographic, legal, and technological contexts of political representation

Forest

2005

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

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“…First, a number of political scientists (notably Cameron, Epstein, and O'Halloran 1996) have argued that racial minorities can achieve more effective representation in "influence districts" with pluralities of 30 to 50% nonwhite. Second, some geographers have advocated the creation of multiethnic "influence districts" in which ethnic and racial minorities can form coalitions to advance common interests (see Clark and Morrison 1995). Either of these proposals, however, could run afoul of Miller's prohibition against race as the "predominant" consideration in redistricting because both still require consideration of the racial composition of districts and the borders of both types of districts could easily be as irregular as any drawn in the 1990s.…”

Section: Redistricting Race and National Citizenship: New Boundariementioning

confidence: 99%

“…15. Clark andMorrison (1992, 1995) argue that combining African-American and Hispanic populations to create nonwhite-majority constituencies may permit geographically simpler districts. However, the appropriateness of such "influence" districts is highly dependent on the local political context, especially the assumption that diverse ethnic and racial groups share common political interests.…”

Section: Redistricting Race and National Citizenship: New Boundariementioning

confidence: 99%

Mapping Democracy: Racial Identity and the Quandary of Political Representation

Forest

2001

Annals of the Association of American Geographers

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In a series of lawsuits during the 1990s, federal courts in the United States rejected congressional election districts that had both extremely irregular boundaries and nonwhite majorities. In particular, courts ruled that the shape of these districts-which they characterized as "bizarre" and noncompact-demonstrated that states had unconstitutionally classified voters by race. These legal cases reflect a fundamental tension in American political culture between universalistic citizenship and particularistic racial identity. Universalistic concepts that embrace numeric political representation, geometric standards of shape, and the "liberal self " share an understanding of the individual as the basic unit of political representation and define this individual by the ability to make rational choices. In contrast, concepts of particularistic identity that emphasize the importance of "regional community representation," informal visual standards of shape, and place-based or regional attachments view communities as the basic unit of political representation, and believe that individual identity is primarily constituted by membership in communities. Although some participants in the redistricting litigation have advocated notions of community based on racial solidarity, federal courts have only recognized such claims to the extent that these communities are defined by regional attachments. This suggests that the importance of regional attachments remains firmly entrenched in the American political system, despite the ascendance of "placeless" numeric representation. Notwithstanding the impassioned rhetoric on both sides, the effect of these cases is ambiguous for two reasons. First, the creation of nonwhite majority districts is a problematic strategy of political empowerment; second, the decisions do not directly address the underlying issues of segregation and racial inequality.

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“…Although recently subject to criticism for being overly empiricist and for treating assimilation unproblematically (Blaut 1982;Jackson 1987), the idea of spatial assimilation remains firmly rooted in urban analysis. In the 1980s and 1990s, researchers continued inspecting the ethnoracial residential geography of American cities by measuring the spatial separation of minority groups (e.g., Alba and Logan 1993;Allen and Turner 1996;Clark and Morrison 1995;Farley and Frey 1994;Gross and Massey 1991;Denton 1992, 1993;White 1988;White et al 1993). The continued vitality of this research effort relates in part to the need for assessment of publicpolicy efforts to reduce social inequality in housing markets, particularly, but not exclusively, between whites and African Americans.…”

Section: Balkanization and Spatial Assimilationmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Balkanization Metaphor in the Analysis of U.S. Immigration

Ellis

Wright

1998

Annals of the Association of American Geographers

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Recent social commentary and social science research invokes the term “balkanization” to describe geographical trends in contemporary U.S. society. For example, William Frey describes “demographic balkanization” as a “spatial segmentation of population by race‐ethnicity, class, and age across broad regions, states, and metropolitan areas . . . driven by both immigration and long distance internal migration patterns” (1996:760). We take issue with the use of the balkanization metaphor for two reasons. First, we cite alternative evidence against the proposition of immigration‐driven ethnic fragmentation in the U.S. The bulk of our argument, however, attends to the expression itself. Given that the term balkanization is associated with ethnic territorial conflict, we assert that the balkanization metaphor carries with it an implicit and deeply negative commentary on current immigration to the U.S. For us, the deployment of the term balkanization sounds a false alarm that warns of a Yugoslavian fate for the U.S. produced by an immigrant‐induced break‐up of a unified nation with a common culture. That warning resounds with normative and defective assumptions about space, immigrant assimilation, and the future prospects for U.S. society. Additionally, balkanization, like any other metaphor, creates an image that directs future research and social policy. This depiction is not neutral; it limits the imagination and distorts our vision of contemporary trends in U.S. economic and cultural life.

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Demographic Foundations of Political Empowerment in Multiminority Cities

Cited by 15 publications

References 2 publications

The changing demographic, legal, and technological contexts of political representation

The changing demographic, legal, and technological contexts of political representation

Mapping Democracy: Racial Identity and the Quandary of Political Representation

The Balkanization Metaphor in the Analysis of U.S. Immigration

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