Why Cities Lose: The Deep Roots of the Urban‐Rural Political Divide by JonathanRodden. New York, Basic Books, 2019. 336 pp. $30.00.
Why Cities Lose: The Deep Roots of the Urban‐Rural Political Divide by JonathanRodden. New York, Basic Books, 2019. 336 pp. $30.00.
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《城市为何失败：城乡政治鸿沟的深层》作者：Jonathan Rodden，纽约，Basic Books，2019 年。336 页，售价 30.00 美元。
DOI：
10.1002/polq.13085
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发表时间：
2020
影响因子：
0.8
通讯作者：
James E. Monogan
中科院分区：
文献类型：
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作者：
James E. Monogan
在2020年人口普查后的重新划分周期以及新选区地图可能带来的争议中，政治地理的重要性可能会再次受到关注。许多人认为，美国的不公正划分选区是选举两极分化的一个关键原因，也有人认为，民主党人在立法上的代表性往往低于他们的总投票份额。乔纳森罗登令人信服地表明，尽管不公正划分选区可能是一个边缘因素，但这些模式的主要原因是城乡政治分歧，这导致了民主党人的政治地理问题。罗登通过历史上政党平台和选区的演变以及对政治地理的影响来说明这一点。对两党的历史追溯说明了共和党和民主党之间的斗争是如何成为一场文化战争的。这要从民主党作为劳工党的历史地位说起。由于工厂都集中在城市，想要保住席位的民主党政客不得不采取吸引越来越多的城市人口的立场，在社会问题上采取进步的立场，除了代表工人的利益。随着经济的转变，民主党的城市联盟仍然存在，共和党人在农村和郊区找到了吸引力。美国并不是唯一一个出现这种现象的国家。罗登表明，英国、加拿大和澳大利亚等国家也都实行单一成员多数选举，也都看到中间偏左的政党成为城市政党，在选区中具有类似的地理模式。为了方便这个故事，并描述今天的政党的地位，罗登还包括直观的政治地理分析使用地图和散点图的选票份额的选区。这些数字说明了关键的调查结果，例如，各选区的政党选票份额在大城市以外的地区差异更大。这些地图显示了法律的原则，如契约，
The importance of political geography is likely to see renewed attention amid the redistricting cycle following the 2020 census and the controversies that new constituency maps are likely to bring. Many argue that gerrymandering in the United States is a key cause of electoral polarization and the observation that Democrats often are legislatively underrepresented relative to their aggregate vote shares. Jonathan Rodden convincingly shows that although gerrymandering may be a factor at the margins, the primary cause of these patterns is an urban‐rural political divide that causes a political geography problem for Democrats.Rodden makes this case by showing historically how party platforms and constituencies evolved and illustrating the implications for political geography. This historical tracing of the parties speaks to how the battle between Republicans and Democrats came to be a culture war. This starts with the Democrats’ historical position as the party of laborers. Since factories were concentrated in cities, Democratic politicians who wanted to maintain their seats had to adopt positions that were appealing to growing portions of urban populations, taking progressive positions on social issues in addition to representing the interests of laborers. As the economy has shifted, the Democrats’ urban coalition has remained, with Republicans finding appeal in rural and exurban areas. The United States is not alone in this phenomenon. Rodden shows that nations such as the United Kingdom, Canada, and Australia—all of which also conduct single‐member plurality elections—have also seen left‐of‐center parties become urban parties with similar geographic patterns in constituencies. To facilitate this story and to describe the status of today’s parties, Rodden also includes intuitive analysis of political geography using maps and scatterplots of vote shares by precincts. These figures illustrate key findings, such as the fact that party vote shares by precinct are more varied outside major cities. The maps show how legal principles such as compact