Race Redistricting, and Representation in the United States House of Representatives

种族重新划分和美国众议院的代表权

• 批准号: 9411028
• 负责人: David Canon
• 金额: $ 5.67万
• 依托单位: University of Wisconsin-Madison
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 1994
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 1994-07-01 至 1997-06-30
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=9411028&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Race; Redistricting; Representation; United; States

9411028 Canon A central problem for representative democracy is to provide a voice for minority interests in a system that is dominated by the votes of the majority. The legitimacy and stability of any democracy depends, in part, on its ability to accomplish that difficult aim. The problem is especially acute in the U.S. Congress where minorities are dramatically underrepresented. State legislatures attempted to address this concern in the 1992 reapportionment process by creating 20 new districts in which a majority of the voters are African-American or Hispanic. The goal of "empowering" minority voters through creative redistricting is extremely controversial. Detractors ridicule the policy as affirmative action for African American politicians and worry about creating political apartheid. The issue received national attention for several weeks in the summer of 1993 as the Supreme Court handed down a landmark decision that could challenge the new districts (Shaw v Reno) and Lani Guinier's nomination to the Civil Rights Commission was removed by President Clinton under pressure from Democrats who bridled at her notion of "authentic black representation." Minority districting also has important implications for the normative debate raging in the minority politics and women's studies literature concerning the "politics of difference" versus the "politics of commonality." A politics of commonality strives to provide equal protection of the laws without special treatment for any single group, while a politics of difference calls for proper remedies for previous discrimination and exclusion. Most political observers, including proponents and opponents of the strategy, see the creation of minority-majority districts as an embodiment of the politics of difference. This research challenges that common wisdom. The investigator's previous research shows that many of the African American politicians who were elected in the new districts embody the politics of c ommonality, rather than the politics of difference. This investigation will determine whether behavior in campaigns translates into behavior in office. Does the racially charged atmosphere of some campaigns carry over into the governing process so that some blacks do not represent white voters? Are promises to represent both white and black constituents kept by black members who were elected by biracial coalitions, or do they follow their colleagues in the Black Caucus on some issues that are racially polarizing? This research will examine roll call votes, speeches, introduction of bills, committee assignments, constituency service, and the media's coverage of black House members to explore the nature of representation in black districts. The multivariate analysis to be employed will be supplemented by interviews of members and their staff. The research will provide important new insights about the nature of representation provided to these new districts, the linkages between campaigning and governing in racial politics, and the usefulness of racial redistricting as a means of empowering minority voters.

9411028佳能代议制民主的一个核心问题是在一个由多数人投票主导的制度中为少数人的利益提供发言权。 任何民主国家的合法性和稳定性在一定程度上取决于其实现这一困难目标的能力。 这个问题在美国国会尤其严重，因为少数族裔的代表性严重不足。 州议会试图在1992年的重新分配过程中解决这一问题，建立了20个新的选区，其中大多数选民是非洲裔美国人或西班牙裔美国人。 通过创造性的重新划分选区来“赋予”少数族裔选民权力的目标是极具争议的。 批评者嘲笑这项政策是对非洲裔美国政治家的平权行动，并担心造成政治种族隔离。 1993年夏天，随着最高法院做出一项具有里程碑意义的决定，可能会对新的地区提出挑战（Shaw v里诺），以及在民主党人的压力下，克林顿总统取消了Lani Guinier对民权委员会的提名，民主党人对她的“真正的黑人代表”概念感到愤怒。少数民族选区划分也对少数民族政治和妇女研究文献中关于“差异政治”与“共性政治“的规范性辩论具有重要意义。“共同性政治力求提供平等的法律保护，不对任何一个群体给予特殊待遇，而差异性政治则要求对以前的歧视和排斥采取适当的补救措施。 大多数政治观察家，包括该战略的支持者和反对者，都认为少数民族占多数的地区的建立是差异政治的体现。 这项研究挑战了这种普遍的智慧。 调查者先前的研究表明，许多在新区当选的非洲裔美国政治家体现了共同的政治，而不是差异的政治。 这项调查将确定竞选活动中的行为是否会转化为办公室的行为。 一些竞选活动中充满种族色彩的气氛是否会延续到执政过程中，使一些黑人不能代表白色选民？ 代表白色和黑人选民的承诺是由两党联盟选出的黑人成员兑现的，还是在一些种族两极分化的问题上追随黑人核心小组的同事？ 本研究将检视点名投票、演说、法案介绍、委员会指派、选区服务、以及媒体对黑人众议员的报导，以探讨黑人区代表性的本质。 将对成员及其工作人员进行访谈，以补充所采用的多变量分析。 这项研究将提供重要的新见解的性质提供给这些新的地区，竞选和执政之间的联系，在种族政治，和有用的种族重新划分作为一种手段，赋予少数民族选民的代表。