Doctoral Dissertation Research in Political Science: Testing the Impact of Electoral Structures on Minority Office-Holding and Local Policies

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This research asks whether local electoral structures have an impact on African-American office-holding and public policy outcomes. The answer is important for two reasons. First, knowing when and how electoral structures matter is important for minority groups wanting to increase their voice in local politics. Second, knowing when and how political institutions matter is a broader question of importance within political science. This research has two parts. The first part examines large, cross-sectional data sets. These data are used to determine the impact of local electoral structures on African-American office-holding on city council and school boards. In turn the analysis shows the impact of changes in minority representation on policy outcomes such as redistributive spending by municipalities and minority hiring by school districts. The second part of the research looks at the voting patterns of city council members in three northern and three southern cities, matched on population, over the period 1970 to 1995. These data enable the PI to more carefully explore the impact of electoral structures on policy outcomes and bi-racial coalition patterns among white and African-American council members.