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

代议制民主的一个核心问题是在一个由多数人的选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它实现这一艰巨目标的能力。这个问题在美国国会尤为严重，因为少数族裔的代表人数明显不足。州立法机构在1992年的重新分配过程中试图解决这一问题，设立了20个新的选区，其中大多数选民是非裔美国人或西班牙裔美国人。通过创造性地重新划分选区来“赋予”少数族裔选民权力的目标极具争议性。批评者嘲笑这项政策是针对非裔美国政治家的平权行动，担心会造成政治上的种族隔离。1993年夏天，这个问题引起了全国几个星期的关注，因为最高法院做出了一项具有里程碑意义的决定，可能会挑战新的选区（Shaw v Reno），拉尼·吉尼尔（Lani Guinier）被提名为民权委员会（Civil Rights Commission）成员，迫于民主党人的压力，克林顿总统取消了她的提名，民主党人对她“真正的黑人代表”的概念感到愤怒。少数民族选区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”的规范性争论也具有重要意义。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；差异政治要求对以往的歧视和排斥给予适当的补救。大多数政治观察人士，包括该战略的支持者和反对者，都认为，少数族裔占多数的选区的建立是差异政治的体现。这项研究挑战了这一常识。这位调查员先前的研究表明，许多在新选区当选的非裔美国政治家体现了共同政治，而不是差异政治。这项调查将决定竞选时的行为是否会转化为在职时的行为。一些竞选活动中充满种族主义色彩的气氛是否会延续到执政过程中，从而导致一些黑人不能代表白人选民？混血儿联盟选出的黑人议员是否信守了同时代表白人和黑人选民的承诺，还是在一些种族两极分化的问题上追随黑人党团会议的同僚？这项研究将考察唱名投票、演讲、法案介绍、委员会分配、选区服务和媒体对黑人众议院成员的报道，以探索黑人选区代表的本质。将采用的多变量分析将辅以对成员及其工作人员的访谈。这项研究将对这些新选区的代表权的性质、竞选活动与种族政治治理之间的联系以及种族重新划分选区作为赋予少数民族选民权力的一种手段的有用性提供重要的新见解。

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.