Doctoral Dissertation Research: The Effect of Redistricting on "Pork" Project Allocation and Constituency Service in the U.S. Congress

重新划分选区和改变选区对国会的分配政策制定和选区服务有何影响？本博士论文研究项目回答了这个问题。一段时间以来，学者们一直对种族和其他类型的选区重新划分对国会代表和公共政策的规范含义和实证影响感兴趣，尽管过去几乎每一项实证研究的局限性都是，只解释了唱名表决行为。通过查看众议员的唱名表决，研究人员忽略了国会中其他重要的机构行为形式，以及发生在该选区的行为。本提案中分析的因变量着眼于这些其他形式的国会参与和活动。在第一部分中，考虑了重新划分对猪肉项目分配的影响。在方法上，第一部分的分析主要依赖于对1983-1998年间美国所有国会选区的量化分析，利用一组联邦项目拨款数据。这一定量分析还辅之以对国会工作人员的定性采访。在研究的第二部分，分析了选区重新划分对选区服务的影响。这依赖于定量和定性分析的结合，尽管主要集中在美国南部的实地研究。论文研究支持调查的主要目标不仅是对少数族裔代表的文献做出贡献，而且有助于更好地了解选举机构、国会代表和选民投票行为之间的相互作用。收集到的数据和信息将提供给广大学术界。

What is the effect of redistricting and constituency change on distributive policy making and constituency service in Congress? This Doctoral Dissertation Research project answers this question. Scholars have for some time been interested in both the normative implications of and the empirical effects of racial and other types of redistricting on congressional representation and public policy, though the limitation of nearly every one of these past empirical studies is that only roll-call voting behavior is explained. By looking at representatives' roll-call voting, researchers have neglected other important forms of institutional behavior in Congress and behavior that occurs in the district. The dependent variables analyzed in this proposal look at these other forms of congressional participation and activity.The dissertation consists of two main parts. In the first part, the effect of redistricting on "pork" project allocation is considered. Methodologically, the analysis for this first part relies primarily upon quantitative analysis of all U.S. congressional districts from 1983-1998, utilizing a data set of federal project allocations. This quantitative analysis is also supplemented with qualitative interviews of congressional staff. In the second part of the study, the effect of redistricting on constituency service in analyzed. This relies on a mix of both quantitative analysis and qualitative analysis, though most heavily on field research in the southern United States.The Dissertation Research Support investigation has its major objective not only to make a contribution to the literature on minority representation, but also to contribute to a greater understanding of the interplay between electoral institutions, congressional representation, and the voting behavior of constituents. The data and information collected will be provided to the scholarly community at large.