Enhancing Democracy Through Legislative Redistricting
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 3375950 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Andrew Gelman (0000-0002-6975-2601, University of California, Berkeley), Gary King (0000-0002-5327-7631, Harvard University Press) |
| Year | 1994 |
| Volume | 88 |
| Issue | 3 |
| Pages | 541-559 |
| Publication date | 1994-09-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | American Political Science Review (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0003-0554 • E-ISSN: 1537-5943 |
| Publisher | Cambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.2307/2944794 |
| OpenAlex | W3123489450 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 100 |
| References cited | 30 |
We demonstrate the surprising benefits of legislative redistricting (including partisan gerrymandering) for American representative democracy. In so doing, our analysis resolves two long-standing controversies in American politics. First, whereas some scholars believe that redistricting reduces electoral responsiveness by protecting incumbents, others, that the relationship is spurious, we demonstrate that both sides are wrong: redistricting increases responsiveness. Second, while some researchers believe that gerrymandering dramatically increases partisan bias and others deny this effect, we show both sides are in a sense correct. Gerrymandering biases electoral systems in favor of the party that controls the redistricting as compared to what would have happened if the other party controlled it, but any type of redistricting reduces partisan bias as compared to an electoral system without redistricting. Incorrect conclusions in both literatures resulted from misjudging the enormous uncertainties present during redistricting periods, making simplified assumptions about the redistricters' goals, and using inferior statistical methods
Democracy · Economics · Gerrymandering · Law and economics · Legislature · Political economy · Political science · Politics · Redistricting · Spurious relationship · Computer Science · Electoral Systems and Political Participation · Fiscal Policies and Political Economy · Judicial and Constitutional Studies · Law
Handbook of Public Policy Analysis
Political Institutions and Policy Choices
Philosophy and the practice of Bayesian statistics
Gerrymandering and the Voting Rights Act of 1982
Population Shifts in Congressional Redistricting
Incumbency, Redistricting, and the Decline of Competition in U.S. House Elections
Why Electoral Integrity Matters
All About Location
The Targeting and Impact of Partisan Gerrymandering
Political Science Computing
The Limits of Partisan Gerrymandering
The political districting problem
Endogenous voting weights for elected representatives and redistricting
Affirmative Districting and Four Decades of Redistricting
Popular Control of Public Policy
Dilutive Drift
A Retrospective on Redistricting Practices and Electoral Competition in U.S. Elections
Who runs elections? A cross-national analysis of electoral management throughout the electoral cycle
New Lines, New Districts, New Representation
Redistricting in the Classroom
What to Gain from Technical Sophistication
GIS and Redistricting
Narrative and Legitimacy
How Many Seats in Congress Is Control of Redistricting Worth
District Populations and Partisan Bias
Seat-vote curves, loyalty effects and the provincial distribution of Canadian government spending
Structural constraints on partisan bias under the efficient gerrymander
Can the Party in Power Systematically Win a Majority in Close Legislative Elections? Evidence from US State Assemblies
U.S. Senator's Ideal Points for Higher Education
Geography’s Role in Civic Engagement
Partisan districting and the adoption of proportional representation
Uncontested Seats and Electoral Competition for the U.S. House of Representatives Over Time
The Redistricting Cycle and Strategic Candidate Decisions in U.S. House Races
Partisan Consequences of the Post-1990 Redistricting for the U.S. House of Representatives
The Effects of Redistricting on Voting Behavior in Incumbent U.S. House Elections, 1992—1994
National Electoral Thresholds and Disproportionality
Using Computer Simulations to Measure the Effect of Gerrymandering on Electoral Competition in the U.S. Congress
Electoral Systems and the Representation of Minority Interests in Legislatures
Evaluating partisan gains from Congressional gerrymandering
Gerrymanders and Theories of Law Making
The Rising Incumbent Reelection Rate
Gerrymandering Incumbency
Electoral Imbalances and Their Consequences
Lower Prices
Incumbency and the Probability of Reelection in State Legislative Elections
Wallet-Based Redistricting
Direct Democracy and the Link between Public Opinion and State Abortion Policy
Improving the Harvest of State Legislative Research
A Comparative Analysis of Redistricting Institutions in the United States, 2001-02
Incumbents Out, Party In? Term Limits and Partisan Redistricting in State Legislatures
The Pseudoparadox of Partisan Mapmaking and Congressional Competition
The Trade-Off between Equal Representation and Electoral Participation
Districts for a New Decade—Partisan Outcomes and Racial Representation in the 2021–22 Redistricting Cycle
Partisan Imbalance in Regression Discontinuity Studies Based on Electoral Thresholds
The Paradox of Redistricting
Competing Criteria
The Influence of Partisanship, Ideology, and the Law on Redistricting Decisions in the Federal Courts
Legislatures, Initiatives, and Representation
Populism and the American Party System
Gerrymandering in comparative perspective
Gerrymandering to survive
The Consequences of Electoral Institutions for Careerism
The Impact of Partisan Gerrymandering on Political Parties
Asymmetries in Potential for Partisan Gerrymandering
The Strategic Use of Prisons in Partisan Gerrymandering
Measuring Partisan Bias in Single‐Member District Electoral Systems
The influence of strategic retirement on the incumbency advantage in US House elections
Who ‘marries’ whom? The influence of societal connectedness, economic and political homogeneity, and population size on jurisdictional consolidations
Opposition electoral strategies against democratic backsliding
Redistricting
Partisan Gerrymandering and Political Science
Political Representation in Comparative Politics
The Intersection of Redistricting, Race, and Participation
The Participatory Effects of Redistricting
How to Measure Legislative District Compactness If You Only Know It When You See It
Gerrymandering in Electoral Autocracies
Formulating Voting Rights Act Remedies to Address Current Conditions
Redistricting by Formula
Are Mapmakers Able to Target and Protect Congressional Incumbents
Electoral Systems, Party Systems, and Ideological Representation
Don't Blame Redistricting for Uncompetitive Elections
Re-Drawing the Line on District Competition
Drawing the Line on District Competition
Drawing the Line on District Competition
Regulating Redistricting
Can Compactness Constrain the Gerrymander
Why context should not count
Partisan gerrymandering and population instability
A Bayesian approach to detecting electoral manipulation
Controversies in political redistricting
Election Time
When does redistricting matter? Changing conditions and their effects on voter turnout
Evaluating Legislative Districts Using Measures of Partisan Bias and Simulations
Campaign styles
Theoretical Foundations and Empirical Evaluations of Partisan Fairness in District-Based Democracies
Demography and Democracy
Representation Rethought
Stacking the States, Stacking the House
Fiscal Policy Outcomes and Electoral Accountability in American States
A Statistical Model for Multiparty Electoral Data
The British General Election of 1950
Systemic Consequences of Incumbency Advantage in U.S. House Elections
Redistricting and Congressional Stability, 1962-72
Partisan Redistricting and the 1982 Congressional Elections
Partisan Gerrymandering--Invidious or Benevolent? Gaffney v. Cummings and Its Aftermath
Trading Security for Seats
The Persistence of Partisan Redistricting Effects in Congressional Elections in the 1970s and 1980s
Party Control and Partisan Bias in 1980s Congressional Redistricting
Redistricting and Congressional Stability, 1962–72
The Supply Side of Congressional Redistricting
Bias and Responsiveness in State Legislative Districting
Regression in Space and Time
Partisan and Incumbency Effects of 1970s Congressional Redistricting
The Anatomy of a Gerrymander
Representation through Legislative Redistricting
A Unified Method of Evaluating Electoral Systems and Redistricting Plans
Constituency Service and Incumbency Advantage
The Law of the Cubic Proportion in Election Results
The Relationship between Seats and Votes in Two-Party Systems
Partisan Intentions and Election Day Realities in the Congressional Redistricting Process
The British General Election of 1951
Malapportionment, Gerrymandering, and Party Fortunes in Congressional Elections
Democratic Representation and Partisan Bias in Congressional Elections
Assessing the Partisan Effects of Redistricting
| Unique citing works | 100 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 3,23 |
| Citation span | 1995 - 2026 (32) |
| Citation velocity | current |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 100 |