Chapter 10 | Spatial Patterns of Political Power

10.1 Organization of States

Unitary States

Different forms of governance, or how a state is organized, affect a county’s economic and social affairs.
A government is generally organized in one of two ways.
Federal state: The organization of a state in which power is shared between the federal government and its internal regional units
Unitary state: An organization of a state in which power is concentrated in a central government
Where power is held affects the amount of authority governments have at various levels.
- In federal states, power is held by regional units. They typically have their own governments that maintain some autonomy and hold considerable power.
- In unitary states, more/all power is held by the central government, holding power over all regions and people.
Unitary states follow a top-down structure, meaning policies are issued by the central government and carried out by regional units.
- Regional units may have some degree of power, but supreme authority remains with the central government.
The vast majority of the world’s countries are unitary states.

Advantages of Unitary States

The top-down nature of unitary systems gives them several advantages.
One being that unitary systems tend to have fewer government agencies, especially for taxation.
States with unitary systems also tend to be less corrupt at the local level.
A major advantage of a unitary system is its efficiency: laws are implemented quickly, evenly, fairly, and with less duplication.

Disadvantages of Unitary States

A unitary system of government often has negative characteristics.
The overarching issue is that highly centralized governments can become disconnected from local areas and lose touch with regional concerns.
Unitary systems tend to favor the politically or culturally dominant group, resulting in governments that issue one-sided policies.
- The policies tend to serve the needs of the region adjacent to the capital or where the ruling elites reside.
Responses to regional issues can be slower.
They may also fail or have difficulty distributing goods and services to peripheral areas.

Federal States

A federal state has a more broadly shared power between the federal (national) and regional units.
The regional units, such as provinces or states, maintain greater autonomy, have governments, and more authority to administer their territories.
Federal states have often been formed where populations are very large, highly dispersed, or both.
Concurrent: Sharing authority

Advantages of Federal States

One advantage of a federal system is decreased conflict between regions that differ on civil and political issues.
- A regional unit can pass a law that applies to it and not to the rest of the country.
- This allows for diversity in opinions, reflected in laws.
Federalism also allows room for diversity.
- Multiple political parties can be in power in different areas, and this pluralism, helps keep oppression at bay.
It also pushes against divisive forces that result from economic or cultural differences within a state.
Attention to local issues within a federal system also boosts political participation among citizens who want to make a difference in their community.

Disadvantages of Federal States

Federal systems also have their disadvantages, many of which are downsides to their advantages.
A federal state’s focus on regional issues allows regional leaders to prevent progress on issues that may impact the whole country.
Policy areas like civil rights, energy, poverty, and pollution have all experienced roadblocks at the state or local level.
Federalism can give undue power to localized special interests.
Another negative aspect is that the costs and benefits of federal policy/aid are often unevenly distributed among the regions.
Political motivations impact policies and affect where money is directed.
- Meaning poorer communities can suffer when they receive relatively fewer services because they are not represented as robustly.

10.2 Electoral Geography

Representing the People

International boundaries are drawn to define and organize states.
Boundaries are also drawn within states to divide areas into spaces, governed by different authorities.
These internal boundaries define, provinces, prefectures, state, countries, and municipalities.
- Different countries use different terms for their spatial divisions.
Internal boundaries also form voting districts.
- These are sometimes manipulated to influence elections, and therefore political power.

U.S. Congressional Districts

In the U.S., one measure of a state’s power is how many members it has in the House of Representatives.
- Here, ‘state’ refers to one of the United States, not a country.
A state’s number of representatives depends on its population.
- A highly populated state has more power in the House than a less populated one.
Every 10 years in the United States, a census is conducted to determine the number of people living in each state.
These numbers are used to reconfigure each state’s congressional district map.
- Each congressional district elects one congressperson.
The number of districts a state has equals the state’s number of congresspeople.
There are always 435 representatives, so slots are passed around based on changing populations.
Reapportionment: The redistribution of representative seats among states based on shifts in population
A shift in population from one geographic region to another has implications for the whole country.
The president is not elected directly by the people, but by the electoral college.
- Electoral college: A set of people, called electors, who are chosen to elect the president and vice president of the United States
- The number of available electors is 538, the number of House Representatives, Senators, and three extra for Washington D.C.
The U.S. Senate has its own representation issue—it represents states, not people.
- Every state has two U.S. senators in Congress, which does not result in proportional representation.

Electoral District Boundaries

Redistricting: The redrawing of internal territorial and political boundaries
- Occurs after the census is complete, alongside reapportioning.
During redistricting, a state’s internal boundaries are redrawn to better reflect new census data.
- It is a geographic process because the boundaries of districts must be redrawn to reflect changes in population.
- It is a political process because those boundaries are drawn by the state’s legislature—a political entity.
Legislative districts within states are also redistricted after every census.
Changing boundaries can have a large effect on who is elected.

Gerrymandering

The majority party typically draws legislative maps giving an advantage to themselves.
Gerrymandering: The dividing of legislative boundaries to give one political party an advantage in elections
Legislators can gerrymander a district by either “packing” the district or “cracking” the district.
- Packing is when districts are drawn to group the opposing party’s voters together.
- Concentrating opposers in one district allows a greater number of surrounding districts to be won by the majority party.
- Cracking a district is splitting up the opposition voters across many districts, diluting their electoral strength.
A crucial aspect of gerrymandering is the role that race and ethnicity play in drawing the district’s boundaries.
Majority-minority district: An electoral district in which the majority of voters are members of an ethnic or racial minority
- These districts, in which minorities made up the majority of voters, were designed to help ensure voters could elect their candidates of choice.
Gerrymandered districts have resulted in an increase in the number of minority representatives in Congress.
The distinction between partisan and racial gerrymandering is so small that many believe they have essentially become the same practice.

Opposition and Remedies

Gerrymandering is considered by many to be unfair because some voters are essentially disenfranchised, meaning they are prevented from voting.
- The argument is that their votes don’t count because the districts have been drawn specifically to weaken them.
Another argument points out that gerrymandering prevents an accurate representation of a state’s partisan makeup.
Legal challenges to gerrymandering have had mixed results.

At-Large vs. Single-Member Districts

The accuracy of an election’s representation of it’s geographical area depends on the methods employed.
Voters elect their representatives: At-large elections, district elections, and or a combinations of both.
In an at-large election, the entire population of a geographic area elects someone to represent them.
In a district election, a single individual is elected to represent the population of a smaller geographical unit.
- It is up for debate as to which election type achieves better representation.
Some argue at-large representatives keep the interests of the entire community in mind and tend to be less partisan.
Others say minorities in at-large districts are underrepresented because these groups tend to be concentrated.
Contrastingly, single-member districts allow for greater representation of all groups and they can be more attentive to the particular needs of a local community.