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Redistricting Bodies and Redistricting Reform in the U.S.: Where Are We Now and the Way Forward
Šára, Pavel ; Bečka, Jan (advisor) ; Calda, Miloš (referee)
While drawing electoral districts and its special type called gerrymandering (redistricting with a certain purpose in mind) has been present in American politics since the founding of the United States, it has recently received a lot of attention and criticism. Gerrymandering has been accused of ruining electoral competition, contributing to the gridlock in Congress, and hampering the spirit of American democracy. Moreover, legislators responsible for redistricting are frowned upon for choosing their own voters and thus ruining the purpose of the electoral process. Redistricting currently follows certain principles, the most important of which and the only two recognized at the federal level are population equality and minority representation. These principles were designed to limit the redistricting bodies when drawing districts. State legislatures remain the most common redistricting institution. However, for the criticism that they face various redistricting commissions with different powers were established. The current trend in the redistricting reform is to delegate the redistricting power to independent commissions which can adopt a redistricting plan without the consent of a legislature and whose members have no connections to politics. Competition and partisanship are the two most discussed...
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Effect of gerrymandering on competitiveness in Congressional elections
Petrů, Tomáš ; Kotábová, Věra (advisor) ; Stauber, Jakub (referee)
Gerrymandering, a phenomenon describing the malpractice of electoral districts transformation known as redistricting is motivated by political gains and is considered to be a deep rooted example of a democratic deficit embedded in the political system of The United States of America. In the eyes of the public it is seen as a source of decrease in electoral competition. This thesis investigates the relation between gerrymandering and electoral competition through a quantitative statistical analysis based on the data collected from forty randomly chosen electoral district in the last House election in 2014. The findings show no statistically significant relation between gerrymandering and electoral competition and are then interpreted by different theoretical presumptions further shedding light on the results. The thesis accompanies already rather large number works focused on a statistical approach towards the topic of gerrymandering but offers a unique perspective of constructing the two variables whose relation is subject to the statistical testing.
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Effect of gerrymandering on competitiveness in Congressional elections
Petrů, Tomáš ; Kotábová, Věra (advisor) ; Stauber, Jakub (referee)
Gerrymandering, a phenomenon describing the malpractice of electoral districts transformation known as redistricting is motivated by political gains and is considered to be a deep rooted example of a democratic deficit embedded in the political system of The United States of America. In the eyes of the public it is seen as a source of decrease in electoral competition. This thesis investigates the relation between gerrymandering and electoral competition through a quantitative statistical analysis based on the data collected from forty randomly chosen electoral district in the last House election in 2014. The findings show no statistically significant relation between gerrymandering and electoral competition and are then interpreted by different theoretical presumptions further shedding light on the results. The thesis accompanies already rather large number works focused on a statistical approach towards the topic of gerrymandering but offers a unique perspective of constructing the two variables whose relation is subject to the statistical testing.
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Redistricting Bodies and Redistricting Reform in the U.S.: Where Are We Now and the Way Forward
Šára, Pavel ; Bečka, Jan (advisor) ; Calda, Miloš (referee)
While drawing electoral districts and its special type called gerrymandering (redistricting with a certain purpose in mind) has been present in American politics since the founding of the United States, it has recently received a lot of attention and criticism. Gerrymandering has been accused of ruining electoral competition, contributing to the gridlock in Congress, and hampering the spirit of American democracy. Moreover, legislators responsible for redistricting are frowned upon for choosing their own voters and thus ruining the purpose of the electoral process. Redistricting currently follows certain principles, the most important of which and the only two recognized at the federal level are population equality and minority representation. These principles were designed to limit the redistricting bodies when drawing districts. State legislatures remain the most common redistricting institution. However, for the criticism that they face various redistricting commissions with different powers were established. The current trend in the redistricting reform is to delegate the redistricting power to independent commissions which can adopt a redistricting plan without the consent of a legislature and whose members have no connections to politics. Competition and partisanship are the two most discussed...
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