Delineating Democracy: The Politics of Gerrymandering in Comparative Perspective
| dc.contributor.advisor | Tichenor, Daniel | |
| dc.contributor.author | Hammericksen, Baylee | |
| dc.date.accessioned | 2024-08-30T19:17:52Z | |
| dc.date.available | 2024-08-30T19:17:52Z | |
| dc.date.issued | 2024 | |
| dc.description | 176 pages | |
| dc.description.abstract | This thesis examines the significance of gerrymandering in the U.S. electoral system today, to understand if this phenomenon is truly a case of American exceptionalism and if it poses a significant political problem. By analyzing a sample of U.S. states, and then taking a cross-national, comparative view of different electoral systems to see how other countries redistrict well, viable solutions to American gerrymandering can be found. Upon analysis, it becomes clear that, in different magnitudes, every U.S. state redistricting system is flawed. While some scholars and experts in the field argue that the issues of U.S. gerrymandering can be solved within the single-member district (SMD) electoral system, others argue a change in the electoral system is necessary (mainly through a variation of proportional representation - PR). Upon examining the redistricting systems of six U.S. states and six international countries, a clear pattern emerged: the less partisan control there is over redistricting, the lower levels of gerrymandering emerge in the resulting electoral maps. The U.S. and Hungary have the highest levels of gerrymandering and allow the most partisan control over redistricting. On the other hand, Ireland and Australia have no issues with gerrymandering, and their national legislatures have not part of the redistricting process. While the U.S. is unlikely to switch to a PR system, perhaps following the examples of Ireland and Australia and implementing truly independent redistricting commissions is the solution to combat gerrymandering once and for all. | en_US |
| dc.identifier.uri | https://hdl.handle.net/1794/29936 | |
| dc.language.iso | en_US | |
| dc.publisher | University of Oregon | |
| dc.rights | CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 | |
| dc.subject | Gerrymandering | en_US |
| dc.subject | Redistricting | en_US |
| dc.subject | Electoral systems | en_US |
| dc.subject | Partisan bias | en_US |
| dc.subject | Cross-national redistricting | en_US |
| dc.title | Delineating Democracy: The Politics of Gerrymandering in Comparative Perspective | |
| dc.type | Thesis/Dissertation |