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.