Racial and Social Diversity and U.S. Presidential Election Regions

Abstract

This article examines political regionalism in presidential elections from 1892 to 2000 by analyzing the percentage of the popular vote received by Democratic candidates for president using statistical methods and spatial analysis. The results indicate three long-term and stable political regions in presidential elections and a history of spatially dependent voting. The article then proposes four fluid political regions based on social diversity and recent political behavior and integrates the role of the Electoral College. This provides a framework in which political geography can integrate political regionalism, racial and social diversity, and the electoral vote in studying presidential elections.     

Partisan Shifts in Presidential and Gubernatorial Elections in Alabama, 1932–1994*

Although the Republican Party has been competitive in presidential elections in the South for nearly three decades, it has only recently become a force in southern state and local elections. In Alabama, the GOP has dominated presidential voting since 1964, but has only become competitive during the past decade in gubernatorial elections. Why did the GOP first experience success in Alabama in presidential elections 30 years ago, but only recently become competitive in gubernatorial elections? This paper addresses this question using a county-level analysis of both presidential and gubernatorial election returns. It concludes that George Wallace's long political career is the dominant reason for the lag in GOP success in gubernatorial elections.     

Modeling and visualizing semantic and spatio-temporal evolution of topics in interpersonal communication on Twitter

Interpersonal communication on online social networks has a significant impact on the society by not only diffusing information, but also forming social ties, norms, and behaviors. Knowing how the conversational discourse semantically and geographically vary over time can help uncover the changing dynamics of interpersonal ties and the digital traces of social events. This article introduces a framework for modeling and visualizing the semantic and spatio-temporal evolution of topics in a spatially embedded and time-stamped interpersonal communication network. The framework consists of (1) a topic modeling workflow for modeling topics and extracting the evolution of conversational discourse; (2) a geo-social network modeling and smoothing approach to projecting connection characteristics and semantics of communication onto geographic space and time; (3) a web-based geovisual analytics environment for exploring semantic and spatio-temporal evolution of topics in a spatially embedded and time-stamped interpersonal communication network. To demonstrate, geo-located and reciprocal user mention and reply tweets over the course of the 2016 primary and presidential elections in the United States from 1 August 2015 to 15 November 2016 were analyzed. The large portion of the topics extracted from mention tweets were related to daily life routines, human activities, and interests such as school, work, sports, dating, wearing, birthday celebration, music, food, and live-tweeting. Specific focus on the analysis of political conversations revealed that the content of conversational discourse was split between civil rights and election-related discussions of the political campaigns and candidates. These political topics exhibited major shifts in terms of content and the popularity in reaction to primaries, debates, and events throughout the study period. While civil rights discussions were more dominant and in higher intensity across the nation and throughout the whole time period, election-specific conversations resulted in temporally varying local hotspots that correlated with locations of primaries and events.     

美国州际政治地理与奥巴马的白人选票

最近30年,许多关于美国政治地理的讨论主要包含4个州际种族和民族理论：黑人威胁论、州际文化差异论、种族多样性：哩论和社会资本论。本文将同时应用这4种理论来解释美国历史上第一位非裔总统巴拉克奥巴马的当选原因。研究表明：种族构成复杂程度和白人选举黑人候选人的意愿之间存在负相关性,而美国的多元文化却正面影响白人选民对黑人的支持。具体而言,黑人密度不断增加与种族之间的紧张度的提高都负面影响白人选举奥巴马的意愿。然而,白人投票者的社会资本积累和“道德政府”的州际政治文化的存在则有助于大选中自人对奥巴马的支持。     

The Changing Electoral Landscape of the Western United States

The Western periphery constitutes one of the primary electoral sections of the United States in presidential history. The Western periphery, although at times volatile, emerged as a Republican stronghold beginning with Dwight Eisenhower's regional electoral sweeps in the 1950s. This electoral epoch of Republican popularity in the West has been referred to as the new Western normal vote. Despite long-sustained presidential successes, since the 1988 presidential election, Democratic presidential candidates have been able to win certain states in the Republican-dominated region. This research examines the historical dynamics of Republican support in the West by identifying shifts in voting behavior between past and present epochs. We attempt to explain recent changes by exploring the historical character of the West, its demographic dynamics, and the recent turbulence within the Republican Party. County-level election returns from 1952 to 2016 are used, along with traditional and folded T-mode factor analysis, spatial regression modeling, and cartographic analysis. We conclude that the region's normal vote is deteriorating, a new electoral pattern is emerging, and these developments correspond with increasing volatility within the Republican Party.     

MapStats for Kids: Making Geographic and Statistical Facts Available to Children

Abstract

Concern about the health of American democracy mounts as a result of the large body of literature documenting chronically low levels of voter turnout among young people in particular. A volunteer, nonprofit organization called “Kids Voting, USA” was formed in the late 1980s to try to tackle the specific problem of encouraging young adults to vote. In cooperation with school districts, the program includes some grade-specific curricula and culminates on Election Day with kids voting in polling booths set up alongside official ones. Existing assessments of the program's impact have been very positive. Particularly hopeful is one study that concludes that the program's strongest effects are found in mobilizing those least advantaged in terms of the customary correlates of political participation. Our ecological analysis, based on the actual turnout rates in the Kids Voting elections for participating schools in Erie County, NY (N = 222), suggests that such conclusions are perhaps overly optimistic. Patterns in the geography and social ecology of participation in Kids Voting elections unfortunately look quite similar to those related to variations in the official electoral process. Although Kids Voting programs may have a salutary effect stimulating political involvement among the young, further reforms seem necessary if they are to reach their full potential.     

Sustaining the “Societal and Scriptural Fence”: Cultural,Social, and Political Topographies of Same-Sex Marriage in Alabama

In June 2006, voters in Alabama overwhelmingly approved a statewide referendum that added a prohibition against same-sex marriage to the state's constitution. This research examines the Alabama vote by “placing” the politics of sexuality within the state's multifaceted web of cultural and social space. We fuse a traditional electoral geography approach with an overall postpositivist cultural and social perspective, beginning with an assessment of the politics of place by situating Alabama as a place with a long history of battles over the so-called culture wars. The cultural politics of the legislative debate and the geographic distribution of the actual vote are also examined within a socio-demographic context, drawing some comparisons from a similar vote in Georgia in 2004, another state in the American Deep South. Those opposed to same-sex marriage in Alabama made effective use of various social constructions that are deeply embedded within a “moral” geography, situating the state as a fenced-off bastion of “religious traditional values,” a common theme throughout the American South. In this vein, social boundaries and territory were demarcated as a powerful political act in Alabama, a strategy that situated the state as hetero-normatively “in place,” while deeming sexual minorities as “out of place.”     

全球化视角的区域主义与区域一体化理论阐释

区域一体化作为重要的区域发展模式, 历来是地理学者关注的焦点。本文通过对区域一体化相关概念的辨析, 回顾区域主义发展历程, 并概括全球化赋予区域一体化的新内涵, 提出目前区域一体化研究的不足之处, 以期为区域经济发展研究提供有益的启示。区域主义与全球化是塑造当今世界经济格局的两种重要的力量, 自19世纪以来, 区域主义就伴随着全球化的趋势产生了4 次思想浪潮的变革;与此同时, 区域一体化的理论趋于系统化, 从早期的关税同盟理论、自由区贸易理论、大市场理论等以国际贸易为重点, 转而向空间、制度等方面扩展, 引入了新区域主义、新经济地理理论和新制度经济学等研究视角。随着区域行为主体的多元化、合作领域的深化、组织机制的复杂化, 形成了全球化背景下区域一体化新的内涵。根据国外的研究进展和国内区域一体化的现实需求, 未来应该对主权国家内部跨界一体化理论、内涵等方面加强研究。     

城市与区域相互作用机制研究

21世纪是城市化的世纪,城市区域化和区域城市化是城市化发展的必然结果,而城市与区域的相互作用是促进城市区域化和区域城市化的直接动力。在"五个统筹"中,统筹城乡和区域发展占有十分重要的地位。预示着统筹区域和城市协调发展将成为未来中国社会经济发展与改革的一项核心要求。探讨城市与区域相互作用机制是解决城市与区域问题,促进城市和区域发展,提高城市与区域总体竞争力亟待解决的重要的理论和实践课题。通过各种作用机制对城市与区域相互作用影响的研究,来促进城市与区域的良性互动,进而为解决城市问题和区域问题以及提高城市与区域整体实力提供科学参考。     

Regionalism in the Asia Pacific: is Geography destiny?

The renaissance in geographical 'bloc' development in the 1990s has generated expectations that prevailing international regionalism is compatible with the dominant global integration model. Nascent regionalism in the Asia Pacific best captures this trend with regional initiatives being established on the basis of 'open' regionalism as opposed to 'closed' regionalism that is associated potentially with institution building and regional governance. In this paper, I examine the shape and nature of Asia Pacific regionalism. I show how countries here favour a process of regime building that is centred on network building among state and private actors without any goal towards institution building. Asia Pacific regionalism is less concerned with the production and governance of regional space than the assertion of a collective Asian political culture that preserves state sovereignty.     

A Sociodemographic and Partisan Analysis of Voting in Three Anti-Gay Rights Referenda in Oregon

Since 1988, three separate anti-gay rights referenda have been placed on the ballot in the state of Oregon. While in 1988 Oregon voters passed the first measure (subsequently found unconstitutional), they rejected similar referenda in 1992 and 1994. This paper examines the electoral geography of these three referenda both cartographically and quantitatively. It finds patterns of support for the referenda were closely associated with voting patterns for the Republican Party in gubernatorial and presidential elections, and with sociodemographic indicators reflective of traditionalist areas.     

Electoral Geography of the Sino-Thai in Thailand's National Elections, 1979–1995

Comparison of Thai and Sino-Thai participation and success rates from the seven elections taking place since 1979 show Sino-Thai participation comparable to their proportion in the country's population. Assimilationist government minority policy and electorate acceptance have served to integrate this group into the mainstream political system. There is no pattern of support for a particular political party and there are no indicators of a separate Sino-Thai political element. Their highest success rates, however, occur in regions of the country that have historically had small Sino-Thai populations. This appears to be the result of factional politics and of monetary and organizational resources needed to garner votes at the provincial level.     

A Sociodemographic and Partisan Analysis of Voting in Three Anti-Gay Rights Referenda in Oregon

Since 1988, three separate anti-gay rights referenda have been placed on the ballot in the state of Oregon. While in 1988 Oregon voters passed the first measure (subsequently found unconstitutional), they rejected similar referenda in 1992 and 1994. This paper examines the electoral geography of these three referenda both cartographically and quantitatively. It finds patterns of support for the referenda were closely associated with voting patterns for the Republican Party in gubernatorial and presidential elections, and with sociodemographic indicators reflective of traditionalist areas.     

Metropolitan Chicago's Regional Cultural Park: Assessing the Development of the Illinois & Michigan Canal National Heritage Corridor

Abstract

The United States is undergoing rapid demographic change leading to growing racial, ethnic, religious and economic diversity in our classrooms. Our students can be sensitized to this growing diversity through exposure to the concept of social justice. The purpose of this article is to provide examples of how social justice issues can be included in classroom discussions of the American system of political representation. For this purpose, it examines selected aspects of the redistricting process. It points out that our historic reliance upon the winner-take-all single-member district system of electing representatives to legislative bodies limits the opportunity for minority groups to be fairly represented. It also provides an overview of the impact of the criminal justice system upon fair political representation. The article concludes with an example of a classroom exercise to demonstrate its major points.     

乡村建筑营造:认同的建构

乡村建筑典型的地域性和多样性,与乡村的身份和地方认同有着紧密的关系。在建筑营造的过程中,往往交织着以精英为代表的权力意志、先锋理念与以草根为代表的自发、匿名行为。深受地域主义、现代-后现代主义、批判地域主义影响的建筑领域,对乡村认同的建构有着或直接或间接的影响,梳理和实证这一脉络,对乡村文化地理有着积极的研究意义。研究认为,地域主义盛行时期,乡村建筑深受自然地理环境的影响,但政治与主流文化的建构仍存在,建筑营造回应为民族性的认同;现代-后现代主义混杂影响时期,村民与城市进入乡村的居民,以追求现代性和个性拼贴的方式建构碎片化的认同;批判地域主义时期,建筑师与村民则以精英设计、公众参与的方式,在建筑营造和协商中重构彼此认可的乡村新认同。     

社会建构主义视角下的边界——研究综述与启示

边界是人文地理学研究中的一个关键概念。边界代表着一种空间秩序和空间关系,是解读边境地区社会与文化关系形成过程的一个关键维度。由于边界所界定的空间秩序与国家认同的建构、边境地区的经济社会发展、边民的身份认同等问题息息相关,因此学界对边界的社会功能与文化意义给予了持续关注。近年来,学者们逐渐从社会建构的视角重新诠释边界。边界不是地图上僵化的线,它所界定的空间关系与空间秩序,以及所承载的社会文化意义亦非固定不变的,而是国家与草根群体通过一定的社会与空间实践不断再生产与再建构。国家通过边界的营造刻写意识形态与国家认同,而普通社会群体对边界亦有着复杂的响应、调适与抵抗。在国际形势日趋复杂和变化的大环境中,边界凸显了新的意义和功能,重新认识边界如何打破旧的空间秩序并划定新的秩序,是人文地理学研究中值得关注的问题。本文从边界的内涵、边界的社会文化意义和跨边界实践3个方面出发,阐释建构主义下的边界在理论和实践层面的意义,并挖掘边界研究对国内研究的借鉴与启示。     

Elite discourses of regional identity in a new regionalism development scheme: The case of the ‘Mountain Region’ in Norway

Norway's regional structure is under debate as questions about territorial boundaries, scale, scope of tasks and responsibilities, and decision-making structures have become an issue in Norwegian politics. This tendency of changing the scale of public action with regard to governmental structures, economic politics, welfare, and civic society has been termed ‘new regionalism’. New regionalism often comes under criticism of being too neo-liberalistic or too economically orientated, leaving in its wake debates of democratic accountability and the neglect of ‘soft factors’ (i.e. socio-culture, identity, consciousness, and participation). In this article the authors investigate whether new democratic or semi-democratic regional organisations as advocated by new regionalist schemes require identification amongst the local population in order to be successful and enduring governmental structures. Further, it is shown how too simplistic understandings of the social processes, and their inherent power aspects, involved in the implementation of the new regionalist development scheme ‘Mountain Region’ distort the undertaking. The authors find that a more complex relational and contextual understanding is in demand, one in which regionalisation is not only recognised as a process which diffuses across time-space, but also takes an asymmetrical place across society's social fabric, and one where ‘soft factors’ such as ‘regional identity’ are not sidestepped.     

关于中国地理学中的区域综合研究

综合性与区域性是地理学的两大基本特点。随着区域发展成为人们关注的热点,跨学科综合研究成为学科发展趋势,我国的区域综合研究势在必行。我国地理学的发展历程和当今研究现状亟须区域综合研究的根本性突破,才能更好地为全球层面上的全球环境变化、国家层面上的可持续发展以及地区层面上的社会经济发展服务,才能推动地理学理论创新,真正实现黄秉维先生所倡导的"综合指导下分析,分析基础上综合"的方法论应用。最后,依据我国地域特征,拟定8个典型区域作为近期综合研究区,并提出加快研究云贵高原喀斯特地区的倡议。     

Disaster Declarations and Major Hazard Occurrences in the United States∗

This article examines the potential geographic inequities between major hazard events and U.S. presidential disaster declarations at the county level from 1965 through 2004. The previous literature suggests that the disaster declaration process is highly politicized and not necessarily based on need. We hypothesize that there is a spatial inequity between the receipt of disaster declarations and the distribution of major hazard events. The results indicate that the geographic distribution of disaster declarations is not totally explained by the spatial pattern of major hazard events. In some locales, state experience in submitting disaster requests and achieving success translates into more disaster declarations (holding everything else constant), providing further evidence of the political nature of the process.     

Electoral behaviour behind the gates: partisanship and political participation among Canadian gated community residents

Gated communities have been characterised as representing processes of 'forting up' and 'civic secession', in which their residents use gating as a strategy for withdrawing from political life and from taking collective responsibility for others. The assumption is that the residents of private gated communities should be less likely to participate in political life, and/or be more likely to support political parties on the right who advocate privatisation, reduced government expenditures and lower taxes. If the act of living in a gated community is associated with either greater support for parties and policies on the right of the political spectrum, or limited political participation, then the growth of such forms of privatised communities has potential implications for the future of urban politics and even for national political systems. However, despite surveys that have dealt with social attitudes 'behind the gates', insufficient attention has been paid to the politics of gated community residents. This paper fills this gap through a comparative analysis of electoral behaviour during the 2006 federal election at the level of the polling station. Electoral participation and partisanship in 27 gated communities in three Canadian metropolitan areas is compared against that of non-gated residents. Regression analysis is conducted in order to determine whether gated community residents differ from their non-gated counterparts in the way they vote and their levels of electoral turnout, after controlling for social composition. The potential implications of this research are then discussed.