A Conference on Redistricting in Comparative Perspective

University Of California-Irvine, Irvine CA

Investigators

Abstract

Despite the importance of the redistricting process on the nature of democratic representation, redistricting practices and their consequences have been little explored outside of the United States context and that of a few other English speaking democracies. This project rectifies this by organizing the first redistricting conference that would be broadly comparative in content. The conference, a collaborative effort on the part of the Center for the Study of Democracy at the University of California, Irvine, the Administration and Cost of Elections (ACE) Project of the United Nations, and the International foundation for election Systems (IFES) and brings together scholars and practitioners from around the world. It is co-organized by a committee with a representative of each of these groups. The main objective of the conference is to provide academics and practitioners with a forum for collecting and exchanging information on comparative redistricting practices and their potential impact on electoral outcomes. The conference offers several significant theoretical and practical benefits: 1) Information compiled for and during the conference makes an important start toward the compilation of a comprehensive database on comparative redistricting practices. 2) Several important theoretical issues are addressed in the conference, including the implications of malapportionment (the creation of districts that are unequal in population), the potential for partisan gerrymandering (the creation of districts that favor one political party or special interest group at the expense of other groups) and its impact on the quality of representation, and the implications of various redistricting practices for the representation of minority - racial, ethnic, religious and linguistic - groups within the country. 3) This project also has important policy implications, particularly for newly emerging democracies. Because redistricting offers those in power and avenue for manipulating the outcome of elections, it is important to identify redistricting practices that will lend support to the democratic process as well as those that may be used to circumvent representative democracy.