Political Districts Research Articles

Farmers and the U.S. Congress: rethinking basic institutional assumptions about agricultural policy

AbstractAn assumption shared by most agricultural economists is that, as farm numbers decline in a democratic government, farm policy attention from rule‐makers will decline as well. This assumption – despite important work to the contrary in institutional economics – is often voiced in federated governing units, especially the U.S., where constituents are locally organized and the commitment of rule‐makers to nationwide policy is limited. While significant theoretical literature challenges that majoritarian view from the perspective of interest‐group theory, this is the first empirical test and explanation of the behavior of rule‐makers.The findings of this analysis indicate that classic majoritarian expectations are not met in the U.S. Congress. Instead, unexpectedly large numbers of legislators seek favorable policy action for farmers as distinct minorities within their districts. However, these same legislators balance their attention to farmers by also taking policy action in agriculture on behalf of other types of constituents. Legislators explain these actions as the result of their own electoral needs to satisfy vocal minorities from their political districts plus the ease with which they can marginally adjust a large base of U.S. farm programs. Thus, a kind of neo‐majoritarianism emerges.These results are especially important given the growing attention to federated governance in the European Union, East Europe, in North America through free trade agreements, and with the GATT. They indicate that farmers will continue, despite shrinking numbers, to be influential in those governing structures that have historically strong farm programs and the capacity to diversify from that policy base.

The role and disposition of military forces in the Russian Federation

The article discusses Russian motivation in the context of the restructuring of the military industrial complex and the new political districts of the former Soviet Union. It draws on Allison (1993) to describe the new military district structure, and considers what the combination of the boundaries of these areas indicates of Russian intentions for the future development of their forces and their relationship with the West. It goes on to consider the role of the media and of western political leaders in achieving images suitable for the identification of a peace dividend, and the repercussions of the situation as regards the future security of bi-polar relationships.

On the existence of ecological communities

uncontroversial assumption that living organisms arepresent – because organisms live, consume, reproduce,and die; nutrients arrive by various means, and nutrientsleave by various means. Lindeman therefore defined theecosystem into existence. Although he certainly be-lieved that some processes regulated ecosystem struc-ture, his ideas of regulation did not impinge upon thedefinition of ecosystem. Ecosystems are not defined asintegrated, discrete entities.We suggest that community should be defined in aparallel manner as “the living organisms present withina space-time unit of any magnitude”. The statement“communities exist” is no longer a fruitless ontologicalproblem (as Keddy 1993 suggested) but a tautology. Byusing an operational definition, we can now ask ques-tions concerning the properties of communities, and theforces underlying variation in communities.Wilson (1991) asked whether “plant communitiesexist in a more meaningful sense, as integrated, discreteentities”. Keddy (1993) argued that this question isunscientific. Our operational definition transformsWilson’s question to “Are there any communities whichare integrated and discrete?” This reformulation shouldbe scientifically valid by Keddy’s standards, as long asprocedures for defining and detecting integration anddiscreteness can be identified.Wilson implies that the general usage of the termcommunity connotes a strong degree of integration.Keddy believes that it is possible (but scientificallyvacuous) to list criteria which distinguish whether asystem exists as a community; these criteria are notlisted, but presumably involve some sort of integrationbetween species/and or environment. Some ecologistsdo indeed believe that integration is the key to defini-tions of community. In attempting to establish an episte-mology of ecology, Scheiner (1993) considered com-munities as natural entities which are defined by ‘link-ing processes such as interactions among populations.Allen & Hoekstra (1990) recognized that there is muchKeywords: Biome; Community concept; Communityecology; Heterogeneity; Homogeneity.IntroductionWilson (1991) raised the question of whether plantcommunities exist. He included the existence of assem-bly rules, niche limitation, discreteness, discontinuity,and integratedness as potential criteria for the existenceof communities. In response, Keddy (1993) argued thatthough it may be possible to draft a list of criteria for theexistence of communities, the debate over existence ofcommunities is an ontological and epistemological gamewhich is peripheral (and, Keddy argued, even harmful)to scientific progress. We suggest that community ecolo-gists define community operationally, with as little con-ceptual baggage as possible, so that we can put thedebate about their existence behind us.An operational view of the communityDefinitionsLindeman (1942) defined the ecosystem as “thesystem composed of physical-chemical-biological proc-esses active within a space-time unit of any magnitude”.As such, it is a perfect operational definition. We beginby considering the ‘space-time unit’. The space aspectof this space-time unit could be completely arbitrary,such as a 0.1 hectare quadrat, a cubic meter of lakewater, or a political district such as a province or nation,or it could be somewhat less arbitrary, such as a lake, awatershed, or an island. The time aspect of the unitcould be measured arbitrarily as seconds or decades, orsomewhat less arbitrarily as days or years.Whatever space and time units are chosen, physical-chemical-biological processes will be present – with the

Political Parties and District Council Economic Policies, 1978-90

Strong political party effects have previously been found in local government economic policies in London. This paper assesses whether the same holds true for the 333 non-metropolitan district councils in England and Wales, as well as assessing whether the 1980s brought significant changes to linkages between socio-economic conditions and policy variation. Political party effects are found to be weak and, while the 1980s did see significant transformations in expenditure patterns, these were not translated into distinctive trends in policy co-variation. Among the few relationships of note, a clear urban centrality effect was recorded for spending on environmental enhancement and, for the same policy, Labour councils had distinctive expenditure patterns. The absence of consistent relationships is suggested to be a product of increasingly heterogeneous styles of policy enactment and the more homogeneous socio-economic compositions of district councils which encourage locally-grounded policy solutions.

Citizens Map of Political Districts in Michigan

Citizens Map of Political Districts in Michigan

Analysis of regional and interregional referrals in ambulatory medical practice

This article examines, in two Swiss cantons, the interdependence from a medical care point of view of various regions (health planning zones in one canton, political districts in the other). The volume and the destination of patient referrals prescribed by physicians in ambulatory practice are analyzed. The available data (on 1609 referrals) were gathered by the practitioners themselves, during a National Ambulatory Medical Care Survey type study in February-March 1981, in which 203 physicians participated. Several indicators are proposed (including an integration coefficient and an attraction coefficient for each zone); they show marked differences among the regions. This dynamic approach, based on the effective behavior of physicians, appears to be of major interest for health planning purposes (as compared with the frequent practice to use mainly parameters in relation with the availability of care services--the "supply"--numbers of professionals and/or health facilities).

Using the Computer and Manuscript Census Returns to Teach American Social History

UNITED STATES Federal Censuses have been taken decennially since 1790. The population schedules (and most agricultural, mortality, slave, social statistics, manufacturing schedules) are available on microfilm for each local political district for the nineteenth century. The merits of the manuscript census schedules as a source of data have only recently come to be appreciated by historians.' From 1830 to 1880, the census returns included at various decade intervals all or part of the following information: name, race or color, and sex of all members of a household, number of persons in each household, occupations of the adult members of each household, birthplace of household members, value of real estate and personal property owned by household members, and also information on where

Zur Epidemiologie des Gebärmutterhalskrebses in Österreich

In cooperation with the Austrian National Institute for Statistics the incidence rates of cancer of the cervix uteri in Austria in the period of 1971--1975 were investigated. Not only the different federal countries but also the political districts were concerned by this study. The main findings were a relative high rate of women less than 40 years of age and severe regional differences. Problems in the registration of incidence rates of cancer are pointed out.

SPATIAL SEGREGATION OF PINS AND THRUMS IN POPULATIONS OF HEDYOTIS NIGRICANS.

The central position of genetic polymorphism in the evolutionary process has elicted extensive experimentation and theoretical exercises on those factors and interactions which temporarily or permanently maintain this state (e.g., Fisher, 1930; Allard et al., 1968; Levins, 1968; Wright, 1969; Dobzhansky, 1970; Ford, 1971). Another aspect of genetic polymorphism, namely, the spatial patterning of (alternate) morphs within local populations attracted little attention until the recent expansion of interest in local genetic differentiation and population subdivision. Population subdivision has been demonstrated through the analysis of morph frequency within a network of quadrats (Epling and Dobzhansky, 1942; Selander, 1970) or political districts (Workman and Niswander, 1970). Fine scale spatial relationships among alternate morphs may be analyzed by the same method used to determine the degree to which two species are intermingled without regard to the pattern of either in relation to the ground. This involves nearest-neighbor relationships of the population members and the concept of segregation (Pielou, 1961). If the number of individuals with nearest-neighbors of the same morph as themselves exceeds expectations based upon an assumption of random distribution, the morphs are referred to as being segregated or clumped, or having contagious distributions. If none of the individuals of one morph has nearestneighbors of the alternative type, segregation is total, otherwise it is referred to as partial. The pin-thrum system in plants is a polymorphism free from the effects of inbreeding and genetic drift. The possibility that pins and thrums might be partially segregated occurred to me several years ago during a nearest-neighbor analysis on heterostylic Lithospermum species in northern Indiana. Unfortunately, the study areas were bulldozed and the matter rested until the Spring of 1973 when I was introduced to a common Texas weed, Hedyotis nigricans. This species is heterostylic and the matter of morph segregation was reopened. Fortuitously, the first few populations examined promised some interesting results, and the study described below commenced. No other heterostylic species were examined and rejected for lack of morph segregation. The objective of this investigation was to determine the spatial relationships of pins and thrum in Hedyotis nigricans (Lam.) Fosb. (Rubiaceae). The investigation was designed with the following questions in mind: Are pins and thrums partially segregated, and what is the degree of that segregation? To what extent does the pattern vary among populations? Does the level of segregation decline when the second and third nearest-neighbors are considered? Is the level of segregation for the first, second and third nearest-neighbor classes density-dependent? Does the pin: thrum ratio depart significantly from the 1: 1 expectation? The species is a common roadside weed in the Southern and Central United States and frequently occurs in dense stands. It is a small, ascending perennial arising from a taproot, and has no mechanism for clone formation by vegetative apomixis. Reproduction is exclusively from seed. Pins and thrums are characterized by differences in

The Interdependence of Municipal and County Police Forces:.

Abstract— In our politically fragmented urban areas, sheriff's police services, like all municipal services, are distributed free of any direct charge. This study attempts to determine the optimal quantities of county police activity each political district should receive as well as their matching tax bills. The outcome of the analysis is pronouncedly influenced by the peculiar nature of externalities that occur in the provision of urban law enforcement services. Achievement of optimality conditions indicates an inverse relationship between sheriff's per capita expenditures and per capita tax base values of the participating political units.

Democratic representation and apportionment: a continous transformation useful for districting.

Suppose that one could stretch a geographical map so that areas containing many people would appear large, and areas containing few people would appear small. On a rubber map, for example, every person might be represented by an inked dot. We now imagine the rubber sheet to be stretched so that all the dots are at an equal distance from each other (see Ruston'). If such a map could be constructed, then all perfect political districts should be the same size, for they should contain equal numbers of people. Alternately, one might wish to construct district boundaries by drawing them as hexagons on such a map. These general notions are made more precise and given mathematical definition in the paragraphs that follow. The political problem of distiicting is related to a classical theoretical problem in the field of geography. The location-theoretic problem of positioning service facilities (schools, hospitals, stores, cities, and so forth) in a geographic area of varying population density has a structure similar to the districting problem (see Bunge2). This theoretical problem in geography provided the main impetus for my research, and it is reflected in the results to be demonstrated. Assume first that the relevant population density is described as a continuous nonnegative function of position, h(x, y). A small rectangle bounded by x, x + Ax, y, y + Ay then contains h(x, y)AxAy people. This number is to be the same as the area of a small rectangle bounded by the lines u, u + Au, v, v + Av on the final diagram. The condition equation thus becomes

Political Consolidation and Centre-Local Relations in Senegal

(1970). Political Consolidation and Centre-Local Relations in Senegal. Canadian Journal of African Studies / Revue canadienne des etudes africaines: Vol. 4, Local-Central Politics, pp. 101-120.

Nonpartisan Political Redistricting by Computer

OR volunteers developed a compart ness measure and a “warehouse-location” heuristic to draw nonpartisan, Constitutional political districts. The heuristic maps compact and contiguous districts of equal population. The minimization criterion and compactness measure is population moment of inertia—the summed squared distances from each person to his district's center. The districting method is particularly useful when legislative impasse or indifference forces courts to intervene. Federal Courts have received a computer plan for possible use in Delaware and have asked for computer districts in Connecticut.