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Political Geometry

Rethinking Redistricting in the US with Math, Law, and Everything In Between

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  • © 2022

Overview

Editors:
  1. Moon Duchin

    1. Department of Mathematics, Tufts University, Medford, USA

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    You can also search for this editor in PubMed   Google Scholar

  2. Olivia Walch

    1. University of Michigan–Ann Arbor, Falls Church, USA

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    You can also search for this editor in PubMed   Google Scholar

  • Provides the definitive 21st century toolkit to rethink redistricting from a new perspective
  • Approaches redistricting with a unique focus on the connections between math, political science, geography, and more
  • Simplifies sophisticated concepts from various disciplines with illustrations and careful walkthroughs

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Table of contents (25 chapters)

  1. Front Matter

    Pages i-xli
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  2. Explainer: Compactness, by the numbers

    • Moon Duchin
    Pages 29-35

  3. Political thought

    1. Front Matter

      Pages 37-37
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    2. Measuring partisan fairness

      • Mira Bernstein, Olivia Walch
      Pages 39-75

    3. Interviews: Concepts of representation

      • Moon Duchin, Olivia Walch
      Pages 77-85

    4. Is the redistricting problem math, systems, or people?

      • Keith Gåddie
      Pages 87-100

    5. Political geography and representation: A case study of districting in Pennsylvania

      • Jonathan Rodden, Thomas Weighill
      Pages 101-127

  4. Law

    1. Front Matter

      Pages 129-129
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    2. Explainer: A brief introduction to the Voting Rights Act

      • Arusha Gordon, Douglas M. Spencer
      Pages 131-136

    3. Race and redistricting: The legal framework

      • Ellen D. Katz
      Pages 137-162

    4. Law, computing and redistricting in the 1960s

      • Alma Steingart
      Pages 163-177

    5. The law of gerrymandering

      • Guy-Uriel Charles, Douglas M. Spencer
      Pages 179-198

  5. Geography

    1. Front Matter

      Pages 199-199
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    2. Race, space, and the geography of representation

      • Christopher S. Fowler
      Pages 201-220

    3. The elusive geography of communities

      • Garrett Dash Nelson
      Pages 221-234

    4. Explainer: Communities of interest

      • Heather Rosenfeld, Moon Duchin
      Pages 235-245

    5. Geography as data

      • Lee Hachadoorian, Ruth Buck
      Pages 247-271

  6. Math and computer science

    1. Front Matter

      Pages 273-273
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    2. Three applications of entropy to gerrymandering

      • Larry Guth, Ari Nieh, Thomas Weighill
      Pages 275-292

    3. Explainer: Measuring clustering and segregation

      • Moon Duchin, James M. Murphy
      Pages 293-302
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Keywords

About this book

“Why does my congressional district look like a salamander?” Politically engaged citizens have been asking this question for far too long. This volume collects perspectives from a wide cross-section of disciplines to explain what drives gerrymandering, why it can be hard to stamp out, and how we might go about fixing it. With topics ranging from the Voting Rights Act to Markov chains to the geography of communities, this book serves as a 21st century toolkit for how we can better approach this corrosive phenomenon.


The volume editors gather experts from a variety of fields to provide as many different perspectives on gerrymandering as possible. Thanks to the breadth of expertise found across these chapters, ranging from lawyers to mathematicians to civil rights activists, readers will discover new ways of thinking about redistricting in the United States. Illustrations and helpful walkthroughs appear throughout to clearly explain otherwise complex ideas from these areas. Political Geometry is a must-have for anybody interested in political representation in the United States elections, and for anyone who’s ever thought, “There must be a better way to do this.”

Editors and Affiliations

  • Department of Mathematics, Tufts University, Medford, USA

    Moon Duchin

  • University of Michigan–Ann Arbor, Falls Church, USA

    Olivia Walch

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