Representation and Redistricting in New York City
(Political Science 724.3)

John Mollenkopf
City University of New York (CUNY)
New York City, New York, USA

Spring 1991

S Y L L A B U S

Course Description

Week 1. Introduction

Overview of issues to be covered in the course, required assignments, timing of redistricting process in New York City.

Week 2. What difference do elections make for the exercise of power?

  • Benjamin Ginsberg, "Do Elections Matter?"
  • David W. Brady and Joseph Stewart, Jr., "When Elections Really Matter: Realignments and Changes in Public Policy," in Benjamin Ginsberg and Alan Stone, eds., Do Elections Matter? (Armonk, NY: M. E. Sharpe, 1986), pp. 5-9, 19-34.
  • Martin Harrop and William L. Miller, Elections and Voters (London: Macmillan, 1987), Chapter 9, "What Do Elections Do?" pp. 244-271.

Week 3. What are representative supposed to do?

  • Hanna Fenichel Pitkin, The Concept of Representation (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1967), 1-6, 53-59, bottom 86-91, 108- 111, bottom 122-143, 168-172, 187-189, 190-208, 225-240.
See also:
  • Nancy L. Schwartz, The Blue Guitar: Political Representation and Community (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1988), Chapters 2 & 3.
  • Elaine Spitz, Majority Rule (Chatham, NJ: Chatham House, 1984).
  • Howard L. Reiter, Parties and Elections in Corporate America (New York: St. Martins Press, 1987)

Week 4. How has the U.S. electoral system stratified representation?

  • Frances Fox Piven and Richard A. Cloward, Why Americans Don't Vote (New York: Random House, 1988), Chapters 1 - 5.
  • Morgan Kousser, "The Voting Rights Act and the Two Reconstructions," paper to Brookings Institution Conference on the 25th Anniversary of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 (October, 1990)
  • Chandler Davidson, ed., Minority Vote Dilution (Washington, DC: Howard University Press, 1984): Davidson, Kousser, Davidson and Korbel, Parker.
  • Richard L. Engstrom and Michael D. McDonald, "The Effect of At-Large Versus District Elections on Racial Representation in U.S. Municipalities," in Bernard Grofman and Arend Lijphart, eds., Electoral Laws and their Political Consequences (New York: Agathon Press, 1986), pp. 203-225. [Originally APSR 75 (June 1981): 344-354.]

Week 5. What is reapportionment and how have the 1965 Voting Rights Act and subsequent amendments sought to overcome racial bias in representation?

  • NCSL Reapportionment Task Force, Reapportionment Law: The 1990s (Denver, CO: National Council of State Legislatures, October 1989).
  • Armand Derfner, "Vote Dilution and the Voting Rights Act Amendments of 1982" and Drew S. Days III and Lani Guinier, "Enforcement of Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act," in Davidson, ed., Minority Vote Dilution.
  • Thornburg v. Gingles 478 US 30 (June 30, 1986).
  • United Jewish Organizations v. Carey 430 US 144 (March 1, 1977)
  • Drew Days, "Section 5 Enforcement and the Role of the Justice Department," Brookings VRA Conference.
  • Bernard Grofman, "Toward a Coherent Theory of Gerrymandering: Bandemer and Thornberg," in Bernard Grofman, ed., Political Gerrymandering and the Courts (New York: Agathon Press, 1990), pp. 29-63.
See also:
  • Abigail Thernstrom, Whose Votes Count? (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1987).
  • Bruce E. Cain, The Reapportionment Puzzle (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1984).
  • Frank R. Parker, Black Votes Count: Political Empowerment in Mississippi after 1965 (Chapel Hill, NC: University of North Carolina Press, 1990).

Week 6. How have these themes played out in New York City Politics?

  • John Mollenkopf, A Phoenix in the Ashes (Princeton: Princeton University Press, forthcoming), Chapter 4, "The Rules of the Game in New York City Politics Memoranda" by Richard Briffault and Lani Guinier for the New York City Districting Commission (1990).

Week 7. March 25th. Are blacks, Latinos, white liberals, and Asians allies or enemies in New York City Politics? How much racial/ethnic polarization is there?

  • Angelo Falcon, "Black and Latino Politics in New York City: Race and Ethnicity in a Changing Urban Context," New Community 14:3 (Spring, 1988), pp. 370-384.
  • Asher Arian, Arthur Goldberg, John Mollenkopf, and Ed Rogowsky, Changing New York City Politics 1988/89 (New York: Routledge, forthcoming), Chapter 6, "Shifting Allegiances"
See also:
  • Jim Sleeper, The Closest of Strangers: Liberalism and the Politics of Race in New York (New York: W. W. Norton, 1990), Chapters 2, 3, 8, 10, 11.
  • Charles Green and Basil Wilson, The Struggle for Black Empowerment in New York City: Beyond the Politics of Pigmentation (New York: Praeger, 1989), Chapters 1, 4, 5.
  • Louis Harris and Bert E. Swanson, Black-Jewish Relations in New York City (New York: Praeger, 1970).
  • Charles V. Hamilton, "Needed, More Foxes: The Black Experience," in Jewel Bellush and Dick Netzer, eds., Urban Politics New York Style (Armonk, NY: M. E. Sharpe, 1990), pp. 359-384.

Week 8. What happened after the 1980 redistricting in New York? Did applying the "65% rule" have the desired effect?

  • Gerald Benjamin, "The Political Relationship," in Gerald Benjamin and Charles Brecher, eds., The Two New Yorks (New York: Russell Sage Foundation, 1988), pp. 107-150.
  • Howard Scarrow, "The Impact of Reapportionment on Party Representation in the State of New York," in Bernard Grofman, Arend Lijphart, Robert B.McKay and Howard A. Scarrow, eds., Representation and Redistricting Issues (Lexington, MA: D.C. Heath, 1982), pp. 223-236.
  • Roman Hedges and Carl Carlucci, "Reapportionment under the Voting Rights Act: The Case of New York," (unpublished paper, 1983).
  • Roman Hedges and Jeffrey Getis, "A Standard for Constructing Minority Legislative Districts: The Issue of Effective Voting Equality," (unpublished paper, 1983).
  • Bernard Grofman, "Methodology used to insure compliance with the standards of the Voting Rights Act of 1965," memorandum to the special master in John Flateau v. Warren Anderson (1982); Jeffrey Getis, "Memorandum on the Report of the Special Master."
  • Kimball Brace et al, "Minority Voting Equality: The 65 Percent Rule in Theory and Practice," Law and Policy 10 (January 1988): 43-62.

Week 9. What is the state of the art in calculating "effective voting equality" and the degree of racial polarization for redistricting in 1990?

  • Bernard Grofman, "The Role of Expert Witness Testimony in the Evolution of Voting Rights Case Law: A Social Science Perspective," Brookings VRA Conference (1990).
For the more technically-minded:
  • James Loewen and Bernard Grofman, "Recent Developments in Methods Used in Vote Dilution Litigation," The Urban Lawyer 21:3 (Summer, 1989), pp. 589-604.
  • Bernard Grofman and Michael Migalski, "Estimating the Extent of Racially Polarized Voting in Multicandidate Contests," Sociological Methods and Research 16:4 (May 1988): 427-453.
  • Bernard Grofman, Michael Migalski, and Nicholas Noviello, "The 'Totality of Circumstances Test' in Section 2 of the 1982 Extension of the Voting Rights Act: A Social Science Perspective," Law & Society 7:2 (April 1985): 199-223.
See also:
  • Bernard Grofman, "Criteria for Districting: A Social Science Perspective," UCLA Law Review 33:1 (October 1985): 77-184.
  • James W. Loen, Social Science in the Courtroom (Lexington, MA: D.C. Heath, 1982), Ch. 14, "Correlation and Regression in Voting-Rights Litigation"

Week 10. What are the mechanics of redistricting city council boundaries in New York in 1991?

  • City Charter Chapter 2-A, Sections 50-52 (establishing the Districting Commission and charter criteria for drawing boundaries.)
  • Work plan of the NYC Districting Commission.
  • "The Geographic Levels and Data Base Components for Councilmanic Districting," NYC Districting Commission.
  • ReapS Users Manual for Logistic Systems redistricting program.
Note: An additional meeting time will be arranged to enable students to see how the "eap" software works at the Districting Commission's public access terminal.

Week 11. To what extent are the 1990 census data (PL 94-171) upon which redistricting is based flawed by a differential undercount? What is the case for adjustment?

  • New York State Advisory Committee to the United States Commission on Civil Rights, "A Followup Forum on Census Undercounts and Preparations for the 1990 Census," (summary report, January, 1990).
  • David M. Heer, affidavit in City of New York et al v. U.S. Department of Commerce, U.S. District Court, Eastern District of New York (11/88).
  • Eugene P. Erickson, affidavit in New York v. Department of Commerce (November, 1988).
  • Testimony of Erickson and Robert S. Rifkind before the Subcommittee on Census and Population, Committee on Post Office and Civil Service, U.S. House of Representatives, September 11, 1990.
See also:
  • Emmanuel Tobier, "Estimating Population Change in the 1980s," (Urban Research Center, New York University, December, 1990).

Week 12. What are the "protected interests" seeking: Blacks, Puerto Ricans, Dominicans, Gays and Lesbians, Republicans, and others. Will protection of minority incumbents diminish minority voting power and aid more conservative whites?

  • Relevant submissions to the NYC Districting Commission
  • Kim Brace et al, "Does Redistricting Aimed to Help Blacks Necessarily Help Republicans?" Journal of Politics 49:1 (February 1987): 169-185.

Week 13. Class presentations of research projects.

Week 14. Class presentations of research projects.