Politics of Place and the Limits of Redistribution

Numerous scholars have noticed that certain political institutions, including federalism, majoritarian electoral systems, and presidentialism, are linked to lower levels of income redistribution. This book offers a political geography explanation for those observed patterns. Each of these institutions is strongly shaped by geography and provides incentives for politicians to target their appeals and government resources to localities. Territorialized institutions also shape citizens' preferences in ways that can undermine the national coalition in favor of redistribution. Moreover, territorial institutions increase the number of veto points in which anti-redistributive actors can constrain reform efforts. These theoretical connections between the politics of place and redistributive outcomes are explored in theory, empirical analysis, and case studies of the USA, Germany, and Argentina.

List of contents

1. Introduction 2. Theory 3. Regional Disparity in the World 4. Parties, Electoral Rules, and Representation in Legislatures5. Executives and National Public Goods 6. Federalism and Decentralization 7. Conclusion

About the author

Melissa Ziegler Rogers is Assistant Professor of Political Science at Claremont Graduate University. She specialises in comparative politics, Latin American politics, and comparative political institutions.

Summary

Regional differences in wealth strongly affect national politics. Most politicians represent the interests of territories, and political debate to distribute government resources is a competition to bring money back to their district. The more wealth differs across districts, the wider policy preferences for citizens and their representatives wi

Product details

• Authors: Melissa Ziegler Rogers, Ziegler Rogers Melissa
• Publisher: Taylor & Francis Ltd.
• Languages: English
• Product format: Paperback / Softback
• Released: 13.12.2021
• EAN: 9781032242668
• ISBN: 978-1-0-3224266-8
• No. of pages: 214
• Series: Routledge Advances in International Relations and Global Politics
• Subjects: Humanities, art, music > Education > General, dictionaries; Non-fiction book > History > Miscellaneous; POLITICAL SCIENCE / General, POLITICAL SCIENCE / Political Process / Political Parties, POLITICAL SCIENCE / Political Process / General, POLITICAL SCIENCE / Political Economy, POLITICAL SCIENCE / Comparative Politics, Political structure & processes, Human Geography, Political structure and processes