Revitalizing Electoral Geography

Electoral Geography, the analysis of spatial patterns of voting, is undergoing a renaissance with new methodological advances, theoretical shifts and changes in the political landscape. Integrating new conceptual approaches with a broad array of case studies from the USA, Europe and Asia, this volume examines key questions in electoral geography: How has electoral geography changed since the 1980s when the last wave of works in this sub discipline appeared? In what ways does contemporary scholarship in social theory inform the analysis of elections and their spatial patterns? How has electoral geography been reconfigured by social and technological changes and those that shape the voting process itself? How can the comparative analysis of elections inform the field? In addressing these issues, the volume moves electoral geography beyond its traditional, empiricist focus on the United States to engage with contemporary theoretical developments and to outline the myriad theoretical, conceptual and methodological perspectives and applications that together are ushering in electoral geography's revitalization. The result is a broader, comparative analysis of how elections reflect and in turn shape social and spatial relations.

Dr. Barney Warf is Professor of Geography at the University of Kansas. He has diverse interests in the broad domain of human geography, particularly political economy and social theory, and has published papers concerning elections, the U.S. electoral college, and voting technology. Dr. Jonathan Leib is Associate Professor of Geography at Old Dominion University. A political geographer by training, his research interests are in political and cultural geographic change in the American South. He has published papers and book chapters concerning issues of redistricting, voting rights, and elections in the American South.