Race, Ethnicity, and the Politics of City Redistricting: Minority-Opportunity Districts and the Election of Hispanics and Blacks to City Councils ... (Suny Series in African American Studies)

Nationwide study of the proposal and adoption of minority-opportunity districts at the local level.

Why do cities with similar minority populations vary greatly in the adoption of minority-opportunity districts and, by extension, differ in the number of elected Hispanic and black representatives? Through in-depth research of the districting processes of more than 100 cities, Race, Ethnicity, and the Politics of City Redistricting provides the first nationwide study of minority-opportunity districts at the local level. Joshua G. Behr explores the motives of the players involved, including incumbent legislators, Department of Justice officials, and organized interests, while investigating the roles that segregation, federal oversight, litigation, partisan elections, and resource disparity, among others, play in the election of Hispanics and blacks. Behr's book documents—for both theorists and practitioners—the necessary conditions for enhancing minority-opportunity districts at the local level.

"This is a timely book that contributes to the existing body of knowledge in general and specifically to the existing paradigm regarding racial and ethnic minorities." — Jason Kirksey, Oklahoma State University

"Gone are the days when blacks or Hispanics could be examined in isolation of one another, and Behr does a good job of drawing out the differences in the politics of districting for each of these groups. In particular, he goes beyond facile assertions that blacks and Hispanics are different and instead looks empirically at variables on which they differ, such as degree of segregation, so that more meaningful conclusions can be drawn." — Joseph Stewart Jr., coauthor of "Can We All Get Along?": Racial and Ethnic Minorities in American Politics