Product Description

Here, Katherine Tate examines the significance of race in the U.S. system of representative democracy for African Americans. Presenting important new findings, she offers the first empirical study to take up the question of representation from both sides of the constituent-representative relationship. The first half of the book examines whether black members of the U.S. Congress represent their constituents differently than white members do. The second half looks at the issue of representation from the perspective of ordinary African Americans based on a landmark national survey. These findings are sure to generate controversy, particularly as debate commences over renewing the Voting Rights Act, which is set to expire in 2007.

Product Details

• Published on: 2002-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 224 pages

Review
"An important new work. It contributes significantly to recent debates about the value of majority-minority congressional districts created in the 1990 redistricting, and to their impact upon descriptive, substantive, and symbolic representation.... Tate's sophisticated analysis will be read widely and avidly by public officials, graduate and undergraduate faculty and students, and political activists." - Dianne Pinderhughes, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign; "For a comprehensive treatment of African-American representation in Congress, this is the work to read." - David Mayheu author of America's Congress"

About the Author
Katherine Tate is Professor and Chair of Political Science at the University of California, Irvine. She is the author of From Protest to Politics and coauthor of African Americans and the American Political System.