The essays in this collection show how electoral geography has shifted from empiricist activity towards a closer involvement with the wider issues addressed by social scientists. They illustrate the potential contributions that electoral geographers can make towards the understanding of global, national and local societies.

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.

Explains cross-national differences in the political and partisan representation of low-income voters, focusing attention on the electoral geography of income.

Within an international framework, this work provides a fully comprehensive approach to the geographical coverage of elections. Numerous applications of ideas and concepts from human geography are incorporated into a new political context, illustrating the manner in which electoral patterns reflect and help produce the overall geography of a region or state. Discussions of various topics are well supported by numerous maps and diagrams which help clarify arguments and serve to define elections within their basic geographical context.

"A thorough and absorbing tour of the sub-discipline... An essential acquisition for any scholar or teacher interested in geographical perspectives on political process." - Sallie Marston, University of Arizona "This unique book is a true encyclopedia of political geography." - Vladimir Kolossov, Institute of Geography of the Russian Academy of Sciences and Vice President of the IGU The SAGE Handbook of Political Geography provides a highly contextualised and systematic overview of the latest thinking and research in the field. Edited by key scholars, with international contributions from acknowledged authorities on the relevant research, the Handbook is divided into six sections: Scope and Development of Political Geography: the geography of knowledge, conceptualisations of power and scale. Geographies of the State: state theory, territory and central local relations, legal geographies, borders. Participation and representation: citizenship, electoral geography, media public space and social movements. Political Geographies of Difference: class, nationalism, gender, sexuality and culture. Geography Policy and Governance: regulation, welfare, urban space, and planning. Global Political Geographies: imperialism, post-colonialism, globalization, environmental politics, IR, war and migration. The SAGE Handbook of Political Geography is essential reading for upper level students and scholars with an interest in politics and space.

Using information from the UK elections, this title shows how voters and parties are affected by, and seek to influence, both national and local forces, placing the analysis of electoral behaviour into its geographical context.

A prizewinning political scientist traces the origins of urban-rural political conflict and shows how geography shapes elections in America and beyond Why is it so much easier for the Democratic Party to win the national popular vote than to build and maintain a majority in Congress? Why can Democrats sweep statewide offices in places like Pennsylvania and Michigan yet fail to take control of the same states' legislatures? Many place exclusive blame on partisan gerrymandering and voter suppression. But as political scientist Jonathan A. Rodden demonstrates in Why Cities Lose, the left's electoral challenges have deeper roots in economic and political geography. In the late nineteenth century, support for the left began to cluster in cities among the industrial working class. Today, left-wing parties have become coalitions of diverse urban interest groups, from racial minorities to the creative class. These parties win big in urban districts but struggle to capture the suburban and rural seats necessary for legislative majorities. A bold new interpretation of today's urban-rural political conflict, Why Cities Lose also points to electoral reforms that could address the left's under-representation while reducing urban-rural polarization.