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| Srl | Item |
| 1 |
ID:
140813
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| Summary/Abstract |
According to the classical perspective, polity size and democracy are inversely related. In this article, we argue that there is an important exception that manifests itself at the district level in settings where multiparty competition is allowed. Specifically, we find that larger districts encourage greater contestation. This results from a little-noticed mechanical effect as well as from several features of constituencies that are affected by size and have direct repercussions for contestation. To demonstrate this thesis we assembled a unique dataset, the Multi-level Election Archive (MLEA), which unites electoral contests across a variety of districts (national, regional, and local) and elective offices from the eighteenth century to the present, including a total of 88 countries, 2,344 elections, 79,658 districts, and more than 400,000 contests. With this evidence we were able to conduct a broad array of statistical tests, some global and others focused on particular countries or election types, all of which support our general argument.
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| 2 |
ID:
174250
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| Summary/Abstract |
ST. AIDAN’S CATHOLIC CHURCH, built in 1911, sat in the middle of a relatively dense and highly desirable residential area in Brookline, Massachusetts. It was, among other things, President John F. Kennedy’s childhood church and the site of his baptism. In 1999, the Archdiocese of Boston merged the shrinking parish with one across town and sought to redevelop the land to create new housing. About one year after closing the church, the diocese was working on a plan to raze the structure and build a six story, 140‐unit residential building with 92 affordable units and 48 market‐rate units.
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| 3 |
ID:
165848
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| Summary/Abstract |
Scholars and policymakers have highlighted institutions that enable community participation as a potential buffer against existing political inequalities. Yet these venues may bias policy discussions in favor of an unrepresentative group of individuals. To explore who participates, we compile a novel data set by coding thousands of instances of citizens speaking at planning and zoning board meetings concerning housing development. We match individuals to a voter file to investigate local political participation in housing and development policy. We find that individuals who are older, male, longtime residents, voters in local elections, and homeowners are significantly more likely to participate in these meetings. These individuals overwhelmingly (and to a much greater degree than the general public) oppose new housing construction. These participatory inequalities have important policy implications and may be contributing to rising housing costs.
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