Gerrymandering Hypothesis in the Italian Constituencies

Abstract

Gerrymandering is a practice intended to establish a political advantage for a particular party or group by manipulating district boundaries. The term gerrymandering has negative connotations. Two principal tactics are used in gerrymandering: “cracking” (i.e. diluting the voting power of the opposing party’s supporters across many districts) and “packing” (concentrating the opposing party’s voting power in one district to reduce their voting power in other districts). Partisan gerrymandering to increase the power of a political party has been practiced since the beginning of the US. What’s happening in Italy? The paper examines a hypothesis of Italian gerrymandering: the uninominal constituencies of the Genoa’s District where typically progressive voting areas are united with conservative suburbs and municipalities. Last but not least the initiatives against the gerrymandering in American history to understand how to identify and contrast the techniques of gerrymandering.

Keywords

• gerrymandering
• redistricting
• constituencies
• italy
• usa