Readers might be interested in the following call for papers, from the journal American Politics Quarterly:
Call for Papers on Political Geography and American Politics
American Politics Research
*American Politics Research* invites scholars to submit articles on the political geography of American politics. In 2008, /APR/ will publish a special issue on spatial aspects of American political behavior, elections and institutions.
Political geography is concerned with how specific geographic concepts may be relevant to understanding political behavior and institutions. These core geographic concepts include: location, distance or proximity, and access. Notions of geographic movement, or flow, are also central. Political geography may begin with issues related to redistricting, but the range of research topics extends far beyond this horizon.
The /APR/ readership is most interested in articles that evaluate theories, test hypotheses and examine data about geographic variation in political behavior or institutions. Papers with a historical focus are welcome. Papers deploying sophisticated spatial statistical tools, and hierarchical models, to illuminate substantive questions are encouraged.
Promising paper topics might include:
1) Studying geographic variation in political behavior, such as presidential vote choice, or political participation, across space or time;
2) Diffusion studies – examining public policy adoption from a spatial standpoint.
3) Studies of the impact of political context on mass or elite opinion.
4) Studies of congressional redistricting, or related boundary-defining processes.
5) Examinations of the meaning of borders or related institutional boundaries.
6) Examination of racial and ethnic segregation, concentration, and the implications of such patterns for electoral politics, redistricting, or public service delivery.
7) Studies of the relevance of distance to candidate name recognition and evaluation.
8) Examinations of geographic variations in mass media consumption and their possible political implications.
9) Studies of population mobility and its political consequences.
10) Studies of the geography of political campaign activity and candidate strategy, including the Electoral College.
The deadline for submission of papers is September 5, 2007, although articles will be accepted and reviewed before then on a rolling basis. All papers should be approximately 22-28 pages in length, double-spaced, including a 150 word abstract. Papers should conform with the /APR/ Guidelines as outlined in the submission instructions for the journal at:
http://www.bsos.umd.edu/gvpt/apr/ .
Questions, as well as electronic submissions should be directed to Jim Gimpel, Editor, at apr@gvpt.umd.edu.