Functioning of democracy

In November, 2018, the citizens of Michigan passed Proposal 2, which amended the Michigan Constitution to place congressional and state legislative redistricting in the hands of a new Michigan Independent Citizens Redistricting Commission (MICRC) composed of thirteen citizens. CLOSUP launched its Michigan Redistricting Project in the summer of 2019 to assist the State of Michigan and the MICRC with this new approach to drawing district maps.

Note: This project was active at CLOSUP from 2001 to 2006. The information below is for archival purposes. One underlying theme in studies of democratic government is the problem of political accountability. To most scholars, accountability has to do with the relationship between what citizens want and what government officials do. Definitions abound, some focusing on government processes (are procedures fair and transparent?), some dealing with government actions (do representatives advocate policies that citizens favor?), some dealing with policy outcomes (do they reflect citizen prefere...