Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
Figure 27.2
The ethnic map of Bosnia-Herzegovina before c.1990.
Source:
Owen 1996.
Federation, was itself divided into ten cantons to
reflect the ethnic diversity, whereas the other—
Republica Sprska—was over 98 per cent Serb.
The extremes involved in political regionalisation
within states exemplified by
apartheid
in South Africa
and ethnic cleansing in Bosnia-Herzegovina are not
repeated in many other places, but such deviant cases
bring into sharp focus the problems common to
most regionalisations.
territorial constituencies. In some, like the UK and
the USA, those constituencies each return a single
member to represent a separate (almost invariably
contiguous) block of territory: there are currently
659 in the UK House of Commons and 435 in
the US House of Representatives. Because of the
criteria on which they are based, the constituency
maps have to be redrawn regularly: a new set of
regions has to be defined.
Those criteria are embodied in four concepts
of fairness, which underpin many 'theories' of
democratic representation.
Constituencies as regions
Government of most liberal democracies involves
legislative assemblies popularly elected from
