GENERAL INTRODUCTION

In almost every democracy in the world, citizens are represented by where they live. In Canada, India, and France, political representatives are elected by groups of voters who live in the same place, whether that location is a province, state, district, or municipality. In Germany, India, and Russia, too, territorial representation is a central feature of legislative design. And every ten years in the United States, congressional districts are redrawn, physically constituting political representation in the House of Representatives by where its citizens live. Why do democratic governments define political representation by where people live? Are territorial electoral districts commensurate with basic principles of democratic legitimacy? And why might our commitments to these principles lead us to endorse a radical alternative to territorial or group representation: randomly assigning citizens to single-member, national electoral constituencies in which they remain for life? These are the basic questions of this book.