Does Political Geography Determine Political Destiny? a Review of the New Political Geography of California by Frederick Douzet, Thad Kousser, and Kenneth Miller

UC Berkeley California Journal of Politics and Policy Title Does Political Geography Determine Political Destiny? A Review of The New Political Geography of California by Frederick Douzet, Thad Kousser, and Kenneth Miller Permalink https://escholarship.org/uc/item/94d7880g Journal California Journal of Politics and Policy, 3(1) Author Boushey, Graeme Publication Date 2011-05-03 DOI 10.5070/P2HW2D Peer reviewed eScholarship.org Powered by the California Digital Library University of California THE CALIFORNIA Journal of Politics & Policy Book Review Volume 3, Issue 1, 2011 Does Political Geography Determine Political development of the state, and a sense of a northern and Destiny? A Review of The New Political southern California divide appears to have been entrenched Geography of California by Frédérick Douzet, by the division in 1804 of the Spanish Province of Las Cal- ifornias into two separate territorial administrations, Alta Thad Kousser, and Kenneth P. Miller and Baja California. Visitors to Sonoma county find Fort Ross, a northern coastal Russian fur trapping outpost from Graeme Boushey the mid 19th century perched uncomfortably close the Gen- San Francisco State University eral Vallejo’s garrisons in Sonoma, defining the unofficial border of Mexican holdings at the northernmost reach of Reading Frédérick Douzet, Thad Kousser, and Ken- the Mission trail. neth Miller’s The New Political Geography of California The subsequent seizure of California by U.S. troops (2008), prompted me to imagine a companion volume and the rapid transition to statehood in 1850 did little to on the Ancient Political Geography of California, one calm the regional divide between north and south, and long authored, perhaps, by prominent state historians and an- standing geographic divisions were amplified by a popula- thropologists who could speak authoritatively on the per- tion boom during the Gold Rush that set the northern half sistence of regional, cultural, political, and economic di- of the state apart from long established farming and ranch- visions from the earliest civilizations to inhabit the state. California entered the Union with strong geographic and Review of The New Political Geography of California by political divisions that held important implications for the Frédérick Douzet, Thad Kousser, and Kenneth P. Miller. 2008. Berkeley: Berkeley Public Policy Press, University www.bepress.com/cjpp of California, Berkeley. 1 California Journal of Politics and Policy, Vol. 3 [2011], Iss. 1, Art. 14 ing communities in the southland. After entering the Union maps of regional preferences for statewide races, as well as a free state, southern California politicians—unhappy as for initiatives on issues ranging from gay marriage, af- with heavy handed taxation from the populous north, and firmative action, or immigration reform. These maps re- divided over slavery—introduced the first of many seces- inforce a strong sense of regional difference, with coastal sion proposals for dividing California state, culminating northern California historically favoring more progressive with the 1859 Pico Bill, a proposal to create the state of politicians and policy proposals than their southern neigh- Colorado below San Louis Obispo (Richards 2008, 225). bors. This bill was surprisingly successful, but fell victim to Those familiar with the political battles fought dur- poor timing in national politics. The Pico bill passed the ing the periodic droughts that plague the state are familiar California Assembly and was signed by the governor be- with the bitter divisions that emerge as central California’s fore dying in Congress on the eve of the Civil War (Rich- agribusinesses and the large but parched urban centers of ards 2008, 225). southern California compete with their northern neighbors Today, activists carry on the tradition with repeated— for rights to the water flowing in the Sacramento, Peta- but rarely credible—calls for secession emerging from the luma, and Napa rivers into San Francisco Bay. far reaches of northern, central, or southern California, Bitterness over these competitions for natural resourc- most disagreeing over where to draw the border. An ef- es and policy emerge in the regional battles that truly rile fort to create the state of Jefferson by partitioning parts of Californians. In 2008, after decades of debate, lawyers southern Oregon and northern California in 1941 rivaled representing the Shoreline surf shop in Santa Cruz sued the Pico bill for poor timing, with the call for secession the city of Huntington after it secured trademark rights to occurring days before Japan’s bombing of Pearl Harbor. the title “Surf City, USA” (Carcamo 2008). At the outset of Even today, people crossing the California/Oregon border the lawsuit, representatives for the defense filed a change are greeted with a recently painted sign declaring the state of venue motion to move the hearing from San Francis- of Jefferson on a barnside just off Interstate 5. co to southern California, arguing that Huntington Beach Owing to the historical divisions between north and “Couldn’t get a fair trial in northern California” (Lattman south, politics in California have long been colored by a 2007). The two parties ultimately came to a settlement, but strong sense of geography. Following elections, newspa- this did little to resolve animosity between northern and pers across the state routinely publish detailed political southern Californians. Passions still flare when unsuspect- DOI: 10.2202/1944-4370.1155 2 Boushey: A Review of The New Political Geography of California ing visitors ask residents where to find California’s best political geography. Although cultural differences between burrito. northern and southern California persist, the state’s politi- California’s culture and politics have long been paint- cal division now divides East and West, with progressives ed as following a sweeping North-South divide, but over dominating coastal politics, and a strong conservative the past decade observers have noted a shift in the geopo- presence entrenched down the central valley and inland litical orientation of the state, suggesting that generaliza- counties. tions about northern and southern Californian differences Frédérick Douzet, Thad Kousser, and Kenneth Miller’s no longer fully capture regional differences in political New Political Geography of California engages the trends views in the Golden State. During the 2010 governors that have transformed the state, carefully documenting campaign, Arnold Schwarzenegger tweeted a reminder to the demographic shifts over the past 30 years that have Jerry Brown and Meg Whitman cautioning them against transformed state and regional politics in California. The their coastal bias in the buildup to the general election. volume takes the conventional wisdom about state politics Northern CA is the upper body, Southern CA is the lower head on, and does more than simply identify new broad di- body, and the Central Valley is the abs. You can’t neglect visions in state politics. It is not simply that California now the abs, candidates” (Schwarzenegger 2010). divides ideologically down the I-5 corridor, but perhaps The former governor’s humor belies a more serious more importantly that immigration and in-state migration shift in the geopolitics of the state that has taken root most trends have transformed regional and municipal voting co- recently in the annual negotiations over the budget. Here alitions in ways that have profound implications for poli- politics fracture ideologically along an East/West divide, tics in the Golden State. with a small group of inland republicans from Yreka to The New Political Geography of California is orga- Calexico standing in opposition to the budget preferences nized in three sections—the first documenting the broad of coastal progressives. demographic changes in the state, the second providing Clearly geo-political context still matters for under- a fresh perspective on geopolitical divides in key regions standing politics in the Golden State, but it can no longer and municipalities, and the final one considering political be neatly organized along a simple north/south regional implications of California’s demographic transformation. dichotomy. To understand recent trends in California poli- It is a dense, rich volume that should interest a broad au- tics requires grounding in a sense of California’s shifting dience of advanced undergraduate and graduate students 3 California Journal of Politics and Policy, Vol. 3 [2011], Iss. 1, Art. 14 in political science, urban politics, geography and public income, and partisan preferences of voters throughout administration, as well and practitioners and researchers the state. The accumulation of census detail can be over- interested understanding how modern demographic trends whelming, but Douzet and Miller leave little doubt that have altered California politics. the demography has altered politics, creating new oppor- Douzet and Miller’s opening chapter documents the tunities while challenging long-standing coalitions. The recent transformation of California’s geo-political land- reader may wish the authors had expanded their analysis of scape. Drawing on careful analysis of trends in the ethnic, the implications of the growing coastal concentrations of political, and economic distribution of California’s popu- wealth, race, and partisanship for politics, policy, or future lation, the authors establish that California’s historical electoral coalitions

Load more