Geographical Influences on Political Decision-MakersAuthor(s): Alan TaylorSource: Area, Vol. 6, No. 1 (1974), p. 65Published by: The Royal Geographical Society (with the Institute of British Geographers)Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/20000824 .

Accessed: 21/06/2014 02:41

Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at .http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp

.JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range ofcontent in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new formsof scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact support@jstor.org.

.

The Royal Geographical Society (with the Institute of British Geographers) is collaborating with JSTOR todigitize, preserve and extend access to Area.

http://www.jstor.org

This content downloaded from 185.44.78.113 on Sat, 21 Jun 2014 02:41:24 AMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

Annual Conference 65

The organizers of the symposium were Dr R. D. Hey and Dr T. D. Davies (East Anglia, Environmental Sciences).

Trevor Davies University of East Anglia

Young research workers' forum The most important thing to be said about the Young Research Workers' Forum is that if the five papers delivered are a typical sample of the professional competence of postgraduate research at this time, then the future of the subject and the Institute is bright indeed. Important ideas were lucidly and concisely delivered to a small but interested audience. Papers on locational change in multi-plant enterprises,

M. J. Healy (Shefeld), in professional offices G. Pritchard (Aberystwyth), and of farms serving processing plants by contract arrangements P. Hart (Wye), outlined the spatial dimension to understanding the changing character of the primary, secon dary and tertiary sectors of the economy. Slope development on colliery spoil heaps

M. J. Haigh (Birmingham) and road haulage frieght from Hull docks R. J. McCalla (Hull), emphasized data-gathering difficulties and their methodological significance. Indeed, the question was raised as to whether it is now time that the Institute should structure the experience of its members in the data-gathering process and provide some guide lines that would facilitate the research activities of its members. As the social science data-gathering boom continues and becomes increasingly focused on interviewing decision-makers, some guidance as to the legitimate responsibilities of both parties involved has become increasingly necessary.

D. R. Diamond London School of Economics

Geographical influences on political decision-makers This session, in common with others in the conference, contained some papers which strictly speaking belonged in other sessions, and there were other sessions which strictly speaking belonged here. Also in common with other sessions it suffered from the late withdrawal of a speaker. Nevertheless, the session was well attended for one on the supposedly moribund subject of Political Geography.

Peter Taylor and Graham Gudgin (Newcastle) dealt with the politically partisan effects of the British Parliamentary Boundary Commission's attempts to be politically non-partisan. The Commission's boundary solutions have an inevitably partisan effect since political allegiance is related to class, which itself has distinct spatial patterns. Gwyn Rowley (Sheffield) examined three hypotheses: that Labour seats are smaller than Conservative seats, and are losing population relative to Conservative seats; that the British redistricting process does not satisfy democratic ideals; and that

British election results are predictable, and are not the fortuitous outcomes of proba bility experiments. John Agnew (Ohio State) presented a joint paper by himself and Kevin Cox which demonstrated a technique for measuring the discrepancy between two sets of boundaries, based on concepts from information theory. This technique could be used, for instance, to compare a set of local government boundaries with a theoretical set.

Alan Taylor (Swansea) desribed how the Second World War transformed British electoral behaviour from diversity to a high level of national uniformity. This has

meant that potential and actual public representatives need to worry more about party nominations than about the electorate. Since 1950 there has been a relaxation of national uniformity, and politicians would do well to note the implications of this.

The session concluded with half an hour's discussion, and bodes well for future Political Geography sessions. The subject clearly has a contribution to make which is relevant to those whom it studies-the politicians.

Alan Taylor University of Wales, Swansea

This content downloaded from 185.44.78.113 on Sat, 21 Jun 2014 02:41:24 AMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions