Theories of the voting behaviour in the context of electoral and urban geography

Abstract

Electoral geography – the analysing of spatial patterns in voting – intends to explore the spatialspecific factors that influence voter decisions, while the theories of voter behaviour generally seek to explain the electoral results in the individual level. In many cases, the disciplines of the electoral geography and voting behaviour analysis are connected due to their research objectives. The two subdisciplines overlap in many ways, because voter’s behaviour is largely influenced by their social environment and daily interactions. This statement is especially true in a highly heterogeneous environment such as metropolitan area, where the population is vulnerable to many different influences. Based on the above, the aim of this paper is to briefly overview the literature on electoral geography and voting behaviour, and explore its connections with spatial sciences, especially urban geography. Therefore, the first major question of the study is how electoral geography literature has developed, what topics it has focused on, and how these have evolved into voting behaviour theories. The second major question is how different theories are embedded in certain social stratifications, spatial scales and spaces, with special reference to urban areas.