the Group of 20 (G-20). The G-20 contains a more diverse membership, with sev-
eral countries from the “South” that are rapidly developing, experiencing substan-
tial increases in wealth and an emerging middle class, and gaining global
economic influence. China, for example, as of early 2010, is considered by many
economists to be the world’s second-largest economy, and living standards there
have been increasing dramatically since the 1980s. India, to take another example,
now boasts a middle class of some 300 million people, or about a quarter of the
total population. Brazil, Argentina, and South Africa, while all holding significant
pockets of poverty andspatial inequalityof wealth, nevertheless are advancing
economically and are members of the G-20 forum. The dichotomy represented
by the “North-South” regionalization between the hemispheres appears to be col-
lapsing, and new conceptualizations may soon be needed. The geography of eco-
nomic development is a broad, dynamic, and complex field that will provide
scholars with many challenges for many decades.Electoral Regions
Spatial units designed to provide representation to the electorate, based on a set
number or percentage of the voters. These may be found at various scales. In the
United States they range from local city precincts and wards, to state senate and
house districts, as well as states themselves for state-wide offices; to congressional
house districts, and finally to the individual states, which function as electoral
regions for U.S. senators, and finally to all 50 states collectively—the electoral
region for U.S. presidents. Some informal groupings have emerged in the discus-
sion of electoral regions in recent years, primarily based on the popular notion of
“red” (Republican) states and “blue” (Democrat) states, and associated clusters
of these states based on voting patterns. Some electoral regions are dynamic and
change shape on a regular basis in the United States. One example is congressional
districts, which are redrawn every 10 years, based on the results of the U.S. census.
These electoral regions change shape, and typically change the number of people
they represent over time. This is because the number of seats in the U.S. House
of Representatives is set at 435, and the number of representatives a state receives
is based on the state’s population. If a state gains population from one census to
another in proportion to other states, it will gain additional representatives, and
therefore must add new electoral regions in the form of congressional districts. If
it loses population vis-a`-vis other states, it loses one or more seats in the House,
and still must redraw theboundariesof its congressional districts. Districts with
controversial boundaries are often labeledgerrymandereddistricts.112 Electoral Regions