scholarly journals How and why party position estimates from manifestos, expert, and party elite surveys diverge. A comparative analysis of the ‘left–right’ and the ‘European integration’ dimensions

2021 ◽  
pp. 135406882199029
Author(s):  
Alejandro Ecker ◽  
Marcelo Jenny ◽  
Wolfgang C Müller ◽  
Katrin Praprotnik
Keyword(s):  
Comparative Analysis ◽  
European Integration ◽  
Detrimental Effect ◽  
Response Rates ◽  
Expert Survey ◽  
Party Manifestos ◽  
Party Positions ◽  
Party Position

This paper examines the validity of three approaches to estimate party positions on the general left–right and EU dimensions. We newly introduce party elite data from the comprehensive IntUne survey and cross-validate it with existing expert survey and manifesto data. The general left–right estimates generated by elites and experts show a higher congruence than those derived from party manifestos; neither measure clearly materializes as more valid regarding EU positions. We identify which factors explain diverging estimates. For instance, disagreement among experts has greater impact than their mere number. The substantial centrist bias of the manifesto estimates persists even when alternative documents are used to substitute manifestos. Low response rates among elites have no systematic detrimental effect on the validity of party position estimates.

Contagious Euroscepticism

2015 ◽  
Vol 23 (4) ◽  
pp. 413-423 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maurits J Meijers
Keyword(s):  
European Integration ◽  
Western Europe ◽  
Party Competition ◽  
Radical Right ◽  
Panel Regression ◽  
Position Change ◽  
Expert Survey ◽  
Chapel Hill ◽  
Party Position ◽  
Mainstream Party

This article examines whether the support for Eurosceptic challenger parties influences mainstream party position change on European integration in Western Europe. The key finding is that Eurosceptic challenger support is capable of influencing mainstream position shifts on European integration provided that, on average, EU issues are regarded as important by the Eurosceptic challengers. Moreover, the centre-left is more affected by Eurosceptic contagion since it is influenced by both radical right and radical left Eurosceptic success, whereas the centre-right is only susceptible to radical right success. The empirical analyses are based on panel regression analysis employing expert survey data provided by Chapel Hill Expert Survey. The findings presented in this article have important implications for the study of party positioning on European integration as well as for the study of party competition in general.

scholarly journals Comparing computational and non-computational methods in party position estimation: Finland, 2003–2019

2020 ◽  
pp. 135406882097460
Author(s):  
Juha Koljonen ◽  
Veikko Isotalo ◽  
Pertti Ahonen ◽  
Mikko Mattila
Keyword(s):  
Computational Methods ◽  
Two Dimensions ◽  
Position Estimation ◽  
The Political ◽  
Party Manifestos ◽  
Chapel Hill ◽  
Party Positions ◽  
Party Position ◽  
Textual Data ◽  
Survey Estimates

It is often claimed that computational methods for examining textual data give good enough party position estimates at a fraction of the costs of many non-computational methods. However, the conclusive testing of these claims is still far from fully accomplished. We compare the performance of two computational methods, Wordscores and Wordfish, and four non-computational methods in estimating the political positions of parties in two dimensions, a left-right dimension and a progressive-conservative dimension. Our data comprise electoral party manifestos written in Finnish and published in Finland. The non-computational estimates are composed of the Chapel Hill Expert Survey estimates, the Manifesto Project estimates, estimates deriving from survey-based data on voter perceptions of party positions, and estimates derived from electoral candidates’ replies to voting advice application questions. Unlike Wordfish, Wordscores generates relatively well-performing estimates for many of the party positions, but despite this does not offer an even match to the non-computational methods.

scholarly journals How well are citizens represented by their governments? Issue congruence and inequality in Europe

2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 145-160 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jan Rosset ◽  
Christian Stecker
Keyword(s):  
Public Opinion ◽  
European Integration ◽  
Survey Data ◽  
Social Groups ◽  
Policy Preferences ◽  
Expert Survey ◽  
Popular Support

AbstractThis study analyses congruence across various issues in 16 European democracies. Making use of public opinion and expert survey data, our analyses show that congruence between the policy preferences of citizens and the stances of governments is much more complex than what is revealed by studies focusing on ideology solely. Size and directions of incongruence are larger and more systematic on specific issues than on the left–right scale. On redistribution, citizens are more to the left than their governments, while popular support for European integration is systematically lower among citizens than among their representatives. Moreover, the relatively poor are particularly underrepresented on redistribution, while the preferences of the relatively lower educated are not well reflected in government preferences in relation to European integration. We interpret these results as being partly linked to a representation gap with privileged social groups enjoying higher levels of congruence with their government.

Politicization of ethnicity in party manifestos

2011 ◽  
Vol 19 (2) ◽  
pp. 296-318 ◽  
Author(s):  
Oleh Protsyk ◽  
Stela Garaz
Keyword(s):  
Content Analysis ◽  
Textual Analysis ◽  
Political Competition ◽  
Party Systems ◽  
Political Rhetoric ◽  
Analysis Framework ◽  
Cultural Issues ◽  
Party Manifestos ◽  
Party Positions

In this article we present a content analysis framework for textual analysis of programmatic documents with the goal of identifying party positions on the ethnic dimension of political competition. The proposed approach allows for evaluation and comparison of how party systems in multi-ethnic states process ethno-cultural claims and demands. Our method of content analysis of party programmatic texts provides adequate granularity by which to capture the subtleties of ethno-cultural political rhetoric. It also addresses some of the misclassification and measurement problems raised in the literature with respect to the dominant Comparative Manifesto Project (CMP) approach to textual analysis. We demonstrate how estimates generated by our method for human-based coding constitute an improvement on the CMP’s estimates of party positions on ethno-cultural issues.

scholarly journals ATTEMPT OF THE EUROPEAN INTEGRATION OF CROATIA, SERBIA, MONTENEGRO: COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS

Manuscript ◽  
2018 ◽  
pp. 68-72
Author(s):  
Denis Radievich Sharafutdinov ◽  
◽  
Damir Rimovich Islamov ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Comparative Analysis ◽  
European Integration
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