Party Positions and Preferences

Abstract

Analysing parties’ ideological stances has many potential applications for empirical political research. It helps in conceptualising competition among parties, and in government formation processes, among other things. But even though party positions and preferences are crucial concepts for many research questions, there are several different metrics used to quantify these, each of which can sometimes yield different results. Electoral programs often serve as primary data for these measurements, however, we know little about how these programs are drafted and how the preferences of party members are translated into a general program. The first panel addresses the challenges in measuring party positions and preferences, and takes a closer look at how external effects influence the emphasis of certain issues in electoral programs.

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