This course concentrates on cutting-edge research problems in the area of political parties, party competition and democracy. It concentrates on what political parties tell voters in their election programs. Considered irrelevant by many researchers the seminar will discuss the potential importance of knowing what political parties offer in terms of policies and how they compete in these terms. We hope to demonstrate that this type of information is crucial to understand key processes of modern representative democracy. Thus, we will deal with seemingly simple questions such as: What actually is it that political parties advertise in elections? Is there a systematic pattern of party policy competition? How real is the often cited left-right dimension of party competition? How important are programmatic similarities and differences for the formation of government coalitions? Is there a relationship of what parties say and what they really do as government or opposition? These and related questions will be discussed in a comparative perspective offering empirical evidence both from "old" and "new" democracies.

10.01.2001 Session 2: The history of a research program

This session deals with the intellectual history and the organization of a major research program. The Party Manifesto Research Group, its successor organization and its various projects will be described.

17.01.2001 Session 3: Theoretical concerns: Why it is important to know what parties advertise in election campaigns

The main emphasis of this session of the seminar is to provide an overview of theories of political parties, of party competition and of coalition formation with an eye on party policies.

24.01.2003 Session 4: Methodological concerns: Going quantitative with text

Here an overview will be given of how to collect and submit election programs to quantitative content analysis, including the problems of reliability and validity of data.

31.01.2003 Session 5: Policy positions, thematic emphases, and programmatic profiles of political parties

The questions discussed will deal with the creation of generalized measures of policy positions such as a left-right score and the possibilities of classifying parties by party families.

07.02.2003 Session 6: A dynamic perspective on the content of party election programs: Mapping trends over time

How do party programs develop over time? Is there convergence or divergence? What about the "end of ideology" hypothesis? What about the Duverger’s "contagion" hypothesis? These problems will be dealt with both from a country specific and from a party family perspective. What does all of this mean for patterns of party competition?

14.02.2003 Session 7: On the communication of parties and voters

How do political parties and voters communicate? To what degree is there a match between party positions and voter orientations? This problem will be discussed in light of generalized policy positions, using left-right orientations of parties and voters as an example.

21.02.2003 Session 8: Programmatic profiles of political parties and coalition formation

Does policy proximity matter for coalition formation? This is the main question which will be asked in this session.

28.02.2003 Session 9: Programmatic profiles of political parties and policy outputs

Do programmatic profiles of political parties influence parties' policies once in government? Are promises made in election programs kept? These and related questions are at the core of the discussion.

07.03.2003 Session 10: Going East: Party election programs in the New Democracies of Central and Eastern Europe: Overview of a new data collection

A new data collection has been supported for the study of the new democracies in Central and Eastern Europe. Basic features as well as problems and prospects will be discussed.

14.03.2003 Session 11: What have we learned? What should be done?

In this concluding session we want to critically discuss results of the seminar and ways to develop further an approach to political parties and party competition which seriously considers the importance of the supply-side of party policies for the democratic process in representative democracies.

Daniel Bell (1962), The End of Ideology. On the Exhaustion of Political Ideas in the Fifties. New York: Free Press.

Ian Budge et al. (2001), Mapping Policy Preferences. Estimates for Parties, Electors, and Governments 1945-1998. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Ian Budge, David Robertson, and Derek Hearl, eds (1987), Ideology, Strategy and Party Change. Spatial Analysis of Post-War Election Programmes in 19 Democracies. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Dieter Fuchs (1993), A Metatheory of the Democratic Process. Discussion Paper FS III 93-203, Social Science Research Center Berlin.

M. Kent Jennings et al., Continuities in Political Action (1990). Berlin: de Gruyter, 203-234.

Hans-Dieter Klingemann, Richard I. Hofferbert, and Ian Budge (1994), Parties, Policies and Democracy. Boulder, Colorado: Westview Press.

Hans-Dieter Klingemann and Dieter Fuchs, eds.(1995), Citizens and the State. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 183-205.

Michael Laver, ed.. (2001), Estimating the Policy Positions of Political Actors. London: Routledge.

Michael Laver and Ian Budge, eds (1992), Party Policy and Coalition Government. New York: St. Martin's Press.

David Robertson (1976), A Theory of Party Competition. London: Wiley.

*Andrea Volkens (2002). Manifesto Research: Past, Present, and Future. In Dieter Fuchs, Edeltraud Roller, and Bernhard Wessels, eds., Bürger und Demokratie in Ost und West. Studien zur politischen Kultur und zum politischen Prozess. Wiesbaden: Westdeutscher Verlag, 462-477.

*Ian Budge and Judith Bara (2001). Manifesto-based Research: A Critical Review. In Ian Budge, Hans-Dieter Klingemann, Andrea Volkens, Judith Bara, and Eric Tannenbaum with Richard C. Fording, Derek J. Hearl, Hee Min Kim, Michael D. McDonald, and Silvia M. Mendes. Mapping Policy Preferences. Estimates for Parties, Electors, and Governments 1945-1998, 51-73.

David Robertson (1976). A Predictive Theory of Competitive Democracy. In David Robertson, A Theory of Party Competition. London: Wiley, 23-54.

Session 3 Theoretical concerns: Why it is important to know what parties write in election programs

*Hans-Dieter Klingemann, Richard I. Hofferbert, and Ian Budge (1994). A Revised View of Party Competition. In Hans-Dieter Klingemann, Richard I. Hofferbert, and Ian Budge with Torbjorn Bergman, Hans Keman, Francois Pétry, and Kaare Strom, Parties Policies, and Democracy. Boulder: Westview, 20-35.

*Ian Budge and Michael Laver (1992). Coalition Theory, Government Policy and Party Policy. In Michael Laver and Ian Budge, eds., Party Policy and Government Coalitions. Houndmills: St. Martin’s Press, 1-14.

*Hans-Dieter Klingemann, Richard I. Hofferbert, and Ian Budge (1994). A Theory of Democratic Policymaking. In Hans-Dieter Klingemann, Richard I. Hofferbert, and Ian Budge with Torbjorn Bergman, Hans Keman, Francois Pétry, and Kaare Strom, Parties Policies, and Democracy. Boulder: Westview, 1-19.

Michael J. Laver and Ian Budge (1992). Measuring Policy Distances and Modelling Coalition Formation. In Michael Laver and Ian Budge, eds., Party Policy and Government Coalitions. Houndmills: St. Martin’s Press, 15-40.

Richard I. Hofferbert, Hans-Dieter Klingemann, and Andrea Volkens (1995). Election Programmes, Government Statements and Political Action – Political Parties and Their Programmes. In Josef Thesing and Wilhelm Hofmeister, eds., Political Parties in Democracy. Role and Functions of Political Parties in the Political System of the Federal Republic of Germany. Sankt Augustin: Konrad Adenauer Stiftung, 321-331.

Session 4: Methodological concerns: Going quantitative with text

*Andrea Volkens (2001). Manifesto Research Since 1979: From Reliability to Validity. In Michael Laver, ed., Estimating the Policy Positions of Political Actors. London: Sage, 33-49.

*Michael D. McDonald and Silvia M. Mendes (2001). Checking the Party Policy Estimates: Convergent Validity. In Ian Budge, Hans-Dieter Klingemann, Andrea Volkens, Judith Bara, and Eric Tannenbaum with Richard C. Fording, Derek J. Hearl, Hee Min Kim, Michael D. McDonald, and Silvia M. Mendes. Mapping Policy Preferences. Estimates for Parties, Electors, and Governments 1945-1998, 127-141.

Derek Hearl (2001). Checking the Party Policy Estimates: Reliability. In Ian Budge, Hans-Dieter Klingemann, Andrea Volkens, Judith Bara, and Eric Tannenbaum with Richard C. Fording, Derek J. Hearl, Hee Min Kim, Michael D. McDonald, and Silvia M. Mendes. Mapping Policy Preferences. Estimates for Parties, Electors, and Governments 1945-1998, 111-125.

Michael Laver and John Garry (2000). Estimating Policy Positions from Political Texts. American Journal of Political Science, vol. 44, 619-634.

Judith Bara (2001). Using Manifesto Estimates to Validate Computerized Analyses. In Ian Budge, Hans-Dieter Klingemann, Andrea Volkens, Judith Bara, and Eric Tannenbaum with Richard C. Fording, Derek J. Hearl, Hee Min Kim, Michael D. McDonald, and Silvia M. Mendes. Mapping Policy Preferences. Estimates for Parties, Electors, and Governments 1945-1998, 143-156.

Session 5: Policy positions, thematic emphases, and programmatic profiles of political parties

*Ian Budge (2001). Theory and Measurement of Party Policy Positions. In Ian Budge, Hans-Dieter Klingemann, Andrea Volkens, Judith Bara, and Eric Tannenbaum with Richard C. Fording, Derek J. Hearl, Hee Min Kim, Michael D. McDonald, and Silvia M. Mendes. Mapping Policy Preferences. Estimates for Parties, Electors, and Governments 1945-1998, 75-90.

*Michael D. McDonald and Silvia M. Mendes (2001). The Policy Space of Party Manifestos. In Michael Laver, ed., Estimating the Policy Positions of Political Actors. London: Sage, 91-113.

*Michael Laver (2001). Position and Salience in the Policies of Political Actors. In Michael Laver, ed., Estimating the Policy Positions of Political Actors. London: Routledge, 66-75.

Peter Mair (2001). Searching for the Positions of Political Actors. A Review of Approaches and a Critical Evaluation of Expert Surveys. In Michael Laver, ed., Estimating the Policy Positions of Political Actors. London: Sage, 11-30.

Ian Budge and David Robertson (1987). Comparative Analyses of Post-War Election Programmes. In Ian Budge, Michael Laver and Derek Hearl, eds., Ideology, Strategy and Party Change: Spatial Analyses of Post-War Election Programmes in 19 Democracies. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 388-416.

Matthew J. Gabel and John D. Huber (2000). Putting Parties in Their Place: Inferring Party Left-Right Ideological Positions from Party Manifestos Data. American Journal of Political Science, vol. 44, 94-103.

Session 6: A dynamic perspective on the content of party election programs: Mapping trends over time

*Ian Budge and Hans-Dieter Klingemann (2001). Finally! Comparative Over-Time Mapping of Party Policy Movement. In Ian Budge, Hans-Dieter Klingemann, Andrea Volkens, Judith Bara, and Eric Tannenbaum with Richard C. Fording, Derek J. Hearl, Hee Min Kim, Michael D. McDonald, and Silvia M. Mendes. Mapping Policy Preferences. Estimates for Parties, Electors, and Governments 1945-1998, 19-50.

*Andrea Volkens and Hans-Dieter Klingemann (2002). Parties, Ideologies, and Issues: Stability and Change in 15 European Party Systems 1945-1998. In Kurt Richard Luther and Ferdinand Müller-Rommel, eds., Parties in the New Europe. Oxford: Oxford University Press (forthcoming).

John Clayton Thomas (1980). Ideological Trends in Western Political Parties. In Peter H. Merkl, ed., Western European Party Systems. Trends and Prospects. New York: The Free Press, 348-366.

Session 7: On the communication of parties and voters

*Hans-Dieter Klingemann (1995). Party Positions and Voter Orientations. In Hans-Dieter Klingemann and Dieter Fuchs, eds., Citizens and the State. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 183-205.

*Bernhard Wessels (1995). Support for Integration: Elite or Mass-Driven? In Oskar Niedermayer and Richard Sinnott, eds., Public Opinion and Internationalized Governance. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 137-162.

Hee-Min Kim and Richard C. Fording (2001). Extending Party Estimates to Governments and Electors. In Ian Budge, Hans-Dieter Klingemann, Andrea Volkens, Judith Bara, and Eric Tannenbaum with Richard C. Fording, Derek J. Hearl, Hee Min Kim, Michael D. McDonald, and Silvia M. Mendes. Mapping Policy Preferences. Estimates for Parties, Electors, and Governments 1945-1998, 157-177.

Jan Kleinnijenhuis and Paul Pennings (2001). Measurement of Party Positions on the Basis of Party Programmes, Media Coverage, and Voter Perceptions. In Michael Laver, ed., Estimating the Policy Positions of Political Actors. London: Sage, 162-182.

Session 8: Programmatic profiles of political parties and coalition formation

*Ian Budge and Michael Laver (1993). The Policy Basis of Government Coalitions: A Comparative Investigation. British Journal of Political Science, vol. 23, 499-519.

*Ian Budge and Michael J. Laver (1992). The Relationship Between Party and Coalition Policy in Europe: An Empirical Synthesis. In Michael Laver and Ian Budge, eds., Party Policy and Government Coalitions. Houndmills: St. Martin’s Press, 409-430.

Paul V. Warwick (2001). Coalition Policy in Parliamentary Democracies. Who Gets How Much and Why. Comparative Political Studies, vol. 34, 1212-1236.

Session 9: Programmatic profiles of political parties and policy outputs

*Uwe Wagschal (1998). Parties, Party Systems and Policy Effects. In Paul Pennings and Jan-Erik Lane, eds., Comparing Party System Change. London: Routledge, 62-78.

*Robert Thomson (2001). The Programme to Policy Linkage: The Fulfilment of Election Pledges on Socio-Economic Policy in the Netherlands, 1986-1998. European Journal of Political Research, vol. 40, 171-197.

*Richard I. Hofferbert and Hans-Dieter Klingemann (1990). The Policy Impact of Party Programmes and Government Declarations in the Federal Republic of Germany. European Journal of Political Research, vol. 18, 277-304.

Miki L. Caul and Mark M. Gray (2000). From Platform Declarations to Policy Outcomes. Changing Party Profiles and Partisan Influence Over Policy. In Russell J. Dalton and Martin P. Wattenberg, eds., Parties Without Partisans: Political Change in Advanced Industrial Democracies. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 208-237.

Ian Budge and Richard I. Hofferbert (1990). Mandates and Policy Outputs: U.S. Party Platforms and Federal Expenditures. American Political Science Review, vol. 84, 111-131.

Richard I. Hofferbert and Ian Budge (1992). The Party Mandate and the Westminster Model: Election Programmes and Government Spending in Britain, 1948-85. British Journal of Political Science, vol. 22, 151-182.

Hans-Dieter Klingemann, Richard I. Hofferbert, and Ian Budge (1994). Parties, Policies, and Democracy. In Hans-Dieter Klingemann, Richard I. Hofferbert, and Ian Budge with Torbjorn Bergman, Hans Keman, Francois Pétry, and Kaare Strom, Parties Policies, and Democracy. Boulder: Westview, 240-270.

Session 10: Going East: Party election programs in the New Democracies of Central and Eastern Europe. Overview of a new data collection

*Andrea Volkens (2002). Manifesto Coding Instruments. WZB Discussion Paper FS III 02-201.

Peter Mair and Cas Mudde (1998). The Party Family and Its Study. Annual Review of Political Science, vol. 1, 211-229.

*Dieter Fuchs and Hans-Dieter Klingemann (1989). The Left-Right Schema. In M. Kent Jennings, Jan W. van Deth and Samuel H. Barnes, Dieter Fuchs, Felix J. Heunks, Ronald Inglehart, Max Kaase, Hans-Dieter Klingemann, and Jacques Thomassen, Continuities in Political Action. Berlin: de Gruyter, 203-234.

Oddbjorn Knutsen (1998). The Strength of the Partisan Component of the Left-right Identity. Party Politics, vol. 4, 5-31.