Publication Type

Journal Article

Version

acceptedVersion

Publication Date

6-2012

Abstract

Spatial characterizations of agents' preferences lie at the heart of many theories of political competition. These give rise to explicitly dimensional interpretations. Parties define and differentiate themselves in terms of substantive policy issues, and the configuration of such issues that is required for a good description of political competition affects how we think substantively about the underlying political space in which parties compete. For this reason a great deal of activity in political science consists of estimating such configurations in particular real settings. We focus on three main issues in this article. First, we discuss the nature of political differences and from this construct an interpretation of the dimensionality of the political space needed to describe a given real setting, underscoring the essentially metaphorical and instrumental use of this concept. Second, we contrast ex ante and ex post interpretations of this dimensionality. Third, we illustrate potential hazards arising from the purely inductive estimation of political spaces using a spatial example from the physical world and political competition in the European Parliament as a political example.

Keywords

Policy dimensions, party competition, policy positions, ideal point estimation, expert surveys

Discipline

Models and Methods | Political Science

Research Areas

Political Science

Publication

European Union Politics

Volume

13

Issue

2

First Page

194

Last Page

218

ISSN

1465-1165

Identifier

10.1177/1465116511434618

Publisher

SAGE Publications

Copyright Owner and License

Authors

Additional URL

https://doi.org/0.1177/1465116511434618

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