Mapping Policy Preferences From Texts : Statistical Solutions for Manifesto Analysts

Policy targets and political preferences are summarised in documents such as party manifestos. This book describes how these can be analysed quantitatively, by counting sentences devoted to each policy area. The numbers form policy indicators which can be related to government actions and spending. The book discusses problems with such analyses.

Andrea Volkens, Director of MARPOR, Wissenschaftszentrum Berlin,Judith Bara, Senior Lecturer in Politics, Queen Mary University of London,Ian Budge, Research Professor in Government, University of Essex,Michael D. McDonald, Professor of Political Science, Director of the Center on Democratic Performance, Binghamton University

The Manifesto Research Group (MRG) and its successors - the Comparative Manifesto Project (CMP) and Manifesto Research on Political Representation (MARPOR) - is an international project which has been collecting and analysing manifestos and platforms from over fifty post-war democracies for over forty years. It is now housed at the Wissenschaftszentrum, Berlin, with a long-term grant from the German Research Foundation (DFG). Having concentrated previously on OECD, EU and CEE countries, it is now extending its collection to Latin America and beyond. For further information please go to https://manifesto-project.wzb.eu