Political Representation and Policy Preferences

When do political parties fulfil or break election promises? How can researchers and citizens identify political promises, and how does pledge fulfilment relate to theories of political representation? This pre-research seminar, taught at the University of Zurich, revisits classic theories of representation and policy-making before turning to the definition and measurement of public opinion, styles of representation, and the concepts of responsiveness and congruence.

Based on these theoretical foundations, the seminar analyses party competition, salience, and latent policy positions, and introduces text-as-data methods. The autumn seminar paired with a research seminar in the following spring term as a one-year sequence.

More information: University of Zurich course catalogue (opens in new tab).