Natural language processing has been minimally practiced in electoral data in central and eastern Europe. Academic research on social democratic parties in the region relies mostly on human-based content analysis and expert reviews; ideology and programs are usually only analyzed as part of a broader context and often using case studies or qualitative comparisons. Curry, Urban 2003; White, Lewis, Batt 2013; Bozóki, Ishiyama 2002; Hlouek, Kopeek 2016; Koubek, Poláek 2017; Kraovec, Cabada 2018 2018 It needs to draw on a general set of assumptions from the broader literature. (PDF) Natural language processing was applied to the electoral data of social democratic parties in Central and Eastern European countries. Available from: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/341659776_Application_of_Natural_Language_Processing_to_the_Electoral-Manifestos_of_Social-Democracy_Parties_in_Central-Eastern_European_Countries [Accessed March 23, 2023].

Jean-Paul Gagnon Jean-Paul, I read your question and Agustin Goenaga’s essay. And considered the use todays' AI to create valued information. - I’m sorry. Other than collecting even more data and definitions I don’t understand what this achieves for people. How does it enhance their hopes and struggles to have a semblance of a democracy ?? I also don’t agree that increasing the collection and analysis of empirical data has any (as Goenaga hopes) relation to shape anyones (except the scholars) ideas about democracy. There’s assumptions being made here that people want a “wide array of alternative conceptions of democracy.” Sorry. I don’t see or hear anything like that . What I do hear and experience are people and cultures struggling to feed and care for their families. And then, if they have the where-with-all, an equally difficult struggle to place a vote and hold onto a scrap of democracy. Again, I’m sorry but each time I read “we” I worry these are the researchers and not representative of the people that create and hold onto a democracy.