Hi there - I have studied changing ideas behind energy policy in the UK over a 10 year period.  My methods were close documentary analysis (energy policy documents) alongside sets of semi-structured interviews - this did show some clear changes in ideas over the time period covered.  This analysis was placed in a wider socio-political context (to see what events triggered responses and/or challenged existing ideas) by also analysing media reports and statements from the Prime Minister and Parliament on energy.

Hope that helps and good luck with the study!  CK

Thank you very much for your suggestions!

(Critical) discourse analysis would indeed provide a very useful approach. More specific you could analyse the narrative structures through which these ideologies are made more powerful.

Using Evolutionary Governance Theory you could also analyse the evolution of these ideologies in relation to the wider set of discourses in society (see link), therewith also providing more insights in why certain ideologies emerge, become dominant, or disappear at certain moments in time.

Chapter Chapter 6. The power of stories

I used discourse analysis in various papers of mine.

Even if I don't like the strategy, teh research on party manifestos is important. Please visit this web site: manifestoproject.wzb.eu

Why don't you like the strategy? I would appreciate hearing your opinion.

Because of the belief that the "real" ideologies of the parties are in their manifestos: it is more interesting (I think) to study the uses of ideologies in practical situations (in congresses or parliaments, the debates inside the parties, etc.)

it was already mentioned, read the the party programmes (combine them with the day to day statements of the party leaders - something similar was suggested already by some other respondents) and maybe try to use Norberto Bobbio (Right and Left) as background idea. I did this with Slovenian parties and figured out that extreme parties are sometimes very much polarized between political and economic dimension (sometimes left is right and vice versa). however be careful with implication of globalisation. Sometimes it is more national ideology than global effects.

Might be that technically you need first to set the elements (usually those which are part of public concern) that you consider right: (e.g. in political sphere - opposition to abortion, opposition to alternative families or sex life, etc. in economy absolute privatization, no minimal wage, etc) and then compare programmes of the parties and statements of selected politicians according to the measure. Looks pretty much primitive but i think it gives good result.

Article Party Arenas in Slovenia and Slovakia

Dear Dr Patrycja,

I hope the following three methodological suggestions/ listed references may be helpful.

Kind regards,

Paul Chaney

Swindal’s work on ideology and Social Position in Poland (see following reference) uses bivariate analysis to assess the persistence or novelty of associations between conservative ideologies and right-wing voting throughout a period of macro-structural change. The data are drawn from the Polish General Social Survey. Also in a Polish context, Starnawski, uses media discourse analysis (newspapers). In contrast, Williams’ work uses the strategic alignments and interaction between parties.

Swindal, Megan G. (2011) Ideology and Social Position in Poland: The Determinants of Voting for the Right, 1991–2005, Social Science Quarterly, Volume 92, Number 1, March 2011, pp. 185-205. http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1540-6237.2011.00763.x

Williams, M. (2013) Tipping the Balance Scale? Rightward Momentum, Party Agency and Austrian Party Politics, Journal of Contemporary European Studies, Volume 21, Number 1, 1 March 2013, pp. 68-86 http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/14782804.2013.766477

Starnawski, Marcin (2003) Nationalist discourse and the ultra-conservative press in contemporary Poland: a case study of Nasz Dziennik, Patterns of Prejudice, Volume 37, Number 1, March, 2003, pp. 65-81. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/0031322022000054349

Dear Patrycja,

In addition, I would suggest the possibility to work with GERRING, John (1998). Party Ideologies in America – 1828/1996. New York, Cambridge University Press, as a theoretical framework.

Dear Patrycja,

I recently published a paper which deals with this issue. In addition, König, Marbach and Osnabrügge (2013) propose a new method for estimating positions of political parties across countries and over time by using a latent variable model. Country- and time- specific factors may affect the comparability of parties’ positions. For instance, two left-wing parties, respectively in Sweden (i.e. a welfare state country) and in the UK (i.e. a liberal country), are more likely to defend different positions on a common scale even if they both mention the same policy category at the same frequency. In addition, a same party in the 1970s and in the 1990s would also defend different positions on the same issue. 

To estimate the potential country bias, the authors compare positions on the same issue by a given party using two different sources: the Euromanifesto Project (EMP) focusing on European elections, and the Comparative Manifesto Project focusing on national elections; to estimate the potential time bias of each election, they compare the variation in the largest seat share between two elections, assuming that the parties that gained the largest seat share in comparison to the previous elections are less likely to shift their policy positions due to reputational effects.

Please find the cited reference:“Estimating Party Positions across Countries and Time - A Dynamic Latent Variable Model for Manifesto Data”, Political Analysis 21 (4): 468-491. 

Hope that all this can be useful. 

Best regards, 

Thibault 

Article Corporate governance reforms and political partisanship: An ...

I would say in American politics, two approaches:  1.  Compare Presidential nomination coalitions at national conventions and in Presidential primaries; and 2.  Compare Congressional voting records over time, using ADA ratings. ADA is the one interest group consistently present since the 1940s.

Thank you for all advices!

I have no specific suggestions.

JLM

I think helpful advice depends on what you are seeking to know about ideological change on the Far Right in Poland. Are you interested in whether a form of fascism is developing? If so, perhaps you wish to relate the rise of this phenomenon to particular social conditions,. The appropriate methodology depends on your hypothesis to a large degree; ideological change per se is too vague.

discourse analysis of the programs of political parties, the level of civic trust in political institutions and parties, content analysis.