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Polimetrics (third term 2017/18)
Course aims and objectives
This course is aimed to teach to students the main theories and the connected statistical methods available in the literature to correctly estimate the policy space within which the political competition occurs as well as to measure the positions of political actors interacting in such space. Moreover, students will learn to apply the spatial theory of voting in different settings to better understand the entire political cycle: from electoral competition to government formation. To this aim, several different open-source softwares will be employed during the classes.
Course prerequisites
The mathematical requirements for the class are minimal. Only a decent knowledge of algebra is assumed, as well as familiarity with the basic concepts of descriptive statistics and comparative politics.
Required readings (for students not enrolled in the course)
You can download the file with the all the texts here
Lectures (first half of the course)
First theme (Monday, April 9, Room 3) What we mean by preferences of political actors
Required reading:
Laver M. and W. Ben Hunt, 1990. Policy and Party Competition, Routledge, Introduction and Chapter 1
Laver M. 2001. Estimating the Policy Positions of Political Actor, Routledge, Chapter 1
Second theme (Monday, April 16, Room 3) Spatial theories - part I
Required reading:
Schofield N. 1995. Coalition Politics. A formal model and empirical analysis, Journal of Theoretical Political 7(3): 245-281
Suggested reading:
Schofield N. 1993. Political competition and multiparty coalition governments, European Journal of Political Research, 23, 1-33
Lab (Tuesday, April 17, Room 2) a) Introduction to Cybersenate; b) An application [software required: Cybersenate; dataset 1 (Letta); dataset 2 (Renzi)]
Third theme (Monday, April 23, Room 4) Spatial theories - part II
Required reading:
Laver M., and K.A. Shepsle, 1996. Making and Breaking Governments, Cambridge University Press, Chapters 2, 3 and 4
Suggested reading:
Laver M., K.A. Shepsle 1990. Coalitions and Cabinet Government, American Political Science Review, 84(3), 873-890
Lab (Tuesday, April 24, Room 2) An application [software required: Winset ; Winset manual; dataset 1 (Letta); dataset 2 (Renzi)]
Fourth theme (Monday, May 7, Room 3) Veto Player Theory
Required reading:
Tsebelis, G. 2002. Veto Players: How Political Institutions Work, Princeton University Press, Introduction and Chapter 1
Suggested reading:
Tsebelis G. 1995. Decision Making in Political Systems: Veto Players in Presidentialism, Parliamentarism, Multicameralism and Multipartisism, British Journal of Political Science, 25(3), 289-325
Lab (Tuesday, May 8, Room 2) An application [software required: Cybersenate; dataset 1 (Letta)]
Fifth theme (Monday, May 14, Room 3) From Big Data to (Political) Information
Required readings:
Ceron, A., Curini L., Iacus S.M., 2016. Using social media to forecast electoral results: A review of state of the art (with Andrea Ceron & Stefano M. Iacus), Italian Journal of Applied Statistics, 25(3): 239-261
Ceron, A., Curini L., Iacus S.M., 2015. Using sentiment analysis to monitor electoral campaigns: method matters. Evidence from the United States and Italy, Social Science Computer Review, 33(1): 3-20
Lab (Tuesday, May 15, Room 2) Summary Exercises; An application [software required: VOICES from the Blogs platform]
Examination first half of the course
Friday 18 May, Room 2 8:30 AM
For the second half of Polimetrics, please visit the page of Andrea Ceron at the following link
This course is aimed to teach to students the main theories and the connected statistical methods available in the literature to correctly estimate the policy space within which the political competition occurs as well as to measure the positions of political actors interacting in such space. Moreover, students will learn to apply the spatial theory of voting in different settings to better understand the entire political cycle: from electoral competition to government formation. To this aim, several different open-source softwares will be employed during the classes.
Course prerequisites
The mathematical requirements for the class are minimal. Only a decent knowledge of algebra is assumed, as well as familiarity with the basic concepts of descriptive statistics and comparative politics.
Required readings (for students not enrolled in the course)
You can download the file with the all the texts here
Lectures (first half of the course)
First theme (Monday, April 9, Room 3) What we mean by preferences of political actors
Required reading:
Laver M. and W. Ben Hunt, 1990. Policy and Party Competition, Routledge, Introduction and Chapter 1
Laver M. 2001. Estimating the Policy Positions of Political Actor, Routledge, Chapter 1
Second theme (Monday, April 16, Room 3) Spatial theories - part I
Required reading:
Schofield N. 1995. Coalition Politics. A formal model and empirical analysis, Journal of Theoretical Political 7(3): 245-281
Suggested reading:
Schofield N. 1993. Political competition and multiparty coalition governments, European Journal of Political Research, 23, 1-33
Lab (Tuesday, April 17, Room 2) a) Introduction to Cybersenate; b) An application [software required: Cybersenate; dataset 1 (Letta); dataset 2 (Renzi)]
Third theme (Monday, April 23, Room 4) Spatial theories - part II
Required reading:
Laver M., and K.A. Shepsle, 1996. Making and Breaking Governments, Cambridge University Press, Chapters 2, 3 and 4
Suggested reading:
Laver M., K.A. Shepsle 1990. Coalitions and Cabinet Government, American Political Science Review, 84(3), 873-890
Lab (Tuesday, April 24, Room 2) An application [software required: Winset ; Winset manual; dataset 1 (Letta); dataset 2 (Renzi)]
Fourth theme (Monday, May 7, Room 3) Veto Player Theory
Required reading:
Tsebelis, G. 2002. Veto Players: How Political Institutions Work, Princeton University Press, Introduction and Chapter 1
Suggested reading:
Tsebelis G. 1995. Decision Making in Political Systems: Veto Players in Presidentialism, Parliamentarism, Multicameralism and Multipartisism, British Journal of Political Science, 25(3), 289-325
Lab (Tuesday, May 8, Room 2) An application [software required: Cybersenate; dataset 1 (Letta)]
Fifth theme (Monday, May 14, Room 3) From Big Data to (Political) Information
Required readings:
Ceron, A., Curini L., Iacus S.M., 2016. Using social media to forecast electoral results: A review of state of the art (with Andrea Ceron & Stefano M. Iacus), Italian Journal of Applied Statistics, 25(3): 239-261
Ceron, A., Curini L., Iacus S.M., 2015. Using sentiment analysis to monitor electoral campaigns: method matters. Evidence from the United States and Italy, Social Science Computer Review, 33(1): 3-20
Lab (Tuesday, May 15, Room 2) Summary Exercises; An application [software required: VOICES from the Blogs platform]
Examination first half of the course
Friday 18 May, Room 2 8:30 AM
For the second half of Polimetrics, please visit the page of Andrea Ceron at the following link