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Polimetrics (third term 2016/17)
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 theme (Monday, April 3, Room 3) What we mean by preferences of political actors (teacher: Luigi Curini)
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
First theme Lab (Tuesday, April 4, Room 2) Introduction to Cybersenate (teacher: Luigi Curini) [software required: Cybersenate]
Second theme (Monday, April 10, Room 3) Coalition spatial theories - part I (teacher: Luigi Curini)
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
Second theme Lab (Tuesday, April 11, Room 2) An application (teacher: Luigi Curini) [software required: Cybersenate; dataset 1 (Letta); dataset 2 (Renzi)]
Third theme Coalition spatial theories - part II (Tuesday, May 2, Room 4) (teacher: Luigi Curini)
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
Third theme Lab (Friday, May 5, Room 2) An application (teacher: Luigi Curini) [software required: Winset ; Winset manual; dataset 1 (Letta); dataset 2 (Renzi)]
Fourth theme Veto Player Theory (Monday, May 8, Room 3) (teacher: Luigi Curini)
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 Multipartysism, British Journal of Political Science, 25(3), 289-325
Fourth theme Lab (Tuesday, May 9, Room 2) An application (teacher: Luigi Curini) [software required: Cybersenate; dataset 1 (Letta)]
Fifth theme (Monday, May 15, Room 3) From Big Data to information (teacher: Luigi Curini)
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
Fifth theme Lab (Tuesday, May 16, Room 2) An application (teacher: Luigi Curini) [software required: VOICES from the Blogs platform]
For the other themes of Polimetrics, please visit the page of Andrea Ceron at the following link
Examination
6/29/2016 room 2 2:30-4:30 PM
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 theme (Monday, April 3, Room 3) What we mean by preferences of political actors (teacher: Luigi Curini)
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
First theme Lab (Tuesday, April 4, Room 2) Introduction to Cybersenate (teacher: Luigi Curini) [software required: Cybersenate]
Second theme (Monday, April 10, Room 3) Coalition spatial theories - part I (teacher: Luigi Curini)
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
Second theme Lab (Tuesday, April 11, Room 2) An application (teacher: Luigi Curini) [software required: Cybersenate; dataset 1 (Letta); dataset 2 (Renzi)]
Third theme Coalition spatial theories - part II (Tuesday, May 2, Room 4) (teacher: Luigi Curini)
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
Third theme Lab (Friday, May 5, Room 2) An application (teacher: Luigi Curini) [software required: Winset ; Winset manual; dataset 1 (Letta); dataset 2 (Renzi)]
Fourth theme Veto Player Theory (Monday, May 8, Room 3) (teacher: Luigi Curini)
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 Multipartysism, British Journal of Political Science, 25(3), 289-325
Fourth theme Lab (Tuesday, May 9, Room 2) An application (teacher: Luigi Curini) [software required: Cybersenate; dataset 1 (Letta)]
Fifth theme (Monday, May 15, Room 3) From Big Data to information (teacher: Luigi Curini)
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
Fifth theme Lab (Tuesday, May 16, Room 2) An application (teacher: Luigi Curini) [software required: VOICES from the Blogs platform]
For the other themes of Polimetrics, please visit the page of Andrea Ceron at the following link
Examination
6/29/2016 room 2 2:30-4:30 PM