Data Sources for the Study of the Party System Agenda

This chapter presents and discusses the choice of party manifestos rather than media data or expert surveys as the primary data source for studying the development of the party system agenda. It furthermore justifies the use of the CAP coding system rather than the CMP coding system. Comments on the detailed use of the CAP coding system are also provided. How to construct a measure of the party system agenda will likewise be explained. Finally, the chapter discusses which countries and parties are included in the study, and it also provides an empirical classification of the included parties into niche parties as well as small and large, mainstream parties.