Measuring Policy Distances and Modelling Coalition Formation

Abstract

In the previous chapter we looked at various theories of government formation that deal with the role of party policy. Before we can evaluate any of these theories, we must develop a set of working definitions of each of the concepts involved. The most important empirical task is to describe party policy and government policy in terms that enable one to be compared to another. Having developed such a description, we can move on to our second main task, which is to develop an empirical model that can be used to evaluate the approaches outlined above.