Welcome!

This is the webpage of the DFG-funded Euromanifestos Project which ran from 2002 to 2005. For the 2009 Euromanifesto collection and analysis please follow this link.

The Euromanifestos Project was an integral part of the European Election Studies 1999 and 2004 which intended to detect the conditions for an effective political representation in the European Union. A necessary precondition for effective political representation is the importance of political issues. Therefore, it is necessary

(1) to find out the reasons for European Union issues becoming important.

Yet, effective representation also requires political parties being responsible. Consequently, it needs to be analyzed

(2) whether European parties are promoting congruent programs on European issues on different political levels, and whether they actually do what they announce in their manifestos.

Finally, effective representation is reflected in the responsivity of political parties. Therefore, it needs to be evaluated

(3) whether political parties are open to potential changes in attitudes of their voters pertaining to the issues of European politics, and whether they are willing to revise their political goals in light of these changes.

The realization of the research project requires an Euromanifesto database which enables us to quantitatively as well as qualitatively analyze the political parties' European issue preferences (issues salience) also considering the governmental frame in which the content is presented (national or European level). The results of this content analysis can be compared with the results of the MRG project, with the results of other modules of the European Election Studies 1999 and 2004 (surveys, media content analyses, roll call analyses), but the intention is to combine databases of the different modules for broader research questions to be specified.

A first release of the Euromanifesto can be downloaded here.

The Euromanifestos themselves are archived at the MZES and - because of copyrights - can ony be accessed locally.

 

Last update: January 2009