400008 SE SE Theory for Doctoral Candidates (2015S)

Since the seminal work of Anthony Downs modeling party competition has developed to an important pillar of modern political science. In the course of time, the earlier restrictive model was differently extended to better cope with empirical data and also understand further circumstances affecting party competition. The list of such extensions are long: multi-dimensional and/or multi-party competition, probabilitstic voting, intrinsic and extrinsic motivation of parties, different utility functions including directional ones, the role of non-policy factors, coalition formation and the corresponding strategic behavior etc.

This course aims to learn the most recent development and discuss possible future topics in modeling party competition. The course covers not only extensions of theoretical models, but also innovations in empirical models which combine theoretical models with empirical data. Since it is impossible to cover all topics listed above we pick up the recent and most relevant research.

Before beginning the course, participants are required to choose one or some specific elections whose party competition is of your interest (e.g. the most recent Austrian National Election). In reading and discussing the literature they are required to consider the following points concerning the party competition of your choice:

- Are the model assumptions adequate? Which kind of assumption tests are feasible?
- Which kinds of implications can be derived?
- Which kind of empirical models can be applied to which kind of empirical data to evaluate the empirical validity of the theoretical propositions?

After the course, participants are required to submit a research paper. It assesses the empirical validity of a theoretical model of their own choice. It should be a full research paper which can be presented at an academic conference. The following benchmarks must be met in order to pass this course:

- After 7. session: preliminary proposal of your paper (similar to a conference proposal)
- After 12. session: 2-page summary outlining your paper (including rough outline of your model, case and design of empirical analysis)
- 15. May: the final submission