Rating explanation

Below you can find an explanation of the rating systems we have used in our analysis of Northern Irish political parties.

Manifesto Analysis

For party rankings on manifesto we chart them on a scale from -100 to +100. Anything below 0 is viewed as left wing and anything above 0 is viewed as right wing. However we do have a slightly more segmented view of ideology which can be seen below:-

Radical Left: -100% to -75%

Far Left: -74% to -50%

Moderate Left: -49% to -26%

Centre Left: -25% to -6%

Centrist: -5% to 5%

Centre Right: 6% to 25%

Moderate Right: 26% to 74%

Far Left: 50% to 74%

Radical Right: 75% to 100%

For topic rankings, we do have a more complicated set of scoring which allows for a more complex view of how radical an opinion is. For this we use a scale of -200 to +200. Again, anything below 0 is left and anything above 0 is right wing. Again we have a slightly more segmented view of this score as well:-

Far Left: -200% to -100%

Moderate Left: -99% to -36%

Centre Left: -35% to -11%

Centrist: -10% to 10%

Centre Right: 11% to 35%

Moderate Right: 36% to 99%

Far Right: 100% to 200%

Voting Analysis

Our party and MLA rankings follow the same scoring methods. The range is between -100% to 100%, with below 0 being left and above 0 being right wing with the segmented scoring being:-

Far Left: -100% to -75%

Moderate Left: -74% to -26%

Centre Left: -25% to -6%

Centrist: -5% to 5%

Centre Right: 6% to 25%

Moderate Right: 26% to 74%

Far Right: 75% to 100%+

We do not accomodate for radical ideologies here as it is difficult to be truly radical when voting in Stormont.

Ideology Glossary

When analysing policy and manifesto statements we had to create broad definitions of what we thought left and right actually were. However, these definitions have other contributing components which effect the perception of left wing is.

First we created a general defintion which was heavily informed by academic discussion on the topic, however we have drastically simplified them for very easy to understand and broad definition.

Left (General defintion): Ideas which attempt to decrease a perceived inequality in society and breakdown economic heirarchies

Right (General definition): Ideas which attempt maintain a social order based on free market economics and a strong sense of law

On top of these general definitions, the ideas of left and right change depending on location and time period so these factors were taken into account for our definitions.

For example, the NHS presents a regional ideological mutation, as the concept of free healthcare is generally a far left idea. However, within Northern Ireland it gain support across the political spectrum (for the most part) with a very protective attitude being applied to it. On the temporal level, we can look at the environmental debate which only grows in significance by the day. While enviromentalism was once a far left ideal, it is now viewed as an important left wing ideal and a cause which many on the centre right accept as well.