People

Professor Ian Budge

Emeritus Professor
Department of Government
Professor Ian Budge

Profile

Biography

Founder of the international Manifesto Research Project which has produced the Mapping Policy Preferences series – APSA prize winners for the over 300 publications they have supported across the world. Author or co-author of some thirty volumes and sixty monographs on democratic theory and practice (most recently Politics: A Unified Introduction to How Democracy Works and Kick-starting Government Action against Climate Change: Effective Political Strategies). Co-author of The New British Politics series. Past Executive Director of the ECPR, Head of Department, Graduate Director, and Founder of Essex Summer Schools on quantitative social research. Current research: Applying the alternation theory of party democracy around the world. His research has been honoured in a Festschrift (Bara and Weale eds. Democratic Politics and Party Competition (London, Routledge, 2006); and by the Lifetime Achievement Award of the European Consortium for Political Research (2013). Active for over fifty years as a political scientist, Ian Budge has made major contributions both to cumulative research on democracy and to organisational developments in the discipline. His earliest research on Glasgow and Belfast in the 1960s focused on causes of democratic breakdown. After a middle period studying elections, voting behaviour and party competition cross-nationally, he turned to public policy and how it could be made responsive to popular preferences – the central promise of democracy. Organisationally, Budge founded the Essex Summer Schools in Quantitative Social Research – now past their half century – and played a major part in developing both the European Consortium for Political Research as second Executive Director and the innovative Department of Government at Essex (as Head and Graduate Director several times). He has been internationally recognised by visiting professorships at many institutions including the Wissenschaftszentrum Berlin, Netherlands Institute for Advanced Study, Autònoma Barcelona, European University Institute Florence, UC Irvine, Suny Binghamton and ANU Canberra. Combining research and organisational concerns has been his Directorship of the Comparative Manifestos Project (MRG/CMP/MARPOR). This has collected and analysed the election programmes of all significant parties in around 50 democracies world-wide, in order to provide long policy time series for research on parties, electorates and governments. These have supported over 300 published pieces of research, including Budge's own. Their importance to comparative politics was recognised by an American Political Science Association Award in 2003, and by the festschrift dedicated to them (Democratic Politics and Party Competition ed. Bara & Weale, Routledge, London, 2006). Most recently Budge has applied his research knowledge to the problem of getting effective action against catastrophic climate change in Kick-starting Government Action against Climate Change: Effective Political Strategies (Routledge, London and New York 2021), which also involves rethinking the relationship between politics and economics.

Qualifications

  • MA (History) University of Edinburgh, (1959)

  • AM (Political Science) Yale University, (1961)

  • PhD Yale University, (1967)

Research and professional activities

Research interests

How democracy works in terms of party competition

Party government and interaction with the population

Publications

Journal articles (49)

Budge, I. and McDonald, MD., (2024). Specifying and Contextualising Predictive Theories of Democratic Policy Representation. Political Studies Review

Best, RE., Budge, I. and McDonald, MD., (2018). Jettisoning Illusions About the Median Mandate. Legislative Studies Quarterly. 43 (1), 11-20

Budge, I., (2015). Issue Emphases, Saliency Theory and Issue Ownership: A Historical and Conceptual Analysis. West European Politics. 38 (4), 761-777

McDonald, MD. and Budge, I., (2014). Getting it (approximately) right (and centre and left!): Reliability and uncertainty estimates for the comparative manifesto data. Electoral Studies. 35, 67-77

McDonald, MD., Budge, I. and Best, RE., (2012). Electoral Majorities, Political Parties, and Collective Representation. Comparative Political Studies. 45 (9), 1104-1131

Budge, I. and McDonald, MD., (2012). Conceptualising and measuring ‘centrism’ correctly on the Left–Right scale (RILE) - without systematic bias. A general response by MARPOR. Electoral Studies. 31 (3), 609-612

BEST, RE., BUDGE, IAN. and MCDONALD, MD., (2012). Representation as a median mandate: Taking cross‐national differences seriously. European Journal of Political Research. 51 (1), 1-23

Budge, I., Ezrow, L. and McDonald, MD., (2010). Ideology, Party Factionalism and Policy Change: An integrated dynamic theory. British Journal of Political Science. 40 (4), 781-804

Volkens, A., Bara, J. and Budge, I., (2009). Data quality in content analysis. The case of the comparative manifestos project. Historical Social Research. 34 (1), 234-251

Budge, I. and McDonald, MD., (2007). Election and party system effects on policy representation: Bringing time into a comparative perspective. Electoral Studies. 26 (1), 168-179

Budge, I. and Pennings, P., (2007). Do they work? Validating computerised word frequency estimates against policy series. Electoral Studies. 26 (1), 121-129

Budge, I. and Pennings, P., (2007). Missing the message and shooting the messenger: Benoit and Laver's ‘response’. Electoral Studies. 26 (1), 136-141

Budge, I. and McDonald, MD., (2006). Choices Parties Define. Party Politics. 12 (4), 451-466

Budge, I., (2006). Direct and Representative Democracy: Are They Necessarily Opposed?. Representation. 42 (1), 1-12

McDonald, MD., Budge, I. and Pennings, P., (2004). Choice versus sensitivity: Party reactions to public concerns. European Journal of Political Research. 43 (6), 845-868

McDonald, MD., Mendes, SM. and Budge, I., (2004). What Are Elections For? Conferring the Median Mandate. British Journal of Political Science. 34 (1), 1-26

BUDGE, IAN., (2001). Validating Party Policy Placements. British Journal of Political Science. 31 (01), 179-223

Bara, J., (2001). Party Policy and Ideology: Still New Labour?. Parliamentary Affairs. 54 (4), 590-606

BUDGE, IAN., (2000). Expert judgements of party policy positions: uses and limitations in political research. European Journal of Political Research. 37 (1), 103-113

(1999). Discussion. Electoral Studies. 18 (4), 587-596

Hearl, DJ., Budge, I. and Pearson, B., (1996). Distinctiveness of regional voting: A comparative analysis across the European Community (1979–1993). Electoral Studies. 15 (2), 167-182

Budge, I., (1994). A New Spatial Theory of Party Competition: Uncertainty, Ideology and Policy Equilibria Viewed Comparatively and Temporally. British Journal of Political Science. 24 (4), 443-467

King, G., Laver, M., Hofferbert, RI., Budge, I. and McDonald, MD., (1993). Party Platforms, Mandates, and Government Spending. American Political Science Review. 87 (3), 744-750

Budge, I. and Laver, M., (1993). The Policy Basis of Government Coalitions: A Comparative Investigation. British Journal of Political Science. 23 (4), 499-519

Hofferbert, RI. and Budge, I., (1992). The Party Mandate and the Westminster Model: Election Programmes and Government Spending in Britain, 1948–85. British Journal of Political Science. 22 (2), 151-182

Budge, I. and Hofferbert, RI., (1990). Mandates and Policy Outputs: U.S. Party Platforms and Federal Expenditures. American Political Science Review. 84 (1), 111-131

Budge, I., (1985). Party Factions and Government Reshuffles: a General Hypothesis Tested against Data from 20 Post-war Democracies*. European Journal of Political Research. 13 (3), 327-333

Budge, I., (1984). Parties and democratic government: A framework for comparative explanation. West European Politics. 7 (1), 95-118

Budge, I. and Farlie, D., (1983). Party competition - selective emphasis or direct confrontation? An alternative view with data.. Western European party systems: continuity and change, 267-305

Budge, I., Farlie, D. and Laver, M., (1983). Shifts of meaning within explanations of voting and party competition. Electoral Studies. 2 (1), 23-38

BUDGE, IAN., (1982). Strategies, Issues, and Votes. Comparative Political Studies. 15 (2), 171-196

Budge, I., (1982). Electoral volatility: Issue effects and basic change in 23 post-war democracies. Electoral Studies. 1 (2), 147-168

Budge, I. and Farlie, DJ., (1981). Predicting regime change: A cross-national investigation with aggregate data 1950?1980. Quality and Quantity. 15 (4), 335-364

Budge, I., Farlie, D. and Irwin, G., (1981). Predicting Parliamentary Careers: A Quantitative Index Generated and Tested with Dutch Data*. European Journal of Political Research. 9 (2), 201-208

Budge, I., (1978). Representations of Political Argument: Applications within Meta-Planning. Political Studies. 26 (4), 439-449

Budge, I., (1978). Voter Rationality and Party Competition: A Comment on Laver's Suggested Approach. British Journal of Political Science. 8 (4), 511-511

Budge, I. and Herman, V., (1978). Coalitions and Government Formation: An Empirically Relevant Theory. British Journal of Political Science. 8 (4), 459-477

Budge, I. and Farlie, D., (1978). The Potentiality of Dimensional Analyses for Explaining Voting and Party Competition. European Journal of Political Research. 6 (2), 203-232

Farlie, D., Budge, I. and Irwin, G., (1977). Political Recruitment and Drop-Out: The Netherlands and the United States. British Journal of Political Science. 7 (4), 465-492

Farlie, D. and Budge, I., (1977). Newtonian Mechanics and Predictive Election Theory. British Journal of Political Science. 7 (3), 413-418

Farlie, D. and Budge, I., (1976). A Rejoinder. British Journal of Political Science. 6 (1), 126-127

Budge, I. and Farlie, D., (1975). Political Recruitment and Dropout: Predictive Success of Background Characteristics Over Five British Localities. British Journal of Political Science. 5 (1), 33-68

Budge, I., (1973). The Scientific Status of Political Science: A Comment on Self-fulfilling and Self-defeating Predictions. British Journal of Political Science. 3 (2), 249-250

Budge, I., (1973). Consensus Hypotheses and Conflict of Interest: an Attempt at Theory Integration. British Journal of Political Science. 3 (1), 73-98

Budge, I., (1973). Recent Legislative Research: Assumptions and Strategies1. European Journal of Political Research. 1 (4), 317-330

Budge, I., (1971). Jeremy Bentham: A Re-Evaluation in the Context of Empirical Social Science. Political Studies. 19 (1), 18-36

Budge, I., (1971). Support for Nation and Government Among English Children: A Comment. British Journal of Political Science. 1 (3), 389-392

Budge, I., (1971). Correspondence. Political Studies. 19 (3), 381-382

Budge, I., (1965). Electors' Attitudes towards Local Government: A Survey of a Glasgow Constituency. Political Studies. 13 (3), 386-392

Books (25)

Budge, I., (2021). Kick-Starting Government Action against Climate Change: Effective Political Strategies. Routledge. 1000531171. 9781000531176

Budge, I., (2019). Politics: A Unified Introduction to How Democracy Works. Routledge. 0429678312. 9780429678318

Budge, I. and Laver, MJ., (2016). Party Policy and Government Coalitions. Springer. 1349223689. 9781349223688

Budge, I. and Birch, S., (2014). National Policy in a Global Economy. Palgrave Macmillan UK. 9781349501335

Volkens, A., Bara, J., Budge, I., McDonald, MD., Klingemann, H-D. and et al, (2013). Mapping Policy Preferences from Texts: Statistical Solutions for Manifesto Analysts. Oxford University Press. 0199640041. 9780199640041

Budge, I., McDonald, M., Pennings, P. and Keman, H., (2012). Organizing Democratic Choice: Party Representation Over Time. Oxford University Press. 019965493X. 9780199654932

Bartle, J., Budge, I., Newton, K. and McKay, D., (2007). The New British Politics. Routledge. 978-1-40-582421-7

Klingemann, H-D., Volkens, A., Bara, J., Budge, I. and McDonald, MD., (2006). Mapping Policy Preferences II: Estimates for Parties, Electors, and Governments in Eastern Europe, European Union, and OECD 1990-2003. OUP Oxford. 0191516309. 9780191516306

McDonald, MD. and Budge, I., (2006). Elections, Parties, Democracy: Conferring the Median Mandate. Oxford University PressOxford. 0199286728. 9780199286720

Budge, I., Budge, POGI., Klingemann, H-D., Volkens, A., Bara, J., Klingemann, DOTRUIASCH-D., Tanenbaum, E., Klingemann, FATWAPOPSH-D. and Tanenbaum, PTFDOGE., (2001). Mapping Policy Preferences Estimates for Parties, Electors, and Governments, 1945-1998. Oxford University Press on Demand. 0199244006. 9780199244003

Woldendorp, JJ., Keman, H. and Budge, I., (2000). Party Government in 48 Democracies (1945-1998). Dordrecht. 9401725489. 9789401725484

Newton, K., Budge, I. and Kirchner, E., (1997). The Politics of the New Europe: Atlantic to Urals. Routledge. 1317892402. 9781317892403

Budge, I., (1996). The New Challenge of Direct Democracy. Polity. 0745617654. 9780745617657

Klingemann, H-D., Hofferbert, RI. and Budge, I., (1994). Parties, Policies, and Democracy. 0813320682. 9780813320687

Budge, I. and Keman, H., (1990). Parties and Democracy Coalition Formation and Government Functioning in Twenty States. Oxford University Press, USA. 0198277520. 9780198277521

Budge, I. and Keman, H., (1990). Parties and Democracy: Coalition Formation and Government Functioning in 22 Democracies. Oxford University Press

Budge, I., (1987). Ideology, Strategy and Party Movement,. Cambridge University Press

Budge, I., (1983). The New British Political System Government and Society in the 1980s. Longman Publishing Group

Budge, I. and Farlie, D., (1983). Explaining and Predicting Elections Issue Effects and Party Strategies in Twenty-three Democracies. Taylor & Francis. 0043240089. 9780043240083

Budge, I., Budge, POGI. and Farlie, D., (1977). Voting and Party Competition A Theoretical Critique and Synthesis Applied to Surveys from Ten Democracies. John Wiley & Sons

Budge, I., Crewe, I. and Farlie, DJ., (1976). Party Identification and Beyond. Wiley

Budge, I. and O’Leary, C., (1973). Belfast: Approach to Crisis. Palgrave Macmillan UK. 9781349001286

Budge, I., (1972). Political Stratification and Democracy. Springer. 1349011398. 9781349011391

Budge, I., (1970). Agreement and the Stability of Democracy

Budge, I. and Urwin, DW., (1966). Scottish Political Behavior A Case Study in British Homogeneity

Book chapters (14)

Budge, I., (2020). Does Populism Discredit Direct Democracy?. In: Authoritarian Populism and Liberal Democracy. Springer Nature Switzerland. 183- 196. 9783030179960

Budge, I., (2020). Party-based representation: the paradox of democracy. In: Research Handbook on Political Representation. Edward Elgar Publishing Limited. 109- 120. 9781788977081

Budge, I., (2015). Political Parties: Manifestoes. In: International Encyclopaedia of the Social & Behavioural Sciences. Elsevier. 417- 420. 9780080970875

Budge, I., (2014). Deconstructing party identification - and reconstructions beyond. In: Political Parties and Partisanship: Social Identity and Individual Attitudes. 26- 41

Budge, I. and McDonald, MD., (2012). Party government and parliamentary democracy in the new Europe. In: Party Government in the New Europe. Editors: . Routledge. 27- 56

Budge, I., (2012). Implementing popular preferences: Is direct democracy the answer?. In: Evaluating Democratic Innovations: Curing the Democratic Malaise?. Editors: . Routledge. 23- 38

Budge, I., (2009). Direct Democracy. In: The Oxford Handbook of Political Institutions. Oxford University Press. 595- 610. 0199548463. 9780199548460

Budge, I., (2008). Great Britain and Ireland: Variations in party government. In: Comparative European Politics: Third Edition. Editors: . Routledge. 17- 57

Budge, I., (2008). Great Britain and Ireland: Variations in Party Government. In: Comparative European Politics, Third Edition. 17- 57

Budge, I., (2006). Identifying Dimensions and Locating Parties: Methodological and Conceptual Problems. In: Handbook of Party Politics. SAGE Publications Ltd. 422- 433

Budge, I., (2003). Great Britain and Ireland: Variations of party government. In: Political Institutions in Europe: Second Edition. Editors: . Routledge. 17- 55

(2003). Deliberative democracy versus direct democracy – plus political parties!. In: Democratic Innovation. Routledge. 209- 226

Budge, I., (2003). Validating the Manifesto Research Group approach: Theoretical assumptions and empirical confirmations. In: Estimating the Policy Position of Political Actors. 50- 65

Budge, I., (2003). GREAT BRITAIN: A STABLE, BUT FRAGILE, PARTY SYSTEM?. In: Comparing Party System Change. 116- 126

Conferences (1)

Budge, I., (1987). Manifestos and mandates

Contact

budgi@essex.ac.uk

Location:

Colchester Campus

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