Dr Judith Bara, BSc Econ (London) MA (Essex) PhD (London)
Senior Lecturer

Office hours:

Monday 2-3pm

Research interests:

My main research interest relates to the study of changing orientations of political parties, with particular reference to ideology and policy. Much of this is based on the content analysis of official party documentation, notably manifestos and platforms from both British and comparative perspectives. I am a principal researcher in the Comparative Manifestos Project and hold an honorary research fellowship in government at the University of Essex.

In recent years I have also become involved in examining degrees of correspondence between policy of major British parties and public opinion in terms of saliency in election years and tracking whether detailed pledges by winning parties in Britain are fulfilled during their periods in office. This also involves methodological innovation in terms of computerisation of content analysis techniques.

During the past few years I have developed a new research interest which examines the relationship between deliberative norms and parliamentary practice in Britain. This was first carried out in conjunction with Professor Albert Weale, (UCL) and using electronic content analysis of parliamentary debates on matters of conscience. I am currently developing this further in terms of examining how far this method can be utilised in examining the effects of the MPs' expenses scandal.  I have a secondary research interest in Israeli party politics and am also interested in voting behaviour, representation and participation especially in relation to race and gender issues.

Publications:

Books

Mapping Policy Preference Volume III, Oxford, Oxford University Press, 2012 Forthcoming. (With Ian Budge, University of Essex, Hans Dieter Klingemann and Andrea Volkens, Wissenschaftszentrum. Berlin and Michael Macdonald, SUNY Binghamton.) 

Explanation in Comparative Politics: An Introduction to Democratic Systems, London, Sage, 2009 (eds) with Mark Pennington.

Democratic Politics and Party Competition, London and New York, Routledge, 2006, paperback edition 2010, (eds) with Albert Weale.

Mapping Policy Preferences: Estimates for Parties, Electors and Governments 1945-1998. Oxford University Press, 2001, reprinted 2004, 2010 with Ian Budge, Hans-Dieter Klingemann, Andrea Volkens and Eric Tanenbaum.

Mapping Policy Preferences Volume II: The OECD and Eastern Europe, 1990-2002 Oxford, Oxford University Press, 2006, reprinted 2010, with Hans-Dieter Klingemann, Andrea Volkens, Ian Budge and Michael Macdonald.

Journal articles

‘Debating Abortion, Deliberative Reciprocity and Parliamentary Advocacy’ (With Albert Weale, UCL and Aude Bicquelet, Methodology Unit, LSE), Political Studies, forthcoming, 2011.

‘In a different Parliamentary Voice’ (With Albert Weale, UCL and Aude Bicquelet, LSE) Politics and Gender, forthcoming 2011.

‘The Coalition Agreement: Who Won? The Verdict of the Content Analyses’.(With John Bartle and Thomas Quinn, University of Essex), Journal of Elections, Public Opinion and Parties forthcoming 2011.

“Data Quality in Content Analysis: The Case of the Comparative Manifestos Project”, Historical Social Research, 34, 1, 2009, pp.234-51. Special Issue on ‘Linking Theory and Data’ (With Andrea Volkens and Ian Budge.)

“Analysing Parliamentary Debate with Computer Assistance”, Swiss Political Science Review, 2007, 13, 4, pp. 577-606. (With Albert Weale and Aude Bicquelet),

“The 2005 Manifestos: A sense of déjà vu?” Journal of Elections, Public Opinion and Parties, 16, 3, 2006, pp. 265-81.

“A question of trust: Implementing party manifestos”, Parliamentary Affairs, 58, 3, 2005, 585-99.

“Party Policy and Ideology: Still New Labour?”, Parliamentary Affairs, 54, 4, 2001 590-606. (with Ian Budge).

Chapters in books

‘The Leadership Debates’ in Britain at the Polls 2010, eds Allen, N. and Bartle, J.: Los Angeles, London, New Delhi, Singapore, Washington, DC: Sage, 2010. (With Nicholas Allen and John Bartle)

‘What have the parties done for us? A content analysis of major British manifestos to identify saliency of women’s issues 1979-2005’ in Claire Charlot, ed. (2011 forthcoming) Les Femmes au Royaume Uni. Rennes: Presses Universitaires de Rennes.

“Do parties reflect public concerns?” in Bara and Weale ed. Democratic Politics and Party Competition, London and New York: Routledge, 2006, pp.104-24.

“Introduction: Content Analysis and Political texts” (with Ian Budge) in Budge, Klingemann, Volkens, Bara and Tanenbaum Mapping Policy Preferences: Estimates for Parties, Electors and Governments 1945-1998, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2001, pp.1-18

“Manifesto-based research: A Critical Review” in Budge, Klingemann, Volkens, Bara and Tanenbaum Mapping Policy Preferences: Estimates for Parties, Electors and Governments 1945-1998, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2001, pp. 51-74.

“Using manifesto estimates to validate computerized analyses”, in Budge, Klingemann, Volkens, Bara and Tanenbaum Mapping Policy Preferences: Estimates for Parties, Electors and Governments 1945-1998, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2001, pp.143-56.

“Tracking estimates of public opinion and party policy intentions in Britain and the USA” in Michael Laver ed. Estimating the Policy Positions of Political Actors. 2001. Routledge / European Consortium for Political Research.

“Party Policy and Ideology: Still New Labour?” in Pippa Norris ed. Britain Votes 2001. Oxford University Press (with Ian Budge).

“Party Policy and Coalition Building in Israel “in Laver, M. and Budge, I. ed. Party Policy and Government Coalitions, Basingstoke: Macmillan, 1992, pp. 346-379.

Publications in Progress

“Do Parties Talk the Same Talk? An Exploratory Analysis of Policy Language of British and American Parties, 1979-2005’

‘The 2010 Manifestos: Aretehy still singing from the same song sheet?'

Award

Co-recipient of American Political Science Association 2003 Data Set Award for collection and dissemination of party policy estimates for 25 countries, 1945-1998.

Recent conference papers

‘The 2010 Manifestos: Was it only “the economy, stupid”?’ Elections, Public Opinion and Parties Post-Election Conference, University of Essex, September 2010.

‘The Coalition Agreement: Who Won? The Verdict of the Content Analyses’.(With John Bartle and Thomas Quinn, University of Essex),  Elections, Public Opinion and Parties Post-Election Conference, University of Essex, September 2010.

‘The 2010 Televised Debates: Who Won?’ (With Nicholas Allen, RHUL and John Bartle, University of Essex, Elections, Public Opinion and Parties Post-Election Conference, University of Essex, September 2010.

‘The Salience of “Women’s Issues” in the Election Manifestos of British parties, 1945-2005’, Special CMP- Comparative Agendas Conference, University of Manchester, May 2010.

“Data Quality in Content Analysis: The Comparative Manifestos Project”, Annual Conference of Historical Sociologists, 2008. (With Andrea Volkens and Ian Budge.)

“Deliberative Democracy and the Analysis of Parliamentary Debate” ECPR Joint Sessions, 2007, presented to workshop on “Advanced Empirical Study of Deliberation”. (With Albert Weale and Aude Bicquelet.)

“With a little help from our friends: An analysis of the transfer of policy expressions between British and American parties”, Annual Meeting of the American Political Science Association, 2005.

“The 2005 manifestos: A sense of déjà vu?”, Annual Conference of the Elections, Parties and Public Opinion Section of the Political Studies Association, 2005.

“What have the parties done for us? A content analysis of major British manifestos to identify saliency of women’s issues”, Annual Conference of the Women and Politics Group of the PSA, February 2005.

Ongoing grant-funded research project

I am a member of the steering committee of a major collaborative comparative (quantitative and qualitative) research project entitled ‘Manifesto Research on Political Representation’ (MARPOR) which will run from 2009 to 2020. This is financed by a grant from the German Science Foundation (DFG) and there will be several books emerging from this project.

The steering committee comprises Dr. Judith Bara, Senior Lecturer, Queen Mary University of London, Prof. em. Ian Budge, University of Essex, Prof. em. Dr. Dr h.c. mult. Hans-Dieter Klingemann, Wissenchaftszentrum Berlin, Prof. Dr. Wolfgang Merkel, Humboldt University Berlin and Director of the Democracy: Structures, Performance, Challenges Research Unit, Wissenchaftszentrum, Berlin, r. Vera Tröger, Lecturer, University of Essex, Dr. Andrea Volkens, Research Fellow, Democracy: Structures, Performance, Challenges Research Unit, Wissenchaftszentrum Berlin and Project Director.

Undergraduate teaching:

• POL243 British Politics (Level 5)
• POL325 Electoral Behaviour (Level 6)