Abstract
The left-right scale is the concept most often used to describe political actors’ positions. However, there is strong evidence that electoral competition in Western Europe is structured by two dimensions: economic and cultural. How can a single dimension be sufficient to orient oneself in a two-dimensional political space? This paper suggests that the left-right scale corresponds to a curve in a two-dimensional political space rather than to a straight line. Dimensionality is thus ambiguous, which is a situation analogous to Weisberg’s concept of ‘Circleland’. This paper analyses the relations between citizens’ left-right position and issue preferences in five West European countries. The findings strongly support the paper’s hypothesis by showing non-linear relations between voters’ left–right position and issue preferences.
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