The Framing Territorial Demands (FraTerr) dataset: A novel approach to conceptualizing and measuring regionalist actors’ territorial strategies

Abstract

ABSTRACT This article introduces a new dataset on regionalist actors’ territorial demands and frames in Europe. The FraTerr dataset advances on existing datasets by proposing a more fine-grained understanding of regionalist actors’ territorial demands, and is the first to provide comparative data on how these are framed. Methodologically, it develops an original coding scheme for the qualitative content analysis of political documents. Empirically, this approach is applied to a comparative study of regionalist parties and civil society actors in twelve European regions. A preliminary analysis of the data provides new evidence of the complexity of regionalist actors’ territorial demands and the multi-dimensional nature of their framing strategies. The dataset has implications for the study of regionalist actors and issues, and for broader scholarly efforts at estimating political actors’ territorial issue positions and framing strategies.