THE IMAGE OF POLITICAL PARTIES AND THE STRUCTURE OF A POLITICAL MAP *

Abstract

ABSTRACTThe present day vagueness of the definition of a party's character by the location on a left‐right continuum is first considered. A theoretically based measurable formal definition of a party's location is proposed, determined by the solutions given by the parties to a population's collectivistic and individualistic needs as measurable components of the parties'images. Multivariate analysis of Israeli data produced a structure of intercorrelations, showing the relative location of three parties on a political map, defined by the extent of the perceived attractivity and similarity of the need‐satisfaction provided by each party.