The RILE index of the manifesto dataset is a popular but controversial estimate of parties' left-right positions. It has been thoroughly criticized, yet a basic question of its validity has not been addressed. In the current article I argue that for the index to be valid, patterns of association presumed by the logic of the index must be present in the data used to calculate it. I apply canonical correlation analysis (CCA) to test these associations within and between the sets of variables that form the left-right (RILE) index, concluding that for countries which have not experienced a communist past the relationship is present, although substantively weak. More important, however, is that for post-communist countries the required associations in the data are clearly not there. The RILE index is therefore an invalid measure of left-right position for this set of countries.
Abkhazia and Nagorno‐Karabakh are internationally unrecognised political entities, or so‐called de facto states, that have emerged as a result of the incomplete and contested state‐formation of their parent states and of the secessionist movements that emerged in the power vacuum of the post‐Soviet space. In addition to examining the conventional reliance on the self‐determination principle, usually followed by a call for international recognition (as often practised by emerging sovereigns), this article aims to survey whether these political entities have proved that they embody ‘rightful authority’ as such and whether they ‘have earned their sovereignty’. In other words, it attempts to examine the self‐determination claims in Abkhazia and Nagorno‐Karabakh based on legitimacy criteria that are widely accepted for liberal democratic societies using an analysis of the respective issues as they were represented in focus‐group discussions in these two regions.
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