Explore Policy Trends

Click to explore policy trends with Denmark pre-selected. The Trends tool allows for policy comparisons across governing institutions and countries.

The Danish dataset contains the content of all parliamentary activities in the Danish parliament: accounts, bills, interpellations, motions, question hour, the opening speech of the Prime Minister, the closing speech of the Prime Minister, and party manifestos. The dataset extends back to 1953, where an amendment to the constitution changed the Danish political system. The dataset has recently been updated to 2017.

A content coding of the media agenda (1984-2003) is also part of the data set. However, this dataset was coded according to a more aggregated version of the policy agenda setting coding scheme. The coding system used can be cross-walked to the other datasets at the main topic level.

The project was founded in 2003 by Christoffer Green-Pedersen and has received funding from the Danish Social Science Research Council and the Research Foundation at Aarhus University. Recently, a new project by Peter Bjerre Mortensen (PI) has been launched on “The Causes and Consequences of Comparative Agenda Setting” (CAPCAS), that collects agendas from the councils as wells as committees of all 98 Danish municipalities 2007-2017. This project investigates why societal problems gain or lose attention on the political agenda and how this agenda-setting process matters for policy decisions.

When using the data, please add the following citation ”The data in the Danish Policy Agenda Project have been collected by Christoffer Green-Pedersen and Peter Bjerre Mortensen with support from the Danish Social Science Research Council and the Research Foundation at Aarhus University".

Principal Investigator: Christoffer Green-Pedersen (cgp@ps.au.dk) and Peter Bjerre Mortensen (peter@ps.au.dk)
Location: Department of Political Science, Aarhus University, Denmark
Email: cgp@ps.au.dk
Downloadable Data Series:  10
Time Span:  1953-2016
Total Observations:  220,612

Sponsoring Institutions

The project was founded in 2003 by Christoffer Green-Pedersen and has received funding from the Danish Social Science Research Council and the Research Foundation at Aarhus University. 

Denmark

Featured Research:
The Power of the Loser

Seeberg, Henrik Bech (2022). ‘The Power of the Loser: Evidence on an Agenda-Setting Model of Opposition Policy Influence’, European Journal of Political Research. Read more

The policy agenda effects of problem indicators

Kristensen, Thomas, Green-Pedersen, Christoffer, Mortensen, Peter, and Henrik Bech Seeberg (2022). ‘The policy agenda effects of problem indicators. A comparative study in seven countries’, Journal of Public Policy. Read more

Explaining local policy agendas

Mortensen, Peter, Loftis, Matt, and Henrik Bech Seeberg (2022). Explaining local policy agendas: Institutions, problems, elections, and actors. Palgrave Macmillan Read more

The Bureaucracy and the Policy Agenda

Bækgaard, Martin, Mortensen, Peter, and Henrik Bech Seeberg (2018). ’The Bureaucracy and the Policy Agenda’, Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory, 28(2): 239-253.  Read more

Avoidance and Engagement in the Electoral Cycle

Seeberg, Henrik Bech  (2020). ‘Avoidance and Engagement in the Electoral Cycle: Selective Emphasis, then Issue Convergence between Political Parties', Party Politics Read more

Competing on Competence

Green-Pedersen, Christoffer and Henrik Bech Seeberg (2023). 'Competing on Competence. The Issue Profiles of Mainstream Parties in Western Europe West European Politics'. West European Politics. Read more

The Incumbency Bonus Revisited: Causes and Consequences of Media Dominance

Green-Pedersen, Christoffer; Mortensen, Peter Bjerre; Thesen, Gunnar. “The Incumbency Bonus Revisited: Causes and Consequences of Media Dominance”. British Journal of Political Science, 2015. Read more

Institutional Effects of Changes in Political Attention

Mortensen, Peter Bjerre and Christoffer Green-Pedersen (2015) “Institutional Effects of Changes in Political Attention: Explaining Organizational Changes in the Top Bureaucracy”. Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory, 25(1): 165-189. Read more