ABSTRACT
In the debate over the dimensionality of political issue spaces, two great motives impel most scholars toward a unidimensional conception. One is Occamite; the other, Archimedean.
The Occamite motive is empirical. As political scientists, we have absorbed – practically along with our mothers’ milk – the conviction that parsimony ranks high among virtues. If one can explain most of the variance in terms of just one dimension – the conventional left-right spectrum – why complicate one’s model with lesser issues?
