The Concept of Left and Right in Cross-National Research

deology has been a paramount concern of political scientists. The foci of study have been particular sets of ideas such as Marxism-Leninism, the functions of such credos, the conceptual meaning of ideology itself, and ways in which different and often ubiquitous facets of ideology can be measured. A continual problem in comparative research is to develop meanings and measures which have interpretability and interchangeability cross-culturally. As Teune (1968: 124) has pointed out, “if the measurement of variables across different political systems is not freed from the peculiarities of the political systems themselves, the comparative analysis can hardly proceed. ” Obviously attention must first be given to conceptual clarification and operational definitions before questions of measurement are relevant. Once at that point scale construc-tion is still a difficult process, as Mokken (1970) demonstrated concerning the applicability in another nation of the widely accepted and used efficacy scale. The problem of cross-national applicability is the central concern of this research note. Data to be presented indicate that the stability and meaningfulness of the concept of Left-Right political