Dataset of Dutch and Danish Party Congress Speeches (1946-2017)

We present a new dataset of speeches given by Danish and Dutch politicians at party congresses between 1946 and 2017. The dataset is an unique collection of materials from different party archives and digital repositories. It offers an unique opportunity to analyze the issues discussed in these speeches, the positions taken, and the rhetoric used by party elites over time and between-country. We describe the data, and illustrate this with two applications: [1] a sentiment analysis describes differences between parties and over time; and [2] a topic model illustrates the increasing prevalence of the EU issue, and the rise and fall of the prevalence of economic issues.