---
date: 2026-03-29
topic: "Motion-Driven Axis Labeling for Political Compass"
status: validated
---

# Motion-Driven Axis Labeling

## Problem Statement

The current axis labeling in `analysis/axis_classifier.py` correlates per-party PCA
positions against static scores from `data/party_ideologies.csv`. This has three
failure modes:

1. **Mislabeling**: When the dominant PCA axis is coalition/opposition rather than
   left-right, it gets labeled "Links-Rechts" anyway, making the compass look "rotated
   90 degrees".
2. **Static reference**: A fixed ideology CSV cannot reflect year-specific political
   dynamics (e.g., asylum being the main left-right issue in 2015 vs. housing in 2023).
3. **No explainability**: Users cannot see *why* an axis got a particular label.

The fix is to derive labels from the **actual motions** that most strongly split
parliament on each PCA axis in a given year, and to expose those motions to users.

## Constraints

- Must not break existing 8 passing tests.
- Must remain DuckDB-only for data access (no new external files for primary path).
- `party_ideologies.csv` and `coalition_membership.csv` remain as fallbacks — not
  removed.
- The labeling approximation (projecting motion vectors without full Procrustes
  alignment) is acceptable for v1. Proper alignment can be added later.
- Labels must still be deterministic given the same DB state.

## Approach

**Primary**: For each window, load motion SVD vectors from the DB, project them onto
the PCA axes, rank motions by projection score, apply a Dutch keyword classifier to the
top motion titles, and derive a categorical label.

**Fallback chain** (unchanged from today):
1. Keyword classifier on top motions → categorical label
2. Coalition correlation (existing `_pearsonr` against coalition dummy)
3. Ideology CSV correlation (existing Pearson-r against `party_ideologies.csv`)
4. "Stempatroon As N" (generic fallback)

**Axis swap**: After classification, if Y-axis is "Links-Rechts" and X-axis is not,
swap them (both positions and all axis metadata), so that left-right is conventionally
on the horizontal axis when present.

## Architecture

### Changes by file

#### `analysis/political_axis.py` (minimal)
- Add `axes["global_mean"] = M.mean(axis=0)` before returning from `compute_2d_axes`.
  This lets `classify_axes` center motion vectors before projection without needing to
  re-access the stacked matrix.

#### `analysis/axis_classifier.py` (major)

New private helpers:
- `_load_motion_vectors(db_path, window_id)` → `dict[int, np.ndarray]`
  - SELECT entity_id, vector FROM svd_vectors WHERE entity_type='motion' AND window_id=?
  - Returns {motion_id: vector}. Returns {} on any DB error.
- `_project_motions(motion_vecs, x_axis, y_axis, global_mean)` → `dict[int, tuple[float, float]]`
  - For each motion: `x = dot(vec - global_mean, x_axis)`, `y = dot(vec - global_mean, y_axis)`
  - Returns {motion_id: (x_score, y_score)}
- `_top_motion_ids(projections, axis, n=5)` → `{'+': [ids], '-': [ids]}`
  - Sorts by axis score, returns top n positive and n negative motion IDs
- `_fetch_motion_titles(db_path, motion_ids)` → `dict[int, tuple[str, str]]`
  - SELECT id, title, date FROM motions WHERE id IN (...)
  - Returns {id: (title, date_str)}
- `_classify_from_titles(titles)` → `str | None`
  - Applies keyword dict against concatenated titles of top motions
  - Returns category string or None if confidence below threshold (0.4)

New module-level constant:
- `_KEYWORDS: dict[str, list[str]]` — Dutch keyword → category mapping (see below)

Modified `classify_axes`:
1. Check if `axes` contains `global_mean`; if not, skip motion classification.
2. For each window W:
   a. Load motion vectors
   b. Project onto x_axis, y_axis using global_mean
   c. Find top 5+5 motions per axis
   d. Fetch titles from motions table
   e. Apply keyword classifier → label candidate
   f. If None: fall through to existing Pearson-r approaches
3. Store `x_top_motions` and `y_top_motions` per window in enriched dict
4. Store `x_label_confidence` and `y_label_confidence` per window

#### `explorer.py` (two changes)

1. **Axis swap** in `load_positions`, after `classify_axes` returns:
   ```
   if axis_def.get("y_label") == "Links–Rechts" and axis_def.get("x_label") != "Links–Rechts":
       positions_by_window, axis_def = _swap_axes(positions_by_window, axis_def)
   ```
   `_swap_axes` transposes (x, y) in every entity position and swaps all x_*/y_*
   keys in axis_def.

2. **Motion expander** in `build_compass_tab`, below `st.plotly_chart`:
   ```
   with st.expander("🔍 Wat bepaalt deze assen?"):
       # show top 3 +/- motions for x and y, with date
       # show confidence and explained variance for this window
   ```

## Data Flow

```
compute_2d_axes(db_path, windows)
  → (positions_by_window, axes)        # axes now contains global_mean

classify_axes(positions_by_window, axes, db_path)
  → axis_def                            # now contains x/y_top_motions, confidence

load_positions (in explorer.py)
  → swap axes if y_label == "Links–Rechts"
  → return (positions_by_window, axis_def)

build_compass_tab
  → scatter chart (uses x_label, y_label — already wired)
  → expander (uses x_top_motions, y_top_motions)
```

## Keyword Dictionary

Categories and representative terms (non-exhaustive; full dict in implementation):

**Links-Rechts**
- Economic: `belasting`, `uitkering`, `bijstand`, `minimumloon`, `cao`, `vakbond`,
  `bezuiniging`, `privatisering`, `subsidie`, `zorg`, `pensioen`, `AOW`
- Immigration: `asiel`, `asielaanvraag`, `migratie`, `vreemdeling`, `vluchtelingen`,
  `terugkeer`, `grenzen`, `opvang`, `statushouder`

**Progressief-Conservatief**
- Environment: `klimaat`, `stikstof`, `duurzaam`, `duurzaamheid`, `co2`,
  `energietransitie`, `biodiversiteit`
- Social: `euthanasie`, `abortus`, `lgbtq`, `transgender`, `diversiteit`, `traditi`,
  `gezin`, `religie`, `geloof`

**Coalitie-Oppositie** (detected via coalition correlation, not keywords — keyword
detection for this category is unreliable)

**Nationaal-Internationaal** (optional, lower priority)
- `navo`, `nato`, `europees`, `europese`, `eu`, `verdrag`, `vn`, `internationaal`

Matching: case-insensitive substring match on lowercased title. Score = fraction of
top-10 motions containing at least one keyword from the winning category. Threshold
for acceptance = 0.4 (i.e., at least 4 out of 10 top motions match).

## New `axis_def` Fields

```
x_top_motions:    {window_id: {'+': [(title, date), ...], '-': [(title, date), ...]}}
y_top_motions:    same structure
x_label_confidence: {window_id: float}   # 0.0–1.0
y_label_confidence: {window_id: float}
global_mean:      np.ndarray             # stored in axes dict, not surfaced to UI
```

Existing fields (`x_label`, `y_label`, `x_quality`, `y_quality`, `x_interpretation`,
`y_interpretation`) are preserved.

## UI Display (Option C)

**Axis titles**: unchanged — already uses `axis_def.get("x_label")`.

**New expander** (collapsed by default) below compass scatter:
```
🔍 Wat bepaalt deze assen?

Horizontale as: Links–Rechts  (vertrouwen: 70%)
  Rechtspool: Motie over asielbeleid (2023-11-14) · Motie over belastingverlaging (2023-10-05) ...
  Linkspool:  Motie over uitkeringen (2023-11-20) · Motie over minimumloon (2023-09-12) ...

Verticale as: Progressief–Conservatief  (vertrouwen: 55%)
  Progressief: Motie over klimaatdoelen (2023-12-01) ...
  Conservatief: Motie over tradities (2023-10-18) ...

As 1 verklaart 11% van de variantie in stemgedrag.
```

## Error Handling

| Situation | Behavior |
|---|---|
| No motion vectors for window | Skip motion classification; fall through to ideology CSV |
| Motion title fetch fails | Use motion IDs as placeholder; label falls back |
| Keyword confidence below threshold | Fall through to coalition correlation |
| Both motion and CSV classification fail | "Stempatroon As N" (existing) |
| `global_mean` missing from axes | Skip motion projection entirely |

## Testing Strategy

New unit tests (in `tests/test_political_compass.py`):
- `test_classify_from_titles_left_right` — mock titles with `asiel`/`belasting` → expect "Links–Rechts"
- `test_classify_from_titles_progressive` — mock titles with `klimaat`/`stikstof` → expect "Progressief–Conservatief"
- `test_classify_from_titles_low_confidence` — mixed keywords → expect None (fallback triggered)
- `test_axis_swap_when_y_is_left_right` — positions (x,y) → (y,x), labels swapped
- `test_axis_swap_not_applied_when_x_is_left_right` — no swap when already correct

All 8 existing tests must continue to pass.

## Out of Scope

**Explained variance drop (18% → 11%)**: Observed but not addressed here. Likely
reflects genuine fragmentation of the Schoof parliament (4 smaller coalition parties).
Warrants a separate diagnostic session. The expander now surfaces the explained
variance, making this visible to users.

**Proper Procrustes alignment of motion vectors**: The projection approximation
(ignoring per-window rotation) is acceptable for v1. If label instability is observed
across windows, add rotation application as a follow-up.

**Removing `party_ideologies.csv`**: Kept as fallback. Can be removed once motion
classification has proven reliable over several parliament periods.