# Scale-example selection and interpretation

The scale examples are selected to make the two released dimensions substantively interpretable without overloading the display. They are illustrative trajectories rather than a representative sample or an independent validation of the posterior coordinates. Published party-history research supports the qualitative interpretation of the cases, not their exact estimated values.

## Trajectory figure

The connected paths show recognizable changes across countries and political traditions:

- Hungary: Fidesz (PartyFacts 1691), 1990--2022.
- Denmark: Social Democratic Party (PartyFacts 379), 2007--2019.
- United States: Democratic Party (PartyFacts 432), 1944--2020.

All election-year posterior means in these windows form the connected paths. The labelled endpoints include 95% latent-position credible intervals. The manuscript uses published historical research to interpret the broad movements without treating the estimates as causal evidence.

The figure contains only these three trajectories. Horizontal and vertical bars show 95% latent-position credible intervals at each labelled endpoint. The machine-readable plotting table retains every path observation.