Political Spectra

Traditionally, we're taught that politics is a left-right spectrum, with authoritarian communism on the far left and authoritarian fascism on the far right, with some quibble about how it's actually a circle when the similarities between the two are pointed out. I think it's obvious that this arrangement isn't adequate for describing the various political philosophies at work in the world.

The primary problem with Left and Right is that they mean different things to people at different points along the spectrum. Leftists tend to believe that leftism promotes egalitarian societies, and that rightism promotes elitist or hierarchical societies. Rightists, on the other hand, tend to believe that leftism promotes an expansive state, while rightism promotes a minimal state (by this definition, anarchism is right-wing). In either definition, rightist do tend to be more tolerant of social inequality, for various reasons. But that's another post.

One of the earlier attempts to move past this confusing system was the Nolan Chart, which in its modern form is very popular with American libertarians.¹ The Nolan Chart is a two-dimensional field, measuring one's preference for economic and personal liberty. Unfortunately, it's more popular successor, the Political Compass, using left-right and authoritarian-libertarian as its axes, which means that the results are entirely arbitrary based off what the test-makers deem "left" or "right," and "authoritarian" or "libertarian."

Another approach that produces some interesting results is grouping by their larger ideologies. I've included one of the earlier attempts I encountered at this below. It has a lot of small issues, but overall is still pretty good.

Click for a larger version

I created a similar schema about the same time I encountered that one, using the similar categories of Liberalism, Conservatism, and Socialism, grouped as sectors of a circular field. Where conservatism and liberalism meet, you get our modern liberal conservativism. Where liberalism and socialism meet, you get our modern 'liberalism' before moving into libertarian socialism. Where socialism and conservatism meet, you find the authoritarian regimes, communism and fascism. The further out from center, the more extreme one's views are.²

As nice as organizing by ideological category is, I think ultimately the best way of categorizing political beliefs is through specific attributes. Liberal economies versus command economies, personal freedom versus paternalism, militarism versus non-interventionism, that sort of thing.

However you cut, dice, or slice it, Left and Right doesn't cut it anymore.

¹Not exactly surprising, considering the Libertarian Party was founded in David Nolan's home.
²I'll probably do another post on this once I get a professional version of the chart worked up.