Political compass
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Political_chart.jpg
A political compass or political diamond is a two dimensional political grid that seeks to label or organize political thought on two dimensions rather than the one (left versus right) that has been traditional since it was invented in France over two centuries ago; see glossary of the French Revolution.
The term Political Compass was originated by a website (see Political Compass external link), which runs an on-line questionnaire which will rate your political views on two axes: Economic (Left-Right) and Social (Authoritarian-Libertarian). The site also includes an in-depth explanation of the two-axis system they use, a few charts showing the alleged positions of various past and present political figures, and reading lists for each of the main political orientations.
'Authoritarian left' is the name given to a political group who has left wing economic opinions and is in favour of strict obedience to authority (Authoritarian).
The term adds an extra dimension to the traditional left-right political line; that line inadequately groups Stalin, Pol Pot and Saddam Hussein together with Nelson Mandela and Mahatma Gandhi on the grounds that they are all publicly committed to a left wing, controlled economy dedicated to the needs of their people. The next chart splits the economic concepts from a goverment-authority concent. David Nolan first introduced the idea of a political chart with 'economic freedom' along the x Cartesian axis, and 'personal freedom' along the y-axis (Nolan chart).
See also
- Political spectrum (discusses the dimensionality concept at length)
- Nolan chart
- Pournelle Chart
External links
- The Political Compass Organisation (http://www.politicalcompass.org/)
- Explains the concept (http://www.digitalronin.f2s.com/politicalcompass/analysis2.php)
- Discussion of the Nolan chart (http://civilities.net/CommonPoliticalGrid)