Greill
21-04-2006, 04:08
I had this idea for a political spectrum, but I'm having difficulty defining it. Basically, my idea is focused on the level of government involvement and control. Economic freedom remains as is, but the social freedom has been changed. Theoretically in the Nolan chart, which is what is most popular, anti-clericalism and affirmative action would supposedly advancements of social freedom, but I think they are moreso examples of the government trying to control society, which is what those who are supposedly labelled authoritarians like Mao and Hitler do (by controlling population growth and discriminating against minorities, respectively, though I suppose they both did either). Accordingly, I changed the Y-axis, social freedom, to level of social engineering, as I believe the line between Affirmative Action and discrimination against others is blurry, if at all existent, which is much the same for other societal issues.
Now, I have level of economic control of the government for the X-Axis and level of government social engineering for the Y-Axis. This, I believe, is a better political spectrum chart, as it determines what the role of government is, which is more tied to politics, as opposed to having one well-defined category and one ill-defined category, which is more of a philosophical chart and does not translate quite so well into policy.
But now I am having trouble placing a good number of ideologies in a general area. I put Maoism in the high social engineering, high economic control corner, put anarcho-capitalism in the opposing corner, and have generally began to put various levels of libertarianism and authoritarianism inbetween. I am not sure where I should put conservativism and liberalism (the American definition), which both have some degrees of social engineering. I also do not know who to put in the high economic control and low social control corner, or the low economic control and high social control corner. I was thinking for the latter I could put Pinochet, but he was fairly status quo concerning society, even though he was suppressing dissent and killing opposition. I have absolutely no idea who should go in the opposite corner. Any ideas?
Now, I have level of economic control of the government for the X-Axis and level of government social engineering for the Y-Axis. This, I believe, is a better political spectrum chart, as it determines what the role of government is, which is more tied to politics, as opposed to having one well-defined category and one ill-defined category, which is more of a philosophical chart and does not translate quite so well into policy.
But now I am having trouble placing a good number of ideologies in a general area. I put Maoism in the high social engineering, high economic control corner, put anarcho-capitalism in the opposing corner, and have generally began to put various levels of libertarianism and authoritarianism inbetween. I am not sure where I should put conservativism and liberalism (the American definition), which both have some degrees of social engineering. I also do not know who to put in the high economic control and low social control corner, or the low economic control and high social control corner. I was thinking for the latter I could put Pinochet, but he was fairly status quo concerning society, even though he was suppressing dissent and killing opposition. I have absolutely no idea who should go in the opposite corner. Any ideas?