Political model

Political Models

The standard political model is the political spectrum. This is a line representing the left/right dichotomy, with Communism at the left end of the spectrum and Fascism at the right end:

Communism-----------------------------------------------Fascism

But the left/right model has been in use for over 200 years (it is based on the seating arrangements at the first French Parliament following the French Revolution), and many argue that it is outdated. Several of the political philosophies that have arisen over the past two centuries do not fit on this one-dimensional line. In particular: Anarchism and Libertarianism. Anarchism is assumed to be "left", while Libertarianism is "right". But that would place Anarchism in the same position with Communism, and Libertarianism in the same position with Fascism. Clearly, a more refined political model must be found, since the left/right scale is not enough to account for all the differences between political ideologies.

A more accurate spectrum is divided in two, putting anarchy and socialism on the left and Tyranny and capitalism on the right. This is a more concrete modal because it separates the issues of freedom and Economics.

          L               D              R           C

Anarchy---------------------------------------------Tyranny

            C              D              R           L

Socialism--------------------------------------------Capitalism

L=Libertarianism

C=Communism

D=United States Democratic Party

R=United States Republican Party

On this scale communism would be on the far left under socialism, and on the far right under tyranny. Libertarianism would be the direct opposite.

If these lines are not sufficient, the most obvious conclusion is that an extra dimension must be added. This has given rise to several types of two-dimensional political models. The most commonly accepted ones are similar to the following example:

Image:Tmp.jpg

A good model clarifies differences and similarities without being overly complex. In this model Anarchism and Communism no longer seem quite so close together. The political differences between the two philosophies become clearer. On the other hand, it is much more complex than Image 1.

There are limitations to this model as well. For example, there is no clear way to locate philosophies such as feminism or environmentalism. A third or even a fourth dimension would be required to accommodate them, and that would make the model far too complex to be of any use.

Another two-dimensional model is the one put forward by The Political Compass, which has one axis ('x') for economic issues (Left/Right) and another axis ('y') for social issues (Authoritarian/Libertarian). This is generally seen as the best two-dimensional political model available to date, since it clearly separates economic ideologies from social ones. For example, Communism is an economic ideology which may be accompanied by any kind of social practices, from extremely authoritarian (Stalinism), to moderate, to extremely libertarian (Anarcho-Communism).