The Political Landscape

And the parting on the Left, is now parting on the Right
And the beards have all grown longer overnight
--The Who

Political ideologies are often positioned on a unidimensional scale, with the ends of the scale commonly labeled Liberal vs Conservative, or simply Left vs Right.

This scale is sometimes called the 'political spectrum' where all ideologies can be located somewhere along the continuum.

But what is the single underlying dimension capable of ordering all political ideologies? It is sometimes proposed that Liberal reflects a 'big government' ideology while Conservative reflects a 'small government' ideology. However, in practice there seems to be little difference between the two sides in terms of installed government size.

The problem is likely due to the fact that political ideologies are multidimensional. Rather than using a spectrum model, politicial ideologies seem more accurately positioned on a 'landscape' model. Here's a proposal for a two dimensional model of the political landscape.

One dimension reflects belief in the sovereignty of the individual. A high value on this scale means that you believe individuals should be free to pursue their interests without interference from others. A low value on this scale means that you think individual interests should take a back seat to the interests of others.

The second dimension represents belief in government's role in society. Government is another name for force. A high value on this scale means that you think that a high level of government force is necessary in societal process. A low value on this scale means that you think that government force should be limited in scope.

Crossing these two dimensions offers a grid upon which we can plot various political idelogies. Modern day Liberals occupy the upper left space. Liberals view the pursuit of individual interests as less important than the interests of other people or groups (i.e., 'special interests'). While Liberals often profess to support 'social freedom' of individuals, most policies that Liberals push tend to restrict individual liberty. Private property is not highly valued. Liberals support a high level of force emanating from a central government authority to achieve ideological aims.

A bit down and to the right from Liberals (but not by much) are Conservatives. Although they profess to value individual freedom, Conservative frequently push policies that restrict individual choice. This is particuarly true in social issues (e.g., gay marriage). Famously, Conservatives are also willing to sacrifice individual freedom in the name of 'national security.' While they often say that they value small government, Conservatives push policies requiring a scope of government nearly equal to Liberal programs in their forceful content. 

At the bottom right are Libertarians. Libertarians see the freedom of individuals to purse their interests as a natural right. By logical extension, the only restriction to this pursuit is that individuals cannot infringe on the rights of others pursuing their own interests. Libertarians believe that the role of government should be limited to helping people protect their individual interests (i.e., life, liberty, property) from appropriation by others.

The lower left is occupied by Anarchists. While Anarchists sometimes profess to value individual liberty, it is difficult see that in practice. Conditions of anarchy are commonly characterized by lawless mob rule with little respect for private property. It is nearly impossible for individuals to pursue their self interests under anarchy because their days are occupied protecting their interests from infringement by others. Anarchists believe in conditions of limited or no government force.

This landscape provides one explanation as to why Conservatives and Libertarians are often viewed as 'close' to one another. The distance on the above grid between Conservatives and Libertarians is a bit smaller than the distance between Liberals and Libertarians. As drawn, however, Conservatives have less ideologically in common with Libertarians than they have with Liberals. Empirically, that seems correct.

Other political ideologies (e.g., facism, communism, monarchy) can be plotted on the landscape as well. Nearly all of them have a tendency to be 'up and to the left.' The crowd in the upper left hand quadrant reflects a dominant belief in government style.

Commonly, heavy authoritarian hands restrict individual freedom.