Political Spectrum



The political spectrum is a spectrum on which all political beliefs and ideologies can be positioned. It is primarily split into two parts; the left wing and the  right wing.

Left wing
The main ideologies classified to be left wing include;


 * Communism
 * Socialism
 * Anarchism
 * Liberalism

Communism is the furthest to the left wing, well socialism is more moderate liberalism is more towards the centre however most communist governments end up in a dictatorship. We feel Socialism and Liberalism are the best political ideologies.

Right wing
The main ideologies classified to be right wing include;


 * Conservatism
 * Nazism
 * Fascism

Nazism and Fascism are both recognised as being the furthest right wing ideologies, no matter how much Jonah Goldberg and Glenn Beck lie about it, while Conservatism is a more moderate right wing belief.

Two axes
The terms "left" and "right" often are simply economic terms. The left-right line is often defined as simply being an economic line. Therefore, under this definition, authoritarianism can be left-wing. Examples of this are the former Soviet Union, and other former Marxist-Leninist countries.

In Marxist-Leninst thought, the state was thought to be temporary, eventually being abolished. Theoretically, the state would be used to suppress the former ruling class, eventually leading to anarchism. Mikhail Bakunin believed that this should not occur, and that the state should be abolished at the same time as capitalism.

There is another axis the political spectrum, which is sthe social scale. This scale is sometimes included within the one-dimensional left-right line. If this is the case, countries like the Soviet Union are not on the Far Left. The social scale is sometimes thought of as distinct from the left-right axis, with one end of this spectrum called "libertarianism" and the other end called "authoritarianism".

Liberapedia represents the ideas of people who are in the Social Democratic Left sector of the political spectrum.

Spectrum's within ideologies
Within a specific ideology, different views held can also be referred to as being left and right wing.

For example, if a Communist advocated a small amount of private ownership, he would be seen as a right wing Communist, as private ownership is not a policy associated with "true" left wing Communism. Therefore the Communist would be to the right wing of mainstream Communism.

Pretty Colours
Far left wing beliefs, such as Communism, are associated with bright red crimson while conservative right wing beliefs are associated with blue. The colour associated with far-right Fascism, when it's out in the open, is black. Anarchism is also associated with black. The colours associated with moderate liberals is most commonly yellow or range.

United States
However, in some countries, this is not the case. In America, Liberals are associated with blue while Conservatives are associated with red. This is probably because the Republican was the liberal party during the time period of the American Civil War, and the Democrats were the conservative party, and they simply haven't switched around their colors to match the political drift of their viewpoints over time.

That may also be a historical accident, as Red states and blue states - Wikipedia suggests. The states were colored that way in 2000, but in previous years, they'd been colored Democratic = red, Republic = blue, and sometimes blue and yellow instead of blue and red.

Diagrams
The political spectrum is sometimes rendered as a simple left-right line, such as this one: (The chart above has American colors.)

(The chart above has colours used outside the USA.)

There is also the Nolan chart, such as the one pictured to the right. This diagram has two dimensions: one for cultural issues and one for economic issues. A one dimensional political spectrum can be placed into a Nolan chart, going from culturally and economically left to culturally and economically right. Under this definition, extreme liberalism is the most left-wing ideology.



There is also the horseshoe diagram shown to the left. The idea behind this depiction is that extremists have more in common with each other than moderate centrists.



Here is a variant of the Nolan chart. According to this chart, Liberapedia is more along the lines of anarchism though in reality Liberapedia is Social Democratic. The chart's version of liberalism is more along the lines of libertarianism. As for Marxism, the state, or the dictatorship of the proletariat, was theorized to be temporary, eventually leading to anarchism. Conservatives are Fascists.

Europe
Europe is mostly liberal or Social democrat, (at least Western Europe is) and parties that are considered Centre right in Europe would be considered Centre left in the United States, perhaps also the whole of North America. Sweden is a Democratic socialist country so is most of Scandinavia however the rest of Europe is mainly social democrat and liberal.