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{{short description|political model}}
{{short description|political model}}
[[File:Political chart.svg/1200px-Political chart.svg.png|alt=|thumb|The Political Compass in its primary colours, as presented by the Political Compass organisation.]]
[[File:Political chart.png|alt=|thumb|The Political Compass in its primary colours, as presented by the Political Compass organisation.]]
[[File:Political Compass yellow LibRight v2.png|alt=|thumb|Chart similar to the one used by the Political Compass Organisation<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.politicalcompass.org/crowdchart2|title=The Political Compass|publisher=The Political Compass|date=11 October 2013|accessdate=1 November 2013}}</ref>]]
[[File:Political Compass yellow LibRight v2.png|alt=|thumb|Chart similar to the one used by the Political Compass Organisation<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.politicalcompass.org/crowdchart2|title=The Political Compass|publisher=The Political Compass|date=11 October 2013|accessdate=1 November 2013}}</ref>]]
The '''political compass''' is a biaxial political model of the [[political spectrum]] used by the website of the same name to label or organise political thought.<ref name=":4">{{Cite journal|last=Petrik|first=Andreas|date=2010-12-03|title=Core Concept “Political Compass”. How Kitschelt’s Model of Liberal, Socialist, Libertarian and Conservative Orientations Can Fill the Ideology Gap in Civic Education|url=http://www.jsse.org/index.php/jsse/article/view/541/538|journal=JSSE - Journal of Social Science Education|language=en|pages=4–2010: Social Science Literacy I: In Search for Basic Competences and Basic Concepts for Testing and Diagnosing|doi=10.4119/jsse-541}}</ref> In its selection and representation of these two dimensions.<ref name=":4" /> The term 'political compass' is claimed as a trademark by the [[United Kingdom|British]] website Pace News Limited,<ref name=":0">{{cite web|url=http://www.politicalcompass.org|title=The Political Compass|publisher=The Political Compass|date=11 October 2013|accessdate=1 November 2013}}</ref> which uses responses to a set of 62 propositions to rate [[political ideology]] on two axes: [[Economic policy|economic]] ([[Left-wing politics|left]]–[[Right-wing politics|right]]) and [[Social policy|social]] ([[Authoritarianism|authoritarian]]–[[Libertarianism|libertarian]]).<ref name="nyt"/> The site also includes an explanation of the two-axis system they use, a few charts which place various past and present political figures according to their estimation<ref name="dt">[https://www.telegraph.co.uk/comment/personal-view/3642044/Time-to-start-pounding-away-at-Gordon-Brown.html "Time to start pounding away at Gordon Brown"]. ''[[The Daily Telegraph]]''. Retrieved 18 August 2007.</ref> and reading lists for each of the main political orientations.
The '''political compass''' is a biaxial political model of the [[political spectrum]] used by the website of the same name to label or organise political thought.<ref name=":4">{{Cite journal|last=Petrik|first=Andreas|date=2010-12-03|title=Core Concept “Political Compass”. How Kitschelt’s Model of Liberal, Socialist, Libertarian and Conservative Orientations Can Fill the Ideology Gap in Civic Education|url=http://www.jsse.org/index.php/jsse/article/view/541/538|journal=JSSE - Journal of Social Science Education|language=en|pages=4–2010: Social Science Literacy I: In Search for Basic Competences and Basic Concepts for Testing and Diagnosing|doi=10.4119/jsse-541}}</ref> In its selection and representation of these two dimensions.<ref name=":4" /> The term 'political compass' is claimed as a trademark by the [[United Kingdom|British]] website Pace News Limited,<ref name=":0">{{cite web|url=http://www.politicalcompass.org|title=The Political Compass|publisher=The Political Compass|date=11 October 2013|accessdate=1 November 2013}}</ref> which uses responses to a set of 62 propositions to rate [[political ideology]] on two axes: [[Economic policy|economic]] ([[Left-wing politics|left]]–[[Right-wing politics|right]]) and [[Social policy|social]] ([[Authoritarianism|authoritarian]]–[[Libertarianism|libertarian]]).<ref name="nyt"/> The site also includes an explanation of the two-axis system they use, a few charts which place various past and present political figures according to their estimation<ref name="dt">[https://www.telegraph.co.uk/comment/personal-view/3642044/Time-to-start-pounding-away-at-Gordon-Brown.html "Time to start pounding away at Gordon Brown"]. ''[[The Daily Telegraph]]''. Retrieved 18 August 2007.</ref> and reading lists for each of the main political orientations.

Revision as of 23:23, 23 June 2019

File:Political chart.png
The Political Compass in its primary colours, as presented by the Political Compass organisation.
Chart similar to the one used by the Political Compass Organisation[1]

The political compass is a biaxial political model of the political spectrum used by the website of the same name to label or organise political thought.[2] In its selection and representation of these two dimensions.[2] The term 'political compass' is claimed as a trademark by the British website Pace News Limited,[3] which uses responses to a set of 62 propositions to rate political ideology on two axes: economic (left–right) and social (authoritarian–libertarian).[4] The site also includes an explanation of the two-axis system they use, a few charts which place various past and present political figures according to their estimation[5] and reading lists for each of the main political orientations.

Political model

The underlying theory of the political compass is that political ideology may be better measured along two separate and independent axes. The economic (left–right) axis measures one's opinion of how the economy should be run: 'left is defined as the desire for the economy to be run by a cooperative collective agency (which can mean the state, but can also mean a network of communes) while 'right' is defined as the desire for the economy to be left to the devices of competing individuals and organizations. The other axis (authoritarian–libertarian) measures one's political opinions in a social sense, regarding the amount of personal freedom that one would allow: 'libertarianism' is defined as the belief that personal freedom should be maximised while 'authoritarianism' is defined as the belief that authority should be obeyed.

A number of other multi-axis models of political thought exist and some are based on similar axes to the political compass. A similar chart appeared in 1970 in The Floodgates of Anarchy by Albert Meltzer and Stuart Christie and in 1968 in the Rampart Journal of Individualist Thought by Maurice C. Bryson and William R. McDill.[6][7] Meltzer and Christie's and Bryson and McDill are pretty much the same as Nolan's, but for a change of nomenclature and the political compass is also the same, but flipped and rotated 45° anti-clockwise.

The website does not explain its scoring system.[8] A number of writers, including Tom Utley and Brian Patrick Mitchell, have criticised its validity.[9][10]

Website

The political compass website does not reveal the people behind it, beyond the fact that it seems to be based in the United Kingdom.[11][12] At the bottom of any page on the website, it is stated that the political compass' copyright belongs to an organisation named Pace News Limited.[13] Pace News Limited is a company registered in New Zealand whose director is political journalist Wayne Brittenden.[14] According to The New York Times, the site is the work of Brittenden.[4] According to Tom Utley, writing in The Daily Telegraph, the site is connected to One World Action, a charity founded by Glenys Kinnock.[9] An early version of the site was published on One World Action's web server.[10]

See also

References

  1. ^ "The Political Compass". The Political Compass. 11 October 2013. Retrieved 1 November 2013.
  2. ^ a b Petrik, Andreas (2010-12-03). "Core Concept "Political Compass". How Kitschelt's Model of Liberal, Socialist, Libertarian and Conservative Orientations Can Fill the Ideology Gap in Civic Education". JSSE - Journal of Social Science Education: 4–2010: Social Science Literacy I: In Search for Basic Competences and Basic Concepts for Testing and Diagnosing. doi:10.4119/jsse-541.
  3. ^ "The Political Compass". The Political Compass. 11 October 2013. Retrieved 1 November 2013.
  4. ^ a b LiCalzi O'Connell, Pamela (4 December 2003). "Online Diary". The New York Times. Retrieved 2 August 2017.
  5. ^ "Time to start pounding away at Gordon Brown". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 18 August 2007.
  6. ^ Meltzer, Albert; Christie, Stuart (1970). "Party Lines and Politics". The Floodgates of Anarchy. ISBN 0-900707-03-8.
  7. ^ Bryson, Maurice C.; McDil, William R. (Summer 1968). "The Political Spectrum: A Bi-Dimensional Approach" (PDF). Rampart Journal of Individualist Thought. 4 (2).
  8. ^ "The Political Compass FAQ #25". politicalcompass.org. Retrieved 8 January 2017. Can you provide your scoring details[?]. [...] [W]e have a strict policy against releasing this information.
  9. ^ a b Utley, Tom. "I'm v. Right-wing, says the BBC, but it's not that simple". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 6 January 2017. A lot of the questions in the test are very irritatingly phrased and impossible to answer properly, with only these four options available: "strongly agree", "agree", "disagree" and "strongly disagree.
  10. ^ a b Mitchell, Brian Patrick. "Eight ways to run the country". Greenwood Publishing Group. 2007. p. 143. ISBN 978-0-275-99358-0.
  11. ^ "Shut Up, I'm A Libertarian". The Guardian. Retrieved 9 January 2018.
  12. ^ "FAQ Q29". Politicalcompass.org. Retrieved 9 January 2018.
  13. ^ "The Political Compass". Retrieved 16 February 2016.
  14. ^ "Pace News Limited". Opencorporates.com. Retrieved 9 January 2018.
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