Political Spectrum

The left–right political spectrum is a system of classifying political positions, ideologies and parties, with emphasis placed upon issues of social equality and social hierarchy. In addition to positions on the left and on the right, there are centrist and moderate positions, which are not strongly aligned with either end of the spectrum.

Diagram of the left-right, political spectrum.

On this type of political spectrum, left-wing politics and right-wing politics are often presented as opposed, although a particular individual or group may take a left-wing stance on one matter and a right-wing stance on another; and some stances may overlap and be considered either left-wing or right-wing depending on the ideology. In France, where the terms originated, the left has been called "the party of movement" or liberal, and the right "the party of order" or conservative. Some modern methods of mapping the political spectrum confine left and right to economic policy on the x-axis and use the y-axis for social policy (libertarian and authoritarian).

Ideology Groupings

Generally, the left wing is characterized by an emphasis on "ideas such as freedom, equality, fraternity, rights, progress, reform and internationalism" while the right wing is characterized by an emphasis on "notions such as authority, hierarchy, order, duty, tradition, reaction and nationalism".

Political scientists and other analysts usually regard the left as including anarchists, communists, socialists, democratic socialists, social democrats, left-libertarians, progressives, and social liberals. Movements for racial equality, as well as trade unionism, have also been associated with the left.

Political scientists and other analysts usually regard the right as including conservatives (among whom there are many strains, including traditionalist conservatism, libertarian conservatism, neoconservatism, and ultraconservatism); right-libertarians, anarcho-capitalists, monarchists, fascists, and reactionaries.

A number of significant political movements do not fit precisely into the left–right spectrum, including Christian democracy, feminism, and regionalism. Though nationalism is often regarded as a right-wing doctrine, many nationalists favor egalitarian distributions of resources. There are also civic nationalists, as well as left-wing nationalists. Populism is regarded as having both left-wing and right-wing manifestations in the form of left-wing populism and right-wing populism, respectively. Green politics is often regarded as a movement of the left, although there are also green conservatives. Andrew Dobson suggests that green politics contains an inherent conservatism as it is "adverse to anything but the most timid engineering of the social and natural world by human beings". As such, the green movement is perhaps difficult to definitively categorize as left or right.

Right-wing Politics

Economics

Conservative authoritarians, as well as fascists, have supported corporatism, a political ideology which advocates the organization of society by corporate groups—such as agricultural, labour, military, scientific, or guild associations—based on their common interests. Socialism or (state-owned) is a wildly supported approach to economics as well, sometimes a mixture of private and social (public) companies is sort.

Nationalism

Nationalism is an idea and movement that holds that the nation should be congruent with the state. As a movement, it tends to promote the interests of a particular nation (as in a group of people), especially with the aim of gaining and maintaining the nation's sovereignty (self-governance) over its perceived homeland to create a nation-state. It holds that each nation should govern itself, free from outside interference (self-determination), that a nation is a natural and ideal basis for a polity, and that the nation is the only rightful source of political power.

Natural Law & Tradition

Natural law (Latin: ius naturale, lex naturalis) is a system of law based on a close observation of human nature, and based on values intrinsic to human nature that can be deduced and applied independently of positive law (the express enacted laws of a state or society). According to the theory of law called jusnaturalism, all people have inherent rights, conferred not by act of legislation but by "God, nature, or reason."

Tradition is a belief or behavior (folk custom) passed down within a group or society with symbolic meaning or special significance with origins in the past.

Populism

A political approach that strives to appeal to ordinary people who feel that their concerns are disregarded by established elite groups.

Religion

The belief in a being, force or presence greater then a person that deserves unwavering respect, admiration, celebration and worship.

Social stratification

The rejection of some egalitarian objectives of left-wing politics, claiming either that social or economic inequality is natural and inevitable or that it is beneficial to society. Right-wing ideologies and movements support social order. The original French right-wing was called "the party of order" and held that France needed a strong political leader to keep order.

Centrism

Centrism is a political outlook or position involving acceptance or support of a balance of social equality and a degree of social hierarchy while opposing political changes that would result in a significant shift of society strongly to the left or the right.

Both centre-left and centre-right politics involve a general association with centrism that is combined with leaning somewhat to their respective sides of the left–right political spectrum. Various political ideologies, such as Christian democracy, Pancasila, and certain forms of liberalism like social liberalism, can be classified as centrist, as can the Third Way, a modern political movement that attempts to reconcile right-wing and left-wing politics by advocating for a synthesis of centre-right economic platforms with centre-left social policies.

Left-wing Politics

Economics

Left-libertarians, anarchists and libertarian socialists believe in a decentralized economy run by trade unions, workers' councils, cooperatives, municipalities and communes, opposing both state and private control of the economy, preferring social ownership and local control in which a nation of decentralized regions is united in a confederation. The global justice movement, also known as the anti-globalisation movement and the alter-globalisation movement, protests against corporate economic globalisation due to its negative consequences for the poor, workers, the environment, and small businesses

Environment

In climate change mitigation, the Left is also divided over how to effectively and equitably reduce carbon emissions as the center-left often advocates a reliance on market measures such as emissions trading and a carbon tax while those further to the left support direct government regulation and intervention in the form of a Green New Deal, either alongside or instead of market mechanisms

Nationalism, anti-imperialism and anti-nationalism

The question of nationality, imperialism and nationalism has been a central feature of political debates on the Left. During the French Revolution, nationalism was a key policy of the Republican Left.

Religion

The original French Left was firmly anti-clerical, strongly opposing the influence of the Roman Catholic Church and supporting atheism and the separation of church and state, ushering in a policy known as laïcité. Karl Marx asserted that "religion is the sigh of the oppressed creature, the heart of a heartless world, and the soul of soulless conditions. It is the opium of the people".

Social progressivism and counterculture

Social progressivism is another common feature of modern leftism, particularly in the United States, where social progressives played an important role in the abolition of slavery, the enshrinement of women's suffrage in the United States Constitution, and the protection of civil rights, LGBTQ rights, women's rights and multiculturalism.

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