how would you rank different western countries on a left-right scale?
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  how would you rank different western countries on a left-right scale?
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Author Topic: how would you rank different western countries on a left-right scale?  (Read 1738 times)
Mr. Morden
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« on: April 23, 2005, 05:38:18 PM »

OK, I've wondered about this for a while, and I figure this is the best place to ask this question, as there are some experts on the internal politics of at least a few different countries:

If you had to place all western countries (by which I mean western Europe plus USA, Canada, and Australia) along a left-right axis, how would you do it?  To make it a bit less complicated, we can divide things up into economic, social, and foreign policy issues: Which countries are most conservative or most liberal on economics, social issues, and foreign policy?  I realize that there's some ambiguity about how exactly one defines a "social conservative" and a "social liberal", and on foreign policy it's even worse.  But answer as best you can for the countries with which you're most familiar.  I realize that the U.S. is to the right of perhaps every other western country, but how do the others compare against each other?  There must be some people here who can at least make a comparison of the "anglosphere" countries of the UK, Canada, and Australia.

Please note that I'm not concerned with the policies of the current government in these countries (which can change substantially with each new election), but with the political leanings of the people themselves.
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jfern
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« Reply #1 on: April 24, 2005, 04:12:14 AM »

The US is the most right-wing on economic issues, unless you count Mexico.
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Bono
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« Reply #2 on: April 24, 2005, 06:40:53 AM »

The US is the most right-wing on economic issues, unless you count Mexico.

Switzerland is almost, if not as right wing as the US.
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Platypus
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« Reply #3 on: April 24, 2005, 08:03:02 AM »

Australia varies economically, but in general would be reasonably aligned with the US. We're much more socially liberal though, but not as much as Canada, for example.
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Banana Republic
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« Reply #4 on: April 24, 2005, 09:25:06 AM »

You can't really rank these countries on a right-left scale. The cultures and political climates are too diverse to compare.
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Redefeatbush04
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« Reply #5 on: April 24, 2005, 11:49:57 AM »

The US is the most right-wing on economic issues, unless you count Mexico.

Switzerland is almost, if not as right wing as the US.

Stupid militaristic Switzerland Wink

Nah but I see what you mean. You have to admit though .....foreign
policy-wise they are "switzerland-hating" liberals.
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Mr. Morden
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« Reply #6 on: April 24, 2005, 03:09:28 PM »

You can't really rank these countries on a right-left scale. The cultures and political climates are too diverse to compare.

Hmmm....I don't know.  I admit that it's messy, but don't you think that if you break it down into economic, social, and foreign policy issues, you can make some comparisons?  For example, wouldn't most people agree that the U.S. is more conservative than most other western countries in all three categories, or that France is to the left of Australia on both economics and foreign policy?

I guess I'm most curious about the UK vs. Canada vs. Australia.  How would you compare those three against each other in the three categories?  And, if possible, how would you compare them against continental Europe en masse?  The impression I get is that both the UK and Australia are somewhat to the right of most of continental Europe on both economics and foreign policy, but I'm not really sure how they compare on social issues.  And I'm also not sure where Canada would fit in.
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ragnar
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« Reply #7 on: April 24, 2005, 03:20:28 PM »

You can't really rank these countries on a right-left scale. The cultures and political climates are too diverse to compare.

Hmmm....I don't know.  I admit that it's messy, but don't you think that if you break it down into economic, social, and foreign policy issues, you can make some comparisons?  For example, wouldn't most people agree that the U.S. is more conservative than most other western countries in all three categories, or that France is to the left of Australia on both economics and foreign policy?


No some coutries have entire different ranking scales. In denmark as an eksample many people are progaymarriage and abortion, but they are at same time quate hostile to immigration and immigrants.
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Bono
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« Reply #8 on: April 24, 2005, 03:23:25 PM »

The US is the most right-wing on economic issues, unless you count Mexico.

Switzerland is almost, if not as right wing as the US.

Stupid militaristic Switzerland Wink

Nah but I see what you mean. You have to admit though .....foreign
policy-wise they are "switzerland-hating" liberals.

Actually, they're what the night wing should've never ceased to be. Isolationistic, but keep a strong military to protect in case anything goes wrong.
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12th Doctor
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« Reply #9 on: April 24, 2005, 04:42:04 PM »

The US is the most right-wing on economic issues, unless you count Mexico.

Switzerland is almost, if not as right wing as the US.

France is very right-wing, contrary to popular belief in the States.
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jfern
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« Reply #10 on: April 24, 2005, 04:43:15 PM »


France is very right-wing, contrary to popular belief in the States.

French conservatives aren't conservative.
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Bono
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« Reply #11 on: April 24, 2005, 04:44:47 PM »

The US is the most right-wing on economic issues, unless you count Mexico.

Switzerland is almost, if not as right wing as the US.

France is very right-wing, contrary to popular belief in the States.

Socially maybe.
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Beet
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« Reply #12 on: April 24, 2005, 04:52:22 PM »

It's impossible because you can't tell what's inherent and what's just an accident of whichever party happens to be incumbent.

For example, Spain now would rank on the center, whereas had the 3-11 attacks not happened, it would rank on the right.

The US ranks on the far-right, whereas had 600 votes been different in the year 2000, it would rank on the center-right.

The rankings thus are as much a product of pure accident and chance than anything inherent about each country, and thus mean very little.
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12th Doctor
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« Reply #13 on: April 24, 2005, 05:01:10 PM »


France is very right-wing, contrary to popular belief in the States.

French conservatives aren't conservative.


And why is that.  Their government is more economically conservative than many other European Governments.  They have an authoritarian stance on social issues (conservative does not mean "Christian Fundamentalist"), they have an extreme realist perspective in international affairs.
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Jake
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« Reply #14 on: April 24, 2005, 05:03:35 PM »

It actually looks like Labour is going the way of France's conservatives. Still believe in the welfare state, but are moving increasingly to the right on social issues.  Or maybe not Smiley
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Hatman 🍁
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« Reply #15 on: April 24, 2005, 05:55:41 PM »

You can't really rank these countries on a right-left scale. The cultures and political climates are too diverse to compare.

Hmmm....I don't know.  I admit that it's messy, but don't you think that if you break it down into economic, social, and foreign policy issues, you can make some comparisons?  For example, wouldn't most people agree that the U.S. is more conservative than most other western countries in all three categories, or that France is to the left of Australia on both economics and foreign policy?

I guess I'm most curious about the UK vs. Canada vs. Australia.  How would you compare those three against each other in the three categories?  And, if possible, how would you compare them against continental Europe en masse?  The impression I get is that both the UK and Australia are somewhat to the right of most of continental Europe on both economics and foreign policy, but I'm not really sure how they compare on social issues.  And I'm also not sure where Canada would fit in.


Canada is a very politically diverse nation. It all depends on what region you are speaking about.  Canada may seem Liberal, but don't go telling a westener he's Liberal!
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Mr. Morden
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« Reply #16 on: April 24, 2005, 06:31:25 PM »

No some coutries have entire different ranking scales. In denmark as an eksample many people are progaymarriage and abortion, but they are at same time quate hostile to immigration and immigrants.

Again, I realize that there are all sorts of complications and it may not always be possible to make a comparison.  I'm just asking: Are there no cases in which you can make a comparison?  I've already listed some possible examples.  Here's another one.  The impression I get is that Ireland is more socially conservative than most other Western European countries.  Is this something most people would agree with?  Or are all such comparisons impossible because the issues are so different from country to country?

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Except that I'm talking about the people in the country, not the government.  And I do think you can separate out the ideology of the people from the government if you're well versed on the politics of that country.  For example, I like to think that I'm fairly well informed about the politics of the US.  And I think I can make informed comments regarding where the political center of gravity lies on various issues in the US, as opposed to where it lies for the current government.  But I'm not nearly as well informed about the politics of other countries, which is why I posed the question.
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Beet
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« Reply #17 on: April 24, 2005, 11:19:43 PM »

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Ok, yet the two are not completely independent of one another. The leanings of the government influences the leanings of the people. One famous example is the sea change in public opinion towards a bombing halt after the government announced a change in policy.
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WMS
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« Reply #18 on: April 25, 2005, 10:51:49 PM »

It actually looks like Labour is going the way of France's conservatives. Still believe in the welfare state, but are moving increasingly to the right on social issues.  Or maybe not Smiley
I believe I had this discussion with Al some time back...the conclusion is that most Labour voters are to some extent populists (social mod to cons; econ mod to left-lib)...that's why I could be a Labour member but not an American Democrat, for example. Smiley
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