how would you rank different western countries on a left-right scale?

[Mr. Morden]

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.

[Mr. Morden]

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.

[Mr. Morden]

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?

You must be logged in to read this quote.

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.