People differ in their political views and beliefs on both specific policy questions and broad issues of values.  Some differ on what they think are the key problems and others agree on the problems but differ as to the best solutions.  Generally, political views are related, so that if you know what someone thinks on one issue you can guess their views on other issues reasonably well.  This congruence of views is particularly common on related core values, in particular about the role of the state and the type of society that is desired.

On these large questions we talk of a continuum of views; for instance, the terms ‘left’ and ‘right’ are used to describe people at each end of the range of views on the role of the state, business and workers in relation to the economy.  Often this continuum is combined with one relating to views on the role of the state in relation to individual behaviour, to create a quadrant diagram of political views.  Individuals, groups and parties can be located on the diagram using the two axes to determine relative political views.

A set of related views is commonly referred to as an ideology, such as socialism, liberalism, communism or Christian democracy.  Commonly, people with a similar background or life situation will share similar political views; for instance, people with manual jobs are more likely to be on the left and business owners on the right.  These societal divides that relate to political views are called cleavages and different cleavages will be prominent in different places and at different times.

Political spectrum

The most widespread terms used in describing the views of parties are ‘left’ and ‘right’.  However, the exact meaning of each varies between countries and over time.  For instance, someone described on the left in the USA would seem right of centre in Sweden and the parties of the left in most countries now are closer to the centre than their counterparts 40 years ago.  So the terms are always relative and thus provide a context-specific shorthand.

The use of the phrases ‘left’ and ‘right’ date from the legislative bodies in France after the French Revolution in the late-eighteenth century.  Those who supported the monarchy and disagreed with the revolutionary ideas always sat to the right of the speaker and those who supported the revolution sat to the left.  The terms continued to be used to refer to those with traditional views (right) and those supporting greater power for the previously powerless (left).

There is a range of views on what determines left and right, but the most common ideas relate to views on the way that the state interacts with the economy.  Two of the common defining questions relate to redistribution of wealth and the role of the government.  Those on the left believe that governments should intervene in the economy and use taxation to redistribute wealth, while those on the right think the government should leave the economy to the workings of the market and accept resulting inequalities.  Another common and related pair of terms is that the left is collectivist in approach and the right favours individualism.

There is much less agreement about the other axes to use when constructing a political spectrum.  The alternatives all look at the balance between the role of the state and the individual in making specific decisions.

One approach uses issues of personal freedom as the second axis, with the two ends being ‘libertarian’ and ‘totalitarian’.  Those on the libertarian end think that on most issues individuals should be able to make their own decisions, for example use of drugs, abortion and what they read or watch, while those on the totalitarian end think such decisions are to be made by the state or government.  Another similar divide puts conservatives against liberals, again with an emphasis on attitudes towards personal choice, and often with a belief in tradition and established religion clear on the conservative end of the spectrum.

Another approach looks at attitudes towards control, with the two extremes described as ‘tough’ and ‘tender’.  Core questions relate to how convicted criminals are treated and to war.  Those on the tough end believe in the death penalty and long prison terms and support military responses in international relations, while those on the tender end oppose the death penalty, favour schemes aimed at rehabilitation, and support international relations based on diplomacy and peacekeeping.

Broadly speaking, these different approaches would give the same results for most people with alignment of tender, libertarian and liberal at one end of the spectrum and tough, totalitarian and conservative at the other.  On some particular issues the different approaches do not align, and argument amongst political theorists and academics can be heated over the relative usefulness and accuracy of these options.

When the two axes are used in conjunction they produce the quadrants left liberal, right liberal, left conservative and right conservative.  Individuals and parties are then placed within these quadrants to show comparative positions.

Ideologies

Certain combinations of views are described as ideologies. Many political parties are aligned with one of these ideologies.  The terms used to describe specific ideologies, such as socialism, conservatism and environmentalism, are used as shorthand to describe a particular approach or set of views.  There are country variants in names used and specific policy views, but they have enough in common to be recognised as part of the same family.

Socialism is the main large family on the left of the economic spectrum. There are many variants but all share a belief in equality and community, with the state playing a role in creating and maintaining both.  On the economic spectrum, socialists range from ‘close to the middle’ to the left end: from social democracy to communism.  Social democracy seeks a balance between the role of the market and the state in the economy.  Social democrats think that redistribution is necessary and that the excesses of the market need to be curbed in order to foster equity.  They also have a strong interest in social justice and looking out for those at the bottom of the heap.  Communism’s belief system is grounded in the common ownership of property as a means of providing equity between all.  Most communist parties base their views on some variant of Marxist principles.

Socialists can be found at various places on the ‘tough/tender’ spectrum.  Some are socially conservative, with an emphasis on tradition and family values, whilst others emphasise social justice and the individual’s right to make choices as long as they do not harm others.  The New Left (sometimes called ‘the third way’) adds to social democratic views an increased stress on decentralisation, participation and personal liberation.  This group is often seen as very close to the centre on the economic spectrum.

Conservatism is one strand on the right of the economic spectrum but it differs from other parties of the right in its strong belief in tradition, duty and authority.  Conservatives tend towards the tough end of the tough/tender spectrum.  Conservatives range from those who think that the rich and able have a paternalistic duty to look after those who are less fortunate (noblesse oblige) to those who have a strong belief in providing all with the ability to succeed and letting each individual make their own success.  Christian Democrats stress traditional, Christian values but also believe that the state has a small role to counter the harshest results of the market.  In many countries the traditional conservative parties have been challenged by the New Right (Thatcherism, Reaganomics, Rogernomics).  This grouping believes strongly in rolling back the state to let the market work (neoliberalism) and in the need to restore authority and traditional values in order to assure social stability (neoconservatism).

Liberalism describes those whose primary view is a commitment to individual freedom in all aspects of life, paired with a belief in toleration and consent.  So liberals believe that the state’s only role is to protect individual freedoms and basic human rights.  Their primary identity is their location on the liberal/conservative spectrum, with different liberal parties found on the right, centre and left of the economic spectrum.  Libertarians have very strong belief in the individual and the right of individual choice in most matters.

There are other ideologies that are not easy to place on the political spectrum because their core interest lies elsewhere.  Two alternative areas of focus are the nation and the environment.  Nationalism refers to those whose view centres around the role of their nation.  Some are seeking greater power for their nation or region, such as Scotland or Quebec.  These views do not fall in any obvious place on the political spectrum and nationalist parties differ greatly on their other political views.  Many of the current nationalist parties are on the left of the economic spectrum and believe in a redistributive role for the state.

Environmentalism is primarily concerned with conserving natural resources and sustainable development.  While those in environmentalist or green parties generally reject the political spectrum as being too restrictive, most green parties are on the left and have a strong belief in social justice as both individual and group rights.  Post-materialism refers to those who emphasise issues related to quality of life, such as sustainability and rights, because the spread of material affluence has removed the need to concentrate on issues of economic equity.

Some parties are formed around other concerns and do not approach politics in terms of philosophies or values.  Pragmatism emphasises practical solutions to current problems.  Policy views usually relate to issues of current concern and put emphasis upon the views of experts and upon assessment of the efficacy and efficiency of a proposed solution.  Populism bases policy on the instincts of the people and doing what is widely popular.  Populist parties often exploit feelings of dissent and powerlessness and direct this resentment at a specific other group such as migrants.  Populists are often strong advocates for the use of referendum and other forms of direct democracy rather than representative democracy.

Cleavages

Looking at the set of parties that exists in each of the developed democracies, an obvious question is why different countries have different sets of parties and why some issues are hotly contested in some countries but not others.  The most common explanations relate to historic cleavages within each society that distinguish who has power and who does not.  The argument is that each country has one or two major divides and that there will be a political party on at least one side of that divide, seeking to represent that section of society.  There are four such divides, or cleavages, that explain politics in the developed democracies:

• workers/business
• centre/periphery
• state/church
• urban/rural.

The left/right spectrum aligns closely with the cleavage described as between workers and business.  In the early decades of the twentieth century most European countries saw the emergence of labour parties that came out of trade union campaigns for the rights of workers and the creation of a welfare state.  Whilst labour parties were clearly aligned with organised workers, the right wing parties had greater variation in their links to business or farming organisations or professional middle classes.

The centre/periphery cleavage distinguishes between the area around the capital city which tends to have a concentration of wealth, people and influence and the rest of the country which lacks these things.  This divide is particularly seen when a country was formed from a number of smaller entities and some of these feel disempowered and so fight for greater autonomy.  Nationalist or regionalist parties in Scotland and Quebec and the Basque region of Spain are good examples of this cleavage.  It is rare for there to be parties on both side of this cleavage.

The state/church cleavage sees parties that align to particular churches such as Catholic and Protestant.  Politics in Northern Ireland is the most obvious example of this now but in the 1970s it was also found in the Netherlands.  Again, parties tend to be on one side of the divide with secular, centered parties rare.

Where there is an urban/rural cleavage agrarian parties are found that represent the views of the farming community and those who choose to live outside of the cities.  This cleavage is the least common of the four.

More recently, a number of other cleavages have emerged which help to explain how people think about politics and have led to the formation of particular parties.  In many countries ethnic minorities, including indigenous peoples, have created a political party to represent their views. In a few countries a women’s party has emerged in response to a gender divide. Language has been the key cleavage in some multi-lingual countries, such as Belgium.