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The 1-10 score is not perfectly objective, it is after all measuring ideological concepts which are highly abstract, but it is subject to objective measurement to some extent. You can measure and compare what percentage of the economy is controlled by a centralised govt. and what percentage is in the hand of individuals. There are statistics that can be used to compare one country to another, eg: public spending as % of GDP.

The measurement of personal freedom is even more difficult, but not impossible. This scale attempts to standardise it, based on historical examples.

I'm sure somebody else can do better, but my point remains: political spectrums and labels that change meaning every 30 years are only useful as tribal siginifiers, just like football teams. They are not useful for political science and should be rejected.

Flix 1y ago

A point on definitions.

I use "socialist" as originally defined - social, communal or public ownership of the means of production, with the total abolition of private property as its maximum expression (Communist Manifesto).

Socialist- Private Property make sense in opposite ends of a spectrum precisely because of this original meaning.

I use "liberal" as originally defined - defending liberty or freedom of individuals.

Authoritarian-Liberal make sense as a spectrum for this reason.

I purposely ignore any modern redefinitions, such as the american use of "liberal" to mean "leftist" in the past 30 years. It is precisely this retarded changing of definitions that make it impossible to have a historical perspective and measure progress in any direction.

How can you advance towards or retreat from an objective if it changes location and meaning every 30 years?

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Flix 1y ago

In other words I want to be able to measure if the Roman Republic was more socialist than the French absolutist monarchy under Louis XVI.

In want to be able to measure if the Aztec Empire was more authoritarian than Communist China under Mao.

We should be able to measure how the US or EU have moved along any of these axis in the past 20 years.

Just as we cantry to measure objective data on population, industrial production, etc... we should do our best to have a meaningful yardstick in political science.