TheNolan Chart is apolitical spectrum diagram created byAmericanlibertarian activistDavid Nolan in 1969, chartingpolitical views along two axes, representingeconomic freedom andpersonal freedom. It expands political view analysis beyond the traditional one-dimensionalleft–right/progressive-conservative divide, positioning libertarianism outside the traditional spectrum.
The claim that political positions can be located on a chart with two axes: left–right (economics) and tough–tender (authoritarian–libertarian) was put forward by the British psychologistHans Eysenck in his 1954 bookThe Psychology of Politics with statistical evidence based on survey data.[1] This leads to a loose classification of political positions into four quadrants, with further detail based on exact position within the quadrant.[2]
A similar two-dimensional chart appeared in 1970 in the publicationThe Floodgates of Anarchy byStuart Christie andAlbert Meltzer, but that work distinguished between the axescollectivism–capitalism on the one hand,individualism–totalitarianism on the other, withanarchism,fascism, "state communism" and "capitalist individualism" in the corners.[3] InRadicals for Capitalism (p. 321),Brian Doherty attributes the idea for the chart to an article by Maurice Bryson and William McDill inThe Rampart Journal of Individualist Thought (Summer 1968) entitled "The Political Spectrum: A Bi-Dimensional Approach".[4]
Steve Mariotti, a teenage colleague ofCarl Oglesby's in the leftist student organizationStudents for a Democratic Society (SDS), credits Oglesby with describing a form of the two-axis Nolan Chart during a delivery of Oglesby's "Let Us Shape the Future" speech[5] in 1965.[6] Oglesby's political outlook was more eclectic than that of many leftists in SDS; he was heavily influenced bylibertarian economistMurray Rothbard and he dismissedsocialism as "a way to bury social problems under a federalbureaucracy."[7] Oglesby even (unsuccessfully) proposed cooperation between SDS and theconservative groupYoung Americans for Freedom on some projects,[8] and argued that "in a strong sense, theOld Right and theNew Left are morally and politically coordinate."[9] Nolan was a member ofYoung Americans for Freedom at the time.[10]
David Nolan first published his version of the chart in an article named "Classifying and Analyzing Politico-Economic Systems" in the January 1971 issue ofThe Individualist, the monthly magazine of theSociety for Individual Liberty (SIL). In December 1971, he helped to start the group that would become theLibertarian Party.[11]
Frustrated by the "left-right" line analysis that leaves no room for other ideologies, Nolan devised a chart with two axes which would come to be known as the Nolan Chart, and later became the centerpiece of the World's Smallest Political Quiz. Nolan's argument was that the major difference between various political philosophies, the real defining element in what a person believes politically, is the amount of government control over human action that is advocated.[12] Nolan further reasoned that virtually all human political action can be divided into two broad categories: economic and personal. The "economic" category includes what people do as producers andconsumers – what they can buy, sell and produce, where they work, who they hire and what they do with their money. Examples of economic activity include starting or operating a business, buying a home, constructing a building and working in an office. The "personal" category includes what people do in relationships, in self-expression and what they do with their own bodies and minds. Examples of personal activities include whom they marry; choosing what books they read and movies they watch; what foods, medicines and drugs they choose to consume; recreational activities; religious choices; organizations they join; and with whom they choose to associate.
According to Nolan, since most government activity (or government control) occurs in these two major areas, political positions can be defined by how much government control a person or political party favors in these two areas. The extremes are no government at all in either area (anarchism) or total or near-total government control of everything (various forms oftotalitarianism). Mostpolitical philosophies fall somewhere in between. In broad terms:
In order to visually express this argument, Nolan came up with a two-axis graph. One axis was for economic freedom and the other was for personal freedom, with the scale on each of the two axes ranging from zero (total state control) to 100% (no state control). 100% freedom in economics would mean an entirely free market (laissez-faire); 100% freedom in personal issues would mean no government control of private, personal life. By using the scale on each of the two axes, it was possible to graph the intersection of the amount of personal liberty and economic liberty a person, political organization, or political philosophy advocates. Therefore, instead of classifying all political opinion on a one-dimensional range from left to right, Nolan's chart allowed two-dimensional measurement: how much (or little) government control a person favored in personal and economic matters.
Nolan said that one of the impacts of his chart is that when someone views it, it causes an irreversible change as viewers henceforth view the included orientations in two dimensions instead of one.[13]
In 1987, Marshall Fritz, founder of Advocates for Self-Government, tweaked the chart and added ten questions – which he called the World's Smallest Political Quiz – which enabled people to plot their political beliefs on the chart.[14]
Differing from the traditional left–right distinction and other political taxonomies, the Nolan Chart in its original form has two dimensions, with a horizontal x-axis labeled "economic freedom" and a vertical y-axis labeled "personal freedom". It resembles a square divided into five sections, with a label assigned to each of the following sections:
In August 2011, the libertarianReason magazine worked with the Rupe organization to survey 1,200 Americans by telephone and place their views within the Nolan chart categories. The Reason-Rupe poll found that "Americans cannot easily be bundled into either the 'liberal' or 'conservative' groups". Specifically, 28% expressed conservative views, 24% expressed libertarian views, 20% expressed communitarian views and 28% expressed liberal views. The margin of error was ±3.[17]
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Brian Patrick Mitchell, who uses a different political taxonomy, cites these points of disagreement:[18]
Similar criticisms, but from a libertarian perspective, are leveled byJacob Huebert,[19] who adds that the separation of personal and economic liberty is untenable when one considers the rights toprostitute oneself and todeal drugs, both of which are libertarian causes: adopting either profession is a personal (moral) as well as an economic decision. Also, Huebert notes that it is unclear where in the Nolan chart libertarian opposition to war belongs.
The libertarian response to these criticisms is that the issues are presented in a specific frame of reference by the political factions consistent with the chart. Free immigration is typically viewed as a personal liberty issue, so it is favored by those on the political left.[20] Drug legalization is framed as a personal rights issue, so it tends to be favored by the left.[21]War is viewed as a destruction of both society[22] and the economy.[23]
Some commentators have accepted Nolan's use of two axes of personal and economic freedom, but have argued that he either didn't go far enough or that the Nolan Chart can be used to demonstrate the validity of other ideologies. For example,Kelley L. Ross, a libertarian former philosophy professor who ran for California State Assembly in 1996,[24] contends that a third axis of political liberty is required to make the chart more meaningful.[25] On the other hand,Owen Prell, a founding member ofUnite America, formerlyThe Centrist Project,[26] contends that the Nolan Chart is a definite improvement on the more primitive single-axis left-right political continuum, but that it better serves the cause of politicalcentrism.[27][28]
Several popular online tests, where individuals can self-identify their political values, utilize the same two axes as the Nolan Chart without attribution, includingThe Political Compass, iSideWith.com and MapMyPolitics.org.[29]
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