All Questions
53 questions
21
votes
4
answers
10k
views
What are the main differences between different types of Marxism?
Socialism, Communism, Marxism, Leninism, Stalinism, Maoism, etc are different political idioms with some similarities in ideology. But my question is about their differences:
Question: What are the ...
user2265
20
votes
8
answers
14k
views
Was Hitler's regime a right-wing regime?
Left- and right-wing ideologies seem to change over time.
From what I've read so far, the Nazi regime was considered a right-wing party at that time by the people who voted it.
But currently, right-...
- 989
5
votes
10
answers
25k
views
Is fascism left or right wing?
With the rise of some groups claiming to fight fascism, and other groups claiming the ones claiming to fight fascism are the fascists, I was reading about fascism in Wikipedia. There fascism is ...
- 2,449
34
votes
8
answers
11k
views
Why does the left side with the Palestinians?
The Western moderate left is associated with certain values, in no particular order and with no claim of completeness or nuance: social mobility, personal freedom, safety net, secularism, humanism, ...
- 1,971
9
votes
1
answer
933
views
What's the difference between Cooperativism, Market Socialism, and Syndicalism?
What's the difference between Cooperativism (the replacing of Capitalist firms with worker co-ops like Mondragon), Market Socialism, and Syndicalism? Given that they're all systems where workers ...
- 3,493
25
votes
7
answers
8k
views
How do politicians on the Left side of the political spectrum reconcile the need to protect workers with the support for immigration?
As far as I understand, politicians on the Left side of the spectrum generally support increased welfare, strong regulation for workers rights, high minimum wage, etc. At the same time, many Left-wing ...
- 51.2k
19
votes
11
answers
37k
views
Shouldn't anarchism be far-right, since right-wing politics opposes "big government"?
Shouldn't anarchism be far-right, since right-wing politics opposes "big government" and favours less government influence? Anarchism has basically no government influence, so shouldn't it be the most ...
- 2,993
18
votes
6
answers
3k
views
Why don't many of the Republicans in the House and Senate believe in climate change?
In their foundations, they support the laissez faire (economics) but they don't accept the green economy. Are there any logical reasons of why most Republicans (not all) refuse to acknowledge climate ...
- 567
7
votes
9
answers
6k
views
Are "left leaning" and "liberal" the same?
In the recent James Damore Google memo he says
Google leans toward left and that 'political orientation is actually a result of deep moral preferences and thus biases.'
The question is "is left ...
user16233
6
votes
6
answers
2k
views
What are some criticisms of communism/socialism from a left wing perspective?
Typically, socialism and communism are criticized from a right wing perspective but I was curious on some left-wing critiques of socialism/communism. One source I found states
Since the split of the ...
- 459
30
votes
3
answers
7k
views
What caused a massive shift in Republican ideological trajectories in the late '70s?
On a post on Skeptics.SE I saw recently, there was a chart showing the ideological position of the political parties over time:
(source)
As you can see, both parties were drifting more liberal ...
- 368
27
votes
4
answers
5k
views
What is gerrymandering called if it's not the result of redrawing districts?
The result of gerrymandering is a set of voting districts that are not representative of the overall ideology of a larger region. Gerrymandering refers specifically to obtaining that result by ...
- 405
20
votes
8
answers
15k
views
How did the term "Liberal" become "Progressive"?
Democrats and similar left affiliations used to be known universally as liberals. In recent years, I've heard them referred to as progressives.
Why the change?
Are liberals and progressives ...
- 311
15
votes
6
answers
3k
views
What is the 'Alt-Right'?
Recently, Clinton gave a speech in which she claimed that the majority of Trump supporters were young, tech-savvy, enthusiastic, radically right-wing individuals who have taken over the Republican ...
- 763
11
votes
5
answers
1k
views
Have Democrats gotten more liberal?
I'm a bit surprised by this Brookings Institute report on polarity showing Democrats becoming more liberal, though at one fourth the rate at which Republicans are becoming more conservative.
The ...
- 273
10
votes
2
answers
1k
views
Do people self-identify as "cultural Marxist"?
The term "cultural Marxist" has been used extensively in derogatory ways towards leftist political activists, thinkers and movement. Famously, the Norwegian terrorist Anders Behring Breivig used the ...
- 251
10
votes
5
answers
7k
views
Why free-market capitalism has become more associated to the right than to the left, to which it originally belonged?
If I am not mistaken, classical liberalism, among which economic liberalism (laissez-faire), was at the beginning supported by the left (Benjamin Constant 1767-1830, Alexis de Tocqueville 1805-1859, ...
- 1,489
10
votes
4
answers
1k
views
Why are PiS and Fidesz split over Russia (and Ukraine)?
Apparently formalizing an (EP) alliance between Poland's ruling party PiS and Hungary's ruling part Fidesz, despite numerous ideological similarities, might be held back by differences over Russia and ...
8
votes
3
answers
6k
views
Is Libertarianism for or against antitrust laws?
In general, is Libertarian ideology for or against the idea of the antitrust law?
- 3,493
7
votes
2
answers
1k
views
Are party fractionalization and ideological polarization independent (uncorrelated)?
A bold finding of a 2008 study by Russell J. Dalton is that--across the world--party fractionalization (roughly: how many parties there are in a country's legislative bodies, technically the ...
5
votes
2
answers
911
views
How to find out whether you're on the left or right?
According to this test, I'm a center-left libertarian. Is this accurate? Do you know any other methods?
- 989
78
votes
5
answers
14k
views
Is there a push, in the United States, to use gender-neutral language and gender pronouns (when they are given)?
I have just read a tiny fraction of a huge amount of content generated by the apparent abusive dismissal of an important moderator from the Stack Exchange network.
An answer that tries to explain one ...
- 53.5k
77
votes
19
answers
31k
views
In the US why is nationalism equated with racism?
From Wikipedia:
There are various definitions for what constitutes a nation, however, which leads to several different strands of nationalism. It can be a belief that citizenship in a state should ...
- 3,964
69
votes
9
answers
16k
views
Are there any major left-wing conspiracy theories in the USA?
Related: Why does it seem like US conspiracy theorists are overwhelmingly Republican-oriented?
The question above explores potential reasons why belief in conspiracy theories is more common among the ...
- 2,773
58
votes
22
answers
34k
views
Is Communism intrinsically authoritarian?
As a consequence of the recent developments in China, I’ve heard a lot of commentary which characterises authoritarianism as an inevitable consequence of a Communist state.
How true is this statement?...
CDJB♦
- 109k
58
votes
8
answers
25k
views
What is the Alt-Left?
What is the Alt-Left and how different are they from the Far-Left or Ultra-Left?
Are they similar to the Alt-Right in any way?
- 895
43
votes
15
answers
15k
views
Why does the U.S. left-wing party hate being called "socialist", but in France the left-wing party proudly calls itself "the Socialist Party"?
Why does the main left-wing party in the United States (the Democratic Party) hate being called "socialist", but in France the main left-wing party proudly calls itself "the Socialist Party"?
- 926
41
votes
9
answers
14k
views
What is the difference between totalitarianism and authoritarianism?
Both ideologies seem to have a dictatorship-like system of governance, no tolerance of dissenting opinions, and an executive which holds absolute power.
What is the difference between these two ...
CDJB♦
- 109k
34
votes
12
answers
11k
views
Is there a term for someone whose preferred policies are a mix of left and right?
I, um, know a guy, 'Bob'.
Bob is in favor of social safety nets and LGBTQ rights (leftist).
Bob is also very pro-capitalism and in favor of gun rights (rightist).
We have terms in the political ...
- 8,706
26
votes
14
answers
28k
views
Is Libertarianism left wing or right wing?
In my country, libertarianism is associated with a pure right political ideology. They held more right wing positions than those who are elected and refered to as "right", or even "far right". For ...
- 2,449
24
votes
2
answers
2k
views
(Why) does the US left promote federal powers over state powers?
This comment states that the modern left is often promoting federal powers over state powers.
I assume that the comment relates to the United States. It surprises me, because in (northern) Europe, ...
- 49.3k
23
votes
15
answers
10k
views
Why do the right claim that Hitler was left-wing? [closed]
This is taken from a speech by Adolf Hitler, April 12, 1921:
There are only two possibilities in Germany; do not imagine that the people will forever go with the middle party, the party of ...
21
votes
9
answers
5k
views
What are major reasons why Republicans support the death penalty?
Polls (in 2015 and 2019 by Pew Research Center) suggest that more Republicans in the United States favor the death penalty compared to Democrats. This was surprising to me, because I thought ...
- 607
21
votes
3
answers
5k
views
What is Iran's long-term objective in the Middle East?
Is it Iran's objective to
change the total Western-led order in the Middle East so that Iran doesn't have to live under sanctions?
create a sovereign Palestinian state?
root out Israel?
take ...
- 19k
19
votes
8
answers
8k
views
What do woke and cancel groups call themselves?
I'm aware of "woke" and "cancel culture" being used by conservatives as pejorative terms and by others as non-pejorative attempts to describe the visible trend of fierce protest ...
user45152
17
votes
1
answer
2k
views
What exactly are Donald Trump's views on "small government"?
A large fraction in Republican Party in US is what's known as "small government" faction. Their guiding ideological principle is to reduce the size and/or power of Federal government (and they ...
- 93.3k
14
votes
7
answers
6k
views
Why did the leftists usually win in the media front and education system?
I recently read that less than 3% of Ivy League professors (from Harvard and Yale) are conservative; the vast majority are liberal or very liberal. Also, most influential media are left-leaning. There ...
- 438
14
votes
1
answer
2k
views
Is there truly *widespread belief* in North Korea that Kim-il Sung created the world?
The wikipedia article on North Korea's cult of personality claims "There is even widespread belief that Kim-il Sung "created the world" and that Kim Jong-il controlled the weather." The linked ...
- 141
12
votes
7
answers
4k
views
Why do Communist states (e.g. USSR, China) oppose religion so much?
Why did both communist people and Communist states oppose religion so much, sometimes with violence and arson. There are many other secular non-Communist states in the world that do not have such a ...
- 2,993
12
votes
4
answers
7k
views
In Communism, what happens to property rights?
Picking up on a question that was posted here, it said that in Communism
a home that one built could be reapportioned to someone by the vote of a majority
It seems to me that this isn't a fair ...
user15497
11
votes
7
answers
10k
views
What is the difference between libertarianism and anarchism?
For some time now, I have studied Anarchism, Marxism and Left Communism. There seem to be particular ideologies like "Libertarian Socialism", "Anarcho-Communism" and "Anarcho-...
- 895
9
votes
4
answers
990
views
What is ISIS fighting for?
I can't find anything on the subject that isn't extremely biased in either direction... Can anyone give me a down to earth answer to what ISIS's ideology is, what exactly are they fighting for? They ...
9
votes
7
answers
1k
views
Interpretation of "right" and "left" [duplicate]
I have heard words like "this party is left" and "this party is right wing" being thrown about, but many people (including me) don't know exactly how to interpret "right" ...
- 133
7
votes
7
answers
6k
views
Why are American liberals more prone to in-fighting than conservatives? [closed]
In America at least, there tends to be far less unity within liberal factions when compared to conservative ones. One just has to point to the last few presidential elections.
2008:
There was a ...
- 333
5
votes
3
answers
757
views
Who are modern ideologues/philosophers of Communism and how do they interpret Marx?
Communism remains a popular belief^1, despite the dismal performance of the Communist states in terms of public prosperity and human rights.^2 As far as I can judge, there are three currents in ...
4
votes
6
answers
1k
views
Why is the left/right spectrum defined so ambiguously? (Europe)
I am currently in Germany so my views are from an European perspective. I never could quite comprehend how the definitions of "left" and "right" are used here.
Right seems to be ...
2
votes
2
answers
460
views
Can these specific American news organizations be respectfully classified as either right- or left-leaning? [closed]
My friend (a foreigner) was trying to get his bearings as to the American media and our politics, and I would like to responsibly (and from a neutral stance) introduce him to our news outlets. However,...
2
votes
3
answers
926
views
Have the Republican and Democratic parties "swapped places" in some ways?
I was just reading about the left-right political spectrum and that reminded me: I once read that the Democratic and Republic parties, over time, have swapped places in some way, so that the ...
- 1,487
2
votes
2
answers
138
views
Is there a consistent difference in economic policies between Iranian principlists and reformists?
While reformists and principlists/conservatives in Iran are often contrasted in terms of their social views, is there a consistent distinction between the groups in terms of economic policies they ...
0
votes
3
answers
722
views
How did there come to be a range of definitions of socialism?
Introduction
Socialism seems to have many definitions, and we sometimes come across arguments and discussions based on different definitions on this site as well. For example, user4012 stated on meta:...
JJJ♦
- 39.7k