Atlas / Comparisons / AKP vs Putinism
AKP and Putinism
Measured distance across six axes
Effectively the same position. They agree within three points on EC, CU, AU, SC, ID, CH. No axis separates them by eight points or more.
Axis by axis
| Axis | Justice and Development Party | United Russia, sovereign democracy | Gap | Reading | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| EC · Economic organisation | +04 | +03 | 1 | Agrees | Effectively the same position. Not what an argument between them is about. |
| CU · Social and cultural order | +08 | +09 | 1 | Agrees | Effectively the same position. Not what an argument between them is about. |
| AU · Organisation of power | +08 | +10 | 2 | Agrees | Effectively the same position. Not what an argument between them is about. |
| SC · Scale of decision | +07 | +09 | 2 | Agrees | Effectively the same position. Not what an argument between them is about. |
| ID · Rule of membership | +06 | +08 | 2 | Agrees | Effectively the same position. Not what an argument between them is about. |
| CH · Method and tempo | −01 | −03 | 2 | Agrees | Effectively the same position. Not what an argument between them is about. |
Each axis runs from −10 to +10; the distance is the straight-line separation across all six at once, out of a maximum of 49.0. How the scoring works →
The evidence behind the widest gaps
A distance figure is worth nothing unless the scores behind it can be checked. These are the artefacts supporting the axes that separate these two most.
Justice and Development Party · AU +08
Constitutional change by referendum plus mass replacement of judiciary and media after 2016.
- Documented act or statuteThe 2017 referendum replaced the parliamentary system with an executive presidency and abolished the office of prime minister.
- Documented act or statuteOver four thousand judges and prosecutors were dismissed after the 2016 coup attempt.
United Russia, sovereign democracy · AU +10
At the ceiling. Term limits reset, opposition candidates barred, imprisoned or dead.
- Documented act or statuteThe 2020 constitutional amendments reset the presidential term count to zero.
- Documented act or statuteIndependent media were designated foreign agents or closed; the last major independent broadcaster closed in 2022.
What this comparison does not establish
Proximity means similarity of stated position. It carries no claim about competence, circumstance, scale of operation, or what either organisation actually did to the people under it. Two organisations can sit close together and produce entirely different histories, because those things are not on any axis and could not be.
AKP
2001– · Turkey
Conservative religious identity, national sovereignty, and a strong presidency claiming direct popular mandate.
Putinism
2000– · Russia
A strong personalised state restoring great-power status, with traditional values against a decadent West.
Distance is not the whole answer. Two organisations can sit the same distance apart for entirely different reasons, and the reason is the content of any claim about them. Open the comparison in the atlas to weight the axes yourself.
Open in the atlas