Atlas / Comparisons / Anarcho-Capitalism vs Bukelismo
Anarcho-Capitalism and Bukelismo
Measured distance across six axes
Opposed programmes with little shared ground. They agree within three points on CH. They diverge by eight points or more on AU, SC.
Axis by axis
| Axis | Rothbard | Nuevas Ideas | Gap | Reading | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| EC · Economic organisation | +10 | +05 | 5 | Differs | Real difference, but not the dividing line. |
| CU · Social and cultural order | +01 | +06 | 5 | Differs | Real difference, but not the dividing line. |
| AU · Organisation of power | −10 | +08 | 18 | Diverges | Carries the disagreement. Any claim that these two are alike has to explain this. |
| SC · Scale of decision | −10 | +06 | 16 | Diverges | Carries the disagreement. Any claim that these two are alike has to explain this. |
| ID · Rule of membership | −02 | +03 | 5 | Differs | Real difference, but not the dividing line. |
| CH · Method and tempo | +03 | +02 | 1 | 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.
Rothbard · AU −10
At the floor with anarcho-communism, from the opposite economic pole. The pairing is the strongest single refutation of the one-dimensional model.
- Comparative datasetBoth traditions reject the state as such; they differ by nineteen points on the economic axis.
Nuevas Ideas · AU +08
Elected with very high approval, and the constraints on the office removed one by one.
- Documented act or statuteThe legislature removed the constitutional chamber judges and the attorney general in May 2021.
- Documented act or statuteThe reconstituted court then permitted consecutive re-election despite an explicit constitutional prohibition.
Rothbard · SC −10
At the floor with anarcho-communism: no unit above voluntary association.
- Programme textDefence, adjudication and law are supplied by competing firms serving individual clients.
Nuevas Ideas · SC +06
Coded +6: municipalities consolidated from 262 to 44 in 2023.
- Documented act or statuteThe municipal reorganisation was passed months before local elections and reduced opposition-held territory.
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.
Anarcho-Capitalism
1970– · United States
All state functions including courts, police and defence should be supplied competitively on the market; taxation is theft.
Bukelismo
2019– · El Salvador
Mass incarceration of suspected gang members under a permanent state of exception, sold as the trade of civil liberties for physical safety.
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.
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