Atlas / Comparisons / Anarcho-Capitalism vs Chavismo
Anarcho-Capitalism and Chavismo
Measured distance across six axes
Opposite ends of the recorded space. They agree within three points on CU, CH. They diverge by eight points or more on EC, AU, SC.
Axis by axis
| Axis | Rothbard | PSUV | Gap | Reading | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| EC · Economic organisation | +10 | −08 | 18 | Diverges | Carries the disagreement. Any claim that these two are alike has to explain this. |
| CU · Social and cultural order | +01 | +02 | 1 | Agrees | Effectively the same position. Not what an argument between them is about. |
| AU · Organisation of power | −10 | +09 | 19 | Diverges | Carries the disagreement. Any claim that these two are alike has to explain this. |
| SC · Scale of decision | −10 | +08 | 18 | 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 | +04 | 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 · EC +10
At the ceiling. Every function including law and defence is to be supplied by contract.
- Programme textRothbard's For a New Liberty treats taxation as theft without qualification and proposes private courts and defence agencies.
PSUV · EC −08
Comprehensive nationalisation across oil, steel, cement, banking, food distribution and land.
- Documented act or statuteOil service, steel, cement and agricultural processing firms were expropriated between 2007 and 2010.
- Documented act or statutePrice and currency controls from 2003 produced shortages and, from 2017, hyperinflation.
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.
PSUV · AU +09
Trajectory rather than starting point. Early elections were genuinely competitive and internationally observed.
- Documented act or statuteThe 2015 opposition legislative majority was superseded by a Constituent Assembly in 2017.
- Documented act or statuteLeading opposition candidates were disqualified from the 2018 and 2024 presidential elections.
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.
Chavismo
1999– · Venezuela
Bolivarian socialism of the twenty-first century, anti-imperialism, popular power organised from above.
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