Atlas / Comparisons / Apartheid Nationalism vs Thatcherism
Apartheid Nationalism and Thatcherism
Measured distance across six axes
Different families with real common ground. They agree within three points on SC, CH. They diverge by eight points or more on EC.
Axis by axis
| Axis | National Party | Thatcherism | Gap | Reading | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| EC · Economic organisation | 00 | +09 | 9 | Diverges | Carries the disagreement. Any claim that these two are alike has to explain this. |
| CU · Social and cultural order | +10 | +06 | 4 | Differs | Real difference, but not the dividing line. |
| AU · Organisation of power | +07 | +02 | 5 | Differs | Real difference, but not the dividing line. |
| SC · Scale of decision | +07 | +05 | 2 | Agrees | Effectively the same position. Not what an argument between them is about. |
| ID · Rule of membership | +10 | +03 | 7 | Differs | Real difference, but not the dividing line. |
| CH · Method and tempo | +02 | +03 | 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.
National Party · EC 00
Coded at the centre, which surprises people in both directions: extensive state ownership and racially reserved employment inside a capitalist economy.
- Documented act or statuteState corporations dominated steel, electricity, transport, oil and armaments.
- Documented act or statuteJob reservation statutes reserved skilled categories for white workers until the 1980s.
Thatcherism · EC +09
Deep privatisation and financial deregulation places this near the market pole.
- Documented act or statuteTelecoms, gas, water, electricity, steel and airports were sold between 1984 and 1990.
- Documented act or statuteCouncil housing was sold to tenants at statutory discounts from 1980.
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.
Apartheid Nationalism
1948–1994 · South Africa
Permanent legal separation of racial groups with political rights reserved to one of them.
Thatcherism
1979–1990 · Britain
Roll back the state, break union power, sell public assets, restore the authority of law, order and family.
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