Atlas / Comparisons / Apartheid Nationalism vs UK Labour Party
Apartheid Nationalism and UK Labour Party
Measured distance across six axes
Opposed programmes with little shared ground. They agree within three points on EC. They diverge by eight points or more on CU, AU, ID, CH.
Axis by axis
| Axis | National Party | UK Labour Party | Gap | Reading | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| EC · Economic organisation | 00 | −03 | 3 | Agrees | Effectively the same position. Not what an argument between them is about. |
| CU · Social and cultural order | +10 | −05 | 15 | Diverges | Carries the disagreement. Any claim that these two are alike has to explain this. |
| AU · Organisation of power | +07 | −03 | 10 | Diverges | Carries the disagreement. Any claim that these two are alike has to explain this. |
| SC · Scale of decision | +07 | +03 | 4 | Differs | Real difference, but not the dividing line. |
| ID · Rule of membership | +10 | −05 | 15 | Diverges | Carries the disagreement. Any claim that these two are alike has to explain this. |
| CH · Method and tempo | +02 | −08 | 10 | Diverges | Carries the disagreement. Any claim that these two are alike has to explain this. |
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 · CU +10
At the ceiling: racial classification governed marriage, residence, education and public space by statute.
- Documented act or statuteThe Immorality and Mixed Marriages Acts criminalised interracial relationships from 1949.
- Documented act or statuteBantu Education from 1953 prescribed a separate and explicitly inferior curriculum.
UK Labour Party · CU −05
Coded −5: liberal on social questions with recent qualification on gender recognition.
- Documented act or statuteIntroduced civil partnerships in 2004 and the Equality Act in 2010; equal marriage passed in 2013 with its support.
National Party · AU +07
Coded +7 rather than at the ceiling: a genuinely competitive parliament existed for the enfranchised minority.
- Documented act or statuteElections were contested and the governing party faced real parliamentary opposition throughout.
- Documented act or statuteStates of emergency from 1985 permitted detention without trial and press censorship for the majority.
UK Labour Party · AU −03
Coded −3: constitutional in method with a centralising executive record in office.
- Documented act or statuteDevolution to Scotland, Wales and London was created by the 1997 government.
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.
UK Labour Party
1900– · Britain
Growth first, public service investment, workers' rights, stability and fiscal credibility.
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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