Atlas / Comparisons / Castroism vs Minarchist Libertarianism
Castroism and Minarchist Libertarianism
Measured distance across six axes
Opposite ends of the recorded space. They agree within three points on CU. They diverge by eight points or more on EC, AU, SC, CH.
Axis by axis
| Axis | Cuban Communism | Nozick, LP | Gap | Reading | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| EC · Economic organisation | −09 | +10 | 19 | Diverges | Carries the disagreement. Any claim that these two are alike has to explain this. |
| CU · Social and cultural order | −01 | −03 | 2 | Agrees | Effectively the same position. Not what an argument between them is about. |
| AU · Organisation of power | +09 | −08 | 17 | Diverges | Carries the disagreement. Any claim that these two are alike has to explain this. |
| SC · Scale of decision | +09 | −07 | 16 | Diverges | Carries the disagreement. Any claim that these two are alike has to explain this. |
| ID · Rule of membership | 00 | −04 | 4 | Differs | Real difference, but not the dividing line. |
| CH · Method and tempo | +07 | −03 | 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.
Cuban Communism · EC −09
Coded −9: state ownership of nearly all production with limited private licences since 2011.
- Documented act or statuteAround 500 categories of self-employment were legalised from 2011 and expanded in 2021.
Nozick, LP · EC +10
At the market pole: police, courts and defence only.
- Programme textNozick's Anarchy, State, and Utopia (1974) derives a night-watchman state and no more.
Cuban Communism · AU +09
Coded +9: a single legal party with no competing candidates.
- Documented act or statuteThe constitution names the Communist Party the superior guiding force of society and the state.
Nozick, LP · AU −08
Coded −8: strict constitutional limits and civil liberties.
- Programme textThe US party platform has opposed surveillance, conscription and drug prohibition since 1972.
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.
Castroism
1959– · Cuba
Anti-imperial national sovereignty plus socialist transformation, led by a guerrilla-derived party-state.
Minarchist Libertarianism
1971– · United States, worldwide
A night-watchman state limited to police, courts and defence; maximum personal and economic freedom otherwise.
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