Atlas / Comparisons / Classical Liberalism vs Juche
Classical Liberalism and Juche
Measured distance across six axes
Opposite ends of the recorded space. They agree within three points on CH. They diverge by eight points or more on EC, CU, AU, SC, ID.
Axis by axis
| Axis | Manchester School | Kimilsungism | 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 | −02 | +09 | 11 | Diverges | Carries the disagreement. Any claim that these two are alike has to explain this. |
| AU · Organisation of power | −07 | +10 | 17 | Diverges | Carries the disagreement. Any claim that these two are alike has to explain this. |
| SC · Scale of decision | −03 | +10 | 13 | Diverges | Carries the disagreement. Any claim that these two are alike has to explain this. |
| ID · Rule of membership | −03 | +10 | 13 | Diverges | Carries the disagreement. Any claim that these two are alike has to explain this. |
| CH · Method and tempo | −04 | −02 | 2 | 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.
Manchester School · EC +09
Coded +9: free exchange as the organising principle of policy.
- Documented act or statuteThe Anti-Corn Law League secured repeal in 1846, the defining victory of the school.
Kimilsungism · EC −10
At the floor. State ownership of everything, with unofficial markets tolerated because the ration system failed.
- ScholarshipThe public distribution system collapsed during the 1994–98 famine; jangmadang markets emerged and are now taxed rather than suppressed.
Manchester School · CU −02
Coded −2: religious toleration and legal equality against inherited privilege.
- Programme textMill's On Liberty (1859) sets the harm principle against social as well as legal coercion.
Kimilsungism · CU +09
At the traditional pole: a hereditary leader cult and a hierarchical social order with no autonomous association.
- Programme textThe Ten Principles for the Establishment of the One-Ideology System govern private conduct including speech within families.
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.
Classical Liberalism
1776–1900 · Britain, Europe
Individual liberty, free trade, freedom of contract, religious toleration, constitutional and limited government.
Juche
1955– · North Korea
National self-reliance under a hereditary leader treated as the source of all social life; military-first priority.
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