Atlas / Comparisons / Classical Liberalism vs Putinism
Classical Liberalism and Putinism
Measured distance across six axes
Opposed programmes with little shared ground. They agree within three points on CH. They diverge by eight points or more on CU, AU, SC, ID.
Axis by axis
| Axis | Manchester School | United Russia, sovereign democracy | Gap | Reading | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| EC · Economic organisation | +09 | +03 | 6 | Differs | Real difference, but not the dividing line. |
| 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 | +09 | 12 | Diverges | Carries the disagreement. Any claim that these two are alike has to explain this. |
| ID · Rule of membership | −03 | +08 | 11 | Diverges | Carries the disagreement. Any claim that these two are alike has to explain this. |
| CH · Method and tempo | −04 | −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.
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.
United Russia, sovereign democracy · CU +09
Coded +9: traditional values written into the constitution and enforced by criminal law.
- Documented act or statuteThe 2020 amendments defined marriage as a union of a man and a woman and invoked faith in God and historical truth.
- Documented act or statuteThe 'international LGBT movement' was designated extremist by the supreme court in 2023.
Manchester School · AU −07
Coded −7: constitutional limitation as the school's founding commitment.
- Programme textWealth of Nations and On Liberty both treat concentrated authority as the standing danger.
United Russia, sovereign democracy · AU +10
At the ceiling. Term limits reset, opposition candidates barred, imprisoned or dead.
- Documented act or statuteThe 2020 constitutional amendments reset the presidential term count to zero.
- Documented act or statuteIndependent media were designated foreign agents or closed; the last major independent broadcaster closed in 2022.
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.
Putinism
2000– · Russia
A strong personalised state restoring great-power status, with traditional values against a decadent West.
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