Atlas / Comparisons / American Fusionist Conservatism vs Islamic State
American Fusionist Conservatism and Islamic State
Measured distance across six axes
Opposed programmes with little shared ground. No axis places them within three points of each other. They diverge by eight points or more on AU, SC, CH.
Axis by axis
| Axis | Buckley, Meyer | ISIS / Daesh | Gap | Reading | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| EC · Economic organisation | +08 | +01 | 7 | Differs | Real difference, but not the dividing line. |
| CU · Social and cultural order | +06 | +10 | 4 | Differs | Real difference, but not the dividing line. |
| AU · Organisation of power | −04 | +10 | 14 | Diverges | Carries the disagreement. Any claim that these two are alike has to explain this. |
| SC · Scale of decision | −04 | +09 | 13 | Diverges | Carries the disagreement. Any claim that these two are alike has to explain this. |
| ID · Rule of membership | +03 | +10 | 7 | Differs | Real difference, but not the dividing line. |
| CH · Method and tempo | −06 | +10 | 16 | 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.
Buckley, Meyer · AU −04
Coded −4: constitutional originalism and limited federal power.
- Documented act or statuteThe Federalist Society, founded 1982, made originalism the movement's judicial method.
ISIS / Daesh · AU +10
At the ceiling: absolute clerical-military command with no institution outside it.
- Programme textA caliphate was declared in 2014 requiring the allegiance of all Muslims on pain of death.
Buckley, Meyer · SC −04
Coded −4: federalism domestically, and interventionism abroad.
- ScholarshipThe tension between limited government at home and global containment abroad was never resolved.
ISIS / Daesh · SC +09
Coded +9: a caliphate claiming authority over all Muslims everywhere.
- Programme textThe 2014 declaration nullified the legitimacy of all other governments and organisations.
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.
American Fusionist Conservatism
1955–2000 · United States
Free markets, traditional morality and anti-communism fused into one movement; liberty as the political means to a virtuous end.
Islamic State
2013– · Iraq, Syria
Restoration of a universal caliphate through mass violence, with obligatory allegiance and death for dissent.
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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