Atlas / Comparisons / American Fusionist Conservatism vs Putinism
American Fusionist Conservatism and Putinism
Measured distance across six axes
Opposed programmes with little shared ground. They agree within three points on CU, CH. They diverge by eight points or more on AU, SC.
Axis by axis
| Axis | Buckley, Meyer | United Russia, sovereign democracy | Gap | Reading | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| EC · Economic organisation | +08 | +03 | 5 | Differs | Real difference, but not the dividing line. |
| CU · Social and cultural order | +06 | +09 | 3 | Agrees | Effectively the same position. Not what an argument between them is about. |
| 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 | +08 | 5 | Differs | Real difference, but not the dividing line. |
| CH · Method and tempo | −06 | −03 | 3 | 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.
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.
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.
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.
United Russia, sovereign democracy · SC +09
Coded +9: elected governors replaced by appointment, and the federal structure hollowed out.
- Documented act or statuteDirect gubernatorial elections were abolished in 2004 and restored in constrained form in 2012.
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.
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