Atlas / Comparisons / Hamas vs Neoliberalism
Hamas and Neoliberalism
Measured distance across six axes
Opposed programmes with little shared ground. They agree within three points on SC. They diverge by eight points or more on EC, CU, AU, ID, CH.
Axis by axis
| Axis | Hamas | Mont Pèlerin, Chicago | Gap | Reading | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| EC · Economic organisation | −02 | +09 | 11 | Diverges | Carries the disagreement. Any claim that these two are alike has to explain this. |
| CU · Social and cultural order | +09 | +01 | 8 | Diverges | Carries the disagreement. Any claim that these two are alike has to explain this. |
| AU · Organisation of power | +09 | −02 | 11 | Diverges | Carries the disagreement. Any claim that these two are alike has to explain this. |
| SC · Scale of decision | +04 | +02 | 2 | Agrees | Effectively the same position. Not what an argument between them is about. |
| ID · Rule of membership | +09 | −02 | 11 | Diverges | Carries the disagreement. Any claim that these two are alike has to explain this. |
| CH · Method and tempo | +08 | −02 | 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.
Hamas · EC −02
Coded −2: welfare and clinic networks funded externally with no productive programme.
- ScholarshipSocial service networks operate alongside taxation of trade and external transfers.
Mont Pèlerin, Chicago · EC +09
Far market pole on doctrine, with the important caveat that most named exponents rejected pure laissez-faire.
- Programme textThe 1947 Mont Pèlerin statement of aims defends the market order and also the rule of law and a competitive framework.
Hamas · CU +09
At the ceiling: religious authority over social life in the territory it governs.
- Documented act or statuteDress and conduct regulations were imposed in Gaza after 2007.
Mont Pèlerin, Chicago · CU +01
Coded near neutral: the tradition is deliberately agnostic on social questions and its exponents divided sharply.
- ScholarshipHayek and Friedman opposed conscription and drug prohibition; other Mont Pèlerin members were social conservatives.
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.
Hamas
1987– · Gaza, West Bank
Armed Palestinian nationalism in an Islamist frame, rejecting the negotiated framework in favour of resistance.
Neoliberalism
1947– · International
Market competition as the organising principle of policy, insulated from democratic interference by rules and independent institutions.
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