Atlas / Comparisons / Islamic State vs National Socialism
Islamic State and National Socialism
Measured distance across six axes
Effectively the same position. They agree within three points on EC, CU, AU, SC, ID, CH. No axis separates them by eight points or more.
Axis by axis
| Axis | ISIS / Daesh | NSDAP | Gap | Reading | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| EC · Economic organisation | +01 | +02 | 1 | Agrees | Effectively the same position. Not what an argument between them is about. |
| CU · Social and cultural order | +10 | +09 | 1 | Agrees | Effectively the same position. Not what an argument between them is about. |
| AU · Organisation of power | +10 | +10 | 0 | Agrees | Effectively the same position. Not what an argument between them is about. |
| SC · Scale of decision | +09 | +09 | 0 | Agrees | Effectively the same position. Not what an argument between them is about. |
| ID · Rule of membership | +10 | +10 | 0 | Agrees | Effectively the same position. Not what an argument between them is about. |
| CH · Method and tempo | +10 | +09 | 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.
ISIS / Daesh · EC +01
Coded +1: extraction and extortion with no productive programme.
- ScholarshipRevenue came from oil sales, taxation of captured populations, looting and ransom.
NSDAP · EC +02
Ownership stayed private and was pushed further private, while allocation was directed by the state for rearmament. That combination sits just right of the midpoint, not at either pole.
- Programme textThe 1920 twenty-five point programme demanded nationalisation of trusts, profit-sharing and land expropriation without compensation.
- Documented act or statuteHitler declared the programme unalterable in 1926 and none of its collectivist points were enacted.
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.
Islamic State
2013– · Iraq, Syria
Restoration of a universal caliphate through mass violence, with obligatory allegiance and death for dissent.
National Socialism
1920–1945 · Germany
A racially defined national community, hierarchy by blood, conquest of living space, extermination of designated enemies.
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