Atlas / Comparisons / Juche vs Thatcherism
Juche and Thatcherism
Measured distance across six axes
Opposed programmes with little shared ground. They agree within three points on CU. They diverge by eight points or more on EC, AU.
Axis by axis
| Axis | Kimilsungism | Thatcherism | Gap | Reading | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| EC · Economic organisation | −10 | +09 | 19 | Diverges | Carries the disagreement. Any claim that these two are alike has to explain this. |
| CU · Social and cultural order | +09 | +06 | 3 | Agrees | Effectively the same position. Not what an argument between them is about. |
| AU · Organisation of power | +10 | +02 | 8 | Diverges | Carries the disagreement. Any claim that these two are alike has to explain this. |
| SC · Scale of decision | +10 | +05 | 5 | Differs | Real difference, but not the dividing line. |
| ID · Rule of membership | +10 | +03 | 7 | Differs | Real difference, but not the dividing line. |
| CH · Method and tempo | −02 | +03 | 5 | Differs | Real difference, but not the dividing line. |
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.
Kimilsungism · EC −10
At the floor. State ownership of everything, with unofficial markets tolerated because the ration system failed.
- ScholarshipThe public distribution system collapsed during the 1994–98 famine; jangmadang markets emerged and are now taxed rather than suppressed.
Thatcherism · EC +09
Deep privatisation and financial deregulation places this near the market pole.
- Documented act or statuteTelecoms, gas, water, electricity, steel and airports were sold between 1984 and 1990.
- Documented act or statuteCouncil housing was sold to tenants at statutory discounts from 1980.
Kimilsungism · AU +10
At the ceiling with hereditary succession, which no other communist state institutionalised.
- Documented act or statuteThree hereditary successions since 1948.
- Documented act or statuteThe songbun system assigns life chances by inherited political classification.
Thatcherism · AU +02
Coded +2: parliamentary throughout, with a sharply strengthened central executive.
- Documented act or statuteTrade union legislation between 1980 and 1990 progressively restricted secondary action and required ballots.
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.
Juche
1955– · North Korea
National self-reliance under a hereditary leader treated as the source of all social life; military-first priority.
Thatcherism
1979–1990 · Britain
Roll back the state, break union power, sell public assets, restore the authority of law, order and family.
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