Atlas / Comparisons / Khomeinism vs UK Conservative Party
Khomeinism and UK Conservative Party
Measured distance across six axes
Different families with real common ground. No axis places them within three points of each other. They diverge by eight points or more on EC, CH.
Axis by axis
| Axis | Velayat-e faqih | Tories | Gap | Reading | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| EC · Economic organisation | −03 | +06 | 9 | Diverges | Carries the disagreement. Any claim that these two are alike has to explain this. |
| CU · Social and cultural order | +10 | +05 | 5 | Differs | Real difference, but not the dividing line. |
| AU · Organisation of power | +09 | +02 | 7 | Differs | Real difference, but not the dividing line. |
| SC · Scale of decision | +08 | +03 | 5 | Differs | Real difference, but not the dividing line. |
| ID · Rule of membership | +09 | +03 | 6 | Differs | Real difference, but not the dividing line. |
| CH · Method and tempo | +07 | −05 | 12 | 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.
Velayat-e faqih · EC −03
Coded −3: very large state and foundation ownership alongside a private bazaar economy.
- Documented act or statuteThe bonyad religious foundations control a substantial share of non-oil GDP and report to the supreme leader.
Tories · EC +06
Coded +6 today. The same party in 1975 supported nationalised rail, coal, steel and utilities and would have been coded near −2.
- Documented act or statutePrivatisation of telecoms, gas, water, electricity and rail between 1984 and 1996.
- Programme textThe 1970 and February 1974 manifestos accepted the nationalised industries as settled.
Velayat-e faqih · CH +07
Coded +7: founded in revolution and sustained by an armed body outside the ordinary state.
- Documented act or statuteThe Revolutionary Guard was created in 1979 as a parallel force answerable to the supreme leader.
Tories · CH −05
Coded −5: incremental by disposition, with Brexit as a deliberate discontinuity achieved by referendum.
- Documented act or statuteEU withdrawal was pursued through referendum, legislation and treaty rather than outside them.
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.
Khomeinism
1979– · Iran
Guardianship of the jurist: sovereignty belongs to God and is exercised by a supreme clerical authority over an elected government.
UK Conservative Party
1834– · Britain
Fiscal restraint, national sovereignty, property ownership, controlled migration, gradualism.
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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