Atlas / Comparisons / Likud vs US Democratic Party
Likud and US Democratic Party
Measured distance across six axes
Opposed programmes with little shared ground. They agree within three points on SC, CH. They diverge by eight points or more on EC, CU, ID.
Axis by axis
| Axis | Likud | US Democratic Party | Gap | Reading | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| EC · Economic organisation | +06 | −03 | 9 | Diverges | Carries the disagreement. Any claim that these two are alike has to explain this. |
| CU · Social and cultural order | +06 | −05 | 11 | Diverges | Carries the disagreement. Any claim that these two are alike has to explain this. |
| AU · Organisation of power | +05 | −02 | 7 | Differs | Real difference, but not the dividing line. |
| SC · Scale of decision | +03 | +04 | 1 | Agrees | Effectively the same position. Not what an argument between them is about. |
| ID · Rule of membership | +07 | −06 | 13 | Diverges | Carries the disagreement. Any claim that these two are alike has to explain this. |
| CH · Method and tempo | −03 | −06 | 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.
Likud · EC +06
Market-oriented: the 2003 reforms under the current prime minister as finance minister were among the deepest in Israeli history.
- Documented act or statuteThe 2003 emergency economic plan cut transfer payments, raised the retirement age and privatised state holdings.
US Democratic Party · EC −03
Regulated capitalism with subsidised private insurance markets. Well right of any European social democratic party.
- Documented act or statuteThe 2010 Affordable Care Act expanded coverage through subsidised private insurance rather than public provision.
- Documented act or statuteThe 2022 Inflation Reduction Act operates through tax credits to private firms rather than public ownership.
Likud · CU +06
Coded +6: traditionalist coalition politics with a secular liberal party history.
- Documented act or statuteGoverns in coalition with parties committed to religious authority over personal status law.
US Democratic Party · CU −05
Coded −5: the party has moved substantially toward the liberal pole on family and identity questions since 2004.
- Programme textPlatform support for same-sex marriage moved from opposition to endorsement between 2004 and 2012.
- Comparative datasetCHES-equivalent placements put the party well toward the GAL pole relative to European mainstream parties.
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.
Likud
1973– · Israel
Security-first nationalism, settlement of the West Bank, free-market economics, judicial restraint.
US Democratic Party
1828– · United States
Regulated capitalism, expanded health coverage, civil rights, climate action, and defence of existing institutional procedure.
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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