Atlas / Comparisons / Minarchist Libertarianism vs Pinochet Regime

Minarchist Libertarianism and Pinochet Regime

Measured distance across six axes

27.8 / 49.0 possible

Opposed programmes with little shared ground. They agree within three points on EC. They diverge by eight points or more on CU, AU, SC, ID.

Axis by axis

AxisNozick, LPPinochet RegimeGapReading
EC · Economic organisation+10+091AgreesEffectively the same position. Not what an argument between them is about.
CU · Social and cultural order−03+0811DivergesCarries the disagreement. Any claim that these two are alike has to explain this.
AU · Organisation of power−08+1018DivergesCarries the disagreement. Any claim that these two are alike has to explain this.
SC · Scale of decision−07+0714DivergesCarries the disagreement. Any claim that these two are alike has to explain this.
ID · Rule of membership−04+059DivergesCarries the disagreement. Any claim that these two are alike has to explain this.
CH · Method and tempo−03+047DiffersReal 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.

Nozick, LP · CU −03

Coded −3: socially permissive by construction.

  • Programme textUS Libertarian Party platform has supported drug legalisation, same-sex marriage and free expression since the 1970s.

Pinochet Regime · CU +08

Social order restored by decree alongside the economic liberalisation.

  • Documented act or statuteThe 1980 constitution was drafted by an appointed commission and ratified under a state of siege with no electoral register.
  • Documented act or statuteAbortion, legal in some circumstances since 1931, was banned outright in 1989.

Nozick, LP · AU −08

Coded −8: strict constitutional limits and civil liberties.

  • Programme textThe US party platform has opposed surveillance, conscription and drug prohibition since 1972.

Pinochet Regime · AU +10

At the ceiling. Congress dissolved, parties banned, opposition disappeared.

  • Documented act or statuteCongress was dissolved and parties banned by decree after the September 1973 coup.
  • Documented act or statuteThe Rettig and Valech commissions documented over three thousand killed or disappeared and tens of thousands tortured.

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.

Minarchist Libertarianism

1971– · United States, worldwide

A night-watchman state limited to police, courts and defence; maximum personal and economic freedom otherwise.

Pinochet Regime

1973–1990 · Chile

Free-market restructuring imposed by a military junta after the violent overthrow of an elected government.

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