Atlas / Comparisons / Pinochet Regime vs Thatcherism
Pinochet Regime and Thatcherism
Measured distance across six axes
The same broad family. They agree within three points on EC, CU, SC, ID, CH. They diverge by eight points or more on AU.
Axis by axis
| Axis | Pinochet Regime | Thatcherism | Gap | Reading | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| EC · Economic organisation | +09 | +09 | 0 | Agrees | Effectively the same position. Not what an argument between them is about. |
| CU · Social and cultural order | +08 | +06 | 2 | 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 | +07 | +05 | 2 | Agrees | Effectively the same position. Not what an argument between them is about. |
| ID · Rule of membership | +05 | +03 | 2 | Agrees | Effectively the same position. Not what an argument between them is about. |
| CH · Method and tempo | +04 | +03 | 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.
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.
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.
Pinochet Regime
1973–1990 · Chile
Free-market restructuring imposed by a military junta after the violent overthrow of an elected government.
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