Atlas / Comparisons / Putinism vs US Republican Party
Putinism and US Republican Party
Measured distance across six axes
Different families with real common ground. They agree within three points on EC, CU, CH. They diverge by eight points or more on SC.
Axis by axis
| Axis | United Russia, sovereign democracy | GOP | Gap | Reading | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| EC · Economic organisation | +03 | +06 | 3 | Agrees | Effectively the same position. Not what an argument between them is about. |
| 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 | +03 | 7 | Differs | Real difference, but not the dividing line. |
| SC · Scale of decision | +09 | 00 | 9 | Diverges | Carries the disagreement. Any claim that these two are alike has to explain this. |
| ID · Rule of membership | +08 | +04 | 4 | Differs | Real difference, but not the dividing line. |
| CH · Method and tempo | −03 | −03 | 0 | 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.
United Russia, sovereign democracy · SC +09
Coded +9: elected governors replaced by appointment, and the federal structure hollowed out.
- Documented act or statuteDirect gubernatorial elections were abolished in 2004 and restored in constrained form in 2012.
GOP · SC 00
Coded at zero: federalist in doctrine and centralising in practice on the issues it prioritises.
- Programme textStates' rights invoked on education and health, while federal preemption is sought on immigration enforcement and energy permitting.
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.
Putinism
2000– · Russia
A strong personalised state restoring great-power status, with traditional values against a decadent West.
US Republican Party
1854– · United States
Limited federal government, lower taxes, strong defence, religious and family traditionalism, gun rights.
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