Atlas / Organisations / Bonapartism
Bonapartism
Caesarism · 1799–1815, 1852–1870 · France · Authoritarian Modernising · Held state power · coding confidence high
Each axis runs from −10 to +10, with zero a genuine mixed or balanced position rather than an absence of opinion. A score describes a stated position and a governing record; it is not a judgement of merit. What each score means →
Core principles
A strongman above parties, legitimated by plebiscite, delivering order, glory and administrative modernity.
Economic model
State-directed capitalism, civil code protecting property, public works, national bank.
Organisation of powers
Plebiscitary executive, rubber-stamp legislature, censored press, prefectural centralisation.
Reading note
The archetype of a regime that is populist in legitimation, modernising in policy and monist in authority — a combination that keeps recurring.
Check a claim about Bonapartism. The interactive atlas measures the distance between any two organisations across all six axes and shows which ones carry the disagreement.
Open in the atlasThe evidence for every score
All six cells are sourced. A rationale explains what the score is measuring and each artefact is something a third party can check without taking anyone's word for it.
EC · Economic organisation · scored +05
Coded +5: state-directed capitalism with a civil code protecting property.
- Documented act or statuteThe Napoleonic Code of 1804 codified property and contract across the empire.
CU · Social and cultural order · scored +04
Coded +4: order and the family restored after revolutionary upheaval.
- Documented act or statuteThe Code restored paternal authority and restricted divorce; the 1801 Concordat re-established the church.
AU · Organisation of power · scored +09
Coded +9: plebiscitary executive with a rubber-stamp legislature and censored press.
- Documented act or statuteThe 1802 and 1804 plebiscites returned over 99% approval; newspapers were reduced to four in Paris.
SC · Scale of decision · scored +09
Coded +9: prefectural administration directed from the centre.
- Documented act or statuteThe prefect system created in 1800 is still the basis of French territorial administration.
ID · Rule of membership · scored +02
Coded +2: careers open to talent, within an imperial hierarchy.
- Documented act or statuteJewish emancipation was extended across conquered territories while the Legion of Honour created a new elite.
CH · Method and tempo · scored +02
Coded +2: power taken by coup and then legalised by plebiscite.
- Documented act or statuteThe coup of 18 Brumaire in 1799 was followed by a constitution ratified by plebiscite.
Nearest organisations by measured distance
Straight-line separation across all six axes, out of a maximum of 49.0. Proximity means similarity of stated position, not endorsement and not resemblance in outcome.
- Rwandan Patriotic Front2.6
- Bukelismo3.9
- Brazilian Military Regime4.2
- Congolese Post-War Politics5.3
- Tanzimat Reforms5.6
- National Resistance Movement5.7
Countries
Cite this page
Scores are revised on evidence, so a citation should carry the version it refers to. Version 4.3.1 is current; the revision log records every change.
Free to quote and reproduce with attribution. This is a synthesis rather than a peer-reviewed dataset — where an authoritative figure is needed, cite the Chapel Hill Expert Survey, the Manifesto Project or V-Dem.