Atlas / Organisations / Neoconservatism
Neoconservatism
1972–2008 · United States · Liberal Hawk · Doctrine / school · coding confidence medium
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
Democratic universalism enforced by American power; regime change abroad as a moral duty.
Economic model
Market economy with a retained welfare floor; explicitly not libertarian.
Organisation of powers
Strong executive war powers, expansive national security apparatus, alliance-building.
Reading note
Originated with anti-Stalinist social democrats. Its universalist membership coding sits well left of the party it later dominated.
Check a claim about Neoconservatism. 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 +06
Coded +6: market economy with a retained welfare floor, explicitly not libertarian.
- Programme textIrving Kristol's 'two cheers for capitalism' formulation marked the distance from the libertarian right.
CU · Social and cultural order · scored +02
Coded +2: cultural conservatism arrived at from a social democratic starting point.
- ScholarshipMany founders were anti-Stalinist leftists who moved right over the 1960s social settlement.
AU · Organisation of power · scored +02
Coded +2: strong executive war powers within constitutional government.
- Documented act or statuteThe post-2001 expansion of surveillance and detention authority was defended on these grounds.
SC · Scale of decision · scored +06
Coded +6: alliance-building and intervention beyond the nation.
- Programme textThe 1997 Project for the New American Century statement called for a global military posture.
ID · Rule of membership · scored −02
Coded −2: democratic universalism as the doctrine's core claim.
- Programme textThe stated premise is that democratic rights are universal rather than culturally specific.
CH · Method and tempo · scored +03
Coded +3: regime change by force as an accepted instrument.
- Documented act or statuteThe 2003 Iraq invasion was the doctrine's principal application and its principal test.
Where it came from, and what came after
- split fromAmerican Fusionist Conservatism
The neoconservatives entered from the anti-Stalinist left and broke with the movement over foreign policy.
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.
- Bolivarian Republicanism6.8
- Thatcherism7.1
- Menemism7.7
- Neoliberalism8.2
- Fijian Post-Coup Politics8.7
- Congolese Post-War Politics8.7
Countries
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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.