Is Papua New Guinea Politics left wing or right wing?

On economic organisation Papua New Guinea Politics scores +04 on a scale from −10 (common ownership) to +10 (private property and markets). On social and cultural order it scores +06. A single left–right figure combines these and four further measurements that move independently, which is why the atlas reports six.

Is Papua New Guinea Politics authoritarian?

On the organisation of power, which measures whether authority is dispersed among institutions that can stop each other or concentrated in a single centre, Papua New Guinea Politics scores +02. Continuous elections since independence with no successful coup; prime ministers are routinely removed by no-confidence votes.

Atlas / Organisations / Papua New Guinea Politics

Papua New Guinea Politics

1975– · Papua New Guinea · Fluid Coalition · Held state power · coding confidence low

+04ECmarket

+06CUtraditional

+02AUmonist

−02SClocal

+03IDascriptive

−04CHlawful

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 democracy of over eight hundred languages in which parties are vehicles for individuals and governments are made and unmade by floor-crossing.

Economic model

Gas, gold and copper extraction, subsistence agriculture, very low state penetration outside towns.

Organisation of powers

Continuous elections since independence with no successful coup; prime ministers are routinely removed by no-confidence votes.

Reading note

Bougainville voted 98% for independence in a 2019 referendum agreed after a civil war. The result is being implemented slowly.

Check a claim about Papua New Guinea Politics. The interactive atlas measures the distance between any two organisations across all six axes and shows which ones carry the disagreement.

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The 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 +04

Coded +4: extraction alongside overwhelmingly subsistence agriculture.

Comparative datasetAround 80% of the population lives outside the cash economy.

CU · Social and cultural order · scored +06

Coded +6: Christian and customary social order across over 800 language groups.

Documented act or statuteThe constitution references Christian principles and customary law is formally recognised.

AU · Organisation of power · scored +02

Coded +2: continuous elections with governments unmade by floor-crossing.

Documented act or statuteNo prime minister has served a full term without a confidence challenge.

SC · Scale of decision · scored −02

Coded −2: provinces with real autonomy and an autonomous region.

Documented act or statuteBougainville voted 98% for independence in 2019 under an agreement following a civil war.

ID · Rule of membership · scored +03

Coded +3: a civic citizenship across extraordinary ethnic fragmentation.

Comparative datasetOver 800 languages are spoken, the highest count of any state.

CH · Method and tempo · scored −04

Coded −4: no successful coup since independence in 1975.

Documented act or statuteA 1997 mutiny over mercenary contracts was resolved without a change of constitutional order.

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.

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.

McGrath, K. (2026). Papua New Guinea Politics. The Political Atlas, version 4.2. https://thepoliticalatlas.com/organisations/png/ (accessed 2026-08-01).

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.