Department of Education Guide: How to Choose a Party, Congress
Department of Citizen Affairs
If you're not a political science major, choosing a party might be hard based on only the descriptions on a party page. Deciphering between what it means to be center-right vs far-left and authoritarian vs libertarian maybe a challenge. That's why, we at the DoE are issuing a guide on what each of these terms mean.
The following article is written by Ashot, the newest member of the Department of Education. The Department of Education also plans on writing an articles explaining the positions of each major US party (as well as a few smaller ones) in the future. Look for those articles soon. And now, the DoE's guide to the buzz words surrounding parties.
Economical Orientation: Also known as Left-right political spectrum is a common way of classifying political positions, political ideologies, or political parties along a one-dimensional political spectrum. "The Left" and "The Right" are usually understood to represent polar opposites for each determinant, though a particular individual or party may take a "left" stance on one matter and a "right" stance on another.
Differences between Far-Left and Far-Right:
Far-Left: more economic interventionism; workers' self-management; Equality of outcome; progressivism; secular government; law dictates culture; human nature and society are mostly malleable.
Far-Right: more laissez-faire; right to work; Equality of opportunity; conservatism; religious government; culture dictates law; human nature and society are mostly fixed.
* Far-Left - Radical
* Center-Left - Liberal
* Center - 1/2 Liberal 1/2 Conservative
* Center-Right - Conservative
* Far-Right - Reactionary
Social Orientation: A political system, is a system of politics and government. It is usually compared to the law system, economic system, cultural system, and other social systems. It is different from them, and can be generally defined on a spectrum from left to the right. However, this is a very simplified view of a much more complex system of categories involving i.e. the view on who will have the authority, the view of religious questions and the government's influence on its people and economy.
* Totalitarian: Totalitarianism (or totalitarian rule) is a concept used to describe political systems whereby a state regulates nearly every aspect of public and private life. Totalitarian regimes or movements maintain themselves in political power by means of an official all-embracing ideology and propaganda disseminated through the state-controlled mass media, a single party that controls the state, personality cults, control over the economy, regulation and restriction of free discussion and criticism, the use of mass surveillance, and widespread use of terror tactics.
* Authoritarian: Authoritarianism describes a form of government characterized by an emphasis on the authority of the state in a republic or union. It is a political system controlled by non elected rulers who usually permit some degree of individual freedom.
* Libertarian: Libertarianism is a term used by a spectrum of political philosophies which seek to promote individual liberty and seek to minimize or even abolish the state. The extent to which government may be necessary may be evaluated on ethical and/or economic grounds. "What it means to be a libertarian in a political sense is a contentious issue, especially among libertarians themselves. There is no single theory that can be reliably identified as the libertarian theory, and no single principle or set of principles on which all libertarians would agree."
* Anarchist: Anarchism is a political philosophy encompassing theories and attitudes which support the elimination of all forms of compulsory government. Specific anarchists may have additional criteria for what constitutes anarchism, and they often disagree with each other on what these criteria are. According to The Oxford Companion to Philosophy, "there is no single defining position that all anarchists hold, and those considered anarchists at best share a certain family resemblance."
Comments
Hate to bash on you since I know you guys put a lot of effort into this. But not much of the above has anything to do with joining an eRep political party. If you really want to find the party that is right for you please disregard the political/economic/social orientations. Instead, check out their forums, PM their members, look at their wiki's and see which suits you best.
looks better here than on the forums. good info.
Really all parties are practically the same, its the leadership that sets them apart.
I like the info. I have a picture represnting the whole political specturm and puts RL parties in on it. Voted
The orientations that eRepublik uses do not match the picture you've used. eRepublik's orientations are based on the Political Compass: http://www.politicalcompass.org
Libertarian in that chart means you are for economic and social freedom. Libertarian in party orientations only refers to social freedoms.
(Personally, I dislike the Political Compass terminologies, but this is what eRepublik is clearly based on)
what Nonesuch said. all of that political mumbo jumbo doesn't have as much meaning in erep. for instance there is no abortion in erepublik, there is no death, so just there you already have a conflict with the RL definition of left and right and all that.
basically, look at what the party does instead of it's orientation, I've had many people say to me "I can't join you because you are far left" when really it doesn't have much meaning in this game.
well then what's the point of having a political party if they don't represent a single meaning, not even in eRep.
How about disallowing a party to exist until they state their point of views as to why they are far-left - totalitarians or such. If it is pointless to know what far-left means then why have it there in the first place?
I do agree on the point of view that you guys don't want to compare RL with eRep. however, you do need to explain what everything means. If the game says Far-Left, then I don't need to go into that party browse around, go to the forums, see what they say and what they think, then figure out if that is right or wrong for me. I should be able to find definition for Far-Left and find the parties that are Far-Left and then decide which one to join.
For new members it's always hard to decide which party to go with, even though the game is supposed to be fun, I don't get that impression at all.
I have tried to browse many parties before writing all the information and I am still yet to find a single party explaining what they stand for. You just choose from a drop down menu which Social and Economical orientation you want without even realizing what they mean.
If RL is not to be compared with eRep., then why do even have the options that are there, why can't eRep. come up with a new wording and definitions instead of , whether it's Social or Economical orientation.
Example: The following should be revised and new definitions must be provided for them.
* Far-Left - Arctic Circle
* Center-Left - Tropic of Cancer
* Center - Equator
* Center-Right - Tropic of Capricorn
* Far-Right - Prime Meridian
Be creative - if the Admins of eRep took the RL Social Economical orientations and inputted into the eRep, I don't see a reason as to why we shouldn't use RL definitions if there are none given by the Admins.
Economic Left/Right: 5.88
Social Libertarian/Authoritarian: 0.10
Which party is for me?
Here take the test it will tell you who you are and which party you should choose. However, be careful as Uncle Sam stated, there might be a party that "says" they are far-left Libertarian, but in actuality they are Far-Right Authoritarians, so don't worry what the name of the "Party" says, just make sure you talk to them, find out their points of interests, compare it to your own, then you will know which party to join. I know it's kind of dumb, but this eRepublik and not so many people care what's right or wrong in it.
http://www.politicalcompass.org/test
So which party is for chronic masturbators?
USWP
Methodone, all of them are!