The traditional Left-Right Spectrum
Q8. What is the Nolan Chart?
The Nolan chart is a visual representation of the political
spectrum that measures not only liberal vs conservative
tendencies but also libertarian and statist tendencies.
The original Nolan chart
The Nolan chart was originally created by libertarian
political scientist David Nolan, who was also the lead founder
of the Libertarian Party. He correctly realized that limiting
analysis of political opinions to merely their liberality or
conservativeness does not adequately account for all political
viewpoints. By reorienting personal freedom issues along the
"Y" axis and economic issues along the "X"
axis, he created a two dimensional chart that is much more
accurate and meaningful when analyzing a particular person's
political viewpoint. This makes the Nolan chart's
two-dimensional approach a much more accurate representation
of the political spectrum than the typical one-dimensional
left-to-right line most political analysts refer to.
The Advocates for Self Government chart
The chart was modified by Marshall Fritz, who founded the Advocates
for Self-Government and who also created and popularized
the World's Smallest Political Quiz based on the chart in the
early 1980s. His modification was to take the original Nolan
chart (which was displayed as a square) and turn it 45º
counter-clockwise to make the chart into a diamond shape and
add a 10 question "quiz." Our own version of the
chart uses the same diamond orientation. Fritz's World's
Smallest Political Quiz is used to this day by the Advocates,
and their quiz has been taken by millions of people.
Our own 10 question survey is somewhat influenced by the
Advocates' quiz, but it's also quite different. Our survey
uses its own, modified version of the Nolan Chart, its own
methodology, and its own questions and options. We've also
gone to a four option approach for each question rather than
the more simplified three option approach that the Advocates
use. The Advocates' quiz asks simply whether you agree, are
neutral, or disagree with particular libertarian positions.
Our own survey takes a different approach, attempting to
briefly lay out and label libertarian, conservative, liberal,
and statist positions on each of the questions asked. Centrist
positions are presumed to reside somewhere in the middle of
these four camps. We also label each position for each of our
columnists to make it clear which camp each one
represents.
Our survey is literally a
survey rather than a quiz. We're not trying to discover what
your understanding and knowledge is about an issue such as a
quiz does. Instead, we're trying to identify what your
position on that issue is, regardless of your knowledge level.
Nor is our survey intended to be a poll or to have the
accuracy of a poll. It is simply a survey...nothing
more...nothing less.
Our own version of the Nolan chart
Our version of the chart adds a further innovation. While
Mr. Nolan divided the X and Y axes up as measures of economic
liberty and personal liberty, we've decided to downplay that
aspect. As of 2007 when nolanchart.com
was founded, much of conservative and liberal thought has
blurred these distinctions to the point where neither side
tends to support any significant degree of either personal or
economic liberty. Dark shades of gray have (unfortunately)
replaced any remaining tendrils of advocacy of liberty and
individual rights within the conservative and liberal
movements. Instead, our version of the chart emphasizes the
libertarian, conservative, liberal, statist, and centrist
regions, in order to show that what conservatives and liberals
advocate is only a small piece of the overall political
universe and that ideas regarding alternatives are more
readily available than many people might otherwise believe.
Furthermore, our survey questions reflect (we hope) the post
9/11 issues that are most important to people.
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