Do you consider the Left/Right divide to be more economic or social/cultural?

[JMack]

But they're very much a minority and an irrelevance all over the world, although slightly more prominent and numerous in the Anglosphere than elsewhere.

Yeah, sometimes they overlap with Anglo-style right-wing though.

[Tooting Carmen]

Yeah, sometimes they overlap with Anglo-style right-wing though.

Quite a few philosophers have been libertarians, like Adam Smith, David Hume, Ludwig von Mises, Friedrich Hayek, Milton Friedman etc. However, for fairly obvious reasons politicians seldom are, although important exceptions like Ron and Rand Paul in the US and Alan Duncan in the UK do exist.

[Nazarene]

Social/cultural by far.

+1

[JMack]

Quite a few philosophers have been libertarians, like Adam Smith, David Hume, Ludwig von Mises, Friedrich Hayek, Milton Friedman etc. However, for fairly obvious reasons politicians seldom are, although important exceptions like Ron and Rand Paul in the US and Alan Duncan in the UK do exist.

This type of 'right' with some scale of free-market ideology is the mainstream 'right-wing' in most countries now. Exceptions are places where the so-called ''extreme-right'' has some influence like Italy and Hungary. But most of those ''far-right'' parties (like Lega or Orbán's party) are not traditional Third-Position but follow some type of mixed ideology.

Third Positionists nowadays are on the fringes: Jobbik, CasaPound, Golden Dawn etc.

[Tooting Carmen]

This type of 'right' with some scale of free-market ideology is the mainstream 'right-wing' in most countries now. Exceptions are places where the so-called ''extreme-right'' has some influence like Italy and Hungary. But most of those ''far-right'' parties (like Lega or Orbán's party) are not traditional Third-Position but follow some type of mixed ideology.

Third Positionists nowadays are on the fringes: Jobbik, CasaPound, Golden Dawn etc.

How would you classify Putin, Erdogan, Netanyahu and Modi?

EDIT: and not to mention Trump, of course.

[JMack]

How would you classify Putin, Erdogan, Netanyahu and Modi?

EDIT: and not to mention Trump, of course.

Politically mixed types but opposed to liberalism in different degrees in the cases of Putin, Modi and Erdogan. Trump and Netanyahu are predominantly liberal (more the latter though). Netanyahu is only ''far-right'' in the sense of being a radical of the first type of ideology I described. He's very far from being similar to traditional far-right. The same for Trump. They are extreme versions of anglo-type of conservatives.

[Tooting Carmen]

Politically mixed types but opposed to liberalism in different degrees in the cases of Putin, Modi and Erdogan. Trump and Netanyahu are predominantly liberal (more the latter though). Netanyahu is only ''far-right'' in the sense of being a radical of the first type of ideology I described. He's very far from being similar to traditional far-right. The same for Trump. They are extreme versions of anglo-type of conservatives.

Interesting you say that, as Trump and Netanyahu are often described as textbook examples of authoritarian rightists-cum-fascists. By contrast I'd say that Merkel, Macron and to some extent Theresa May are more 'mainstream/liberal' right-wingers.

[KMack]

Interesting you say that, as Trump and Netanyahu are often described as textbook examples of authoritarian rightists-cum-fascists. By contrast I'd say that Merkel, Macron and to some extent Theresa May are more 'mainstream/liberal' right-wingers.

By leftists. The Trump Administration gets sued, for everything that Obama did, by leftist organizations.

[JMack]

Interesting you say that, as Trump and Netanyahu are often described as textbook examples of authoritarian rightists-cum-fascists. By contrast I'd say that Merkel, Macron and to some extent Theresa May are more 'mainstream/liberal' right-wingers.

Well, if you compare them with the likes of CasaPound and Jobbik they are certainly much closer to Macron and Merkel, just with a more abrasive rethoric.

[Smitty]

Both. I've always understood there to be two aspects of the divide, social and fiscal. It wasn't until more recently that I understood the cultural dimension. But I think all are important. For anyone who values the past, the reasons for the social and cultural are obvious. But if you read about socialism/communism (and yes, they are the selfsame ideology), you realize that it is a globalist philosophy. It destroys culture and does so by means of the economy. So although I can find common ground with the more fiscally leftist "conservatives" of Europe, for example, I think they get it only half right - or maybe three-quarters.