The Nolan Chart is a political

Politics

Politics is a process by which groups of people make collective decisions. The term is generally applied to the art or science of running governmental or state affairs, including behavior within civil governments, but also applies to institutions, fields, and special interest groups such as the...

 diagram popularized by the American

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 libertarian

Libertarianism

Libertarianism, in the strictest sense, is the political philosophy that holds individual liberty as the basic moral principle of society. In the broadest sense, it is any political philosophy which approximates this view...

 David Nolan

David Nolan (Libertarian Party)

David Fraser Nolan was an American activist and politician. He was one of the founders of the Libertarian Party of the United States, having hosted the meeting in 1971 at which the Party was founded.Douglas Martin, . New York Times, November 22, 2010...

. He reasoned that virtually all human political action can be divided into two general categories: economic and personal. He developed the chart to illustrate the claim that libertarianism represents both economic freedom

Economic freedom

Economic freedom is a term used in economic and policy debates. As with freedom generally, there are various definitions, but no universally accepted concept of economic freedom...

 and personal freedom, in graphic contrast to left-wing

Left-wing politics

In politics, Left, left-wing and leftist generally refer to support for social change to create a more egalitarian society...

 "liberalism

Liberalism

Liberalism is the belief in the importance of liberty and equal rights. Liberals espouse a wide array of views depending on their understanding of these principles, but generally, liberals support ideas such as constitutionalism, liberal democracy, free and fair elections, human rights,...

," which, according to Nolan, advocates only "personal freedom", and right-wing

Right-wing politics

In politics, Right, right-wing and rightist generally refer to support for a hierarchical society justified on the basis of an appeal to natural law or tradition. To varying degrees, the Right rejects the egalitarian objectives of left-wing politics, claiming that the imposition of equality is...

 "conservatism

Conservatism

Conservatism is a political and social philosophy that promotes the maintenance of traditional institutions and supports, at the most, minimal and gradual change in society. Some conservatives seek to preserve things as they are, emphasizing stability and continuity, while others oppose modernism...

," which, according to Nolan, advocates only "economic freedom".

Development

The chart and its concept are attributed commonly to David Nolan. A similar bi-dimensional chart appeared during 1970 in the publication The Floodgates of Anarchy by Stuart Christie

Stuart Christie

Stuart Christie is a Scottish anarchist writer and publisher. Christie is best known for being arrested as an 18-year old while carrying explosives to assassinate the Spanish dictator General Franco. He was later alleged to be a member of the Angry Brigade, but was acquitted of related charges...

 and Albert Meltzer

Albert Meltzer

Albert Meltzer was an anarcho-communist activist and writer.-Early life:Meltzer was born in London, and attracted to anarchism at the age of fifteen as a direct result of taking boxing lessons . The Labour MP for Edmonton, Edith Summerskill was virulently anti-boxing and his school governors at...

, with anarchism

Anarchism

Anarchism is generally defined as the political philosophy which holds the state to be undesirable, unnecessary, and harmful, or alternatively as opposing authority in the conduct of human relations...

 in the equivalent of the Nolan Chart's Left-Wing corner, fascism

Fascism

Fascism is a radical authoritarian nationalist political ideology. Fascists seek to rejuvenate their nation based on commitment to the national community as an organic entity, in which individuals are bound together in national identity by suprapersonal connections of ancestry, culture, and blood...

 in the equivalent of the Right-Wing corner, "capitalist individualism" in the equivalent of the Libertarian corner and "state communism" in the equivalent of the Populist (Totalitarian) corner.
In Radicals for Capitalism

Radicals for Capitalism

Radicals for Capitalism: A Freewheeling History of the Modern American Libertarian Movement is a book by American journalist and Reason senior editor Brian Doherty. It is about the history of libertarianism in the 20th century. It traces the evolution of the movement, as well as the life stories...

(p. 321), Brian Doherty

Brian Doherty (journalist)

Brian Doherty is an American journalist. He is a Senior Editor at Reason magazine. He is the author of This Is Burning Man: The Rise of a New American Underground , Radicals for Capitalism: A Freewheeling History of the Modern American Libertarian Movement and Gun Control on Trial: Inside the...

 traces the idea for the chart to an article by Maurice Bryson and William McDill in The Rampart Journal of Individualist Thought (Summer 1968) entitled "The Political Spectrum: A Bi-Dimensional Approach".

David Nolan first published the current version of the chart in an article named "Classifying and Analyzing Politico-Economic Systems" in the January 1971 issue of The Individualist, the monthly magazine of the Society for Individual Liberty (SIL). During December 1971, he helped to start the group that would become the Libertarian Party

Libertarian Party (United States)

The Libertarian Party is the third largest and fastest growing political party in the United States. The political platform of the Libertarian Party reflects its brand of libertarianism, favoring minimally regulated, laissez-faire markets, strong civil liberties, minimally regulated migration...

.

The Nolan Chart is the centerpiece of the World’s Smallest Political Quiz. It was devised in 1969 by Nolan, who came up with the chart because he was frustrated by the old "left-right" line that leaves no room for libertarians and others.

Nolan's insight was that the major difference between various political philosophies, the real defining element in what a person believes politically, is the amount of government control over human action that is advocated.

Nolan further reasoned that virtually all human political action can be divided into two broad categories: economic and personal.

The "economic" category includes what you do as a producer and consumer -- what you can buy, sell, produce. Where you work, who you hire, what you do with your money. Examples of economic activity: starting a business; buying a home; constructing a building; working in an office.

The "personal" category includes what you do in relationships, in self-expression, and in general what you do with your own body and mind. Examples of personal activities: marriage; choosing what books you read and movies you watch; what foods, medicines, and drugs you choose to consume; sports; your religious choices; organizations you join; with whom you choose to associate.

Since, Nolan realized, most government activity (or government control) occurs in these two major areas, political positions can be defined by how much government control a person favors in these two areas. The extremes are no government at all in either area (anarchism) or total or near-total government control of everything (various forms of totalitarianism).

Most political philosophies fall somewhere in between. In broad terms:

• Conservatives and those on the right tend to favor more freedom in economic areas (example: a free market), but more government intervention in social areas (example: abortion).

• Liberals and those on the left tend to favor more freedom in personal areas (example: no military draft), but more government activism or control in economics (example: a government-mandated minimum wage).

• Libertarians favor both personal and economic freedom, and oppose most (or all) government intervention in both areas. Like (some) conservatives, libertarians believe that people should be free to make economic choices for themselves. Like (some) liberals, libertarians believe in personal freedom.

• Statists favor a lot of government control in both the personal and economic areas.

Of course, liberals, conservatives, and others may disagree among themselves on particular issues, and hold different positions. Examples: a liberal might be opposed to censorship and draft, but want to continue the Drug War and end the minimum wage. Or a conservative may oppose censorship and the draft, but favor restricting free trade. But the broad division generally holds true.

Another way of expressing this (a sort of "libertarian-centric" view): conservatives tend to be more libertarian on economic issues; liberals tend to be more libertarian on issues of personal freedom.

In order to visually express this insight, Nolan came up with a two-axis graph. One axis was for economic freedom, and the other was for personal freedom.
Once both areas were on a graph, it was possible to put a scale on each of the two axes of that graph. Nolan's scale started at zero (total state control) to 100% (no state control). 100% in economics would mean a free market; 100% in personal issues would mean no government control in your private, personal life.

By using the scale on each of the two axes, it was possible to measure the amount of personal liberty and economic liberty a person, political organization, or political philosophy advocates, and then plot that on the graph.

Thus, while the old "left-right" line attempted to measure politics along a one-dimensional line, Nolan's graph divided political issues into two dimensions: economic and social.

So, instead of classifying all political opinion as being some variant of liberal or conservative, Nolan's chart allowed a far more accurate measurement: how much (or little) government control a person favored in personal and economic matters.

Nolan introduced his chart in an article entitled "Classifying and Analyzing Politico-Economic Systems" published in the January 1971 issue of The Individualist, a libertarian newsletter.

In 1999, Nolan was named one of the "2,000 Outstanding Intellectuals of the 20th Century" by the Cambridgeshire, England-based International Biographical Centre (IBC), and he was included in their reference work of the same title, to be published in late 2000. Nolan speculated his inclusion in the book is due to his creation of the Nolan Chart, which has gained international fame as the core of the World's Smallest Political Quiz.

In 1987, Marshall Fritz, founder of the Advocates for Self-Government, tweaked the chart and added ten questions – which he called the World’s Smallest Political Quiz – which enabled people to plot themselves on the chart and discover where they fit on the political map.

Positions

Differing from the traditional "left/right" distinction and other political taxonomies, the Nolan Chart in its original form has two dimensions, with a horizontal x-axis labeled "economic freedom" and a vertical y-axis labeled "personal freedom". It resembles a square divided into four quadrants, with each sample in the population assigned to one of the quadrants:

• Top left — the political Left
  Left-wing politics
  In politics, Left, left-wing and leftist generally refer to support for social change to create a more egalitarian society...
  
  . Those supporting low economic freedom and high personal freedom.
• Bottom right — the political Right
  Right-wing politics
  In politics, Right, right-wing and rightist generally refer to support for a hierarchical society justified on the basis of an appeal to natural law or tradition. To varying degrees, the Right rejects the egalitarian objectives of left-wing politics, claiming that the imposition of equality is...
  
  . Those supporting high economic freedom and low personal freedom.
• Top right — libertarianism
  Libertarianism
  Libertarianism, in the strictest sense, is the political philosophy that holds individual liberty as the basic moral principle of society. In the broadest sense, it is any political philosophy which approximates this view...
  
  . David Nolan's own ideology, corresponding with those supporting high economic and personal freedom.
• Bottom left — the antithesis of libertarianism, corresponding with those supporting low economic and personal freedom. David Nolan originally termed this philosophy populism
  Populism
  Populism can be defined as an ideology, political philosophy, or type of discourse. Generally, a common theme compares "the people" against "the elite", and urges social and political system changes. It can also be defined as a rhetorical style employed by members of various political or social...
  
  , but many later renditions of the chart have used the label statism
  Statism
  Statism is a term usually describing a political philosophy, whether of the right or the left, that emphasises the role of the state in politics or supports the use of the state to achieve economic, military or social goals...
  
  , authoritarianism
  Authoritarianism
  Authoritarianism is a form of social organization characterized by submission to authority. It is usually opposed to individualism and democracy...
  
  , totalitarianism
  Totalitarianism
  Totalitarianism is a political system where the state recognizes no limits to its authority and strives to regulate every aspect of public and private life wherever feasible...
  
  , or fascism
  Fascism
  Fascism is a radical authoritarian nationalist political ideology. Fascists seek to rejuvenate their nation based on commitment to the national community as an organic entity, in which individuals are bound together in national identity by suprapersonal connections of ancestry, culture, and blood...
  
   instead.

See also

• David Nolan (libertarian)
• Marshall Fritz
  Marshall Fritz
  Marshall Fritz was an American libertarian activist. A native of Inglewood, California, Fritz was chairman, founder, and former president of the Alliance for the Separation of School and State. Prior to founding that organization, he founded the Advocates for Self-Government, a non-profit,...
  
  
• Advocates for Self-Government
• World's Smallest Political Quiz
  World's Smallest Political Quiz
  The World's Smallest Political Quiz is a 10-question educational quiz designed by the libertarian Advocates for Self Government, created by Marshall Fritz...
  
  
• Political spectrum
  Political spectrum
  A political spectrum is a way of modeling different political positions by placing them upon one or more geometric axes symbolizing independent political dimensions....
  
  
• Political Compass
  Political compass
  The political compass is a multi-axis model, used by the website of the same name, to label or organize political thought on two dimensions. In its selection and representation of these two dimensions, it is similar to the Nolan Chart...
  
  

External links

• A modern version of the Nolan Chart
• Nolan Chart website
• Nolan Chart website Survey
• The Nolan Chart and its variations
• Archive of past versions of "Nolan Chart and its variations" (at archive.org)
• Politopia, the Land of Custom-Made Government
• Positive & Negative Liberties in Three Dimensions
• The Enhanced Precision Political Quiz... IN 2D
• Political Profile Test
• Political Spectrum Quiz
• A voting index of the U.S. Congress (prepared by Prof. Clifford F. Thies for the Republican Liberty Caucus
  Republican Liberty Caucus
  The Republican Liberty Caucus is a political action organization dedicated to promoting the ideals of individual liberty, limited government and free market economics within the Republican Party in the United States. It is part of the libertarian wing of the Republican Party...
  
  .)
• Maurice C. Bryson and William R. McDill, "The Political Spectrum: A Bi-Dimensional Approach," Rampart Journal of Individualist Thought 4, no. 2 (Summer, 1968): 19–26.