Left-Right politics

Left-Right politics are traditional terms that represent broad competing political visions, whose meanings have evolved and can sometimes be contradictory, yet widespread acceptance has kept them in use.

Doubt about the contemporary relevance of the terms

See main article political spectrum.

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Some contemporary political positions, such as the position known in the US as "libertarianism", are very hard to characterize in left-right terms. These libertarians are socially liberal, but reject the leftist advocacy of government regulation of business. Arguably, their politics are the most similar to those of the classical liberalism of the old left of 1789.

Related Topics:
Libertarianism - Classical liberalism - 1789

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Many modern thinkers question whether the left-right distinction is even relevant in the 21st century. After all, in most countries left-right appears more a matter of historical contingency and local politics than any coherent statement of principle. After World War II, in order to remain politically relevant, the Western European right embraced most "leftist" aspects of government intervention in society. Similarly, many on the left went along with privatization and anti-communism of the Reagan-Thatcher era; more recently, in post-Communist Central and Eastern Europe, even the parties of the left all seem to advocate a relatively limited state role in the economy. We also see the emergence of movements such as the Green party and feminism which certainly have more in common with the traditional left than the traditional right, but are defined largely by their rejection of the leftist tendency toward reductionist economics.

Related Topics:
World War II - Privatization - Anti-communism - Reagan - Thatcher - Green - Feminism

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However, the nature of politics implies that there will always be polarizing issues, and at least on a regional basis the parties will likely find it expedient to display a dichotomous option, if only to exclude other options. There will also always be the temptation to tag opponents as right-wing or left-wing "extremists" in order to clarify one's stance or to portray one's opposition. Thus, even if the terms aren't as meaningful as they might have been, they are likely to remain part of political vocabulary for the foreseeable future. The left-right distinction will certainly be criticised by groups advocating what they call consensus-oriented approaches, such as radical centrist politics, Ordoliberalism, and the Third Way. Such groups often claim to 'transcend' the historic polarization, and insist that they are neither left nor right. Nevertheless, they too are usually classified by others as part of the political spectrum which they reject.

Related Topics:
Radical centrist politics - Ordoliberalism - Third Way

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