Friday, December 23, 2011

The Political Compass

7 comments:

  1. Because of the relative paucity of information, our composers' political chart is largely for amusement. People like Schubert, Bach, Debussy and Donizetti, who don't seem to have left any hints of their politics, have been left out altogether.

    This chart was partially inspired by an interesting article on the subject that originally appeared in BBC Music Magazine, April 1997.

    ReplyDelete
  2. The Political Compass

    http://www.politicalcompass.org/

    ReplyDelete
  3. Libertarian Left

    Jonathan Chait
    The Big Con: The True Story of How Washington Got Hoodwinked and Hijacked by Crackpot Economics
    Stinging criticism of supply side economics and those who put it into practice.

    Norton Garfinkle
    The American Dream vs. The Gospel of Wealth: The Fight for a Productive Middle-Class Economy
    Criticises America's current system as overly favoring the wealthy, and offers a new economic vision to correct the imbalance.

    Michael Lind
    The American Way of Strategy: U.S. Foreign Policy and the American Way of Life
    Critique of U.S. policy since the Cold War with a post Iraq War twist.

    Naomi Klein
    The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism
    Scathing review of the damages of globalised capitalism when used as a method for recovery after a disaster.

    Chris Hedges
    American Fascists: The Christian Right and the War on America
    A blistering attack on the Christian Right.

    Dan Perjovschi
    Mad Cow, Bird Flu, Global Village: The Art of Dan Perjovschi
    Social critique of major global issues through cartoons.

    Luc Boltanski and Eve Chiapello
    The New Spirit of Capitalism
    A study of the reorganization of capitalism since the 1960s.

    Clayborne Carson
    The Autobiography of Martin Luther King, Jr.
    A posthumous autobiography constructed out of Dr. King's writings, sermons, and speeches.

    Upton Sinclair
    Jungle
    Classic novella on the plight of the factory worker and excesses of American Capitalism at the turn on the 20th century.

    Thom Hartmann
    Unequal Protection: The rise of corporate dominance and the theft of human rights
    Argues that expanding US corporate power is accompanied by a corresponding loss of people power, and mostly because of a legal blunder in 1886.

    Eric Alterman and Mark Green
    THE BOOK ON BUSH: How George W. (Mis)leads America
    Provocative critique of the US presidency

    Shadia B.Drury
    Leo Strauss And The American Right
    The author identifies the late professor of philosophy at the University Chicago as the shadowy force behind the conservative revolution.

    Jack Huberman
    THE BUSH-HATER'S HANDBOOK:A guide to the most appalling presidency of the past 100 years
    Crisply written ammunition for the President's most committed opponents

    Jeff Walker
    The Ayn Rand Cult
    Deeply critical analysis of the Objectivist movement, Rand's leadership role, and the politics of her tightly knit inner circle.

    Benjamin Barber
    Jihad vs McWorld
    A political scientist argues that intolerant tribalism and international consumerism is a dangerous brew.

    Howard Zinn
    A Peoples History of the United States
    A professor emeritus of political science at Boston University lets blacks, native Americans, women and labourers tell their own story.

    Thomas Frank
    One Market Under God
    An attack on extreme capitalism and market worshippers.

    George Monbiot
    A leading UK columnist and environmental thinker - and scourge of the corporatists

    The Age of Consent: a manifesto for a new world order
    "Tell people something they know already and they will thank you. Tell them something new and they will hate you for it."

    Captive State
    Anticapitalism

    Emma Goldman
    Anarchism and other Essays
    Compelling work by the ground-breaking libertarian socialist and feminist.

    Al Franken
    Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them : A Fair and Balanced look at the Far Right.
    Hypertensive conservatives might want to take some medication before reading this one.

    Ivan Illich
    Deschooling Society
    Seminal work by this radical social critic.

    Nils Christie
    Crime Control as Industry
    An eye-opening challenge to crime and punishment hardliners.

    Pierre Bourdieu
    On Television
    The prominent French sociologist attacks dumbing down and the corporatised information industry

    Naomi Tutu (editor)
    The Words of Desmond Tutu
    Selections from the Nobel Peace Prize winner's speeches, sermons and writings

    ReplyDelete
  4. Libertarian Left (continued)

    William Blum
    Rogue State: A Guide to the World's Only Superpower
    Critics will call this a one-sided book; but it is an invaluable corrective to the establishment portrait of America as the world's greatest force for peace.

    Michael Moore
    Stupid White Men
    Caustic and funny attack on corporate America and political hypocrisy by the Tom Paine of our age

    George Orwell
    1984
    His chilling and prophetic masterpiece envisages a world where political leaders have manipulated the multitudes into uncritical acceptance of their power and party slogans
    War is Peace
    Ignorance is Strength
    Freedom is Slavery

    Naomi Klein
    No Logo
    A devastating critique of globalisation, and arguments for change

    Eric Schlosser
    Fast Food Nation
    Eye-opening investigation into the inner workings of unregulated or marginally regulated business and industry.

    Thomas Paine
    This woefully neglected icon of free thought was not only a central figure in the American and French revolutions, but also came impressively close to kick-starting one in England.
    A free trader in the days when free trade meant minimising the risk of war and undermining the exploitation of the nation state, Paine also advocated social safety nets in anticipation of the welfare state.
    His danger to churches and governments was his ability to write in plain accessible language - and to ridicule pomp and power.
    The Rights of Man
    Literally the first serious formulation of human rights as a political concept
    The Age of Reason
    An often hilarious and thoroughly readable rebuff of church dogma and Old Testament morality

    Noam Chomsky
    Love him or loathe him, Chomsky is one of today's great intellectuals; a champion of the libertarian left who writes in an accessible way and bombards the reader with stimulating new facts and arguments
    Rogue States: The role of force in World Affairs HEGEMONY OR SURVIVAL: America's Quest for Global Dominance
    The Chomsky Trilogy
    Secrets, Lies and Democracy
    The Prosperous Few and the Restless many
    What Uncle Sam Really Wants

    Ralph Nader
    US corporate watchdog who influenced the manufacture of safer cars and whose candidacy in the election of 2000 may have cost the Democrats the presidency. For Nader, it was only a choice between "Tweedledum and Tweedledumber" anyway.
    Cutting Corporate Welfare
    Nader attacks what, for some right-wingers, is the acceptable aspect of welfare.
    The Ralph Nader Reader
    A diverse and provocative read

    Greg Palast
    The Best Democracy Money can Buy
    This investigative work by a former student of Milton Friedman unearths uncomfortable information for those who hold that what's good for the corporations is inevitably good for us all.

    Peter Kropotkin
    Co-operation rather than competition is the key to survival according to this naturalist's fascinating take on Darwinism.
    A former Russian prince who abandoned privilege to side with the bolsheviks, he became equally critical of 'The new Tsars' and championed the cause of anarchism.
    Mutual Aid : A Factor of Evolution

    Tariq Ali
    Student radical turned journalist and film maker
    Masters of the Universe

    J. K. Galbraith
    His Keynesian economic approach looks more radical in these days of neo-liberal orthodoxy
    The Affluent Society

    ReplyDelete
  5. Libertarian Right

    Ron Paul
    Pillars of Prosperity
    A collection of Paul's speeches and writings over the last 30 years ,with the emphasis on economics.

    Robert Nozick
    Anarchy, State and Utopia
    One of the seminal works on right wing libertarianism.

    Benjamin R.Tucker
    Instead of a Book by a Man Too Busy to Write One
    Important work from this Nineteenth century libertarian who opposed all forms of communism.

    Milton Friedman
    "The only social responsibility of a corporation is to deliver a proft to its shareholders"
    Nobel Economics prizewinner - but widely read among non-academics
    Capitalism and Freedom
    Bright Promises, Dismal Performance : An Economist's Protest

    Lanny Ebenstein
    Milton Friedman: A Biography
    A worthy homage to Friedman's ideas.
    --The Financial Times

    Richard J. Maybury
    Whatever Happened to Justice ?
    Examines faults in America’s legal and economic system and offers solutions on how to remedy them.

    Jonah Goldberg
    Liberal Fascism: The Secret History of the American Left, From Mussolini to the Politics of Meaning
    A thought-provoking thesis that asserts liberalism’s connections with fascism in both the past and present.

    Jagdish Bhagwati
    In Defense of Globalization: With a New Afterword
    Argues that properly governed globalisation can be a force for social good in the world.

    Joseph Stiglitz
    Globalisation and its Discontents
    Nobel prize winner and former Chief Economist at the World Bank, Stiglitz had a unique insider's view into globalisation. Now he speaks out against it, while arguing that it can still be a force for good - with radical changes to the balance of power.

    Thomas L. Friedman
    The World Is Flat: A Brief History of the Twenty-first Century
    Well written unfettered enthusiasm for unfettered market forces; especially of interest to IT professionals.

    Ludwig Von Mises
    The Anti-Capitalistic Mentality
    Von Mises, who has championed the free market probably more deeply than any other thinker, argues that people whose ambitions haven't been fulfilled blame the System.

    Frederic Bastiat
    The Law
    Much admired 19th Century French statesman and essayist advocates free trade and warns of the dangers of socialism.

    Richard J. Maybury
    The Money Mystery
    Widely praised work by one of America's most respected business analysts.

    Henry Hazlitt
    Economics in One Lesson
    Former Newsweek columnist and favourite of the US Libertarian Party sets out the case for unfettered market forces as the means of achieving social and economic progress.

    Murray Rothbard
    Irrepressible Rothbard
    Collection of passionately argued essays by U.S. free market icon
    On the free market, everyone earns according to his productive value in satisfying consumer desires. Under statist distribution, everyone earns in proportion to the amount he can plunder from the producers.
    The Ethics of Liberty
    Radical right philosophy from the noted neo-liberal economist.

    P J O'Rourke
    Eat The Rich
    I wanted to know why some parts of the Earth prosper and others suck, writes P.J. O'Rourke...

    Ayn Rand
    ...whose works of non-fiction, and novels like The Fountainhead and Atlas Shrugged, voiced her fierce hatred of social safety nets and the governments that provide them.
    Capitalism - the Unknown Ideal
    The Virtue of Selfishness
    For Ayn Rand , 'selfishness' means concern for one's own interests;
    for dictionaries, it's the excessive or exclusive regard for self, and a disregard for others.
    The Fountainhead
    Pro-business ideology expressed through her most popular work of fiction.

    Atlas Shrugged
    The author argues that civilisation's future depends on comparatively few creative minds.

    F. A. Hayek
    One of the most influential gurus for libertarians of the right
    The Road to Serfdom
    Individualism and Economic Order
    The Fatal Conceit

    Grahame Thompson
    The Political Economy of the New Right
    Part of a series on right wing parties and ideology

    ReplyDelete
  6. Authoritarian Left

    Malcolm X
    The Autobiography of Malcolm X : As Told to Alex Haley
    Analytical interview of the controversial Father of Black Power in the 1960s.

    Samir Amin
    THE LIBERAL VIRUS: Permanent War and the Americanization of the world
    Scathing and erudite critique by a prominent Marxist who long ago distanced himself from Soviet Marxism, then Maoism

    Kim Jong Il
    KIM JONG II ON THE ART OF OPERA
    The North Korean leader talks to "creative workers in the field of art and literature"

    G. Neil Harding
    Leninism
    Introduction to Leninism as Ideology.

    Fidel Castro
    Capitalism in Crisis: Globalization and World Politics Today
    The Cuban President's take on economic justice and the new global order

    Vladimir Ilyich Lenin
    Much quoted and seldom read
    Essential Works
    On Imperialism and Imperialists

    Chairman Mao Tse Tung
    "Political power comes from the barrel of a gun"
    On Guerrilla Warfare
    Quotations from Mao Tse-Tung (The Little Red Book)
    Quotations and Sayings of Chairman Mao, a compact overview of Maoist ideology.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Authoritarian Right

    Bruce Frohnen, Jeremy Beer, and Jeffrey O. Nelson (editors)
    American Conservatism: An Encyclopedia
    A collection of works ranging from major conservative thinkers to stances on political issues from a conservative point of view.

    Francis Elliott, James Hanning
    Cameron: The Rise of the New Conservative
    Biographical account of the rise of David Cameron and his ascendance to the leadership of the Conservative Party.

    Irving Kristol
    NEO-CONSERVATISM: The autobiography of an idea
    The godfather of neo-conservatism's collection of articles and essays spanning half a century

    Irwin Selzer
    THE NEOCON READER
    Diverse anthology of well written essays

    David Aikman
    A MAN OF FAITH:The Spiritual Journey of George W.Bush
    Former Time correspondent's enthusiastic portrait

    Stefan Halper and Jonathan Clarke
    America Alone: The Neo-Conservatives and the Global Order
    Conservatives attack neo-conservatism

    Patrick J. Buchanan
    The Death of the West
    Argues that dying populations and immigrant invasions imperil civilisation.

    William F. Buckley
    Let Us Talk of Many Things
    Witty and erudite collection by the patron saint of US conservatism.

    Niccolo Machiavelli
    The Prince
    A landmark 16th century treatise on Realpolitik, concerned with retaining power rather than pursuing ideals

    Thomas Hobbes
    Leviathan
    Influential 17th century argument for the administration of government to be entrusted to one rather than many

    Peter Hitchens
    The Abolition of Britain
    Former socialist, journalist Peter Hitchens, argues the case for social and economic conservatism

    Margaret Thatcher
    "There is no such thing as society"
    The Downing Street Years
    Statecraft
    The Path to Power

    Todd Domke
    The Conservative's Dictionary
    A fascinating trawl through all aspects of conservatism

    Iain Dale
    Dictionary of Conservative Quotations
    An amusing and stimulating reference work

    Alan Clark
    The late Alan Clark - former Thatcher Government cabinet minister
    The Tories

    Martin Blinkhorn
    Fascists and Conservatives
    Another perspective, and sure to spark off some heated discussion

    Roger Scruton
    A leading contemporary British Conservative thinker
    Conservative Thinkers

    John Kekes
    A Case for Conservatism
    Thoughtful look at Conservatism past and present

    Nicholas Kochan
    Ann Widdecombe: Right from the Beginning
    A lively biography of contemporary British Conservatism's most controversial woman

    ReplyDelete