Structure
Federal
Distributes authority across regional or local governments.
Unitary
Concentrates authority in a unified national government.
Consider where decisions should be made, separately from who should make them.
A guide to the framework
Twelve dimensions.
More room for nuance.
Each axis explores a different tension in political life. Read the endpoints together: they describe this model’s categories, not every possible view.
Governance & Power
How decisions are made, authority is distributed, and freedom is protected.
Representation
Democracy
Emphasizes public participation and accountable representation.
Autocracy
Emphasizes concentrated leadership with fewer electoral constraints.
This axis concerns the selection and accountability of governing authority.
Power
Security
Prioritizes public order and protective state powers.
Liberty
Prioritizes individual freedoms and limits on state powers.
Read this as a tension between priorities, not a claim that safety and liberty cannot coexist.
Society & Values
How communities approach belonging, belief, and social change.
Immigration
Assimilation
Emphasizes newcomers adopting a shared national culture.
Multiculturalism
Emphasizes the coexistence of distinct cultural communities.
This axis describes approaches to cultural integration, not a judgment about any community.
Religion
Irreligious
Favors secular public institutions and less religious influence in government.
Religious
Favors a greater role for religious values in public life.
Political views about religion do not necessarily describe personal religious belief.
Morality
Progressive
Is more open to changing established social norms.
Traditionalist
Places more weight on preserving inherited customs and norms.
Different social questions can draw different responses even within the same axis.
Economy & Trade
How resources are owned, markets are organized, and trade crosses borders.
Economy
Public
Favors public or collective ownership of economic resources.
Private
Favors private ownership and private enterprise.
Ownership is distinct from the level of economic regulation measured on the Control axis.
Control
Planning
Favors coordinated planning and government direction of economic activity.
Free market
Favors decentralized market decisions and competition.
An economy can combine market exchange with public ownership, or regulation with private ownership.
Trade
Protectionism
Favors protecting domestic production from external competition.
Globalism
Favors international trade and cross-border economic integration.
This axis focuses on trade; broader international policy appears in other dimensions.
World & Future
How societies relate to other countries and imagine their future.
Diplomacy
Militarist
Gives greater weight to military strength and the use of force.
Pacifist
Gives greater weight to peaceful resolution and restraint.
These endpoint labels summarize the source model and do not describe every foreign-policy position.
Intervention
Non-interventionist
Emphasizes staying out of other countries’ affairs.
Nationalist
Emphasizes advancing national interests in external affairs.
The source labels this pair Non-interventionist / Nationalist. These are model-specific endpoints, not universally opposite political categories.
Technology
Technology
Is more receptive to technological transformation and enhancement.
Biology
Places more weight on biological or natural limits.
Technology / Biology are the source model’s labels. Read the individual statements before drawing broader conclusions.
How to read your position
The two percentages on an axis add up to 100%. The marker moves toward the endpoint favored by your answers. A score near the middle can reflect neutral answers or a balance of different responses.
Percentages describe this test’s scoring scale. They are not a probability or a measure of certainty. The four groups organize the report without changing its twelve independent scores.
Read the full methodology →