I like the final suggestion - to redraw the lines as West/East rather than Right/Left. I am somewhat involved with the local effort to reclaim a sane Right from the clutches of the local avatar of the ubiquitous fascizoid populist moment - and, man, it's a hard slog. People really like their Right/Left labels because they have become part of their identity. But the world has changed, that's also undeniable. Some people have proposed Liberal/Conservative but I think it's plain wrong (and also I want to be both...). But West/East is a really intriguing suggestion. It does tally well with some of what I have been preaching for some time now and it seems to go to the crux of the matter.
Felix - The old, tired Right/Left spectrum is over-used to the point of non-utility, I fully agree, but the point in its favor is that it at least is familiar to everyone in the discussion. Its limitation is in being a two-dimensional tool of analysis when a multi-dimensional one is required to more accurately describe the opinions and behaviors under discussion.
A "West/East" spectrum of political values would need more careful delineation to be of much use. "The West" is a notional thing but as we know, even a single, relatively homogeneous State contains multiple political viewpoints -- for that matter, even members of a single political party are likely to hold a spectrum of viewpoints, ranging from strict adherence to party ideological orthodoxy to a more reform/revisionist stance.
You say Sachs directed the rise of the post-soviet kleptocracy as if he had the intent to do so, and he is to this day loyal to them. What proof? Then you simply list the arguments he regularly makes as if that is evidence he is somehow a Russian agent. Any similar allegations against Mearsheimer?
I like the final suggestion - to redraw the lines as West/East rather than Right/Left. I am somewhat involved with the local effort to reclaim a sane Right from the clutches of the local avatar of the ubiquitous fascizoid populist moment - and, man, it's a hard slog. People really like their Right/Left labels because they have become part of their identity. But the world has changed, that's also undeniable. Some people have proposed Liberal/Conservative but I think it's plain wrong (and also I want to be both...). But West/East is a really intriguing suggestion. It does tally well with some of what I have been preaching for some time now and it seems to go to the crux of the matter.
Felix - The old, tired Right/Left spectrum is over-used to the point of non-utility, I fully agree, but the point in its favor is that it at least is familiar to everyone in the discussion. Its limitation is in being a two-dimensional tool of analysis when a multi-dimensional one is required to more accurately describe the opinions and behaviors under discussion.
A "West/East" spectrum of political values would need more careful delineation to be of much use. "The West" is a notional thing but as we know, even a single, relatively homogeneous State contains multiple political viewpoints -- for that matter, even members of a single political party are likely to hold a spectrum of viewpoints, ranging from strict adherence to party ideological orthodoxy to a more reform/revisionist stance.
You say Sachs directed the rise of the post-soviet kleptocracy as if he had the intent to do so, and he is to this day loyal to them. What proof? Then you simply list the arguments he regularly makes as if that is evidence he is somehow a Russian agent. Any similar allegations against Mearsheimer?
Sachs, like Mearsheimer, Carlson et al has also kissed the ring of Hungarian PM 'mini Putin' Orban.