Power: Civil liberty or State authority?

Where the library sits on this axis

The 112 written profiles are each stored with one value for this axis, written by hand. These are the ones furthest toward either end, and the ones closest to the middle.

These are editorial readings of the positions, not measurements of any party, movement or voter, and every vector is open to disagreement. Every profile, all three sets →

The statements that measure this axis

The question bank holds 10 statements for power: 5 coded so that agreement counts toward State authority, and 5 coded the other way, toward Civil liberty. The Short version draws 3 of them, Standard 5 and Deep 10.

• “A government that cannot monitor its citizens cannot protect them.” agreeing counts toward State authority
• “Emergency powers granted during a crisis are rarely given back afterwards.” agreeing counts toward Civil liberty
• “National security sometimes has to come before an individual's privacy.” agreeing counts toward State authority
• “Protesting an unjust law is legitimate even when the protest is disruptive.” agreeing counts toward Civil liberty
• “The state should be able to shut down organisations that openly seek to overthrow the constitutional order.” agreeing counts toward State authority
• “A free press must be allowed to publish material that embarrasses the government.” agreeing counts toward Civil liberty
• “Identity checks and travel records are a reasonable price for public safety.” agreeing counts toward State authority
• “The burden of proof should always rest on the state, never on the individual.” agreeing counts toward Civil liberty
• “Order breaks down once citizens believe the law will not be enforced.” agreeing counts toward State authority
• “Police should need a warrant before reading anyone's private messages.” agreeing counts toward Civil liberty

How this axis is scored

Each statement is answered on a five-point scale from strongly disagree to strongly agree. On this axis, 5 statements count agreement toward State authority and 5 count it toward Civil liberty, so a run where you agree with everything does not drift to one end.

The two directions are averaged separately and then weighted equally, and the result is reported between −100 and +100: negative toward Civil liberty, positive toward State authority. A statement you skip is not counted on this axis at all, so skipping never moves the score. Anything inside ±12 is recorded as centred rather than as a lean.

The same twelve values are what your result is matched against. How scoring works, in full →