Right-wing politics
From Metapedia
In politics, right-wing, the political right, far right and the right are terms used in the spectrum of Left-Right Politics, and much like the opposite appellation of left-wing, it has a broad variety of definitions and sometimes mean different things. However, it is generally used to refer to the segments of the political spectrum often associated with any of several strains of conservatism, nationalism, monarchism, traditionalism, militarism, nativism, populism, the Religious Right, or simply the opposite of left-wing politics.
The term originates from the French Revolution, when liberal deputies from the Third Estate generally sat to the left of the president's chair, a habit which began in the Estates General of 1789. The nobility, members of the Second Estate, generally sat to the right. In the successive legislative assemblies, monarchists who supported the Ancien Régime were commonly referred to as rightists because they sat on the right side. It is still the tradition in the French National Assembly for the representatives to be seated left-to-right (relative to the Assembly president) according to their political alignment.
As this original reference became obsolete, the meaning of the term has changed as appropriate to the spectrum of ideas and stances being compared, and the point of view of the speaker. In recent times, the term almost always includes some forms of conservatism.
[edit] Right-wing issues
Outside the United States (where capitalism is supported by major politicians and people from both the left and right), the most notable distinction between left and right is in economic policy. The right advances capitalism, whereas the left advocates socialism (including democratic socialism) or communism. Some on the right advocate laissez faire capitalism, tending toward minarchism, with little government intervention in the economy other than to control the money supply and little taxation except to support military and police functions. At the other extreme within what is usually considered right of centre, the centre-right Gaullists in post-World War II France advocated considerable social spending on education and infrastructure development, as well as extensive economic regulation and even a limited amount of the wealth redistribution measures more characteristic of social democracy.
More recently as new social issues arise, right wing views have been concerned with keeping "traditional" values (often religious values) and the preservation of individual through constraints on government power.
[edit] See also
[edit] External links
- Political Compass
- The Nolan Charts, other alternative political spectra (mostly libertarian-oriented).
- publiceye.org - A leftist organization's perspective on the right.
- The Political Compass and Why Libertarianism is Not Right Wing by J. C. Lester
