Welcome! It’s timely to stress that The Political Compass has been on the internet since 2001. The uniqueness of our take on politics is reflected in the gratifyingly enthusiastic reviews we’ve enjoyed in the national media of many countries from our earliest years — as well as from many teachers and academics who continue to use our work.
Read more about our work here.
We’ve all experienced it! The mental conflict that comes when new information threatens your beliefs, assumptions or actions.
Professor Daniel Meegan of Guelph University, Ontario, Canada, explains the defensive mind manoeuvres that we’re likely to make when such mental conflicts occur. In our present age of troubling uncertainties and existential crises, cognitive dissonance is also common among politicians.
Is it necessary for our sanity, or a potentially dangerous cop-out? Professor Meegan takes an unblinkered look at how we phase out unwelcome information.
While across the US the German election has been depicted in the mainstream media as a defeat for the ruling Conservative (Christian Democrat) Party, the reality of conservatism in Germany — and most of Europe — is that it bears little resemblence to what it means to Americans.
Wall Street has created a class of stocks aimed at controlling the earth’s natural resources — water, wildlife, forests, minerals and farmland. William T. Hathaway explains.
Australia is shelling out a staggering $268 billion - $368 billion (expect the larger figure) on a nuclear powered submarine fleet, capable of easy conversion to nuclear arms.
Experts like Dr Tilman Ruff insist that it will inevitably threaten rather than enhance Pacific security.
He’s at the forefront of two Nobel Peace Prize winning organisations, and raises in this podcast alarming aspects of the US-Australia deal that haven’t appeared in the mainstream press — least of all in Australia.
Our growing list of interviews
All you need to know about the making and meaning of national songs! Erik Levi, Professor of Music at Royal Holloway, University of London, talks about the musical devices that stir emotions in patriotic songs and takes a critical look at some interesting examples.
The Population Bomb was a bombshell best-seller when it was unleashed in 1968. Author Paul Ehrlich, a renowned biologist, warned of the consequences of unchecked population growth and introduced the term Zero Population Growth (ZPG).
The population then was less than half of today’s figure, yet the issue is barely mentioned now in the media and public discourse. Despite our greater awareness of climate change, peak oil and other related hazards, why did population slip off the radar?
Vladimir Lenin’s view on THE UKRAINE was vastly different from Vladimir Putin’s!
Four years ago, I traveled around America, visiting historical archives. I was looking for documents that might reveal the hidden history of climate change — and in particular, when the major coal, oil and gas companies became aware of the problem, and what they knew about it …
