Thursday, July 28, 2011
Great bit of historical graphics!
UK Guardian has a really neat interactive map of Europe showing the gradual move toward 'right-wing' govts among current EU members since 1973.
It's a little short on instructions. You can run the timeline automatically by hitting the Play button at lower left, but you get better results by grabbing the timeline slider and moving it back and forth manually. The early years look a bit strange because the map shows each current member in color for all years, even when those members weren't countries yet. So Slovenia, Slovakia and the Baltics appear to be separate countries in 1973, though they weren't independent at that time.
Also, the Euro definition of Right-wing is different from the American. In Euro, Right-wing has more of a nationalist and anti-immigration flavor, and both wings favor welfare provisions for the poor. In US, Right-wing currently means "refuses to support own country with taxes", and both wings favor infinitely generous welfare provisions for Goldman Sachs.
In short, Euro 'right-wingers' are closer to FDR, which means they're closer to me. Thus I'm happy to see such nearly universal coverage, and such a consistent trend. ¶ 4:05 AM
It's a little short on instructions. You can run the timeline automatically by hitting the Play button at lower left, but you get better results by grabbing the timeline slider and moving it back and forth manually. The early years look a bit strange because the map shows each current member in color for all years, even when those members weren't countries yet. So Slovenia, Slovakia and the Baltics appear to be separate countries in 1973, though they weren't independent at that time.
Also, the Euro definition of Right-wing is different from the American. In Euro, Right-wing has more of a nationalist and anti-immigration flavor, and both wings favor welfare provisions for the poor. In US, Right-wing currently means "refuses to support own country with taxes", and both wings favor infinitely generous welfare provisions for Goldman Sachs.
In short, Euro 'right-wingers' are closer to FDR, which means they're closer to me. Thus I'm happy to see such nearly universal coverage, and such a consistent trend. ¶ 4:05 AM
