Left and Right in Africa

In: The journal of modern African studies: a quarterly survey of politics, economics & related topics in contemporary Africa, Volume 9, Issue 1, p. 1-10

Abstract

One of the basic concepts of modern political analysis is the dichotomy (or continuum) of left–right. It has been a fundamental element of the ideological apparatus of the modern world at least since the French Revolution.There have been two kinds of intellectual debates concerning this concept throughout modern history. One revolves around the criteria that should be used to delineate the ideal-typical poles of the concepts, and the degree to which the concept has discrete points or is a continuum. A subordinate question has always been whether it is fruitful to make the concept tri-modal and include a 'centre'. Obviously, this debate has both moral and intellectual dimensions, and it is doubtful whether it is either possible or desirable to separate them.