8Values and Multi-Axis Political Quizzes

What it is

8Values (and similar four-axis tools like 9Axes) extends the two-axis Political Compass by separating ideology into four independent dimensions:

• Economic axis. Equality (state intervention, redistribution) ↔ Markets (free enterprise, private property).
• Diplomatic axis. Nation (sovereignty, patriotism, military strength) ↔ World (internationalism, cooperation, multilateralism).
• Civil axis. Liberty (civil liberties, dissent, personal autonomy) ↔ Authority (order, security, institutional power).
• Societal axis. Tradition (continuity, faith, established norms) ↔ Progress (change, secularism, social experimentation).

Each axis is scored independently. The combination maps to one of 16+ ideological labels (e.g., "Social Democrat", "Classical Liberal", "Libertarian Socialist", "Authoritarian Conservative").

Why four axes

Compared to a two-axis compass, the four-axis model:

• Separates foreign policy from social policy. A nationalist on diplomatic axis can be progressive on social axis (unusual but real).
• Separates economic preference from civil liberties. Free-market and authoritarian views can coexist, and so can socialist and libertarian views.
• Better captures non-Western ideologies. Models built only on US left-right miss positions common elsewhere (e.g., Asian developmental capitalism, European Christian democracy).

Origin

8Values is an open-source online quiz developed by an anonymous contributor around 2017, building on the longer tradition of multi-axis political mapping (Nolan Chart, Pournelle Chart, Political Compass). It became popular on Reddit and discussion forums.

What the research says

Multi-axis ideological models show:

• Higher predictive validity for voting behavior in multi-party systems than single-axis models.
• Better discrimination between ideologically similar parties.
• Lower false convergence — fewer people misclassified as "centrist" when they hold strong views on different axes.

That said, these models are descriptive tools, not validated psychometric instruments. They are useful for self-reflection and political vocabulary, not for academic research.

Limitations

• The labels assigned to score combinations are subjective and contested.
• Question items can be ambiguous or culturally specific.
• The model assumes axes are orthogonal; in practice, they often correlate.
• Like all self-report tools, captures stated preferences, not voting behavior or actual policy support.
• Real political identities are bundles of group loyalty, identity, habit, and self-interest — not just abstract values.

Citations

• Pournelle, J. (1963). Two Dimensions of Power: A New Political Geometry. Doctoral dissertation, University of Washington.
• Mitchell, B. (2007). Eight Ways to Run the Country. Praeger.
• Feldman, S., & Johnston, C. (2014). Understanding the determinants of political ideology. Political Psychology, 35(3), 337–358.
• 8values.github.io (original quiz)