Portrait of Cornel West
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Cornel West

American philosopher and activist

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A Christian democratic socialist and public intellectual who ran for president in 2024 as an independent, speaking on race, poverty and empire.

Cornel West sits in the left-libertarian part of the Caucus economy and liberty compass: strongly state-led and leaning libertarian. The clearest positions are strongly state-led on economy, strongly anti-establishment on institutions and strongly peace-first on war and peace.

Read more about Cornel West on Wikipedia →

Where Cornel West sits on ten dimensions

Each scale runs from one pole to the other, and the dot shows the overall tendency of this person's record and public life. These are simplified estimates and open to debate.

💰EconomyStrongly state-led
State-ledFree market
⚖️Liberty and authorityLeaning libertarian
LibertarianAuthoritarian
🎭CultureLeaning progressive
ProgressiveTraditional
🌍NationLeaning globalist
GlobalistNationalist
🌱EnvironmentLeaning nature-first
Growth-firstNature-first
🤖TechnologySlightly tech-cautious
Tech-cautiousTech-optimist
🕊️War and peaceStrongly peace-first
Peace-firstStrength-first
🏛️InstitutionsStrongly anti-establishment
Anti-establishmentInstitutional
🙏ReligionLeaning religious
SecularReligious
🛡️InterventionismLeaning non-interventionist
Non-interventionistInterventionist

People most like Cornel West

Paulo Freire Brazilian educator, 1921 to 199799%Paul Robeson American singer, actor and activist, 1898 to 197698%Bob Dylan American singer-songwriter98%Colin Kaepernick American football player and activist98%Rosa Parks American civil rights activist, 1913 to 200597%Zohran Mamdani Mayor of New York City, 2026 to present97%Henry George American economist and reformer, 1839 to 189797%Eduardo Galeano Uruguayan writer, 1940 to 201596%

People furthest from Cornel West

Louis XIV King of France, 1643 to 17155%Adolf Hitler Chancellor and Führer of Germany, 1933 to 19455%Joseph Stalin Soviet leader, 1920s to 19536%Benito Mussolini Prime Minister of Italy, 1922 to 19436%

Political views closest to Cornel West

Utopian socialismImagines planned model communities built on cooperation, an approach that predates…98%EcofeminismLinks the domination of women and the domination of nature, and calls for care,…93%Deep ecologyGives nature value in itself and calls for a radical reduction of human impact.93%PacifismRejects war as a political tool and favors nonviolent resistance and disarmament.92%

Read more about Cornel West

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Biographies of Cornel WestBooks on utopian socialism

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Percentages show how close two profiles are across all ten dimensions. Including a person here is for study and comparison, not approval. Portrait: Gage Skidmore from Peoria, AZ, United States of America, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons; see all photo credits.