Portrait of Edward Said
Left · Thinker or writer · From history

Edward Said

Palestinian-American scholar, 1935 to 2003

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His book Orientalism argued that Western portrayals of the East served empire, and he became a leading advocate for Palestinian rights.

Edward Said sits in the left-libertarian part of the Caucus economy and liberty compass: leaning state-led and strongly libertarian. The clearest positions are strongly libertarian on liberty and authority, strongly progressive on culture and strongly peace-first on war and peace.

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Where Edward Said 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.

💰EconomyLeaning state-led
State-ledFree market
⚖️Liberty and authorityStrongly libertarian
LibertarianAuthoritarian
🎭CultureStrongly progressive
ProgressiveTraditional
🌍NationSlightly globalist
GlobalistNationalist
🌱EnvironmentSlightly nature-first
Growth-firstNature-first
🤖TechnologySlightly tech-optimist
Tech-cautiousTech-optimist
🕊️War and peaceStrongly peace-first
Peace-firstStrength-first
🏛️InstitutionsStrongly anti-establishment
Anti-establishmentInstitutional
🙏ReligionLeaning secular
SecularReligious
🛡️InterventionismLeaning non-interventionist
Non-interventionistInterventionist

People most like Edward Said

Albert Camus French-Algerian writer, 1913 to 196099%Judith Butler American philosopher and gender theorist99%Angela Davis American philosopher and activist99%Ta-Nehisi Coates American author and journalist99%Colin Kaepernick American football player and activist99%Yanis Varoufakis Greek economist and former finance minister99%Pablo Iglesias Spanish politician and co-founder of Podemos98%Jon Stewart American comedian and commentator98%

People furthest from Edward Said

Louis XIV King of France, 1643 to 17153%Mojtaba Khamenei Supreme Leader of Iran, 2026 to present4%Joseph de Maistre Savoyard counter-revolutionary thinker, 1753 to 18215%Vladimir Putin President of Russia, 2000 to present (with a term as prime minister)5%

Political views closest to Edward Said

Radical democracyWants more direct participation in decisions, through assemblies, referendums and…99%Left-libertarianismCombines strong personal freedom with the view that natural resources and wealth should…99%MutualismA market-based anarchism in which workers and small producers trade fairly through…99%Critical theoryExamines how power, class, race and gender shape institutions and ideas, and aims to…98%

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Biographies of Edward SaidBooks on radical democracy

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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: Barenboim-Said Akademie gGmbH, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons; see all photo credits.