Portrait of Joseph de Maistre
Radical right · Thinker or writer · From history

Joseph de Maistre

Savoyard counter-revolutionary thinker, 1753 to 1821

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Attacked the French Revolution and Enlightenment reason, and defended throne and altar and hereditary rule as the foundation of order.

Joseph de Maistre sits in the right-authoritarian part of the Caucus economy and liberty compass: slightly free market and strongly authoritarian. The clearest positions are strongly traditional on culture, strongly religious on religion and strongly authoritarian on liberty and authority.

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Where Joseph de Maistre 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.

💰EconomySlightly free market
State-ledFree market
⚖️Liberty and authorityStrongly authoritarian
LibertarianAuthoritarian
🎭CultureStrongly traditional
ProgressiveTraditional
🌍NationLeaning nationalist
GlobalistNationalist
🌱EnvironmentSlightly nature-first
Growth-firstNature-first
🤖TechnologyLeaning tech-cautious
Tech-cautiousTech-optimist
🕊️War and peaceLeaning strength-first
Peace-firstStrength-first
🏛️InstitutionsStrongly institutional
Anti-establishmentInstitutional
🙏ReligionStrongly religious
SecularReligious
🛡️InterventionismLeaning interventionist
Non-interventionistInterventionist

People most like Joseph de Maistre

Edmund Burke Irish-born British statesman and thinker, 1729 to 179797%António de Oliveira Salazar Prime Minister of Portugal, 1932 to 196896%Russell Kirk American conservative thinker, 1918 to 199496%Mswati III King of Eswatini, 1986 to present94%Roger Scruton English philosopher, 1944 to 202094%Mojtaba Khamenei Supreme Leader of Iran, 2026 to present93%Plato Philosopher, c. 428 to 348 BCE93%Mohamed Ould Ghazouani President of Mauritania, 2019 to present93%

People furthest from Joseph de Maistre

Emma Goldman Russian-born anarchist and writer, 1869 to 19400%Peter Kropotkin Russian anarchist and naturalist, 1842 to 19211%John Lennon British musician and peace activist, 1940 to 19801%Mikhail Bakunin Russian revolutionary and anarchist, 1814 to 18761%

Political views closest to Joseph de Maistre

MonarchismSupports a hereditary monarch as head of state, from ceremonial constitutional monarchy…98%IntegralismA Catholic view that political authority should serve the Church's spiritual aims.96%TraditionalismDefends inherited culture, faith, family and local community against rapid modernization.95%Social conservatismDefends the traditional family, religion and moral norms in law and society.93%

Read more about Joseph de Maistre

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Biographies of Joseph de MaistreBooks on monarchism

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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: Carl Christian Vogel von Vogelstein, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons; see all photo credits.