What about Communism? And Conservativism?
Communism
When most people refer to communism, they are talking about socialism (command economies). This is what existed in the Soviet Union and eastern Europe (though most socialists claim that the Soviet Union got it wrong and that socialism can work better).
There is a distinct communist and anarcho-syndicalist political philosophy separate from socialism. However, communism cannot be adequately represented on the political grid used here because of their position on economic issues.
The options given in this quiz are between markets (capitalism, private property and voluntary exchange) and government (socialism, public property and government redistribution). However, an authentic communist (and anarcho-syndicalist) position opposes both the government and the market. Subsequently, they cannot be plotted on the political grid.
It is uncertain how communism would coordinate the economy, and this is one of the strongest criticisms of communism. Consider the following problem. Communists would oppose a voluntary contract between employer and employee and would oppose a business trading for profit. However, they oppose the power of government to stop such actions.
So would they allow the actions to go ahead - effectively endorsing the market? Or would they create an institution with the power to stop such actions - effectively creating a government? Strangely, communists say they’d do neither, but they don’t explain how that would work.
Conservativism
Conservativism has not been included on the political grid as it is not really a political philosophy but is rather a belief that the rate of change should be slow, or that institutions that existed yesterday should be preserved.
In Australia today, we live in a social democracy - and so conservatives generally support social democracy. 100 years ago we lived in something closer to liberal democracy - and back then conservatives generally supported liberal democracy.
That is why conservatives and liberal democrats have traditionally been in alliance, against socialists and social democrats. However, this alliance no longer makes much sense as conservatives no longer defend liberal democracy.
This understanding of convservativism helps explain why there appears so little difference between the major parties. The conservative party in Australia (Liberals) used to support the status quo of liberal democracy, while the Labor Party believed in social democracy. There was a real difference. However, as Australia has becoming a social democracy (most noticably during the 1970s), the Liberals have begun defending the new status quo.
Effectively, the Labor party wants social democracy because it believes in
it, while the Liberals want social democracy because it’s the status
quo - and so there is little difference between them. What differences can
be seen are explained by minority groups in both parties - including democratic
socialists in the Labor party, and some free-market conservatives and national
socialists in the Liberal and National party respectively.