text: Right and Left are convenient shorthand for ideological tendencies.  \n\nIn different countries, the actual policy positions of that country's Right and Left wings will vary.  But in general, the Left is more progressive (what critics call "liberal") and the Right is more conservative (what critics call "reactionary").  What does that mean? Progessives generally favor social policies that promote social equality (more even distribution of wealth & power among citizens), broader social freedoms but more limited economic freedoms (in the US, for the rights of minorities and women, but against "corporate power"), and foreign policy based on diplomacy.  Conservatives generally favor social policies that promote social inequality (greater disparities between wealthy and poor), more limited social freedoms but broader economic freedoms (in the US, against same-sex marriage & women's reproductive rights, but for strong property rights for those with property), and foreign policy based on military supremacy.  In most countries, the Left is closely tied to the labor unions, to minority advocacy groups, to the women's movements, and to students; the Right is closely tied to majority religious organizations, to the dominant racial group, and to big business.  \n\nLeft and Right are relative terms, and they change over time.  In the 1990s, US President Bill Clinton was criticized as an ultra-leftist for attempting to create single-payer health coverage for all Americans.  Yet just two decades before, ultra-Rightist US President Richard M. Nixon had suggested the exact same policy reforms.  The USA had moved so significantly to the Right as a country in those two decades that what had been politically viable for a right-wing Republican was now too leftist for a centrist Democrat.  \n\nIn the USA, the Right today is dominated by the dual interests of social conservatives (Christian extremist groups) and fiscal conservatives (Big Business).  The Left is not dominated by any one group, but is a loose and often ineffectual coalition of many diverse interests including feminists, environmentalists, what remains of the US labor movement, and ethnic and sexual minority action groups.  In the 21st century the Left has failed utterly to take power in America, and the Right has failed utterly, having taken power, to govern effectively.  \n\nHope this helps.