A political spectrum is a way of modeling different political positions by placing them upon one or more geometric axes symbolizing independent political dimensions.
Most long-standing spectra include a right wing and left wing, which originally referred to seating arrangements in the 18th century French parliament. According to the simplest left-right axis, communism, fascism, and socialism are usually regarded internationally as being on the left, opposite classical liberalism and conservatism on the right. Liberalism can mean different things in different contexts, sometimes on the left, sometimes on the right.