## Summary Campism is a geopolitical ideology that frames the world as a battle between multiple "camps" and flattens the analysis of conflicts between nations and peoples into a question of allegiances in a supranational, existential "camp conflict." As opposed to analysis based on real blocs, their material interests, and their ideological alignment, campists instead draw camp borders and defend their preferred camp using a [[Friend-Enemy Distinction]] pertaining to the camp conflict. Because the camp conflict supersedes any other political or moral considerations, campists [[Improper Contextualizing|eschew nuance when talking about individual actions]] of certain nations or alliances. The arguments they use in defense of their preferred camp, or to criticize the other camp, are immaterial and interchangeable; they view the camp conflict through a consequentialist "lesser of two evils" lens, and thus will - using arguments ranging from reasonable to absurd - defend actions taken by governments they do not ideologically align with, on the belief that it will eventually lead to the vanquishment of the other camp and the start of a better world. When confronted directly with this dissonance, campists employ a variety of strategies, most of which are [[Unfalsifiability|unfalsifiable.]] Many fall back on vague suggestions that the governments they are currently not politically aligned with will be reformed or replaced with better regimes at an unspecified future date. Others will decry any perceived hypocrisy or misalignment as a result of propaganda manufactured by the opposite camp. Defenses vary in how blatantly they express their partisanship, but most campists will, consciously or otherwise, attempt to frame their belief as consistent and ideologically-driven. When used by itself, the term "campism" is most often used to describe [[Illiberalism & Antiliberalism|opposition to so-called "Western" liberal democracies]] and their affiliated states through blanket support of countries like Russia, China, Iran, etc., despite the fact that these countries have vastly different political systems and geopolitical ambitions. More specifically, this belief is called *"second-campism,"* with the idea that the "first" camp is the Western powers and the "second" camp is the non-Western powers. It is also often pejoratively referred to as *"third-worldism,"* though adherents typically self-identify as *"anti-imperialists."* Likewise, *"first-campism,"* as a result of its defense of practices like colonialism and ethnic cleansing done by Western-aligned nations, is often simply referred to as *"imperialism."* Notably, all three of the listed terms used to describe campist conclusions are inaccurate, being attempts to explain [[Ideology & Partisanship|partisan beliefs using an ideological lens.]] It would not be accurate to say that campists do not subscribe to an ideology. Most develop their camp alignment as a result of their political ideology; what makes them campists is that their ideology is then subjugated to their camp loyalty. Although not inextricably linked, first-campism has significant overlap with neoliberal ideology, and second-campism correlates tightly with socialism and communism. Libertarian ideologies are particularly prone to campism: as a movement defined more by its [[Means & Ends|means than its ends,]] it meshes with campism which is rooted in [[Positive & Negative Polarization|negative polarization more than positive.]] Libertarian campism has a far less consistent cardinality, however, mostly because libertarian ideas do not map cleanly onto historical West vs. East conflicts. A campist can be identified relatively easily by noting their reflexive defense of one camp and criticism of the other pertaining to a geopolitical conflict, especially if it is [[Stated vs. Revealed Preferences|seemingly inconsistent]] with their self-identified political ideology or moral framework. In this way, campism in practice can be considered a form of [[Double Standard]] based on [[Selective Apathy]] toward actions taken by certain state and non-state actors.