Start with country A. It boasts a free-trade policy to make it one of the world's most open economies. A run of budget surpluses has wiped out its national debt. It has a privatised pensions system and education vouchers that allow the affluent to top up state provision. Fiscal responsibility is enshrined in law.

Now consider country B, a similar-sized emerging economy. It takes pride in an aggressive anti-poverty campaign. The proportion of young people attending university has quadrupled. Public health provision has brought strong gains in life expectancy. The state guarantees a minimum income for the elderly. A publicly owned bank is mitigating the effects of the credit crunch.

For those steeped in the familiar reference points of western politics, the ideological divides are obvious. Country A is governed from the right or centre-right: fiscal conservatism, free trade and private pensions give the game away. As for country B, the emphasis on education, poverty reduction and welfare provision speak to the progressive politics of the left.