Polity Atlas

How each model solves the same problems

Instead of “democracy versus anarchism”, compare the concrete ways collective problems get solved.

Question✕✕✕
How are decisions made?Elected chamber and lot-selected chamber with equal powers; each can initiate and vote on the other's bills.Sortition / citizens' assemblyKings of small kingdoms (túatha) under over-kings; assemblies (óenach); customary law expounded by hereditary jurists rather than legislated.The Prime Minister is formally responsible for Diella; the Constitutional Court states AI cannot change who exercises public power or bears accountability.
How are conflicts resolved?Intercameral relations between the two chambers (a design question the 2019 volume examines).Brehon judges; sureties (naidm, ráth, aitire); distraint of livestock; ritual fasting against higher-ranking defendants; body-fines and honour-price compensation.ArbitrationOpposition challenged the decrees before the Constitutional Court, which dismissed the request on 8 October 2026; its full reasoning is pending.
How are public goods funded?Ordinary legislation and budgets, passed only with both chambers' consent.Rules on shared grazing, co-operative ploughing, mills and fencing; obligatory hospitality; churches and monasteries; few public works.Aims to improve public-service access and reduce discretion in public procurement.
How is AI used?No documented AI role.None; a medieval legal order.Chatbot and voice assistant on e-Albania; a procurement system tender was still being prepared in August 2026.
What are the main risks?Unelected members' accountability; self-selection among those invited; capture by staff or experts.CLM-0313CLM-0920Status-graded and unequal protection, unfree labour, endemic raiding and dynastic war, and vulnerability to a centralising conqueror.CLM-0385Unclear accountability for an AI 'minister'; no AI law yet; no published technical detail; AKSHI's leaders face a tender-rigging case.CLM-0359

This illustrates differences in design; it is not a universal claim about outcomes. Each cell links to mechanisms and the claims behind them.