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?Ownership and decisions kept with families, small firms, guilds and cooperatives, in line with subsidiarity.Power concentrated in the party centre and in Xi Jinping as 'core'; central commissions chaired by Xi; presidential term limits removed in 2018; party bodies absorbed government functions.A statutory authority (UIDAI) under the central government sets rules; ministries decide where Aadhaar is required; Parliament legislated in 2016 and 2019.Digital identity
How are conflicts resolved?UnknownParty discipline commissions and supervisory commissions with extrajudicial detention (liuzhi); courts under party leadership; online petition and complaint platforms.Grievance channels at UIDAI and service agencies; constitutional challenges in the Supreme Court, which ruled in 2017 and 2018.
How are public goods funded?Not worked out as a state programme; left largely to small-scale and local bodies.State-led industrial policy, poverty-alleviation campaigns, infrastructure; local governments squeezed by debt and reduced land revenue.A universal, low-cost proof of identity used for welfare transfers, financial inclusion and public services.
How is AI used?No documented AI role.AI-enabled surveillance (facial recognition, big-data policing, IJOP in Xinjiang); algorithmic routing of citizen complaints.No AI in decision-making as such; automated biometric matching and deduplication decide authentication, and face authentication was added in 2018.
What are the main risks?Feasibility of widely redistributing property; efficiency of small-scale production; dependence on a theological context.CLM-0334Unchecked personal power and succession uncertainty, mass repression in Xinjiang and Tibet, surveillance, reduced local initiative, and policy errors without public correction.CLM-1095Exclusion through authentication failures, data leaks, surveillance and profiling, weak independent oversight and function creep.CLM-0544

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