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?Great Council of all adult noble men elected a Senate, Minor Council and a rector serving one month; real power lay with the Senate.Grand Council of 50 chiefs chosen by clan mothers; questions pass between groups of nations, each seeking unanimity, with the Onondaga Firekeepers confirming or resolving disagreement.A stratified random sample of 523 voters deliberated in moderated groups and plenaries and answered questionnaires before and after; no decisions were taken.Sortition / citizens' assembly
How are conflicts resolved?Republican courts with appeal to councils; diplomacy, tribute and neutrality in external disputes.The Confederacy describes the Grand Council as resolving disputes among the nations and planning for the welfare of all the people.Balanced briefing materials, trained neutral moderators and competing experts structured disagreement.
How are public goods funded?State salt monopoly, granaries, an aqueduct, hospitals and orphanage, quarantine and a permanent Health Office.UnknownPrivately funded; produced published results, media coverage and a peer-reviewed study.
How is AI used?None; a pre-modern polity.No documented AI role.No AI role.
What are the main risks?Exclusion of commoners, a shrinking closed nobility, dependence on great-power goodwill, and decline of Mediterranean trade.Operates alongside US and Canadian governments, which limits its practical jurisdiction; its rule of unanimity within and between blocs requires broad agreement.CLM-0117CLM-0118Self-selection into attendance; artificial setting; analysis by the method's designers; no institutional uptake.

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