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? | Seven sovereign provincial States; a States General with one vote per province and unanimity on war, peace and taxes; co-opting town councils; stadtholders and a Grand Pensionary. | A 28-member General Council (half elected by parish, half by national list) elects the head of government; the co-princes sanction laws with countersignature. | 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? | Provincial and town courts; negotiation in the States General; stadtholder arbitration and, in crises, force or crowd violence. | A four-member Constitutional Tribunal appointed by the co-princes and the General Council; ordinary courts. | Balanced briefing materials, trained neutral moderators and competing experts structured disagreement. | |
| How are public goods funded? | Defence and navy funded by provincial quotas (Holland over half), water boards for dykes and drainage, town poor relief, charitable foundations and schools. | Health, education and infrastructure funded by indirect, corporate and personal taxes; parishes run local services. | Privately funded; produced published results, media coverage and a peer-reviewed study. | |
| How is AI used? | None; an early-modern polity. | No specific role for AI. | No AI role. | |
| What are the main risks? | Paralysis from unanimity, regent oligarchy, recurring conflict between Holland and the stadtholder, colonial violence, and foreign invasion.CLM-0377 | Clash between the episcopal co-prince and legislation such as abortion; exclusion of non-citizens; dependence on France, Spain and the EU. | Self-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.