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?Open village assemblies of adults, dominated by men, seeking consensus; councils of lineage elders holding the ofo; title societies; women's assemblies for women's affairs and markets.Popular assemblyEach listed body sets its own well-being objectives and steps; the Welsh Ministers publish national indicators and a future trends report after each election.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?Escalation from family to lineage, elders, assembly and oracles; oaths and ordeals; fines, ostracism and collective shaming such as 'sitting on a man'.The Commissioner may review a body and recommend; the body must take reasonable steps to follow or publish reasons (s 22). The Auditor General examines application of the principle.Balanced briefing materials, trained neutral moderators and competing experts structured disagreement.
How are public goods funded?Paths, markets, shrines and defence supplied by age grades and communal labour; land allocated by lineages.Covers the Welsh Ministers, local authorities, health boards, national park authorities and other listed bodies; public services boards plan locally.Privately funded; produced published results, media coverage and a peer-reviewed study.
How is AI used?None; a pre-colonial polity.No documented AI role.No AI role.
What are the main risks?Exclusion and stigma (slaves, osu), oracle abuse and slave trading, limited capacity above the village-group, and conquest by a centralised colonial state.CLM-0390Soft 'follow or explain' enforcement; procedural compliance; difficulty measuring long-term and preventative benefits.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.