Polity Atlas

How each model solves the same problems

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

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How are decisions made?Inatsisartut (31 members, proportional representation) forms the government, Naalakkersuisut. Fields are taken over from Denmark when Greenland decides.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.Kings of small kingdoms (túatha) under over-kings; assemblies (óenach); customary law expounded by hereditary jurists rather than legislated.
How are conflicts resolved?Negotiation between Naalakkersuisut and the Danish government; disputes over competence go to a board under the Act; independence requires agreement, a referendum and both parliaments' consent.A four-member Constitutional Tribunal appointed by the co-princes and the General Council; ordinary courts.Brehon judges; sureties (naidm, ráth, aitire); distraint of livestock; ritual fasting against higher-ranking defendants; body-fines and honour-price compensation.Arbitration
How are public goods funded?Health, education, social services, fisheries and mineral resources run by Greenland, financed by local taxes, fisheries and a Danish block grant.Health, education and infrastructure funded by indirect, corporate and personal taxes; parishes run local services.Rules on shared grazing, co-operative ploughing, mills and fencing; obligatory hospitality; churches and monasteries; few public works.
How is AI used?No specific role for AI in the self-government arrangement.No specific role for AI.None; a medieval legal order.
What are the main risks?Fiscal dependence on the block grant; small administrative capacity; pressure from great powers over minerals and security; social problems inherited from colonial policy.Clash between the episcopal co-prince and legislation such as abortion; exclusion of non-citizens; dependence on France, Spain and the EU.Status-graded and unequal protection, unfree labour, endemic raiding and dynastic war, and vulnerability to a centralising conqueror.CLM-0385

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