How each model solves the same problems
Instead of “democracy versus anarchism”, compare the concrete ways collective problems get solved.
| Question | + Model | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| How are decisions made? | A directly elected President and Executive Council; a House of Representatives with constituency seats plus reserved seats for women and former combatants; community governments including chiefs. | Kings of small kingdoms (túatha) under over-kings; assemblies (óenach); customary law expounded by hereditary jurists rather than legislated. | |
| How are conflicts resolved? | Joint consultation between the ABG and the national government under the Peace Agreement; customary reconciliation at community level; outside moderation on the referendum outcome. | 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 and roads delivered with limited capacity, funded mainly by national grants; mining revenue is hoped for but contested. | 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 autonomy arrangement. | None; a medieval legal order. | |
| What are the main risks? | Frustration over delayed ratification; fiscal dependence; conflict over reopening the Panguna mine; residual armed groups. | 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.