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?104 randomly selected residents, stratified including by constitutional attitudes, deliberated over eight weekends and voted on a vision and 60 recommendations.Sortition / citizens' assemblyKings of small kingdoms (túatha) under over-kings; assemblies (óenach); customary law expounded by hereditary jurists rather than legislated.The Prime Minister is formally responsible for Diella; the Constitutional Court states AI cannot change who exercises public power or bears accountability.
How are conflicts resolved?Independent conveners and facilitated small groups; no means to resolve the boycott by parties that viewed the assembly as partisan.Brehon judges; sureties (naidm, ráth, aitire); distraint of livestock; ritual fasting against higher-ranking defendants; body-fines and honour-price compensation.ArbitrationOpposition challenged the decrees before the Constitutional Court, which dismissed the request on 8 October 2026; its full reasoning is pending.
How are public goods funded?Government-funded (final cost £0.938 million); produced recommendations and a model for later Scottish assemblies.Rules on shared grazing, co-operative ploughing, mills and fencing; obligatory hospitality; churches and monasteries; few public works.Aims to improve public-service access and reduce discretion in public procurement.
How is AI used?No AI role.None; a medieval legal order.Chatbot and voice assistant on e-Albania; a procurement system tender was still being prepared in August 2026.
What are the main risks?Perception of partisan purpose; remit too broad to produce implementable proposals; non-binding status and a general government response.Status-graded and unequal protection, unfree labour, endemic raiding and dynastic war, and vulnerability to a centralising conqueror.CLM-0385Unclear accountability for an AI 'minister'; no AI law yet; no published technical detail; AKSHI's leaders face a tender-rigging case.CLM-0359

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