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?Neighbourhood assemblies gather ideas, volunteer budget delegates develop proposals with City agencies, and residents aged 11+ vote; winners enter the City budget.Grand Council of 50 chiefs chosen by clan mothers; questions pass between groups of nations, each seeking unanimity, with the Onondaga Firekeepers confirming or resolving disagreement.Kings of small kingdoms (túatha) under over-kings; assemblies (óenach); customary law expounded by hereditary jurists rather than legislated.
How are conflicts resolved?Agency feasibility review and delegate committees settle eligibility; council members keep the decision to opt in and set the sum.The Confederacy describes the Grand Council as resolving disputes among the nations and planning for the welfare of all the people.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?Council members' discretionary capital funds pay for school, park, street-safety and library projects of at least $50,000.Participatory budgetingUnknownRules on shared grazing, co-operative ploughing, mills and fencing; obligatory hospitality; churches and monasteries; few public works.
How is AI used?No AI role.No documented AI role.None; a medieval legal order.
What are the main risks?Dependence on individual council members; capital-only scope; slow delivery by City agencies; small share of the budget.Operates alongside US and Canadian governments, which limits its practical jurisdiction; its rule of unanimity within and between blocs requires broad agreement.CLM-0117CLM-0118Status-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.