Polity Atlas

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 stratified random sample of 523 voters deliberated in moderated groups and plenaries and answered questionnaires before and after; no decisions were taken.Sortition / citizens' assemblyCollective leadership in the Politburo Standing Committee; party control of personnel through the Organization Department; local governments ran economies and piloted policies under central veto.Term limits and rotation of office
How are conflicts resolved?Balanced briefing materials, trained neutral moderators and competing experts structured disagreement.Party discipline commissions, courts under party leadership, petition offices; mass protest met with repression, most lethally in June 1989.
How are public goods funded?Privately funded; produced published results, media coverage and a peer-reviewed study.Fiscal decentralisation with local land revenues; infrastructure and education expanded rapidly; health and pension coverage rebuilt in the 2000s.
How is AI used?No AI role.None at system level; digital government grew late in the period.
What are the main risks?Self-selection into attendance; artificial setting; analysis by the method's designers; no institutional uptake.Corruption, local debt and land seizures driven by growth targets, environmental damage, factionalism, and rules on succession without independent enforcement.CLM-1089CLM-1091

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