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?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' assemblyPower concentrated in the party centre and in Xi Jinping as 'core'; central commissions chaired by Xi; presidential term limits removed in 2018; party bodies absorbed government functions.Each listed body sets its own well-being objectives and steps; the Welsh Ministers publish national indicators and a future trends report after each election.
How are conflicts resolved?Balanced briefing materials, trained neutral moderators and competing experts structured disagreement.Party discipline commissions and supervisory commissions with extrajudicial detention (liuzhi); courts under party leadership; online petition and complaint platforms.The Commissioner may review a body and recommend; the body must take reasonable steps to follow or publish reasons (s 22). The Auditor General examines application of the principle.
How are public goods funded?Privately funded; produced published results, media coverage and a peer-reviewed study.State-led industrial policy, poverty-alleviation campaigns, infrastructure; local governments squeezed by debt and reduced land revenue.Covers the Welsh Ministers, local authorities, health boards, national park authorities and other listed bodies; public services boards plan locally.
How is AI used?No AI role.AI-enabled surveillance (facial recognition, big-data policing, IJOP in Xinjiang); algorithmic routing of citizen complaints.No documented AI role.
What are the main risks?Self-selection into attendance; artificial setting; analysis by the method's designers; no institutional uptake.Unchecked personal power and succession uncertainty, mass repression in Xinjiang and Tibet, surveillance, reduced local initiative, and policy errors without public correction.CLM-1095Soft 'follow or explain' enforcement; procedural compliance; difficulty measuring long-term and preventative benefits.

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