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?Each of eight canal communities elects a board and a trustee (síndic) who must farm his own land; the trustees sit as the Tribunal and elect a president for two years.Kings of small kingdoms (túatha) under over-kings; assemblies (óenach); customary law expounded by hereditary jurists rather than legislated.A statutory authority (UIDAI) under the central government sets rules; ministries decide where Aadhaar is required; Parliament legislated in 2016 and 2019.Digital identity
How are conflicts resolved?Weekly public oral hearings in Valencian; no written record; the trustee of the canal concerned does not vote; penalties follow each community's ordinances.ArbitrationBrehon judges; sureties (naidm, ráth, aitire); distraint of livestock; ritual fasting against higher-ranking defendants; body-fines and honour-price compensation.ArbitrationGrievance channels at UIDAI and service agencies; constitutional challenges in the Supreme Court, which ruled in 2017 and 2018.
How are public goods funded?Distribution of Turia water in 138 proportional shares, canal cleaning and guards financed by member levies; cheap and trusted dispute resolution.Rules on shared grazing, co-operative ploughing, mills and fencing; obligatory hospitality; churches and monasteries; few public works.A universal, low-cost proof of identity used for welfare transfers, financial inclusion and public services.
How is AI used?None. Hearings are oral and decided by elected farmer-trustees; no algorithmic tools are used.None; a medieval legal order.No AI in decision-making as such; automated biometric matching and deduplication decide authentication, and face authentication was added in 2018.
What are the main risks?Loss of farmland to urban growth, an ageing farming population and dependence on river flows controlled by state water authorities.CLM-0501Status-graded and unequal protection, unfree labour, endemic raiding and dynastic war, and vulnerability to a centralising conqueror.CLM-0385Exclusion through authentication failures, data leaks, surveillance and profiling, weak independent oversight and function creep.CLM-0544

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