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?The president and a narrow circle of security and military officials decide; the Duma, Federation Council and Security Council ratify.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.Collective 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?Courts that follow the authorities in political cases; elite conflicts resolved by the president, sometimes violently; no independent arbiter.The Confederacy describes the Grand Council as resolving disputes among the nations and planning for the welfare of all the people.Party discipline commissions, courts under party leadership, petition offices; mass protest met with repression, most lethally in June 1989.
How are public goods funded?Military spending and payments to soldiers and their families have priority; pensions and services financed by oil and gas revenue under sanctions.UnknownFiscal decentralisation with local land revenues; infrastructure and education expanded rapidly; health and pension coverage rebuilt in the 2000s.
How is AI used?No algorithmic governance; facial recognition and online surveillance are used against protesters and draft evaders.No documented AI role.None at system level; digital government grew late in the period.
What are the main risks?Open-ended war, elite fragmentation (shown by the 2023 mutiny), economic strain from sanctions and war spending, and a succession with no agreed rules.CLM-1124Operates alongside US and Canadian governments, which limits its practical jurisdiction; its rule of unanimity within and between blocs requires broad agreement.CLM-0117CLM-0118Corruption, 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.