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 junta of the four service commanders held constituent and legislative power and decided by unanimity; Pinochet held executive power. Economic policy was delegated to a team of Chicago-trained economists.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.
How are conflicts resolved?Military courts and a state of siege; secret police detention; courts rarely granted habeas corpus. A 1978 amnesty decree shielded abuses.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.
How are public goods funded?Privatised pensions, vouchers and municipal schools, targeted social programmes; copper remained state-owned through Codelco.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.
How is AI used?None.No AI role.AI-enabled surveillance (facial recognition, big-data policing, IJOP in Xinjiang); algorithmic routing of citizen complaints.
What are the main risks?Systematic human rights violations, financial fragility under a fixed exchange rate, very high inequality, and constitutional enclaves outlasting the regime.CLM-1181Self-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-1095

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