01 · Knowledge Atlas
Switch to graph viewAn encyclopedia of social systems
Theories, political philosophies, economic models, institution types and forms of self-government — each idea traced through theory, real examples, critique and results.
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Editors’ selectionConceptAI in governmentUse of machine-learning and automated decision systems by public administrations — from triage and fraud detection to drafting and translation.IdeaTheoryExamplesCritiqueResultsMechanismAI-assisted arbitrationDispute resolution in which AI systems triage cases, summarise evidence or propose outcomes, with or without a human decision-maker.IdeaTheoryExamplesCritiqueResultsExperimentAlaska Permanent Fund DividendAn annual cash dividend paid to eligible Alaska residents since 1982 from the earnings of the state's oil-funded Permanent Fund.IdeaTheoryExamplesCritiqueResults
All entries · A–Z
- AI in governmentConceptUse of machine-learning and automated decision systems by public administrations — from triage and fraud detection to drafting and translation.
- AI-assisted arbitrationMechanismDispute resolution in which AI systems triage cases, summarise evidence or propose outcomes, with or without a human decision-maker.
- Alaska Permanent Fund DividendExperimentAn annual cash dividend paid to eligible Alaska residents since 1982 from the earnings of the state's oil-funded Permanent Fund.
- Albania's AI 'minister' DiellaExperimentAn AI system launched in January 2025 as the e-Albania virtual assistant. In September 2025 the government presented it as a 'virtual minister' for public procurement; its legal status is disputed and the Constitutional Court did not rule on its merits.
- Albert O. HirschmanThinkerEconomist who framed exit and voice as the two responses to decline in firms, organisations and states.
- Alexis de TocquevilleThinkerFrench political scientist and politician whose Democracy in America (1835–40) analysed how equality of conditions shapes politics, and warned of centralisation, apathy and a mild despotism.
- Anarcho-capitalismIdeologyA strand of market anarchism, associated with Murray Rothbard and David Friedman, that combines private property with privately supplied law and defence.
- Anarcho-syndicalismIdeologyAn anarchist current that sees revolutionary trade unions as both the means of struggle and the cell of a stateless, self-managed economy. Its main historical expression was Spain's CNT, founded in 1910.
- Approval votingMechanismA voting method in which each voter may approve of as many candidates as they wish and the candidate with the most approvals wins. Used in city elections in Fargo (2020–2024) and St. Louis (since 2021).
- ArbitrationMechanismParties submit a dispute to one or more privately chosen arbitrators whose award is binding.
- Arend LijphartThinkerDutch-born American political scientist who developed the theory of consociational democracy and compared majoritarian and consensus models of democracy.
- AristotleThinkerGreek philosopher whose Politics classified constitutions by who rules and whether they rule for the common advantage; a founding text of comparative political analysis and the mixed constitution.
- Athenian democracy (Classical Athens)ExperimentThe direct democracy of Classical Athens, c. 508/7–322 BCE: an Assembly open to male citizens, a Council of 500 and many offices filled by lot, large lot-selected people's courts and ostracism. Women, slaves and resident foreigners had no political rights.
- Audrey TangThinkerCivic hacker from the g0v community; served as Taiwan's digital minister from 2016 to 2024.
- AurovilleExperimentAn intentional township founded in 1968 near Puducherry in Tamil Nadu, India, intended as a 'universal town' for people of all nations.
- Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (Rojava)ExperimentKurdish-led self-administration in north-eastern Syria, de facto autonomous from 2012 and organised on 'democratic confederalism'. Its autonomy was never recognised by Damascus; the dissolution of the SDF and integration into state structures was announced in August 2026.
- Balaji SrinivasanThinkerEntrepreneur and investor; author of The Network State (2022).
- Better Reykjavik (Betri Reykjavík, since 2010)ExperimentAn online platform where residents propose, argue and rank ideas; since 2011 the highest-ranked ideas are sent monthly to Reykjavik city council committees, which must process and answer them.
- British Columbia Citizens' Assembly on Electoral Reform (2004)ExperimentA 160-member randomly selected assembly, plus a chair, that studied electoral systems in 2004 and recommended BC-STV. Two referendums followed; neither reached the legislated thresholds.
- Brook FarmExperimentA communal farm and school at West Roxbury, Massachusetts (1841–1847), founded by George Ripley with transcendentalist ideals as a joint-stock company and converted in 1844 to a Fourierist association. Debt and a fire ended it.
- Bruce L. BensonThinkerEconomist who argued that law can be, and historically often was, produced without the state.
- Champlain Housing TrustExperimentA community land trust in Burlington, Vermont, that began in 1984 and keeps homes affordable through resale restrictions.
- Charles TieboutThinkerEconomist whose 1956 model described residents 'voting with their feet' among local jurisdictions.
- Charter cityInstitution typeA new city on largely uninhabited land, governed by a charter whose rules differ from those of the host country — a concept proposed by Paul Romer in 2009.
- CityDAOExperimentA DAO organised as a Wyoming DAO LLC in 2021 that acquired land in Wyoming and governs it through token-holder votes.
- Civic republicanismIdeologyA political tradition that treats freedom as self-government and non-domination, sustained by active citizens, civic virtue and mixed institutions. Rooted in Rome, Florence and Venice, and revived by Pettit and Skinner.
- Commons governanceConceptManagement of shared resources by their users through locally devised rules, rather than by privatisation or central state control.
- Community land trustMechanismA nonprofit holds land in trust and sells or leases the buildings on it with resale limits that keep housing affordable.
- Condorcet methodsMechanismRanked-ballot voting methods that elect the candidate who beats every rival in head-to-head majority comparisons, when one exists, and differ in how they resolve cycles. Used mainly in organisations such as the Debian Project.
- ConsociationalismTheoryArend Lijphart's theory that deeply divided societies can sustain democracy through elite power-sharing: grand coalition, mutual veto, proportionality and segmental autonomy. Associated with Lebanon, Belgium, Northern Ireland and Bosnia.