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.
All entries · A–Z
- Icarian communities (Étienne Cabet)ExperimentCommunist colonies founded from 1848 by followers of Étienne Cabet, author of Voyage en Icarie, in Texas, Illinois, Missouri, Iowa and California. The last, near Corning, Iowa, dissolved by agreement in 1898.
- Iceland crowdsourced constitutionExperimentA 2011 constitution drafted by an elected Constitutional Council with online public input; endorsed in an advisory referendum but not adopted by parliament.
- Icelandic Commonwealth (Þjóðveldið)ExperimentA medieval Icelandic polity (c. 930–1262/64) with an annual national assembly, the Althing, a law speaker and chieftains (goðar) but no king or central executive; enforcement of court judgments was left largely to private parties. Cited in polycentric-law debates.
- Initiative and referendumMechanismTools of direct legislation: a citizen initiative puts proposals to a public vote by petition, and a referendum lets voters approve or reject measures. Central in Switzerland and many US states.
- Ireland Citizens' Assembly (2016–2018)ExperimentA chair and 99 randomly selected citizens who deliberated on constitutional questions, including the Eighth Amendment on abortion.
- Iron law of oligarchyTheoryMichels's claim that any large organisation, including a democratic party or union, tends to be run by a small leadership that entrenches itself.
- Israeli kibbutz movementExperimentVoluntary collective communities in Israel, begun at Degania in 1909-10, in which members traditionally shared income and property equally and decided policy in a general assembly. Since the 1980s crisis most have adopted differential pay and other privatising reforms.
- Italian Regency of Carnaro (Fiume)ExperimentA short-lived state around Fiume (Rijeka) set up by Gabriele D'Annunzio after he occupied the city in 1919. Its 1920 Carta del Carnaro, prepared with the syndicalist Alceste De Ambris, mixed universal suffrage, corporations and a famous article on music. Italian forces ended it in December 1920.