Instant dystopia: Just add people.

[Seattleite]

This thread is for systems of government. Basically, it's to discuss different systems of government. There will likely not be much positivity in this thread, because as the title suggests I am firmly convinced that *any* system of government can become a dystopia at the drop of a hat (including, nay, especially no government at all). I'll list them below, let me know if I missed any, and join in the discussion of any of them that people happen to want to talk about. (I don't know which ones interest the community as a whole.)

 

Theocracy: Propaganda dreamed up by authoritarian sociopaths to make excuses for their atrocities makes the best moral guide, and is totally true and accurate. Trust us.

Monarchy: Smart, wise people always have smart, wise kids. And surely ignorant morons just never take power, only those who are smart and wise to begin with. Trust us.

Authoritarianism: We're in power because we say so, and our people have guns and are our people because we say so, and totally can't take control at any second. Trust us.

Democracy: The government of argumentum ad populum. Because it's not like the majority of people are fucking morons who believe complete horseshit. Trust us.

Constitutional republic: Democracy, except for these things our authoritarian founders decided not to be democratic about, and surely they were infallible. Trust us.

Communism: People do fantastic when they have no incentive and someone else owns everything. It's not SOUL RENDING for your hard work to have NO MEANING. Trust us.

Libertarianism: Because laissez faire economics in no way encourage abuse, monopoly, entrenchment and stratification. It's not the "robber baron" model at all. Trust us.

Anarchy: The government of fuck it. Everybody will be good because they just will, and we totally didn't abandon anarchy in favour of government for good reasons. Trust us.

[BTGBullseye]

Meritocracy...

[Zelpa]

down with the bourgeoisie and all that

[Fric]

Autocracy... Why? I truly believe that a strong leader could make a strong and a wealthy country. The difference between this and totalitarianism is that the only thing that is limited is political freedoms. Other freedoms can be left as they are. Many European nations between WW1 and WW2 had authoritarian leaders.

 

 

As any other utopia it has significant downsides. E.g. it all depends on who the leader is, if he/she is strong enough, intelligent enough and if she works for the benefit of the nation or personal benefit (e.g. wealth, when everyone is poor).

 

If you get the perfect nationalistic leader it should be quite good imho.

[Seattleite]

Meritocracy...

 

Great on paper, impossible in practice.

[Binky The Rabbit]

^ Most political and social systems suffer from that exact problem.

[BTGBullseye]

Meritocracy...

 

Great on paper, impossible in practice.

Mongolian Empire under Genghis Khan... It was a very successful Meritocracy.

[Seattleite]

Meritocracy...

 

Great on paper, impossible in practice.

Mongolian Empire under Genghis Khan... It was a very successful Meritocracy.

 

Says who? It was a dictatorship.

[BTGBullseye]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Genghis_Khan#Politics_and_economics

[ThePest179]

Autocracy... Why? I truly believe that a strong leader could make a strong and a wealthy country. The difference between this and totalitarianism is that the only thing that is limited is political freedoms. Other freedoms can be left as they are. Many European nations between WW1 and WW2 had authoritarian leaders.

 

Something to keep in mind is that they did not survive to see the 21st century.

[Vapymid]

Very little depends on the "strength" the leader. It's the system around him that creates the "authoritarianism".

 

Very often - the most unremarkable people have more real power under the "strong" leader than the leader himself.

 

And inevitably - such systems are self-destructive and ineffective. The corruption eats them from the inside until everything implodes. So - it's all a myth that a "strong" leader can actually lead a country into anything at all, other than ingto a deep pool of crap.

 

Regards