In my political science class, we have a book called "Paradigms and Sand Castles: Theory Building and Research Design in Comparative Politics", which provided examples of the author, Barbara Gedees, doing example political science studies. One study she did was classifying certain authoritarian regimes into three categories:
I initially classified regimes as personalist, military, or single-party. In military regimes, a group of officers decide who will rule and exercises some influence on policy. In single-party regimes, one party dominates access to political office and control over policy, though other parties may exist and compete as minor players in elections. Personalist regimes differ from both military and single-party in that access to office and the fruits of office depends much more on the discretion of an individual leader. The leader may be an officer and may have created a party to support himself, but neither the military nor the party exercies independent decision-making power insulated from the whims of the ruler. I had to add intermediate categories to this classification scheme after discovering how many of the cases simply resisted being crammed into one or another of the original cases.
The way she classified a regime was through a questionare, where a score is assigned between 0 and 1; this score is the sum of "yes" answers divided by the total of "yes" and "no answers. "A regime classification into a nominal category ... depends on which score is significantly higher than the other two. Hybrids are regimes with similar score for two or more regime types."
This made me think...since we know so much about Chimerica...and we know Chimerica isn't a true liberal democracy...what is the regime type of this government? Assuming that we are evaluating the Player's own dictatorship, and assuming the Player aligns itself with one of the three Parties...let's find out:
Is it a single-party regime?*Did the party exist prior to the leader's election campaign or accession to power? -
Yes, all three parties existed prior to the fall of Farsante*Was the party organized in order to fight for independence or lead some other mass social movement?
Yes for National Liberation (they are communists after all), No for Popular Stability and Christian Reform*Did the first leader's successor hold, or does the leader's heir apparent hold, a high party position?
Not Applicable, there is no concept of succession in Hidden Agenda*Does the party either face some competition from other parties or hold competitive intraparty elections?
Yes, elections can be held where other parties can compete against the incumbent party*Is party membership required for most government employment?
No. Though a certain amount of low-level corruption does exist in Chimerica, for the most part, it requires that you at least be a member of ONE of the political parties, not of the ruling party. The higher-echelon jobs, such as the Banker or the Commissioner of Health are not chosen based on party membership.*Does the party control access to high government office?
No, as above.*Are members of the politburo (or its equivalent) chosen by routine party procedures?
I'm going to assume Yes; after hold elections, you receive a letter declaring that one Party has nominated you for the Presidency, suggesting the party has some ability to decide who to nominate, also implying the party is able to determine who gets to lead it.*Does the party encompass members from more than one region, religion, ethnic group, clan or tribe (in heterogeneous societies)?
Not Applicable, the game does not model region, ethnic group, clan or tribal politics. In addition, the population of Chimerica share the same religion of Roman Catholicism (with the exception of Bernie).*Do none of the leader's relatives occupy very high government office?
Yes. You are truly alone in the world of Chimerica.*Was the leader a civilian before his accession?
Yes.*Was the successor to the first leader, or is the heir apparent, a civilian?
Not Applicable, there is no concept of succession in Hidden Agenda*Is the military high command consulted primarily about security matters?
Yes.*Are most members of the cabinet or poltiburo-equivalent civilians?
Yes, there are only two military officers you could choose from: Calderon and Alejos.6-7 Yes/9 Total
0.66 for Popular Stability dictatorship
0.66 for Christian Reform dictatorship
0.77 for National Liberation dictatorship
Is it a military regime?*Is the leader a retired or active general or equivalent?
No.*Was the successor to the first leader, or is the heir apparent, a general or equivalent?
Not Applicable, there is no concept of succession in Hidden Agenda*Is there a procedure in place for rotating the highest office or dealing with succession?
No.*Is there a routine procedure for consulting the officer corps about policy decisions?
Yes, either the colonel calls for an Interrupt or we can consult the colonel in Encounters.*Has the military hiearchy been maintained?
No, the army merger is in place.*Does the officer corps include represenatives of more than one ethnic, religious or tribal group (in heterogeneous countries)?
Not Applicable, Chimerica can be assumed to be homogeneous.*Have normal procedures for retirement been maintained for the most part? (That is, had the leader refrained from or been prevented from forcing his entire cohorot or all officers from other tribal groups into retirement?)
No, the National Liberation Sub-Commander outwardly try to attempt forced 'retirements' when the Chimerican Army is united, and at any given moment, half the army can be purged, either because of elections or due to Presidential intervention.*Are merit and seniority the main bases for promotion, rather than loyalty or ascriptive characteristics?
Not Applicable, not enough information to tell the difference between the two.*Has the leader refrained from having dissenting officers murdered or imprisoned?
Yes, he has no way from actually murdering or imprisoning these officers.*Has the leader refrained from creating a political party to support himself?
Yes, he has the three main parties to rely on.*Has the leader refrained from holding plebiscites to support his personal rule?
Yes.*Do officers occupy positions in the cabinet other than those related to the armed forces?
It's incredibly possible, for example, appointing Alejos to the position of Agricultural Minister, but it's up to the individual Presidente to decide if he wants to do that, and I personally treat the Cabinet as a tool of policymaking, so I'd say "Not Applicable"*Has the rule of law been maintained? (That is, even if a new constitution has been written and laws decreed, are decrees, once promulgated, followed until new ones are written?)
Yes.5/9
0.55 for Popular Stability
0.55 for Christian Reform
0.55 for National Liberation
Is it a personalist regime?*Does the leader lack the support of a party?
No. It appears that when you hold elections, you will always be nominated by a Party.*If there is a support party, was it created after the leader's acession to power?
No.*If there is a support party, does the leader choose most of the members of the politburo-equivalent?
No.*Does the country specialist literature describe the politubor-equivalent as a rubber stamp for the leader?
Yes, you are always overwhelmingly appointed to be a Presidential nominee, even if you do policies contrary to that of the party.*If there is a support party, is it limited to a few urban areas?
Yes for Christian Reform, being the least popular of the three parties and primarily urban-based. No for National Liberation and Popular Stability, who have more broad-based appeals.*Was the successor to the first leader, or is the heir apparent, a member of the same family, clan, tribe or minority ethnic group as the first leader?
Not Applicable, Chimerica can be assumed to be homogeneous.*Does the leader govern without routine elections?
Yes, the Presidente takes power in a junta, and thus do not have to worry about elections until, possibly, half-way through the game. Even then, he doesn't have to worry about a second election.*If there are elections, are they essentially plebiscites, that is, without either internal or external competition?
No, elections are hotly contested by the two other parties.*Does access to high office depend on the personal favor of the leader?
No, the Commissioner of Health still keep her job even when she loath me for cutting her funds.*Has normal military hierarchy been seriously disorganized or overturned?
Yes, there is currently an army merger.*Have dissenting officers or officers from different regions, tribes, religions, or ethnic groups been murdered, imprisoned, or forced into exile?
Yes, the army purges do have to happen after all.*Has the officer corps been marginalized from most decision making?
No for Popular Stability: Colonel Ehrlich controls labor policy and land reform...as well as military spending. Yes for National Liberation and Christian Reform, the officer corps only deal with military policy.*Does the leader personally control the security apparatus?
No, the army and the police acts mostly independent, though the Presidente can give guidance.4-6/10
0.4 for Popular Stability
0.6 for Christian Reform
0.5 for National Liberation
Conclusion:
The highest score (0.77 for NL, 66 for PS and CR) for all three parties is in fact the Single-Party System...so the government that runs Chimerica is a Single-Party Regime. "Military Regime" still scored respectively well, in keeping with the idea of the military running the show in Chimerica, but the Single-Party System just scored at least 0.1 points more.
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Topic: Let's Horribly Break Hidden Agenda (Read 68730 times)