Disaster Democracy: Difference between revisions

Humanity has seen better days. The [[EndoftheThe End of the World Asas We Know It]] has wiped out a good chunk of people, and the government has been reduced to a post office worker and a marine. In this situation where survival is imperative, what do the survivors do? Hold elections!

This isn't as foolhardy as it seems at first, though it ''can'' potentially doom the survivors. If the group of survivors is small, they may decide that rather than [[Divided We Fall|pulling in different directions]], electing a leader will give them better odds of survival. Alternately, they may decide to "[[The Mutiny|mutiny]]" against a self -imposed leader (or one from their [[Still the Leader|pre-disaster times]]) who hasn't been doing a good job. They may hold an impromptu election with papers and a hat, or it may be as informal as everyone saying "I'm with [[The Hero]]". If they're replacing a [[Commander Contrarian]] or [[Pointy-Haired Boss]] with an [[Ignored Expert]] or [[Reasonable Authority Figure]], they're far likelier to survive. If on the other hand, they boot the latter choices because they [[Death By Pragmatism|make pragmatic but unpopular]] choices, expect these voters to meet their doom.

If the group is much, much larger, then the survivors will band together and try to organize. It usually happens in a [[CosyCozy Catastrophe]] (or at least a slightly less hellish one), because the people have a need for a civil leader apart from the hero(es) who lead the "armed forces". The elected mayor or president can call upon the powers of [[Good Republic, Evil Empire]] to rally the people, as opposed to their enemy(ies) [[I Control My Minions Through...|who use fear]]. Unless [[Democracy Is Bad]], in which case this becomes a pointless waste of time that gets people killed for not simply letting the hero lead them.

Depending on the implementation, this trope usually helps prove [[Rousseau Was Right]]-- even—even at our darkest moments, we can pull together into a democracy instead of devolving into an oppressive autocracy. Of course, since a Disaster Democracy is usually pitted ''against'' an [[Hobbes Was Right|oppressive autocracy]], it becomes more of a cautionary [[An Aesop|aesop]].

== [[Live -Action TV]] ==

* ''[[Battlestar Galactica Reimagined(2004 TV series)|Battlestar Galactica]]'' has two such elections, for vice president and president. Let's just say that the colonials got what they voted for when they elected Baltar.

* ''[[Gilligan's Island|Gilligans Island]]'' had an election, they elected Gilligan.

* ''[[Survivor (TV series)|Survivor]]'' has this sort of politicking in spades, though it works a bit differently since elections don't decide the leader, they decide who's [[Voted Off the Island]]. The [[Realpolitik|nature of the game]] plus casts full of strong-willed personalities means it's almost ''never'' simple.

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