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]].

* In [[Marvel Comics]]' ''[[Secret Wars]]'', practically the first thing the heroes do after the Beyonder transports them to Battleworld is to elect a leader (unsurprisingly, it turns out to be [[Captain America (comics)]]).

* Similar to ''[[Lord of the Flies]]'', the ''[[Gone (novel)]]'' series features a population of children coming together to survive after all the adults suddenly disappear and they find themselves trapped inside a giant ethereal dome. The first book features an [[Affably Evil]] young man stage a quasi-peaceful takeover of things only to be deposed when his corrupt "government"'s dirty secrets are exposed and things turn violent.

* In [[Robert A. Heinlein]]'s ''[[Tunnel Inin Thethe Sky]]'' the stranded students' mistake is NOT establishing a democracy but making their government too complicated to suit primitive survival conditions. In another book ''[[Starman Jones]]'' the stranded passengers turned colonists are advised to write out a Mayflower-like compact straight off or they are not likely to survive.

== [[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.

* ''[[Jericho]]'' legally elected a new, (and less competent) mayor not long after the catastrophe.

* ''[[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.

* Despite being all monarchies, ''[[Dragon Age]]'' has the [[Player Character]] able to influence (or dictate) two elections for King during the oncoming Blight apocalypse. While just placing a new monarch guarantees soldiers, depending on the choices made beforehand is whether the kings (and/or queen) do well in the resulting peacetime.

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