Sliding Scale of Libertarianism and Authoritarianism: Difference between revisions

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* The [[Mary Suetopia|North American Confederacy]] in ''The Probability Broach'' carries its libertarianism to almost ridiculous levels. When they discover that a faction is smuggling nuclear weapons from our timeline in order to set up a dictatorship, they refuse to act {{spoiler|directly}} because ''the right to keep and bear arms is sacred.'' (Incidentally, this is not a parody; the NAC is the author's ''ideal society.'')

* Data Angels from ''[[Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri]]''

** The 'slightly dominant' security corps. are actually a bit of [[Author Tract|Author's tract]] on how such a society cannot work due to powerful competitors not wanting to actually compete with up-starts and instead ruin their rep. or buy them out.

 

* [[Traveller]] is an odd-ball compared to the other examples here. Despite its massive battleships and it's lavish aristocracy the Imperium actually has a libertarian ideology and style of government, necessitated by the vast space it rules over. However the Imperial government will not take nonsense and can play pretty rough when it wants to. Local worlds vary in their "control rating" as do states outside the Imperium. Commerce is regulated but not particularly restricted and the Imperial law deals mostly with crimes regarding interstellar commerce (piracy, etc), crimes in specifically Imperial territory (normal crimes in a Starport), and crimes specifically against the Imperium (treason, murder of a Noble or his retainers while in Imperial service, etc), and so on. The Imperial government however, interferes little in local customs unless it feels them [[Made a Slave|outrageously abominable]] and even allows minor local wars to be fought as long as they don't make to much of a mess. It would probably be classed as libertarian normally but authoritarian at given times and places.

* Earth in [[Larry Niven|Larry Niven's]] [[Known Space]] has [[Population Control]].

** Secundus in ''[[Time Enough for Love]]'' was founded as a "constitutional dictatorship" where the chairman has few rights and the people, "bless their flabby black hearts", get none.

 

* The entire Tau philosophy in ''[[Warhammer 40,000]]'' is "for the greater good".

** Ironically, in [[Crapsack World|the setting]] they are one of the most progressive races.

* The Klingons, Romulans and Cardassians from ''[[Star Trek]]'', which are authoritarian but at least [[Klingon Promotion|encourage competition for power]].

 

* One State in ''[[We]]''

* San Angeles in ''[[Demolition Man]]''.

* ''[[Redliners]]'' novel by David Drake

* The Hive from ''[[Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri]]''

* Formians from ''[[Dungeons & Dragons]]'' 3.5. (And [[Bee People]] in general.)

* ''[[V for Vendetta]]'''s [[A Nazi by Any Other Name|Norsefire]].