Six of the strangest political systems in SFF

Sam Reader is a writer and conventions editor for The Geek Initiative. He also writes literary criticism and reviews at strangelibrary.com. One of his six most intriguing political systems in fantasy and science fiction, as shared at the B & N Sci-Fi & Fantasy Blog:

Pax Democratica Elections, Infomocracy by Malka Older

In Malka Older’s debut novel, a global search engine and social networking concern called Information (think a lawyer-friendly version of Google) has divided the world into districts known as “Centenals,” which vote every ten years for both the ruling party in their district, and for the world-governing Supermajority. Adding to the frenzy are the incentives that each party secures for their voters—essentially gifts for voting a specific party—which are seen to influence the way the public votes. Older has deeply considered how this system would work on a global scale, and the Pax Democratica never seems entirely like it’s going to collapse under its own weight, even though the election season that kicks off the plot does contain at least one server crash and an attempt to hack votes, making it seem a little shakier than it first appears.

Read about the other entries on the list.

--Marshal Zeringue