History Main / SlidingScaleOfLibertarianismAndAuthoritarianism

* The 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 because ''the right to keep and bear arms is sacred.'' Incidentally, this is not a parody; the NAC is the author's ''ideal society.''
* In ''Literature/TheMoonIsAHarshMistress,'' by Creator/RobertHeinlein Luna, both while it is "ruled" by a Lunar Authority which only expects grain exports from its citizens and lets them handle their own affairs otherwise, and during the period between freedom from the Lunar Authority and recognition by Earth.
* Another Heinlein novel, ''Literature/GloryRoad'' also features a Libertarian Utopia, although it's inner workings are only vaguely described.

As stated in the StrawmanPolitical article, in the real world, everyone is the hero of their own story, and this extends to their beliefs, especially political. This can influence authors' work to lean in one way or the other.

* Larry Niven's ''Cloak of Anarchy'' is about having areas called "Free Parks" where the only rule is no violence: a surveillance system stuns both the aggressor and the victim for a few minutes if it happens. When someone destroys that system, accidentally locking the gates in the process, everything degenerates quickly.

* Earth in [[Creator/LarryNiven Larry Niven's]] Literature/KnownSpace has PopulationControl but very few laws... because the mental capability for lawbreaking was culled from the human race as a result of cutting up executed convicts for organ transplants, meaning eventually [[AllCrimesAreEqual all laws carried the death sentence]] so as to provide the public with transplants. Once they actually bothered to develop quality synthetic organs, the need for transplants disappeared, but the damage was done - "flatlanders" are pretty much stupid lemmings.
* Ankh-Morpork from the Literature/{{Discworld}} books is run by ManipulativeBastard extraordinaire Havelock Vetinari, a dictator who prefers to arrange matters so he hardly ever has to exercise his absolute authority.
** The Patrician of Ankh-Morpork is theoretically an absolute dictator who rules for life- but that's not necessarily a long time, as any Patrician whose actions are Bad For Business eventually discovers.
* Most of Creator/RobertAHeinlein's "good" societies that aren't anarchist. Though given his [[DemocracyIsBad distaste for democracy]] most are government types that would normally be a bit higher on the scale.

* The Imperium of Man from ''TabletopGame/{{Warhammer 40000}}''. However, the Imperium is, by necessity, hugely decentralized, on account of the huge number of worlds. Because of this, the Empire allows individual worlds a great amount of latitude in governance (each planet has a planetary governor, but the way each planet selects it's governor runs the gamut from free, open elections to TrialByCombat). The Imperium does, however, always enforce tithes (basically planetary taxes to the central government; including a quota of ten percent of a given tax cycle's best Planetary Defense Force recruits to the Imperial Guard, a certain amount of raw resources or finished products and the most non-negotiable all psychic humans to the Black Ships for processing to see whether they are stable enough to be recruited or too unstable to be used as anything but fodder to the Astronomicon, though the average human is quite happy to be rid of psykers due to the horrendous risks a miscast or just a particularly bad day carries and the psychic tithe being held back usually means there something very shady going on) and religion, mainly in the persecution of heretics and psykers (as aforementioned, most people are quite glad to be rid of them just by default, let alone after the Imperial Cult's dogma). Also of note, the Imperial Cult is imposed only in the general sense of the God Emperor of Mankind being worshipped, individual planets have their own beliefs due to the sheer impossibility of imposing universal rules except the most basic (those being: only the Emperor is to be worshipped, Saints can be secondarily venerated, kill all aliens -governmental Realpolitik is not a topic for public discussion-, no heresy and always obey the Imperial Tithe and the basic Lex Imperialis law code).

* The Imperium of Man from ''TabletopGame/{{Warhammer 40000}}''. However, the Imperium is, by necessity, hugely decentralized, on account of the huge number of worlds. Because of this, the Empire allows individual worlds a great amount of latitude in governance (each planet has a planetary governor, but the way each planet selects it's governor runs the gamut from free, open elections to TrialByCombat). The Imperium does, however, always enforce tithes (basically planetary taxes to the central government; including a quota of ten percent of a given tax cycle's best Planetary Defense Force recruits to the Imperial Guard, a certain amount of raw resources or finished products and
the most non-negotiable all psychic humans to the Black Ships for processing to see whether they are stable enough to be recruited or too unstable to be used as anything but fodder to the Astronomicon, though the average human is quite happy to be rid of psykers due to the horrendous risks a miscast or just a particularly bad day carries and the psychic tithe being held back usually means there something very shady going on) and religion, mainly in the persecution of heretics and psykers (as aforementioned, most people are quite glad to be rid of them just by default, let alone after the Imperial Cult's dogma). Also of note, the Imperial Cult is imposed only in the general sense of the God Emperor of Mankind being worshipped, individual planets have their own beliefs due to the sheer impossibility of imposing universal rules except the most basic (those being: only the Emperor is to be worshipped, Saints can be secondarily venerated, kill all aliens -governmental Realpolitik is not a topic for public discussion-, no heresy and always obey the Imperial Tithe and the basic Lex Imperialis law code).

* The Imperium of Man from ''TabletopGame/{{Warhammer 40000}}''. However, the Imperium is, by necessity, hugely decentralized, on account of the huge number of worlds. Because of this, the Empire allows individual worlds a great amount of latitude in governance (each planet has a planetary governor, but the way each planet selects it's governor runs the gamut from free, open elections to TrialByCombat). The Imperium does, however, always enforce tithes (basically planetary taxes to the central government, including a quota of psychic humans) and religion, mainly in the persecution of heretics and psykers.

* The [[MarySuetopia 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 because ''the right to keep and bear arms is sacred.'' Incidentally, this is not a parody; the NAC is the author's ''ideal society.''

* Seriously, no arguments about the economics of this trope or RealLife examples: fictional works only. Wiki/TheOtherWiki has [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_indices_of_freedom more than enough examples,]] and the FlameWar edits to show it.

* ''TabletopGame/BattleTech'' has the Draconis Combine, where the military has more authority than civilian rule, and citizens don't have rights, only duties to the Coordinator.
** The Clans operate in a rigged caste system where Warriors rule over all the others.

* [[TheEmpire The Galactic Empire]] from ''StarWars''.

* In an increasingly rare dystopia example, [[Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration Natasha Yar's home planet of Turkana IV]] was a [[CrapsackWorld near-lawless hinterland filled with factional warlords and roving rape gangs.]] Not a nice place for nice people, as evidenced by her [[NoSocialSkills gruff younger sister, Ishara.]]
* Camor V, home of [[spoiler: a man who was genetically-altered to look like]] Picard's long-lost illegitimate son, had been devastated during war with the Cardassians and also became a lawless hinterland filled with violent outlaws.

* [[PoliceState Oceania]] in ''[[Literature/NineteenEightyFour 1984]]''. The rival superstates of Eurasia and Eastasia [[NotSoDifferent are implied to be no better]] (that is, [[TwoPlusTortureMakesFive if they do exist]]).

* The Literature/AcrossRealtime series by Creator/VernorVinge features ungoverned civilizations. Most of the public pays for protection from a [[LawEnforcementInc private company]], and promises to obey something resembling laws as part of that agreement. But many of those companies are really more like crime insurance. And the people who don't sign with any protection agency are respected. Heavy self-defense weaponry is common, though boasting about weapons of mass destruction can get you lynched. Vinge has stated he believes in this sort of society, but that to work it needs most of the public to be actively thinking about their long-term interests.

* ''Anarchaos'', a novella by sci-fi writer Donald E. Westlake, features the titular planet, which was entirely colonized by devoted anarchists. However, their anarchist society quickly collapsed into chaos ([[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin as the name implies]]), with ''zero'' rules. Murder, slavery and robbery are common, unremarkable activities. Something of an AuthorTract against anarchism, but [[TropesAreNotBad in spite of that a good read]].

* The Order from Music/DeathspellOmega's ''Music/TheFurnacesOfPalingenesia'' is explicitly based on the Nazi Party, though it incorporates aspects of several other authoritarian movements throughout history of both the left and the right. As with most cases, it's a dystopia, and the band's sentiments may plausibly be interpreted as anarchist (though they don't explicitly say this). The album also condemns both capitalism and authoritarian communism.

In Anglophone politics the x-axis of the political 'compass' concerns whether a society's total wealth should be owned by one person (furthest 'right'), equally divided among everyone (furthest 'left') or somewhere inbetween. Hypothetically, the formermost society would be the product of an invidiously individualistic value system, and the second the product of absolute altruism.

* The planet Anarres in ''Literature/TheDispossessed'' by UrsulaKLeGuin is a libertarian socialist society where a state, government, prisons, and even money don't exist. People do jobs simply because they want to help keep things running and the only punishment that exists is social stigma. However by the time of the novel it has become increasingly authoritarian which is what motivates the protagonist to leave. (And yet, it turns out, way less authoritarian than any of the surrounding cultures, which eventually brings him back).

* The Planetary Consortium of ''TabletopGame/EclipsePhase'' is an oligarchy posing as a democracy controlled by the [[MegaCorp Hypercorps]].* ''TabletopGame/BattleTech'' while most of the Successor States operate in ElectiveMonarchy, some of them are quite fair in their rule. In the Federated Suns nobles hold most offices but the commoners have rights and the ability to remove corrupt officials.