A form of government that would be least dystopian, would be the form of government that spreads power across the most amount of people. I am of the belief that absolute power corrupts absolutely. When there are no checks and balances or methods of accountability people tend to do things in their best interest and not the interest of the masses. With a form of government where the people have equal weight to decide the rules and actions of the government, it is less likely that power can be abused. It is easier to put decision-making in the hands of a few but that can lead to the few working against the people. This power imbalance can lead to negative outcomes for the majority. Even people with good intentions can work against the people by being removed from the day to day life of the majority. That disconnect can cause issues because the ones in charge do not know or understand the wants and needs of the people. This is why I believe that governments that consolidate power to a small number of people such as a monarchy, oligarchy, theocracy, or dictatorship are ripe for dystopian-like conditions.
The form of government, I think that can best prevent that is a direct or pure democracy. Direct democracy is a form of democracy in which the people decide on policy initiatives without elected representatives as proxies. Each person’s vote is equal and goes directly to the issue at hand. This is different from the representative democracy seen in most democratic countries including the United States of America. In representative democracies, the people vote for elected officials to address issues. These elected officials campaign to get the vote of the majority but can vote against the will of their constituents once elected. Representative democracy also can lead to groups that just do what benefits them instead of the people. The country that most reflects my ideal direct democracy is Switzerland. In Switzerland, there is an elected governing body but most decisions are made by direct voting of the people with the government just enforcing the will of the people. With this form of government, citizens have more power than in a representative democracy. On any political level citizens can propose changes to the constitution or ask for an optional referendum to be held on any law. For Swiss citizens this means they vote regularly on any kind of issue on every political level, such as financial approvals, constitutional changes, and foreign policy of Switzerland, four times a year. I think this form of government is the least dystopian.
