The democracy–ochlocracy–dictatorship transition in the Sznajd model and in the Ising model

Johannes J. Schneider and Christian Hirtreiter

Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, 2005, vol. 353, issue C, 539-554

Abstract: Since its introduction in 2000, the Sznajd model has been assumed to simulate a democratic community with two parties. The main flaw in this model is that a Sznajd system freezes in the long term in a non-democratic state, which can be either a dictatorship or a stalemate configuration. Here we show that the Sznajd model has better to be considered as a transition model, transferring a democratic system already at the beginning of a simulation via an ochlocratic scenario, i.e., a regime in which several mobs rule, to a dictatorship, thus reproducing the corresponding Aristotelian theory.

Keywords: Sznajd model; Sociophysics; Monte Carlo; Ising model (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2005
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:phsmap:v:353:y:2005:i:c:p:539-554

DOI: 10.1016/j.physa.2005.01.034

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