History Main / RepressiveButEfficient

* ''Theatre/{{Urinetown}}'': Resident CorruptCorporateExecutive Caldwell B. Cladwell rations the dwindling water supply so tightly that private toilets are banned, public toilets are taxed, and [[FelonyMisdemeanor public urination is illegal]], [[spoiler:and punishable by death. However, his draconian policies ''do'' keep the water running, and at the end, when the angry masses depose him and his more benevolent daughter abolishes the taxes, the river quickly dries up and the city is left without water]]--as [[GreekChorus Officer Lockstock]] helpfully [[LampshadeHanging points out]] to the audience.

* It's mentioned a couple times in ''Manga/DeathNote'' that Kira (a supernatural serial killer who kills criminals in order to try to create a better world) succeeds in dramatically reducing crime rates. An interesting example considering that it's only his method of killing that is supernatural; he relies on news reports to identify criminals, meaning that he kills mostly those that have already been apprehended by police. So it is ONLY the rampant use of the death penalty as a deterrent that achieves this effect, not any increase in efficiency of actually catching criminals. (Note that studies have shown that the death penalty is not an effective deterrent in RealLife; though granted, what Kira does is not capital punishment but outright summary spree murder.) [[spoiler: It's noted that when he dies, the crime rate slowly starts to return to normal; still, better than being [[AllCrimesAreEqual murdered for laziness]], which is where his disciple Teru Mikami ultimately wanted to take things.]]

* Zig-zagged in ''Franchise/StarWarsLegends''. On the one hand, the Old Republic was a very long-lived, stable, and prosperous democratic society, while the various [[TheEmpire Sith Empires]] crumbled relatively quickly. On the other hand, post-Film/RevengeOfTheSith, everything becomes the other way round: various attempts to restore democracy result in a total mess again and again. The post-Palpatine [[ComicBook/StarWarsLegacy Fel Empire]] went through a long period of decline and internal squabbling but ultimately emerges, [[HegemonicEmpire loses its villain status]], and is shown as the more stable and responsible galactic state before reorganizing into TheFederation.

This trope is when fascism or some other authoritarian, draconian, and/or brutal system of government is shown to be more efficient and competent than more representative or liberal systems and relatively unaffected by problems of logistics, corruption, crime, poverty, etc. for this reason. In extreme examples, such a regime can be portrayed as all but a {{Utopia|JustifiesTheMeans}}, if it weren't for that pesky [[TheEvilsOfFreeWill lack of freedom]] and/or [[FelonyMisdemeanor death penalty for]] [[AllCrimesAreEqual jaywalking]].

A subtrope of NoDelaysForTheWicked, which is when villains (individuals as well as groups) have an easier time dealing with logistics because of RuleOfDrama, whether there's [[JustifiedTrope an in-story explanation]] or not. Compare and contrast TheExtremistWasRight, which deals with one character as opposed to a regime. In settings where not only is fascism more efficient than more liberal forms of government but more liberal forms prove fundamentally unworkable, it's because HobbesWasRight and DemocracyIsBad.

* In ''Literature/TheReckonersTrilogy'' Steelheart's city of Newcago is one of the most stable and safest places left in the world due to the efforts of its despotic ruler. It is still a place where you can be randomly murdered by an Epic for no reason and it's considered their right, where [[TheNightThatNeverEnds the sun never shines]], and where much of the populace lives in a labyrinth of steel tunnels, but it has food, electricity, and some measure of law enforcement. Efficiency is relative. The Professor argues for assassinating Steelheart in spite of this specifically because by the standards of the world that came before Newcago is still a hellhole, and if it starts to be viewed as normal or even good, there's no hope for improvement.
--> '''Prof:''' Everyone talks about how great Newcago is. But it's ''not'' great; it's good by comparison only! Yes, there are worse places, but so long as this hellhole is considered the ideal, we'll never get anywhere. ''We cannot let them convince us this is normal!''

Fascism: a model of brutal efficiency. Sure, the loss of freedom sucks, but [[NoDelaysForTheWicked the trains run on time]], poverty, corruption, and crime have been eliminated, and the armies march like clockwork. Just keep your head down, do your job, ignore the occasional sound of dissidents being dragged from their homes in the dead of night, and things will be pretty okay.

This trope is when fascism or some other authoritarian, draconian, and/or brutal system of government is shown to be more efficient and competent than other more representative or liberal systems and relatively unaffected by problems of logistics, corruption, crime, poverty, etc. for this reason. In extreme examples, such a regime can be portrayed as darn near a [[UtopiaJustifiesTheMeans utopia]], if it weren't for that pesky [[TheEvilsOfFreeWill lack of freedom]] and/or [[FelonyMisdemeanor death penalty for]] [[AllCrimesAreEqual jaywalking]].

In some cases, the general populace may actually ''want'' the dictatorship if the alternative is somehow worse. The king may tax his subjects heavily, and he doesn't take kindly to his decisions being questioned...but on the other hand he's also brutally efficient in dealing with the bandits and orcs who would otherwise rob and kill you, and you actually have some chance of living peacefully without ending up on an ogre's dinner menu. When you live in a CrapsackWorld, you often have to make a LesserOfTwoEvils choice.

In RealLife, this is [[FascistButInefficient averted]] ''at least'' as often as played straight. Authoritarianism is notoriously plagued by corruption, and even when dictatorships work relatively well, those that are based around a CultOfPersonality tend to crumble on their leader's death. It's noteworthy that in UsefulNotes/NaziGermany itself, the trains were in fact notoriously unreliable... not least because the Nazis promoted the use of automobiles and invested in the autobahns at the expense of trains and the railways even though Germany produced neither rubber nor oil and was one of the world's leading producers of steel and coal (on the grounds that [[TechnologyLevels automobiles were 'more advanced' and 'more modern' than trains]]). Consequently, they actually had ''fewer'' trains in 1939 than they had in 1914, and ran out of (unused) tires in mid-July 1941 after the second week of their campaign against the USSR.

And contrary to popular belief, [[UsefulNotes/BenitoMussolini Mussolini]] did ''not'' [[http://www.snopes.com/history/govern/trains.asp make the trains run on time]], his regime actually being [[FascistButInefficient the polar opposite]]. The place which actually had extremely punctual trains was [[UsefulNotes/TheRaj colonial India]] and it was only because the trains over there were designed to serve the colonial overlords only, not the general population. And they were extremely efficient at moving materials from the rural hinterlands to ports for shipment to factories in England. Remember also, that fascism came to power in countries that were already developed and that a good deal of its vaunted "efficiency" is blurred by the pre-takeover infrastructure continuing afterwards.

A subtrope of NoDelaysForTheWicked, which is when villains (individuals as well as groups) have an easier time dealing with logistics because of RuleOfDrama, whether there's [[JustifiedTrope an in-story explanation]] or not. Compare and contrast TheExtremistWasRight, which deals with a single character as opposed to a system of government. In settings where fascism is not only more efficient than more liberal forms of government but more liberal forms of government prove fundamentally unworkable, it's because HobbesWasRight and DemocracyIsBad.

Contrast FascistButInefficient and DystopiaIsHard.

* The small Balkan nation of Latveria may be ruled by the iron fist of ComicBook/DoctorDoom, but it IS prosperous. There is no crime, no poverty, no disease, and some stories imply nobody even needs to ''work'' (for anyone other than Doom, of course) as Doom has robot servants do everything. [[VetinariJobSecurity Latveria also tends to go to hell anytime Doom is removed from power]], and the Fantastic Four have even helped him return to his throne- even if they helped remove him in the first place- because they agree that he is a better ruler than his replacements.
* [[http://marvel.com/universe/Genosha Genosha]] in the Franchise/{{XMen}} comics was originally a country where mutants were rounded up and enslaved, then the X-Men helped overthrow that government, and then much later Magneto took over. While mutants were slaves the country was prosperous; once they were liberated, the economy collapsed. [[FridgeBrilliance Which makes sense]], given that a) said economy was [[TerminallyDependentSociety entirely dependent on the institutionalized slavery of mutants]], and b) mutants' superpowers made them a much more efficient and profitable workforce than any comparable human one; the greater prosperity the system afforded Genosha combined with suddenly removing the lynchpin of that system meant that they had a long way to fall down. [[AnAesop Remember kids,]] [[CripplingOverspecialization overspecialized economies]] [[ComicallyMissingThePoint are a bad idea!]]
* The Justice Department in the ''ComicBook/JudgeDredd'' stories in ''ComicBook/TwoThousandAD'' is a fascist government and, although usually benign, during the Insane Judge Cal series it became an out-of-control efficient fascist dictatorship. This efficiency helped speed the dictator's downfall because mail, containing evidence of his illegal manipulation, was delivered much faster than usual.
* In ''ComicBook/SupermanRedSon'' the Man of Steel was raised in the Soviet Union rather than the Midwestern United States and thus grew up to be the ultimate enforcer and eventually supreme leader of the most successful PeoplesRepublicOfTyranny the world had never seen. At its height, America and a handful of other nations were the ''only'' countries not enjoying a repressive but otherwise utopian socialist paradise, policed almost entirely by Superman himself, who has virtually eradicated crime, poverty, and social injustice at the high price of freedom. [[spoiler: When ComicBook/LexLuthor finally defeats him and takes over the world for himself, he decides to model his- ''vastly'' even more successful- New World Order on the very one he just overthrew, save for a bit less equality and a bit more meritocratic elitism; his beef with Superman was never about capitalism or liberty or anything Luthor claimed to be fighting for- it was, as it always is, simply Luthor wanting to beat Superman at his own game for the sake of Luthor's own ego. It is also open to interpretation that Superman ''let'' Luthor win because he realized that Luthor would be a better ruler than he was, so long as he believed that he had finally defeated Superman.]]
* ''ComicBook/SecretEmpire'': When Hydra conquers the US in the first issue, there's an immediate montage of all the "benefits" to the country that Hydra's leadership has brought, which includes increased employment, a surge in the stock markets, negotiate new trade deals and a rise in standardized test scores. Never mind that none of these things even make sense given the short time frame or the fact that Hydra did things like shunting Manhattan into an alternate dimension and destroying Las Vegas (killing millions of people). Creator/{{Linkara}}'s ''WebVideo/AtopTheFourthWall'' review notes that the story buys into the lie that fascists often tell: That it is strong.
* In ''ComicBook/AstroCity'', EvilSorcerer Infidel tries to convince Samaritan that his life would be ''so'' much easier if he'd stop being TheCape and use his powers to TakeOverTheWorld.

In some cases, the general populace may actually ''want'' the dictatorship if the alternative is somehow worse. The king may tax his subjects heavily, and he doesn't take kindly to his decisions being questioned...but on the other hand he's also brutally efficient in dealing with the bandits and orcs who would otherwise rob and kill you, and you actually have some chance of living peacefully without ending up on an ogre's dinner menu. When you live in a CrapsackWorld, you often have to make a MortonsFork choice.

* ''Series/IClaudius'': Claudius mentions after the death of Emperor Tiberius that although Tiberius was decadent, brutal and repressive, his [[ThePurge purges of his perceived political opponents]] (and later of his actual opponents who had backed Sejanus) brought a lot of wealth due to confiscated property to the Roman state and his reign never saw a CivilWar and very limited amounts of assassination.

** In the ''Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries'' episode "[[Recap/StarTrekS2E21PatternsOfForce Patterns of Force]]", a lawless planet adopts Nazism as its [[PlanetOfHats hat]] with the justification that it was [[ArtisticLicenseHistory "the most efficient state the Earth ever knew"]]. Their version of Nazism is treated in-universe as just as flawlessly efficient. The episode was intended as a cautionary tale, to counter the then-common theory about the supposed efficiency of fascism making it viable as a system if only it could be stripped of its negative aspects like systemic bigotry, aggressive nationalism, and brutal draconian internal policing. The moral was that these abhorrent aspects are inherent to fascism and cannot be excised, and any attempt to implement a "benevolent fascism" will fail as it inevitably slides down the slippery slope across the Moral Event Horizon. Thus, the episode remains relevant even despite the "fascism is efficient" myth having since been debunked.
** In "[[Recap/StarTrekS2E15TheTroubleWithTribbles The Trouble with Tribbles]]", in which the Federation and the Klingon Empire are competing for the right to settle a planet, Kirk concedes that whatever else the Klingons are, they are ruthlessly efficient.
** In the early ''Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration'' episode "[[Recap/StarTrekTheNextGenerationS1E7Justice Justice]]", the Enterprise crew encounters a Planet of the Week with this as its [[PlanetOfHats hat]]. The place initially seems to be a CrystalSpiresAndTogas utopia of peace, plenty, and [[FreeLoveFuture easy sex]], until it turns out that the [[AllCrimesAreEqual penalty for crimes as minor]] as [[FelonyMisdemeanor stepping on the grass]] is death. Picard even credits their [[UtopiaJustifiesTheMeans near-utopia]] to their draconian system of punishment in his PatrickStewartSpeech before [[TheReasonYouSuckSpeech going on to conclude that it's not worth it.]]
** In ''Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine'', [[CowboyCop Odo]] often says that dealing with criminals was much easier when the station was commanded by oppressive Cardassians during the Occupation of Bajor. The Federation treats prisoners more ethically.
* In a ''Series/{{Farscape}}'' episode where Crichton visits Earth in an alternate timeline, his father talks about how all disease and environmental problems on the planet had been eradicated under [[TheEmpire Scarran]] rule, albeit with a lot of personal freedoms being sacrificed.
* ''Series/PersonOfInterest'': In order to demonstrate to the [[BenevolentAI Machine]] that UtopiaJustifiesTheMeans, [[EvilCounterpart Samaritan]] drastically reduces the crime rate in New York and makes all the subway trains run on time for 24 hours. Having made its point, Samaritan then proceeds to show [[AIIsACrapshoot what happens when a machine god gets pissed off]].

* In ''WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender'', the Fire Nation's monarchs, since Sozin until Ozai, are known as ruthless, tyrannical world conquerors, but even their adversaries admit that they're very efficient and competent rulers within their nation frontiers. But, the fact that they encourage ambition eventually compromises their efficiency. Maintaining order is another headache entirely.

And contrary to popular belief, Mussolini did ''not'' [[http://www.snopes.com/history/govern/trains.asp make the trains run on time]], his regime actually being [[FascistButInefficient the polar opposite]]. The place which actually had extremely punctual trains was [[UsefulNotes/TheRaj colonial India]] and it was only because the trains over there were designed to serve the colonial overlords only, not the general population. And they were extremely efficient at moving materials from the rural hinterlands to ports for shipment to factories in England. Remember also, that fascism came to power in countries that were already developed and that a good deal of its vaunted "efficiency" is blurred by the pre-takeover infrastructure continuing afterwards.

* Played with in ''TabletopGame/Warhammer40000''.
** While the Imperium's ruling body is often quite inefficient, it's unclear whether an empire spanning half the galaxy could be any more efficient under a less brutal and oppressive regime. What ''is'' clear is that whenever anyone tries to revert to a more benign, fair, and all-around humane form of government on even a single planet, the resulting lenience allows either Chaos or Genestealer cults to spread unchecked across entire solar systems. So while the Imperium may be somewhat inefficient when it comes to logistics--arguably more due to its sheer size than its system of government--it ''is'' brutally efficient when it comes to squashing the cults that threaten its existence.
** Examples of the Interex, Craftworld Eldar, and Exodite Eldar show that it might not be such a necessity. Imperium's tendency to choose the most grimdark solution for every problem bitten them on more than one occasion. Also, Codex explicitly states that the only faction susceptible to large-scale Genestealer infestations is Imperium.

* Played with in ''TabletopGame/Warhammer40000''. While the Imperium's ruling body is often quite inefficient, it's unclear whether an empire spanning half the galaxy could be any more efficient under a less brutal and oppressive regime. What ''is'' clear is that whenever anyone tries to revert to a more benign, fair, and all-around humane form of government on even a single planet, the resulting lenience allows either Chaos or Genestealer cults to spread unchecked across entire solar systems. So while the Imperium may be somewhat inefficient when it comes to logistics--arguably more due to its sheer size than its system of government--it ''is'' brutally efficient when it comes to squashing the cults that threaten its existence.

* ''WesternAnimation/JusticeLeague'' probably gets as close to this as possible for [[AnimationAgeGhetto a kid cartoon]] with the Justice Lords, a KnightTemplar AlternateUniverse equivalent to the titular League, who revoked their ThouShaltNotKill dogma, removed free speech, united all world governments under their rule and lobotomized all their supervillains (and, reading between the lines, possibly a few rebellious superheroes as well). End result:

* ''WesternAnimation/SupermanTheAnimatedSeries'': Later in the series, Superman finds his old enemies Mala and Jax-Ur have not only escaped the Phantom Zone but have taken over a world. They claim they did it as repayment to the people for saving their lives, and even show Kal-El how efficient the planet now runs under their command. [[spoiler: It's all a scam, however, as the people despise the Kryptonians' despotic rule and Jax-Ur is using the planet's resources to build a Fleet of Conquest to take over Earth as well.]]