History Main / RepressiveButEfficient

* In ''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 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.]]

* In LegendOfGalacticHeroes, Yang (the go-to man for supporting democracy) says that while dictatorships are not inherently more efficient, they have the capability to do so if the leader decides to simply cut through the red tape with a razor.

* In ''VideoGame/FalloutNewVegas'', Mr. House's rule of [[VivaLasVegas the Strip]] is the closest thing the Mojave has to utopia: clean and orderly streets overseen by an incorruptible robot police force, universal access to food, clean water, and electricity, and full employment. Only thing is, the entire city [[OneNationUnderCopyright belongs to Mr. House outright]], and he finds democracy to be a patently ridiculous form of government. (In the ending where the PC sides with him, House hangs a lampshade on this trope, noting that his first order of business after taking over the whole Mojave will be to [[NoDelaysForTheWicked make the Camp McCarren monorail run on time]]). However, he's slightly more benevolent than other examples in that he has no intention of actively oppressing his citizens unless they prove to be a threat to his power and is otherwise [[BreadAndCircuses content to let them enjoy what Vegas has to offer]]... for the right price.

* Radio/OurMissBrooks: Miss Brooks is justified in calling Mr. Conklin "dictator" of Madison High School. However, for the most part, the school seems to operate well nonetheless.

* Civilization in ''Literature/BraveNewWorld'' is a strictly regimented society where everything about a person is planned out before they're even a fertilized test tube. Everyone is conditioned to accept their place in life, and people are kept in line by a government-produced drug called Soma. Any free thought is severely frowned upon, and even the most dull and unimaginative person from our time would hate living there, but everyone has a high standard of living, the citizens are insanely happy, and there's no crime. Occasionally someone's conditioning will fail and they'll be [[TheEvilsOfFreeWill a free thinker and unhappy with their lot]], but those people aren't punished, imprisoned, or executed, just given the choice between joining the ruling class or going into voluntary exile in an island community of like-minded people, which is relatively humane by {{dystopia}}n standards. The society is juxtaposed with that of the "savages," who are people who live in a tribal society, and standards of living that are terrible in comparison.

The reverse of this trope is FascistButInefficient. Contrast DystopiaIsHard.

The reverse of this trope is FascistButInefficient. Contrast DystopiaIsHard. Needless to say, when played straight it nearly always comes with UnfortunateImplications.

* In a ''{{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.

* Randall Flagg's regime in Creator/StephenKing's ''Literature/TheStand'' is like this, to the point where the characters even say the trains run on time word-for-word. While the more-or-less democratic [[TheRepublic Boulder Free Zone]] is struggling to get the power turned on and handle basic sanitation, [[TheEmpire Las Vegas under Flagg]] has public education, an organized system for caring for the many underage orphans of the plague, and a modern military. [[BreadEggsMilkSquick Plus public executions and crucifixions!]] He does eventually fall victim to EvilWillFail in the end, but much of that is due to his inhuman nature reasserting itself and the accompanying mental deterioration.

* Randall Flagg's regime in Creator/StephenKing's ''Literature/TheStand'' is like this, to the point where the characters even say TheTrainsRunOnTime word-for-word. While the more-or-less democratic [[TheRepublic Boulder Free Zone]] is struggling to get the power turned on and handle basic sanitation, [[TheEmpire Las Vegas under Flagg]] has public education, an organized system for caring for the many underage orphans of the plague, and a modern military. [[BreadEggsMilkSquick Plus public executions and crucifixions!]] He does eventually fall victim to EvilWillFail in the end, but much of that is due to his inhuman nature reasserting itself and the accompanying mental deterioration.

* It's mentioned a couple times in ''Anime/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: Its 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 he ultimately wanted to take things.]]

* Played with in ''TabletopGame/WarhammerFortyThousand''. 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.

* In ''VideoGame/FalloutNewVegas'', Mr. House's rule of [[VivaLasVegas the Strip]] is the closest thing the Mojave has to utopia: clean and orderly streets overseen by an incorruptible robot police force, universal access to food, clean water, and electricity, and full employment. Only thing is, the entire city [[OneNationUnderCopyright belongs to Mr. House outright]], and he finds democracy to be a patently ridiculous form of government. (In the ending where the PC sides with him, House hangs a lampshade on this trope, noting that his first order of business after taking over the whole Mojave will be to [[NoDelaysForTheWicked make the Camp McCarren monorail run on time]].)

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 [[{{Handwave}} an in-story]] [[JustifiedTrope 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. The reverse of this trope is FascistButInefficient. Contrast DystopiaIsHard. Needless to say, when played straight it nearly always comes with UnfortunateImplications.

* It's mentioned a couple times in ''Anime/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.)

* The small Balkan nation of Latveria may be ruled by the iron fist of DoctorDoom, but it IS prosperous.

** However the Imperium is not a highly centralised body and contains within it numerous largely autonomous plantery regimes, each with varying levels of authoritarianism and presumably efficiancy. The reason that the Imperium has not succumbed to Chaos or Genestealer cults could be put down to a combination of the sheer size of the imperium and the lack of coordination among such cults rather than it's overall efficiancy.

NoRealLifeExamplesPlease, as an in-depth discussion of the real-world effects of totalitarian governments is beyond the scope of this wiki.

This is a common misconception, hence the saying that in Italy under Mussolini (occasionally attributed to Germany under Hitler) all the trains ran on time. In RealLife, it's [[FascistButInefficient averted]] at LEAST as often as played straight. Many of the most poorly-functioning regimes in history have been authoritarian, fascism 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 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 the rail networks 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 automobile 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.

This is a common misconception, hence the saying that in Italy under Mussolini (occasionally attributed to Germany under Hitler) all the trains ran on time. In RealLife, it's [[FascistButInefficient averted]] at LEAST as often as played straight. Many of the most poorly-functioning regimes in history have been authoritarian, fascism 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 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 the rail networks even though Germany produced neither rubber nor oil and was one of the world's leading producers of steel and coal. 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.

This is a common misconception, hence the saying that in Italy under Mussolini (occasionally attributed to Germany under Hitler) all the trains ran on time. In RealLife, it's [[FascistButInefficient averted]] at LEAST as often as played straight. Many of the most poorly-functioning regimes in history have been authoritarian, fascism 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 NaziGermany itself, the trains were in fact notoriously unreliable.

Sandbox/{{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.

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.

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