History Main / RepressiveButEfficient

* In the nightmarish, post-apocalyptic America of ''Literature/{{Victoria}}'', the most dangerous challenge to the titular [[DisasterDemocracy successor republic]] comes from Leader von Braun's [[PuttingOnTheReich Nazi-imitating]] faction in the Great Lakes region. The protagonists note that unlike the various other ravaging bands, hordes and would-be tyrants, but like themselves, his Party of the Will is building a real, functional state, and they are, for the most part, ruthlessly efficient and competent about it.

* ''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 destroy Las Vegas (killing millions of people).

* ''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 destroy Los Vegas (killing millions of people).

* ''ComicBook/ArchieComicsSonicTheHedgehog'': In the altered version of the ''Mobius: X Years Later'' timeline, Shadow [[TyrantTakesTheHelm marries Sally and takes over the kingdom]]. It's noted that while Shadow's regime was brutal, it still brought peace and stability to all of Mobius.

* The small Balkan nation of Latveria may be ruled by the iron fist of SelfDemonstrating/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.

* ''Franchise/MetalGear'': The Patriots are a shadow government that control America, and by the time of ''[[VideoGame/MetalGearSolid4GunsOfThePatriots Metal Gear Solid 4]]'', the entire planet, running the government and media behind the scenes and attempting to eliminate TheEvilsOfFreeWill. As oppressive and cruel as they can be, howeverm theystill run the world effectively and keep things stable, managing critical economic necessities such as water, electricity, communications and transportation. President Johnson and Colonel Campbell both state that without the Patriots, civilization as they know it would collapse entirely, and a big part of ''[=MGS4=]'' has Snake and his allies fighting to stop Liquid Ocelot from destroying them, viewing them as the LesserOfTwoEvils.

* ''WesternAnimation/StevenUniverse'' has the Gem Homeworld being organized as having a strict caste-system that has all types of Gems assigned to a single purpose they must fulfill and never deviate from, and any Gem who comes out wrong or "Off-Colored" are rejected by society and usually shattered on-site. Despite this, the Gems that do fit within the system are shown to harbor great respect and admiration towards the Diamonds, the leaders of Gemkind, and believe them to be completely flawless beings.

-->- '''UsefulNotes/HarryTruman'''

* In Season 2 of ''Machinima/FreemansMind'', Gordon concludes that City 17 is part of a fascist state because, among [[PoliceBrutality among other things]], the trains run on time to the point they don't even brake if someone's on the rails or gets run over.

* 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 his disciple Teru Mikami ultimately wanted to take things.]]

-->'''Snake''': No matter who wins, the world has no future. Until we stop Liquid and destroy the System, we'll never be free.//
'''Campbell''': Snake, what we call "peace" is an equilibrium kept in check by the war economy. Destroying the System means wiping out the information society, the end of modern civilization. Like it or not, we may have no choice but to protract the System.

-->-- '''Harry S Truman'''

[[folder: Anime & Manga]]

[[folder: Comic Books]]

[[folder: Literature]]

[[folder: Live Action TV]]

[[folder: Tabletop Games]]

[[folder: Theater]]

[[folder: Video Games]]

** Caesar's Legion is the game's main "evil" faction, and they certainly are quite evil. They do all kinds of terrible things such as rape, slavery, [[FelonyMisdemeanor banning alcohol]], you name it. However, even their strongest detractors will grudgingly admit that Legion-aligned merchant caravans are ''the'' safest out there, with zero danger of ever getting robbed, because ''nobody'' wants to make the Legion mad at them. One of your companions, Raul, also spent some time living in Arizona before the Legion conquered it. According to him, the Legion might be a bunch of tyrants, but they were a ''massive'' step up from "lawless, Raider-infested hellhole". For this reason he's practically the only companion that isn't vehemently anti-Legion. It's still a rather odd position for him to take, given that he's a ghoul, which are exterminated on sight in Legion-controlled territory. It's also averted in the game's endings where Caesar either didn't have his brain tumor removed leading to his post-game death or was killed by the Courier during the game, as without him to lead the Legion it quickly fragments into anarchy.

* 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.

* In ''Literature/{{Discworld}}'', the capital city of Ankh-Morpork is ruled by one Lord Vetinari, Tyrant. While there are MANY rival factions who would wish to take over, no one does because under Vetinari, everything works. Perfectly. When a rival ruler pops up, Vetinari usually just locks himself in the dungeon, until everyone realizes that it was so much better under him and he gets reinstated. Vetinari's authoritarian rule is explicitly contrasted against the fledgling democracy of neighboring city-state Pseudopolis (which has recently voted not to have to pay taxes). The main reason this works is that he mostly just persuades the various factions to work together instead of trying to do everything top-down, only rarely directly invoking his authority (and it's a recurring plot point that pretty much nobody in Ankh-Morpork pays taxes either).
* 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 with standards of living that are terrible by comparison.

* Zig-zagged in the ''Franchise/StarWars'' [[Franchise/StarWarsExpandedUniverse Expanded Universe]]. On the one hand, the Old Republic was a very long-lived, stable and prosperous democratic society, while various Sith Empires crumbled relatively quickly. On the other hand, post-Revenge of the Sith, everything becomes the other way round: various attempts to restore democracy result in a total mess again and again. The post-Palpatine Empire goes through a long period of decline and internal squabbling, but ultimately emerges, loses its villain status, and is shown as the more stable and responsible galactic state.

* At the start of Creator/NKJemisin's ''Literature/InheritanceTrilogy'', the Arameri empire of the Hundred Thousand Kingdoms fancies itself this, as their patron is the god of order. The Arameri keep the other gods metaphysically chained and use them (and the gods' language) as weapons to enforce their will, but also to provide magical tools like long-range communicators (in other words, phones) to help their underlings manage the whole world... while still keeping the "phone" lines tapped in case someone needs to be disappeared for sedition.

** Caesar's Legion is the game's main "evil" faction, and they certainly are quite evil. They do all kinds of terrible things such as rape, slavery, [[FelonyMisdemeanor banning alcohol]], you name it. However, even their strongest detractors will grudgingly admit that Legion-aligned merchant caravans are ''the'' safest out there, with zero danger of ever getting robbed, because ''nobody'' wants to make the Legion mad at them. One of your companions, Raul, also spent some time living in Arizona before the Legion conquered it. According to him, the Legion might be a bunch of tyrants, but they were a ''massive'' step up from "lawless, Raider-infested hellhole". For this reason he's practically the only companion that isn't vehemently anti-Legion.

** In-contrast to the [[FascistButInefficient cripplingly inefficient]] [[GodSaveUsFromTheQueen Earth Queen]] and her [[SecretPolice Dai Li]], [[ANaziByAnyOtherName Kuvira and the Earth Empire]] in ''WesternAnimation/TheLegendOfKorra'' are portrayed as much more effective in winning over the people and establishing order. She and her organization single-handedly made peace between all of the Earth Kingdom territories after the anarchy brought on by the Earth Queen's death and then quickly establishes herself as its new monarch, gathering nay-sayers and citizens of non-Earth Kingdom descent into re-education camps and developed [[StupidJetpackHitler spirit-energy-based super weapons]] operated on metalbending with intentions on taking back Republic City. Because of her intelligence and skill, Kuvira and the Earth Empire are arguably the largest threat in the entire series.

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, Mussolini did ''not'' [[http://www.snopes.com/history/govern/trains.asp make the trains run on time]]. Remember also, that fascism came to power in countries which were already developed and that a good deal of its vaunted "efficiency" is blurred by the pre-takeover infrastructure continuing afterwards.

* * ''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: