Belgium “had no government” for 535 days. Lots of people use the same words to describe the situation in Belgium.
The odd thing about this period of no government was that Belgium’s government was very busy. For example, the non-government nationalized one of the country’s largest banks. Less importantly, your humble blogger had numerous meetings that were attended by representatives of Belgium’s non-government.
How is this possible?
The answer, of course, is that Belgium’s government functions fine – fine enough to bail out a huge bank! – without significant input from elected officials. If elected officials are around to validate the decisions of the permanent government, that’s great. If not, the government gets on just fine.
Or just that ruling an already-developed country isn’t terribly demanding. I mean, Belgium didn’t become a third-world hellhole despite this.
Related to your example: The Art of Governing without Government
Moldbuggian models of politics FTW.
-- Jack Nicholson, as President Dale in Mars Attacks