But those costs are tiny compared to the cost of fighting civil wars.
Are you sure about that? In well-run polities, civil wars are vanishingly rare; the implied threat of civil war is what’s more relevant, in most cases. The costs of demotist politicking may be smaller at any given time, but they add up quickly.
(All that said, democracies do seem to be a lot more peaceful than autocracies, and this is a huge efficiency gain. But there might be further gains on the table by moving things towards a formalist/NRX direction. Especially since modern democracies need a lot of oligarchy/aristocracy in practice if they are to actually function—this is what we call ‘the Cathedral’.)
Are you sure about that? In well-run polities, civil wars are vanishingly rare; the implied threat of civil war is what’s more relevant, in most cases. The costs of demotist politicking may be smaller at any given time, but they add up quickly.
(All that said, democracies do seem to be a lot more peaceful than autocracies, and this is a huge efficiency gain. But there might be further gains on the table by moving things towards a formalist/NRX direction. Especially since modern democracies need a lot of oligarchy/aristocracy in practice if they are to actually function—this is what we call ‘the Cathedral’.)
Then you would need to add the societal and medical costs derived from having a perpetually stressed population.