Each Nation has a WA Category that is determined by their ranking on three axes: Personal Freedom, Economic Freedom, and Political Freedom. The rankings are determined by the government style and quiz answers when the nation is created. A nation may be ranked Authoritarian, Centrist, or Libertarian in each. With three ranks on three axes, there are 27 possible combinations, and each is given a title, called its WA Category. See the second picture below for a graphic representation.
Note that the three axes are distinct from the three descriptors (Civil Rights, Economy, and Political Freedoms) that show on a nation's "Spotlight On" page. Due to the similarities in the names, there is much confusion on this. But since a nation can change WA Category without changing any of the three descriptors, it is clear these must be two separate systems. Also note that the descriptors have 15 levels each (though there are some who say there are only 14 levels of Civil Rights).
WA Categories May 2003
The following data are definitive and were taken directly from game code May 2003. As you might guess, some WA Categories are very rare.
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WA Categories April 2006
The following data represent an unofficial sample of 1486 nations (about 1.5% of all activated nations) taken on April 24, 2006. The nations resided in the regions of The Pacific, Gatesville, Europe, Texas, Futaba Aoi, Australia and United States.
| WA Category | % | WA Category | % | WA Category | % |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Anarchy | 2.6% | Corporate Police State | 4.6% | Left-wing Utopia | 1.1% |
| Authoritarian Democracy | 1.0% | Corrupt Dictatorship | 3.6% | Liberal Democratic Socialists | 1.7% |
| Benevolent Dictatorship | 0.3% | Democratic Socialists | 7.7% | Libertarian Police State | 0.6% |
| Capitalist Paradise | 6.7% | Father Knows Best State | 9.8% | Moralistic Democracy | 2.0% |
| Capitalizt | 1.8% | Free-Market Paradise | 0.5% | New York Times Democracy | 4.4% |
| Civil Rights Lovefest | 2.6 | Inoffensive Centrist Democracy | 24.6% | Psychotic Dictatorship | 2.5% |
| Compulsory Consumerist State | 7.1% | Iron Fist Consumerists | 5.6% | Right-wing Utopia | 1.0% |
| Conservative Democracy | 0.2% | Iron Fist Socialists | 0.3% | Scandinavian Liberal Paradise | 1.6% |
| Corporate Bordello | 1.5% | Left-Leaning College State | 4.4% | Tyranny by Majority | 0.0%* |
| * This represents no examples found in the sample, not an artifact of rounding. | |||||
WA Category Map
This shows the different WA Categories in relationship to each other and to their (otherwise behind-the-scenes) rankings in Personal Freedom, Economic Freedom, and Political Freedom.
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WA Category Glossary
| Category: | Overview: | WA nation page description: | NSDossier description: |
| Anarchy(aka
Lawless Wasteland , Beautiful utopia devoid of all hierarchy) |
No state actually exists. | Citizens live in a state of perpetual fear, as a complete breakdown of social order has led to the rise of order through biker gangs. | Total lack of government or authority, marked by unusually high political, social and economic freedoms. |
| Authoritarian Democracy(aka
Slightly Oppressive But A Little Discipline Never Hurt Anyone State , Mouth-Breathing Creationists) |
Not really a democracy, but a dictatorship pretending to be one. | Citizens are prohibited from doing almost everything except voting, which they do timidly and conservatively. | Nation where the people are allowed to vote but are usually told who to vote for and they do so, happily. |
| Benevolent Dictatorship(aka
Temporary Conservative State of Emergency , Temporary Liberal State of Emergency) |
A dictatorship ruled by someone who pays no attention to the people and allows them to do whatever they want, except challenge the government. | Citizens enjoy great individual freedoms in everything except elections, which, where they exist at all, are populist shams for a dictatorship government that has no intention of ever giving up power. | Fancy name for a kingdom where the king just doesn't care. |
| Capitalist Paradise(aka
Decent Hardworking Self-Starters, Corporate Slave State) |
No restrictions whatsoever are placed on trade; civil rights and political rights are not repressed but take a back seat to the economy. | Citizens are either ruled by a sleek, efficient government or a conglomerate of multinational corporations; it's difficult to tell which. | Government where there are few, if any, trade restrictions and is noticeable for its marked dedication to the economy which controls supply, demand and investment. |
| Capitalizt (aka
Freedom-Loving Libertarians, Self-Congratulatory Merchant Bankers) |
It's all about business. Civil rights are generous. | Citizens enjoy some of the most opulent lifestyles in the region, unless they are unemployed or working-class, in which case they are variously starving to death or crippled by easily preventable diseases. | Society where corporations rival the government in power. |
| Civil Rights Lovefest (aka
Nation-Hating Hippies, Brave Progressives) |
Libertarian rule, with less emphasis on the economy and more on civil and political rights. | Citizens hold their civil and political rights very dear, although the wealthy and those in business tend to be viewed with suspicion. | System that emphasize the will of the individual and his/her will over that of society or government - individual freedom social equality and mutual aid are the norm. |
|
Compulsory Consumerist State (aka Aspirational Worker State, Consumerist Wage Drones) |
This is similar to Iron Fist Consumerists, but the government mandates that you spend money to keep the economy up. This is a form of dictatorship, with very little in the way of political rights and modest civil rights. | Citizens are rabid consumers, partly through choice and partly because the government tells them to and dissenters tend to vanish from their homes at night. | Government that actively promotes belief that the society that shops together, stays together and everyone better be on board with that or else. |
|
Conservative Democracy (aka Conservative Paradise, Conservative Hell) |
People are free to vote but tend to avoid other types of freedom. | Citizens are known throughout the region for their efficiency and work ethic, as well as their general suspicion of leisure. | System where the people are politically free to vote and change things, yet rarely do, preferring to maintain the status quo. |
|
Corporate Bordello(aka Patriotic Business Zone, Blood-Sucking Capitalist Leeches) |
Free trade, free market, not-so-free merchandise. Civil rights are moderate; political rights are generous. | Citizens are effectively ruled by a group of massive corporations, who run for political office and provide their well-off citizens with world-class goods and services. Their poorer citizens, however, are mostly starving to death while being urged to go out and get real jobs. The populace has reasonably extensive civil rights, although these are mostly aimed at allowing them to buy whatever they like. | Government-by-corporation where the people elect corporate entities to represent them based on their values or employment. |
|
Corporate Police State(aka Entrepreneurial Freedom Zone, Halliburton) |
The government = big businesses. Individuals have few rights and have to buy from the top corporations. | Citizens are ruled with an iron fist by the corrupt, dictatorship government, which oppresses anyone who isn't on the board of a Fortune 500 company. Large corporations tend to be above the law, and use their financial clout to gain ever-increasing government benefits at the expense of the poor and unemployed. | Government controlled by corporations where the people are told what to buy, when to buy it and why they have to buy it. |
|
Corrupt Dictatorship(aka Corrupt Liberal Dictatorship, Well-Meaning Dictatorship) |
A totalitarian state in which the government will interfere with everything, lowering political and economic rights and adopting a fluctuating civil rights policy. | Citizens are ruled with an iron fist by the dictatorship government, which ensures that no-one outside the party gets too rich. In their personal lives, however, citizens are relatively unoppressed; it remains to be seen whether this is because the government genuinely cares about its people, or if it hasn't gotten around to stamping out civil rights yet. | Thinly-disguised totalitarianism where the state is controlled by one person or body completely and unilaterally. |
|
Democratic Socialists (aka Hell, Ordinary Caring Intelligent World Citizens) |
Political Freedoms in this state would be regarded as average, while the government is omnipresent and has much say in the economy, with citizens having few economic rights. | Citizens are fiercely patriotic and enjoy great social equality; they tend to view other, more capitalist countries as somewhat immoral and corrupt. | Enlightened form of socialism marked by the populace having a measure of political freedom yet having most of the infrastructure controlled by the government. |
| Father Knows Best State(aka
Suspiciously Liberal Dictatorship, Suspiciously Conservative Democracy) |
The government will usually interfere in the lives of everyone. It works like a parent. One does what they think is best. | Citizens are ruled by a mostly-benevolent dictator, who grants the populace the freedom to live their own lives but watches carefully for anyone to slip up. | Throwback to days of kingdoms where the leader has the final say in most matters involving affairs of state. |
|
Free-Market Paradise(aka Paradise, Randroids) |
People are free to vote and make money but have few civil rights. | Citizens enjoy frequent elections, which are uniformly corrupted by big-spending corporations buying politicians who best suit their interests. | undefined |
|
Inoffensive Centrist Democracy(aka Communists, Fascists) |
Where the people have a good mix of political and civil rights as well as security. Obviously most centrist of the UN Categories as well as the most common. | Citizens have some civil rights, but not too many, enjoy the freedom to spend their money however they like, to a point, and take part in free and open elections, although not too often. | 'Generic' or 'classic' form of government in which there is a head of government and the citizens share some of the power in the ruling of the people. |
|
Iron Fist Consumerists(aka Champions of Commerce, Imperialist Pig Dog Oppressors) |
This is an oppressive state that focuses on the economy. Supply and Demand are the two commandments. | Citizens are kept under strict control by the oppressive government, which measures its success by the nation's GDP and refers to individual citizens as "human resources." | Nation where all people are tools in a large economic machine where they are both the producers as well as the consumers to the exclusion of much else. |
|
Iron Fist Socialists(aka Inevitably Bloody Result of Liberal Ideals Mugged By Reality, Equality and Tolerance Society) |
The state is omnipresent, and will provide everything for its people except political freedom. | Citizens are ruled with an iron fist by the socialist government, which grants its people the freedom to do whatever they like so long as it doesn't involve getting richer than anybody else or challenging the government. | Strictly enforced equality where the people are referred to as 'the collective' and criticizing the government isn't an option. |
|
Left-Leaning College State(aka Deluded Tax and Spend Hypocrites, Paradise) |
What would happen if college students ruled the world. Civil rights are the main priority, followed by political rights. | Citizens enjoy extensive civil freedoms, particularly in social issues, while business tends to be more regulated. | Government run by civil rights activists with liberal political beliefs exemplified by pie-in-the-sky college students. |
|
Left-wing Utopia(aka Drugged-Out Hippies, Utopia) |
The democratic government grants broad civil rights but keeps a tight leash on business. | Citizens are free to do what they want with their own bodies, and vote for whoever they like in elections; if they go into business, however, they are regulated to within an inch of their lives. | Government by equals for equals that keeps a close eye on business which it distrusts and is often socialized for the good of the people. |
|
Liberal Democratic Socialists(aka Ivory Tower Reality Disconnect Zone, Open-Minded Education State) |
Like Democratic Socialists, but more concerned with social reforms and without an oppriment centralist government. | Citizens love a good election, and the government gives them plenty of them. Universities tend to be full of students debating the merits of various civil and political rights, while businesses are tightly regulated and the wealthy viewed with suspicion. | Government that allows its citizens to vote and express opinions publicly while retaining a firm hold over the market where most products are simply labeled brand. |
|
Libertarian Police State(aka Government-Enforced Political Correctness Society, Slightly Overzealous Peoples Democracy) |
The state does nothing to impede on your private life, yet will require you to register everything down to your sneakers with a bureau of some sort. | Citizens are proud of their wide-ranging civil freedoms, and those who aren't tend to be dragged off the streets by men in dark suits and hustled into cars with tinted windows. | Government by an absolute monarch who gives the people great latitude when it comes to free speech, religious tolerance and the creative arts, however, criticizing the monarchy isn't one of the freedoms the citizens enjoy. |
|
Moralistic Democracy(aka Ordinary Decent Hardworking People, Narrow-Minded Backwoodsy Bigots) |
A self-righteous democracy in which morality influences everything. | Citizens are highly moralistic and fiercely conservative, in the sense that they tend to believe most things should be outlawed. People who have good jobs and work quietly at them are lauded; others are viewed with suspicion. | State governed by officials who receive divine guidance yet still let the people vote while maintaining limits on many social policies. |
|
New York Times Democracy(aka New York Crimes So-Called Democracy, Corporate-Dominated Sham Democracy) |
Liberal democracy, with elections heavily influenced by the media. | Citizens enjoy a sensible mix of personal and economic freedoms, while the political process is open and the people's right to vote held sacrosanct. | Political system marked by having all facets of the government voted on by the newshound public that is kept well-informed by seemingly limitless media outlets. |
| Psychotic Dictatorship(aka
Communist Dictatorship , Fascist Dictatorship) |
Corrupt, authoritarian state where everyone is considered the leader's toy. | Citizens are ruled without fear or favor by a psychotic dictator, who outlaws just about everything and refers to the populace as "my little playthings." | The rule by a sole absolute authority prone to whims not always in line with the people's wants or needs. |
| Right-wing Utopia( aka
Utopia, Corrupt Thieving Uneducated Fascist Fundamentalists) |
A conservative state where little change is desired or put into action. Religion will usually play the role of the media. | Citizens are free to succeed or fail in life on their own merits; the successful tend to enjoy an opulent (but moralistic) lifestyle, while the failures can be seen crowding out most jails. | Throwback to the days of monarchies and aristocracies, often subscribes to a clear class structure where those in power stay in power to maintain the status quo. |
|
Scandinavian Liberal Paradise(aka Gay Marriage State, Normal) |
High taxes, tons of civil freedom, but a weak economy. | Citizens enjoy extensive civil rights and enjoy a level of social equality free from the usual accompanying government corruption. | 'Hippies gone wild' where most citizens enjoy plenty of civil and social rights as well as a fair amount of freedom to call politicians 'Slackers'. |
|
Tyranny by Majority(aka Thieves, Tyranny by Bourgeois) |
Pure democracy without minority rights. | Citizens enjoy great social freedoms and frequent elections, where the majority of the populace regularly votes to increase its benefits at the expense of various hapless minorities. | undefined |
Civil Rights, Economy, and Political Freedoms Descriptors
| # | Civil Rights: | Economy: | Political Freedoms: |
| 15 | Widely Abused | Frightening | Corrupted |
| 14 | Frightening | All Consuming | Widely Abused |
| 13 | Excessive | Powerhouse | Excessive |
| 12 | World Benchmark | Thriving | World Benchmark |
| 11 | Superb | Very Strong | Superb |
| 10 | Excellent | Strong | Excellent |
| 9 | Very Good | Good | Very Good |
| 8 | Good | Reasonable | Good |
| 7 | Average | Fair | Average |
| 6 | Below Average | Developing | Below Average |
| 5 | Some | Struggling | Some |
| 4 | Few | Weak | Few |
| 3 | Rare | Fragile | Rare |
| 2 | Unheard Of | Basket Case | Unheard Of |
| 1 | Outlawed | Imploded | Outlawed |