There are many threats that loom over national governments. Depending on how widespread the disaster is, national environmental disasters can cripple governments. Attacks and war destroy countries. Economic issues and government corruption are a couple more common causes of governmental collapse. In the United States of America, any widespread national emergency can be officially declared a “National Emergency” by the president of the United States. Once this is declared an executive order that is in place can take control of the United States of America. The use of these resources would then be allocated by the executive branch and the FEMA board.

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If situations in cities continue to deteriorate, the average person will call for law and order. This demand for law enforcement may cause an influx of military force on the streets of our cities. Many people worry about the possibility of the government enforcing martial law. Declaring martial law across a country as big as the United States of America would be a severe challenge. Gaining control of Interstate travel and food supplies is the only way a country this big could possibly be controlled by one entity. Controlling the food supply may seem impossible. However, most of the food in grocery stores across the nation come from just a few central hubs where the food is taken to and then delivered. It may seem silly to worry about control coming through food reduction, but the most significant percentage of 100 million human beings that were murdered by socialist governments in the twentieth century died of hunger. In the Holodomor incident in Ukraine, seven to twelve million died, and General Mao killed twenty to forty-three million in China. In both of these countries, there was no shortage of food production, but citizens died of famine.

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The Modern Survival Manual:  Surviving the Economic Collapse by Fernando Aguirre presents Fernando's "lessons learned" from the downfall of Argentina in 2001 where he lived. His words tell us what to expect from the Gov after a collapse. The first thing to expect is corruption; elections don't matter. The  candidate makes promises and lies to get elected.  Once in office, they increase their power.  They put family and friends in positions of power to solidify and grow their power and status.

 

Another facet of a collapse is loss of freedom for the citizens and censorship of the material shared with them. Guns control and banishment is the litmus test. Once this happens, the citizens are sitting ducks. Another thing that happened is censorship. In Argentina, the TV station Channel TN had their signals jammed, much like the internet censoring that happens today. In Argentina, the legal system became ineffective. It took forever for cases to get tried, and law enforcement did not prosecute criminals. Public institutions began to fail. Police, hospitals, schools, and transportation faltered. The infrastructure failed. Roads and bridges began to crumble, making more rugged vehicles much more useful.  The culture of the country will become valueless. Book stores & theaters will close while casinos, corrupt churches, and drug stores (specializing in illegal merchandise) and even porn shops thrive. Taxation and high inflation will drive small Mom & Pop shops out of business driving prices up even further. Expect to see extreme poverty and shantytowns popping up. The police force will become smaller withdrawing back to capital cities and major metropolitan areas. Commando criminals composed of ex-cops and ex-military will become well organized, creating equipped elite criminal entities. All this lends itself to even more corruption. This same example of what happens during a government collapse has happened throughout history and around the world. Germany, Russia, Cuba, Argentina, Venezuela are all examples in modern history.

 

We have many examples of what governments look like after a collapse. In Venezuela, the government used the profits from state-run oil companies to fund a massive welfare state and use the leverage thus gained to fortify support for Hugo Chavez and his political party. Eventually, they had enough power to move around assets, and people like pieces to a board game. When the oil revenues proved insufficient, they printed money. Producers declined to produce at artificially low prices, and as a result, the government seized their assets. The government silenced all dissent, and the country crumbled. A government thick with corruption is still in force, and only time will tell what comes of it.

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Sometimes after a collapse, the country splinters into national regions. This example presented itself after the fall of USSR. A scenario like this is a definite possibility for the United States of America. Founded under a federal government that was there to unite the independent states together, the federal government of America has turned into a one size fits all law-making machine.

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Other times anarchy reigns in the country. Anarchy is not always a bad thing. The stifling of commerce by a government that preys upon its citizens can collapse a country. Removing these barriers can be a good thing. In Somalia, the removal of the government has had this exact effect, making individual progress a real potential. Governments have to protect the property rights of its citizens and limit their predatory actions upon the citizens for development to happen.

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When citizens do uprise against the government, usually the result is the establishment of a republic. The United States of America, France, South Korea, Australia, and Brazil are all examples of this.

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If the United States experienced a collapse, it might not necessarily be a bad thing. To be put into full operation, many societal institutes and new technologies are waiting on slackening of our government’s control. For example, big corporations and banks are bailed out time and time again, ensuring they don’t fail. However, the natural efficiency of capitalism has forced them to live on razor-thin margins. These corporations are very vulnerable to smaller companies with new technologies and little fixed costs and overhead. Think of the music industry or the publishing industries. Their world has been turned upside down by the development of internet sharing capabilities and on-demand printing.

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The high costs for both the government of a country and the citizens of a nation come from communications, energy production, and transportation. Communication is now possible for anyone in the world to communicate with someone continents away with the clicking of a mouse. Local power production capabilities are becoming cheaper and cheaper, eliminating the need for a vast infrastructure to supply electricity. The internet has also increased universal knowledge. The idea of shared transportation (with self-driving) cars is becoming more and more popular, eliminating the need for a family to spend a large percentage of their earnings on vehicles.

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The only thing stopping a less expensive existence for the average family from emerging is government or corporate control over technologies and communication systems. As the corporations of the past fall to the new industries of the future, the rise of nonprofits can negate the need for government-funded social welfare programs.