For 2301, as we get comfortable with the various systems of government that exist around the world, here's an example of an authoritarian system: Equatorial New Guinea. The NYT points out that we have a tendency to work with authoritarian regimes depending on how doing so affects our strategic interests:
Officially and unofficially, Americans do business with one of the undisputed human rights global bad boys, Equatorial Guinea, Africa’s fourth biggest oil exporter. Its widely criticized record on basic freedoms has offered little barrier to broad engagement by the United States, commercially or diplomatically.
American oil companies have billions of dollars invested here. One American diplomat, using language that makes human rights advocates fume, praised the “mellowing, benign leadership” of the dictator in power for more than 30 years, Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo, in 2009 cables released by WikiLeaks. And a leading American military contractor with strong Pentagon ties has a multimillion-dollar contract to protect his shores and help train his forces.
The country is an example of a common occurrence: oil wealthy nations that are also among the world's poorest. Somehow the resources flow into the hands of the leadership and do little to address the needs of the poor. 2301's might also want to note that the current leader of the country was overwhelmingly reelected last year.
