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Culture War Roundup for the week of June 3, 2024

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In a regime collapse, yes, former secret police tend to do very well. In state collapse, on the other hand, they don't necessarily(not that anyone does). Cartel-run Mexico and the stateless parts of the middle east aren't ruled over by former spies and secret police officers, they're ruled over by whichever non-state actors have guns behind them.

That being said, cults(which is what the Amish are, even if they're popular) seem to do reasonably well in state collapse- that's where ISIS came from, and as noted the Amish are about as good off under the cartels as they were under the Mexican central government(although organizations which recruit military personnel literally by promising higher-quality rations[that's not a joke; cartel advertising to Mexican soldiers emphasizes better quality meals] will probably give high-productivity peasant farmers a better deal than they normally do).

Of course, state collapse is fantastically unlikely in the US because two levels of government would have to collapse, federal and state. In some areas one implies the other eventually, but not right up front. Regime collapse on the other hand is semi-plausible as a result of mismanaging a fiscal crisis, and just results in balkanization.

that's where ISIS came from

ISIS is not an ethnoreligion. It came from former Iraqi army members who happened to be Sunni and saw Shia oppressing them.