There is excellent speculative fiction creating political structures different from the usual monarchies, republics, and despotisms. Systems like the microdemocracy in Malka Older’s Infomocracy, direct democracy in Alastair Reynolds’ The Prefect, and the take on empire in Arkady Martine’s A Memory Called Empire create interesting structures outside of our more usual paradigms. What makes them work, and what lessons can we learn about worldbuilding thematic and believable systems of government?