So following this through, does it mean that autocracy is the preferred government for a country that sleepwalked past the tipping point where corruption is entrenched because the institutions that could uproot it are themselves deeply corrupt?
> As is the "bribe economy" – the general understanding that getting X done generally costs you around Y, where Y is not arbitrary
That's really not how that works. Sometimes your bribe will be refused. Sometimes they'll ask for more money even when you think you paid. Sometimes they'll simply not do whatever you bribed them to do. Sometimes it will work as expected.
There is no certainty in autocracies, no guarantees. If Americans only knew what they're heading into, they'd be fighting tooth and nail to avoid it.
"Iterating the prisoners dilemma" at all levels of interface with government, moral qualms about autocracy/authoritarianism aside, is a very inefficient way to run a society, because government is an inherent and natural monopoly.
Even in private commerce, it only works where there are choices and not monopolies.
"Zero trust" is optimal for machine communication networks, not human organizations.
I'm not sure where the disagreement is. I agree that people need to trust government in a high trust society. Government is also the ultimate inherent monopoly.
> Then there's the whole thing about criminal organizations that typically rely on social cohesion and upholding all kinds of rules.
Those rules are broken constantly and have to be reinforced via force constantly. The members of actual criminal organizations do not trust each other. They take the risk of betrayal very seriously. Including by pre-emptively killing own friends to protect themselves.