Stability — Wiki — Atomic Rivals

Stability is how firmly a country's political order holds: whether its institutions run smoothly, its chain of command is clear and its politics stay within bounds. It is shown as a percentage from 0% to 100%, alongside Legitimacy and Corruption, as one of the core measures of the state.

Stability and legitimacy are deliberately separate. A police state can be very stable and barely legitimate. A young democracy can be legitimate and unstable. The gap between the two is often the most important thing to watch.

How stability is set

A country's stability has two parts:

A stored level that changes each month. At the start of the game it matches the country's opening government support, 60% by default. After that it moves only through monthly stability changes (Stability (Monthly)) from laws, traits, events and modifiers.
Standing bonuses and penalties (Stability) from the laws and modifiers currently in force, added on top for as long as they apply.

Stability does not drift back toward a resting point on its own. A monthly gain keeps building until the source is removed.

Typical sources

Source	Effect
Collective Leadership	+2%
Secret Police, Mass Surveillance	+2% each
Political Police	+1%
Open Party Competition, First-Past-the-Post, Prime Minister, Co-Equal Legislature	+1% each
Presidential Authority	−1%
Proportional Representation	−1%
Military Government	−2%
State Information Control	+0.4% a month
Autocracy, Prior Censorship, One-Party State	+0.2% a month

Faction traits matter as well. A Disciplined faction that supports the government adds stability. A Sectarian one subtracts it, and drains it every month once agitated. An agitated armed forces faction costs 3%. A successful coup costs the country 15% stability.

What stability does

Ruling party support

Below 50%, low stability reduces the ruling party's support in every province by a tenth of the shortfall. A country at 30% stability loses 2% of ruling party support (Ruling Party Support) everywhere, which shows up in polls and at Elections. Above 50% there is no penalty.

Government support

Every month, stability nudges government support upward in proportion to its level. A stable country finds it easier to keep the public behind the government.

When stability is higher than legitimacy, the order is being held together without consent. Each month, every point by which stability exceeds legitimacy adds Unrest, at 2% of the gap. A country at 80% stability and 30% legitimacy gains a full point of unrest a month in every province. Only repression cancels this: Secret Police, Mass Surveillance or Martial Law. That is why stable dictatorships tend to be harsh ones. The unrest this produces also feeds power struggles.

Raising stability

Laws that concentrate authority or control information, keeping in mind what they cost in legitimacy.
Bringing restless Factions inside the government, or keeping disciplined factions in it.
Avoiding long Wars: war exhaustion wears down government support and adds unrest, which feeds faction agitation.
Focuses and events that settle the country after a crisis.

After a coup, revolution or power struggle, a Provisional Government keeps stability loose for its first five years while it builds legitimacy, and a Military Junta holds unrest down by force (see Coups and Power Struggles).

Instability is different

Country instability, the pressure that comes from agitated factions, is a separate figure. It is built from each faction's influence times its agitation (see Factions) and feeds unrest and crises directly. A country can have high stability and still face dangerous faction pressure.