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---
title: Domestic_Policy
---
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HOI2 has a very sophisticated domestic policy and politics model, which
includes

-   the domestic policy sliders
-   the ministers available in your Government.

You can considerably affect your economic wealth and combat performance
by changing your slider settings. The settings also add considerably to
the flavour of each nation and the game as a whole.

::: {#toc .toc aria-labelledby="mw-toc-heading" role="navigation"}
::: {.toctitle dir="ltr" lang="en"}
## Contents {#mw-toc-heading}

[ ]{.toctogglespan}
:::

-   [[ 1 ]{.tocnumber} [ Domestic Policy Sliders
    ]{.toctext}](#Domestic_Policy_Sliders)
-   [[ 2 ]{.tocnumber} [ Social Engineering via Slider Changes
    ]{.toctext}](#Social_Engineering_via_Slider_Changes)
-   [[ 3 ]{.tocnumber} [ Which areas of the game are affected by the
    domestic policy?
    ]{.toctext}](#Which_areas_of_the_game_are_affected_by_the_domestic_policy.3F)
-   [[ 4 ]{.tocnumber} [ Government Type & Sliders
    ]{.toctext}](#Government_Type_.26_Sliders)
    -   [[ 4.1 ]{.tocnumber} [ Democratic - Authoritarian
        ]{.toctext}](#Democratic_-_Authoritarian)
    -   [[ 4.2 ]{.tocnumber} [ Political Left - Political Right
        ]{.toctext}](#Political_Left_-_Political_Right)
-   [[ 5 ]{.tocnumber} [ Changing Governments
    ]{.toctext}](#Changing_Governments)
    -   [[ 5.1 ]{.tocnumber} [ Policy under different Governments
        ]{.toctext}](#Policy_under_different_Governments)
    -   [[ 5.2 ]{.tocnumber} [ Heads of State
        ]{.toctext}](#Heads_of_State)
-   [[ 6 ]{.tocnumber} [ Other Sliders ]{.toctext}](#Other_Sliders)
    -   [[ 6.1 ]{.tocnumber} [ Open Society - Closed Society
        ]{.toctext}](#Open_Society_-_Closed_Society)
    -   [[ 6.2 ]{.tocnumber} [ Free Market - Central Planning
        ]{.toctext}](#Free_Market_-_Central_Planning)
    -   [[ 6.3 ]{.tocnumber} [ Standing Army - Drafted Army
        ]{.toctext}](#Standing_Army_-_Drafted_Army)
        -   [[ 6.3.1 ]{.tocnumber} [ In DD + Arma, upgrade time/cost 1/2
            ]{.toctext}](#In_DD_.2B_Arma.2C_upgrade_time.2Fcost_1.2F2)
    -   [[ 6.4 ]{.tocnumber} [ Hawk Lobby - Dove Lobby
        ]{.toctext}](#Hawk_Lobby_-_Dove_Lobby)
    -   [[ 6.5 ]{.tocnumber} [ Interventionism - Isolationism
        ]{.toctext}](#Interventionism_-_Isolationism)
-   [[ 7 ]{.tocnumber} [ Why do I keep getting policy initiative events?
    ]{.toctext}](#Why_do_I_keep_getting_policy_initiative_events.3F)
-   [[ 8 ]{.tocnumber} [ Big changes to policies - One Solution
    Revolution
    ]{.toctext}](#Big_changes_to_policies_-_One_Solution_Revolution)
:::

### [ Domestic Policy Sliders ]{#Domestic_Policy_Sliders .mw-headline}

They are seven sliders, the positions of which determine your domestic
policy, your government type, your ability to wage offensive war, and
much much more. See the manual page 40-43 for background information
that is assumed in the following; this FAQ deals with the details not
the overall intent.

Some of them are interdependent. Dependent on your government type,
which is determined by the sliders itself, some changes may be
impossible to perform. The various government types are described on
page 42.

To summarise, the sliders are:

-   Democratic - Authoritarian
-   Political Left - Political Right
-   Open Society - Closed Society
-   Free Market - Central Planning
-   Standing Army - Drafted Army
-   Hawk Lobby - Dove Lobby
-   Interventionism - Isolationism

### [ Social Engineering via Slider Changes ]{#Social_Engineering_via_Slider_Changes .mw-headline}

Each slider has 10 discrete possible positions with the position
determining the exact effect on your society. The closer towards the end
of a slider, the more extreme the political position on the issue. In
general, effects near the middle of each slider are very mild with
positive and negative effects getting more pronounced the more extreme
the position. Note that the left side of a slider will have one group of
modifiers while the right side will have another; often they carry the
same modifiers but that is not always the case. In this FAQ, slider
positions are denoted 0 (left end of slider) - 9 (right end of slider).
NOTE: in HOI2DD:A the sliders are confirmed to be from 1 to 10, and this
can checked inside a saved game file.

Changing sliders can be done either through events or by deliberate
manipulation by the player. From the moment the game starts (except in
battle scenarios disabling this), you can perform changes to the
sliders - just not very often. Choose the slider you want to change and
click to move either one step left or right. Once you have changed any
policy, it takes one year before you can perform your next policy
change. Additionally, changing policies incurs a minor +1%
[dissent](/wiki/Dissent "Dissent") hit.

### [ ]{#Which_areas_of_the_game_are_affected_by_the_domestic_policy?} [ Which areas of the game are affected by the domestic policy? ]{#Which_areas_of_the_game_are_affected_by_the_domestic_policy.3F .mw-headline}

The better question is, which area is not? Your domestic policy choices
will affect any or all of the following:

**[Consumer
Goods](/wiki/User_guide_to_Consumer_Goods "User guide to Consumer Goods")
:**

-   Consumer Goods Demand (Directly affects the amount of consumer goods
    needed to satisfy the population)
-   Consumer Goods Money (Modifies the amount of \$ generated per
    consumer good created)

**[Dissent](/wiki/Dissent "Dissent") :**

-   Dissent in Occupied Territories (Reduces or increases the base
    dissent values in occupied territories)
-   Dissent in National Territories (Reduces or increases the base
    dissent values in national territories)
-   Dissent Growth (This is a modifier to the daily dissent growth from
    the current IC\'s invested in consumer goods. This is not the same
    as the Consumer Goods Demand modifier)
-   Partisan Activity

**Diplomacy:**

-   Democracy or Dictatorship (This is determined by the form of
    government)
-   Diplomatic Action Cost (Increases or reduces the cost of all
    diplomatic actions)
-   Bad Relations Normalisations Bonus (Affects how quickly other
    nations get over your bad actions)
-   Belligerence Needed to Declare War
-   Can Join Alliances (Whether the nation can join other alliances or
    not)
-   Declaration of War Dissent (Dissent per time you DOW. Minimize this
    by becoming an interventionist autocracy if you want to attack
    everybody at your leisure.

**Intelligence:**

-   Counter-intelligence Penalty for outsiders (What it says)

**Manpower:**

-   Manpower growth (Reduces or increases the daily manpower growth)

**Production and Upgrading:**

-   IC bonus (Increases IC available)
-   Production Time and Cost (Reduces or increases the time of producing
    units and provincial enhancements. Reduces or increases the IC cost
    of units only. I.e. a -20% modifier reduces both cost and time of an
    infantry division but only production time of a naval base)
-   Upgrade time and cost (Reduces or increases the time and cost
    divisions of upgrading divisions and brigades)
-   [Gearing Bonus](/wiki/Gearing_Bonus "Gearing Bonus") (This changes
    the cap of the gearing bonus. A unit in continous production that is
    never short on IC will keep increasing in gearing bonus until it
    reaches 35%+Gearing Bonus Cap. As such, this modifier is only
    relevant for units you are going to be building a lot of)

**Research:**

-   Tech Team Cost (Reduces or increases the daily cost of tech teams)

**Unit stats:**

-   Manpower Experience (The base experience value that new units will
    have)
-   Organisation Bonus (Increases or reduces the organisation of all
    units by this percentage. E.g. +10% means that 50 org becomes 55, 80
    org become 88 etc)

### [ ]{#Government_Type_&_Sliders} [ Government Type & Sliders ]{#Government_Type_.26_Sliders .mw-headline}

Two sliders determine the type of government you have and, in turn,
limit the positions you are allowed to occupy on the other sliders.

#### [ Democratic - Authoritarian ]{#Democratic_-_Authoritarian .mw-headline}

Rulership style from one extreme to the other, this is one of the
factors determining goverment type.

9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0 DowDissent +10% +8.9% +7.8% +6.7% +5.6% +4.4% +3.3% +2.2% +1.1% +0% BelToAttack yes yes yes yes yes no no no no no Partisans -5% -4% -3% -2% -1% +1% +2% +3% +4% +5% GoodsDemand +20% +16% +12% +8% +4% -4% -8% -12% -16% -20% Puppet dissent 0.5% 1% 1.5% 2% 2.5% 3% 3.5% 4% 4.5% 5%

A Democratic nation needs a certain level of belligerence to attack
another nation, but the interventionism-Isolationism slider determines
the amount belligerence needed in such cases. This slider also
determines whether the Interventionism-Isolationism slider can prevent
you from joining/creating alliances or not.

#### [ Political Left - Political Right ]{#Political_Left_-_Political_Right .mw-headline}

Political extremism from one end of the spectrum to the other, this is
the other factor in the the goverment type. The government type
determines which ministers are available for appointment and the limits
on the other sliders.

In general, you can appoint ministers who either share ideology with the
government or are close (one step of distance in the ideology spectrum).
E.g. if the government is Fascist, you can appoint both Paternal
Autocrat, National Socialist, and Fascist ministers.

In Doomsday and Armageddon, you can also nominate \"military\" ministers
(Head of Intelligence and the Chiefs of Staff/Army/Navy/Air Force) if
they are within two steps of distance from the government\'s ideology
(e.g. a National Socialist government can nominate a Paternal Autocrat
Head of Intelligence). \"Civilian\" ministers (Foreign, Armaments, and
Security) remain limited to one-step ideological tolerance. Once they
are in charge, all kinds of ministers (as well as Heads of State and
Heads of Government) have a two-step tolerance before changes of
ideology force their dismissal.

LEFT RIGHT DEMOCRATIC 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0  9   SD  SL  SL  SL  SL  ML  ML  ML  ML  SC  8   SD  SD  SL  SL  SL  ML  ML  ML  SC  SC  7   SD  SD  SD  SL  SL  ML  ML  SC  SC  SC  6   LWR SD  SD  SD  SL  ML  SC  SC  SC  PA  5   LWR LWR SD  SD  SD  SC  SC  SC  PA  PA  4   LE  LWR LWR SD  SD  SC  SC  PA  PA  FA  3   LE  LE  LWR LWR SD  SC  PA  PA  FA  FA  2   ST  LE  LE  LWR LWR PA  PA  FA  FA  NS  1   ST  ST  LE  LE  LWR PA  FA  FA  NS  NS  0   ST  ST  ST  LE  LE  FA  FA  NS  NS  NS AUTOCRATIC

Key to the above table, in alphabetical order:

FA = Fascist LE = Leninist LWR= Left-Wing Radical ML = Market Liberal NS = National Socialist PA = Paternal Autocrat SC = Social Conservative SD = Social Democratic SL = Social Liberal ST = Stalinist

### [ Changing Governments ]{#Changing_Governments .mw-headline}

Moving the Left/Right and Democratic/Authoritarian sliders changes the
type of government you have.

The government determines

-   allowable Society and Economy slider positions
-   The Head of State and available Ministers

#### [ Policy under different Governments ]{#Policy_under_different_Governments .mw-headline}

The current government type limits freedom of movement on some policy
sliders.

Only a Market Liberal government allows a full Free Market. Most
authoritarian types of government allow full Central Planning, but
prevent movement towards Free Markets.

These limits only apply to economy and society slider moves you make.
Starting as the Free Market USA, you can not move the slider far towards
Central Planning. Using the \'freedom\' cheat you can (for instance)
make the USA Stalinist, and the Economy slider will stay all the way
over on Free Market. In uncheated gameplay the slider tends to move due
to events.

#### [ Heads of State ]{#Heads_of_State .mw-headline}

There is no one-to-one correspondence between Government type and Head
of State. Which Head of State you have (and hence the ministers
available) depends on the path you take to get to your government type.

Each nation has several Heads of State available to it. Minsters are
available based on their similarity to the Head of State\'s ideology.

A Head of State will resign/be ovethrown if the governemnt type is
radically different from their own. It will then be replaced by the most
similar available Head of State. Returning to the initial Government
type need not return you to the initial Head of State!

Moving Germany left, for instance, replaces Hitler\'s National Socialist
government with a Stalinist one under someone called Renn. Then making
Germany democratic introduces a Social Liberal government under Wilhelm
II (a Paternal Autocrat). Moving the Germany to the Right to a Market
Liberal government retains Wilhelm II. Then moving back towards full
Authoritarianism results in a National Socialist state. Because Wilhelm
II is Paternal Autocrat, he remains in power even when Germany returns
to Nazism.

### [ Other Sliders ]{#Other_Sliders .mw-headline}

#### [ Open Society - Closed Society ]{#Open_Society_-_Closed_Society .mw-headline}

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 DisGrowth +10% +8% +6% +4% +2% -2% -4% -6% -8% -10% DisNat +40% +30% +20% +10% N/A -10% -20% -30% -40% -50% DisOcc -40% -30% -20% -10% N/A +10% +20% +30% +40% +50% CounterInt -40% -30% -20% -10% N/A +10% +20% +30% +40% +50% TechCost +20% +16% +12% +8% +4% -4% -8% 12% -16% -20%

Limitations: All Authoritarian forms of government limit you to a
relatively Closed society. Stalinist and National Socialist governments
allow virtually no openness.

All Democratic governments require a relatively Open society. Market and
Social Liberals require a very high degree of openness.

This slider is mainly of interest for those taking an extensive interest
in fighting - and taking land - outside their own borders.

Fundamentally, an open society will experience internal dissent (dissent
in national provinces, which is rare) much harder than a closed society
will, while a closed society will experience external dissent (from
conquests..) much harder than an open society will. However, the more
open the society, the easier it is for dissent to grow, so there is that
to consider as well.

#### [ Free Market - Central Planning ]{#Free_Market_-_Central_Planning .mw-headline}

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 GoodsMoney +40% +30% +20% +10% N/A -10% -20% -30% -40% -50% GoodsDemand +20% +16% +12% +8% +4% -4% -8% -12% -16% -20% TechCost +25% +20% +15% +10% +5% -5% -10% -15% -20% -25% UpgradeCost -25% -20% -15% -10% -5% +5% +10% +15% +20% +25% ProdCost -20% -15% -10% N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A ICBonus N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A +15% +20% +25%

It is in your interest to be at one extreme or the other because of the
very big production or IC bonuses.

Only Market Liberalism allows you to have a full Market Economy. Many
totalitarian governments insist on a high level of Central Planning. The
middling governments - Social Liberal, Social Democrat and Social
Conservative - prevent you from moving to one extreme or the other and
therefore prevent your economic performance.

Living in a bourgeois state is bad for you - only unfettered capitalism
or total state control is a good move!

The Free Market bonuses are more useful than the Central Planning
bonuses.From the perspective of unit production, Free Market rules. An
example: Assume a unit costs a base of 5 IC for 100 days - its total
cost of production over time is 5 IC/day \* 100 days = 500 IC. With a
20% discount on BOTH time and cost, it costs (0.8\*5 IC/day) \*
(0.8\*100 days) = 320 IC

Compare that to a 25% IC bonus. The cost is unchanged (500 IC) but you
have 25% IC more for an effective cost relative to the baseline of 500
IC/1.25 = 400 IC. Another way to look at it is to assume that you have,
say 25 IC. That allows for 5 simultaneous unit productions on the
baseline. The -20% discount reduces the cost to 4 IC/day, so you can run
6 (and one quarter) simultaneous which will be finished in 80% of the
baseline. The +25% IC bonus increases IC to 31.25 allowing for 6 (and
one quarter) simultaneously which will be finished at the same time as
the baseline. For province enhancements it is less clear since only
production time is affected, not daily IC cost, though Free Market still
retains a edge.

However this analysis assumes equal amount of base IC dedicated to
production. In reality, Free Market has to dedicate about 40% more of
its IC to consumer goods (for which it will get tons of money). On the
other hand, Central Production will net you a full 25% more TC, which is
vital for conquest. Central production costs far more in terms of raw
materials (energy, metal, rare materials).

Conclusion: Go to whichever extreme is closest at the beginning. Both
nationalizing your free market industries and having your own
Perestroika will cripple your economy for many years.

#### [ Standing Army - Drafted Army ]{#Standing_Army_-_Drafted_Army .mw-headline}

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Manpower XP +20% +15% +10% +5% N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A Gearing -10% -8% -6% -4% -2% +2% +4% +6% +8% +10% OrgBonus +10% +8% +6% +4% +2% -2% -4% -6% -8% -10% Upgr Time/Cost +10% +20% +30% +40% +50% +60% +70% +80% +90% +100%

Unless you are going to be producing a LOT of the same type of unit, a
standing army is clearly superior to a drafted one. A drafted army is
most interesting when coupled with slider settings that reduce upgrading
costs, as it then makes sense to start e.g. a 99 production of \'36
infantry, give them highest priority, and just keep on producing them
until \'41 or even \'43 infantry is available, as the total cost of
production plus one or two upgrades will be less than producing new
units without the accumulated gearing bonus. Fundamentally, parallel
builds to fit the situation on hand works for everybody but long serial
builds are the domain of the drafted army.

##### [ ]{#In_DD_+_Arma,_upgrade_time/cost_1/2} [ In DD + Arma, upgrade time/cost 1/2 ]{#In_DD_.2B_Arma.2C_upgrade_time.2Fcost_1.2F2 .mw-headline}

In DD + Arma, the upgrade time/cost part of the Army slider was cut in
half. The range is from 5 to 50 in steps of 5 rather than from 10 to 100
in steps of 10.

#### [ Hawk Lobby - Dove Lobby ]{#Hawk_Lobby_-_Dove_Lobby .mw-headline}

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 GoodsMoney N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A +10% +20% +30% +40% +50% ProdCost -20% -15% -10% -5% N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A DisGrowth -10% -8% -6% -4% -2% +2% +4% +6% +8% +10% ManGrowth +10% +8% +6% +4% +2% -2% -4% -6% -8% -10%

This is the choice between Guns and Butter? Given that HoI2 is a
wargame, there can be only one answer: GUNS! (And the more, the merrier)

Note that many countries get \'free\' moves along this slider from
scripted events - particularly German\'s expansion events at the start
of the game.

#### [ Interventionism - Isolationism ]{#Interventionism_-_Isolationism .mw-headline}

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 DipCost -40% -30% -20% -10% +0% +10% +20% +30% +40% +50% BadRelBonus -80% -60% -40% -20% +0% +20% +40% +60% +80% +100% DowDissent +0% +1.1% +2.2% +3.3% +4.4% +5.6% +6.7% +7.8% +8.9% +10% GoodsDemand +10% +20% +30% +40% +50% +60% +70% +80% +90% +100% BelToAttack 1 9 19 29 39 49 59 69 79 89 JoinAlliance yes yes yes yes yes no no no no no

Note: BelToAttack and JoinAlliance are only active when the leadership
is very democratic (see Democratic-Authoritarian). However, under those
circumstances this is one of the most important sliders in the game as
too high isolationism will prevent you from acting against other
nations; you will only be able to react. In some ways, this slider can
be considered representative of the War Entry from Hearts of Iron 1,
except that it is more generalised and not directed against any
particular nation but against all aggressive nations. So long as other
nations play fairly nice and only invade and conquer just a little bit,
the democratic isolationist country will not be able to act because of
public opinion. As a rule of thumb, if you are unsure of which dp-slider
to move in your yearly dp-change (you DO try to maximize your social
engineering skills, presumably), going more interventionist is almost
certainly a good choice. If your nation is very democratic, you need it
to be able to act rather than merely reacting; if your nation is not,
then you need it to reduce the dissent cost of your next declaration of
war.

Just like the Hawk or Dove lobby choice, this really is a no-brainer
unless you want to play neutral Tibet or something similar:
INTERVENTIONISM

### [ ]{#Why_do_I_keep_getting_policy_initiative_events?} [ Why do I keep getting policy initiative events? ]{#Why_do_I_keep_getting_policy_initiative_events.3F .mw-headline}

Democratic nations are blessed with (somewhat) loyal oppositions. Once
some sliders are brought out of balance with the sort of policy that
would be expected by the government type, it is possible to receive some
government-specific events. Typically, you may receive an event
representing either a government initiative or the opposition\'s
bitching, on any of the topics of defense, economy, foreign policy, law,
and constitution. While some of these may indeed bring the free
opportunity for slider movements that you desire, it is often at the
cost of dissent and it may, occasionally, be better to back off.

Note especially that Democratic nations going Authoritarian have some
pretty heavyhanded random events (constitutional policy) in an attempt
to stop the slide into Dictatorship before it is too late. But who
cares: If you are going Authoritarian, it is probably because you know
better than the plebes already, so just accept that 10 dissent hit and
continue your purge of unnecessary freedoms. After all, if the good men
prefer hanging together, it is almost a civic duty to supply them with
rope.

### [ Big changes to policies - One Solution Revolution ]{#Big_changes_to_policies_-_One_Solution_Revolution .mw-headline}

Some players like experimenting with random changes to governments; for
instance making the USA communist and allying with the Soviet Union in
1938.

There are several ways to do this:

1.  Gently move your democratic/authoritarian and left/right sliders
    using the moves you have available once per year. If you are
    democratic you will eventually get \'policy initiative events\' that
    will help you on your way at the cost of some dissent.
2.  Raise your dissent massively (to over 60%). This will prompt a
    \'Coup\' event (in 1.2 onward at least) changing the nature of your
    government.
3.  Use the \'Robespierre\' or \'Freedom\' (Depending on game version)
    cheat to move the sliders and have done with it.
:::