Just to be clear, Civics means the study of the rights and duties of citizenship. This has very little at all on how one conducts government. So it would be good for a research title in the research tree, but not very good at describing what type of government is being used.

As to the fact that Dregnin can be democratic, I can fully see this in the terms we have today. No corruption, just the policies that come from this government may not be what we like to see happen. If you are evil doesn't mean you crave power, they could have disdain of being in charge or have power. Also, some evil happens because of boredom,

"Why did you enslave the Thorians?":

Option 1:  "They were there... and I had nothing better to do."

Option 2:  "Because I wanted more time to play Dregnin Civ 3 and needed people to do the work for us..."

Option 3:  "Isn't that what it means to be a Thorian?"

Option 4:  "Do you know how hard it is to work in that heat... I didn't want to do it and the Thorians don't mind it so much. They told me that they would rather work in the field than be shot... So we let them do what they want to do. Who am I to deny them the chance of a lifetime."

Let me be clear when I mention civics I'm talking about how they did it in civilization 4. One of the tech researches that was affected by one of the Ithink 5 rows was governments. That is where I have seen civics done in game play of this type, and to my opinion it was one of the better upgrades from civilization 3 to 4. You notice I didn't say the best I thought that was the addition of great people. I did think civics was at least important as giving abilities when you level up.

Recap when I'm talking about civics I mean how it was implemented in civilization 4.

Yeah I like the approach from Civ IV and Alpha Centauri.