Eh, politics in Civ was never its strongest suit. Civ2 and 3 allowed you to choose a government type, so they were "more political" in that regard, with different govts having different bonuses and levels of corruption. I recall Civ2 having Fundamentalism, which halved scientific output but completely eliminated unhappy citizens. I also remember Civ2 having pollution piling up once you reach the Industrial era and global warming affecting the entire map after a while, something I think was dropped on Civ3 and onwards.

Civ5 has those cultural unlocks (Mercantilism, Industrialism, Liberty, etc) that serve a similar purpose, with Fascism giving big bonuses to military. I don't remember whether dealing with civs following different govt ideologies would give you penalties, but being a military expansionist always hurt your relations.