MAKIMA and Bonapartism
One of Chainsaw Man's iconic characters is the primary antagonist of its first half, Makima, also known as the Control Devil. Initially appearing to be an unnerving yet enigmatic ally, her true colours were eventually revealed when she had taken advantage and orchestrated the various events happening within the series to unleash Chainsaw Man and create a dystopia that will subjugate mankind at the price of losing their freedom. However, her defeat did not necessarily usher an age of peace, for her absence lead to several factions, ranging from individuals to institutions, embark on their own agendas in the pursuit of Chainsaw Man.
Chainsaw Man as a series is mostly known for its examination of growth and human relations through the use of supernatural settings as a backdrop. However, an underlooked aspect of Chainsaw Man would be its commentary on government and institutions, which is more prominent within its second Part, but is also present within the first. The events of Part 1 leading to Part 2, could be described as the spiralling anarchy of the bourgeois government in the absence of a 'strongman' figure or in more technical terms a 'Bonapartist'.
A bonapartist, more commonly known as a strongman, is a state apparatus appointed by the state when the bourgeois are unable to take control, to mediate the conflict between classes and order within society, to fulfil the objectives of the ruling class. It is appropriate that the Control Devil, Makima, is chosen as the apparatus that maintains the perceived legitimacy of control held through the justification of Public Safety's operations and questionable practices (e.g. hiring minors, experimenting on prisoners, creating human-devil hybrids, etc.) which have caused damage to the lives of the populace through its disregard of human lives and livelihoods. The readers, while finding them somewhat in the gray, were too led on to believe that Public Safety, while flawed, is ultimately 'desirable'. Makima's leadership was cold and efficient in part of how she's implied to have been raising their goal: the Control for Chainsaw Man for the sake of creating a utopia on earth.
Perhaps such goals were what brought her downfall and eventually the decline of Public Safety's legitimacy and efficiency itself. While having goals that aligned with the State, Makima the apparatus seeks to repurpose it for her own ends to create her variant of the Utopia. However, as a result of her own arrogance and perhaps not believing in her ideals enough, she managed to get outsmarted by both Denji and Pochita. With her death, Public Safety lost a figure of leadership, and thus scrambled into anarchy. The situation then got out of control, causing them to become more ineffective in their operations.
This ineffectiveness is present in Part 2 of the story when trying to turn Denji to his side. Lacking Makima's manipulative tactics, they had to send whatever agents they had left in order to catch him. To realize this, Yoshida and Fumiko were sent, only to fail not purely out of incompetence but due to the fact that Denji had become smarter. Yoshida may be a skilled fighter but he's definitely not the right person to manipulate someone as erratic and unpredictable as Denji. He lacks the patience and perspective to how Deji thinks, which caused him little to no progress in convincing him. While Fumiko may have the advantage of being a woman due to Denji's desire for them, she too lacks Makima's charm and wit, leading to Denji also rejecting her. Regardless of their subsequent successes, they were never close to be as effective as her.
What can be learned from Makima as well as her role in society is that depending on one person for its stability reveals its structural and foundational weaknesses, a paper tiger whose roar is larger than its bite. In the event of their demise and the ruling class's descent into chaos, the common man finds opportunities to strike and be rid of their rule. Denji, representing the everyman, finds freedom in this chaos through eventually usurping the current ruling class in order to be free from its machinations, regardless of new obstacles placed by them.