How to make AI civ choose a government?

So after searching threads I'm reading that the Favorite/Shunned government functions do nothing to influence a civ's choice of government, regardless of what the manual says.

Is there, then, a way at all to make an AI civ stick with a certain government? Or are the threads I'm reading wrong and the Favorite Government parameters do indeed help an AI civ pick a government?

For example, having the Aztecs choose 'Hegemony' and the Mapuche 'Tribalism' and sticking with those governments.

The only way I can see is to have these governments tied to a tech that only one Civ can research. Otherwise, the AI always go for the most advantageous government.
Anyway, when the AI has to make a choice between two governments that have similar benefits, then the Favorite/Shunned function may have an influence (but not sure of that).

Yes. If the governments are quite similar (as in MEM2 for example) Favorite Government does affect their choice. But a much stronger factor is the tile penalty, the trade bonus and war weariness (in times of war obviously).

A detailed description of how the AI chooses govs, by embryodead, can be found HERE (and, yes, Favorite / Shunned gov types do have an effect, all things being equal -- but good luck making all things equal ...)

-Oz

Hmm, that is some very good information. Thank you, Ozymandias, Yoda Power, and themanuneed!