I think I get what you mean... I played both those games, so I should understand it a bit.
Now, I haven't made such a game, but thinking about it it shouldn't be extremely hard. Basically, most of the functionality is made from extended buttons - elaborate movieclips and functionality. Combine those with multiple scenes (ie. in Oiligarchy the different countries, the world map etc) and you're pretty much there. The last thing you need is a decent document class, or at least something where you keep the data that is relevant to the gameplay. Clicking certain items should modify the existing values a little bit, resulting in a different outcome - say, the amount of people you have under your control in the white house.
