Better ideas then BWA?

[jatay3]

Much as I like the Swordies I can hardly blame the Imperium for setting up the BWA from the moral point of view as the Swordies chose the war in the first place and would likly do so next round.
However it does seem to be bad policy. It seems to be taking all of the disadvantages of ruthlessness(resentment) and magnanimity(leaving a foe alive for next time) with none of the advantages of either(eliminating a foe vs. possibly making a foe an ally).
The SWC is still reasonably strong and could conceivably recover. While the Imperium may be hoping they disintegrate, it may actually have the reverse affect by concentrating attention on a struggle for survival.
The BWA is obviously a client state and even it's name sparks resentment("BORDER worlds" can't help but remind them that they are meant as a buffer zone not a viable state of their own). It is a product of the old "now that we won what do we do"
dilema, but it doesn't seem to be the best soulution.
Is there any way to solve the problem as it stands? Are there any policies that may have worked better?

 

[jatay3]

On the other hand it has one big advantage from the Imperial point of view-it separates Gram and Sacnoth from one another.

 

[Pickles]

I'm not really up on the GURPS background. Who actually set up the BWA? Was it the Imperium proper, or was it a local decision by the Spinward Marches nobility? If it came from the core, I fully understand such a ham-fisted approach, as the Sword Worlds probably do not merit much thinking-time in central government circles.

However, from the Spinward Marches perspective, I agree that the BWA is a bad idea in every way. A much more effective method would have been to 'divide and conquer' the already loose Confederation. Not through military force, but economic and political means, creating a mass of bilateral trade agreements between individual Imperial and Confederation border worlds.

Before long, they would be so economically intertwined that warfare would become unthinkable. What is now the BWA would still be nominally Confederation, but in reality they would be closely tied to both the Confederation and the Imperium. Thus you have a de-facto buffer zone, without the stigma of actually imposing and naming it as such.

And yes, I got the idea from the European Union ...

 

[jatay3]

I'm not really up on the GURPS background. Who actually set up the BWA? Was it the Imperium proper, or was it a local decision by the Spinward Marches nobility? If it came from the core, I fully understand such a ham-fisted approach, as the Sword Worlds probably do not merit much thinking-time in central government circles.

However, from the Spinward Marches perspective, I agree that the BWA is a bad idea in every way. A much more effective method would have been to 'divide and conquer' the already loose Confederation. Not through military force, but economic and political means, creating a mass of bilateral trade agreements between individual Imperial and Confederation border worlds.

Before long, they would be so economically intertwined that warfare would become unthinkable. What is now the BWA would still be nominally Confederation, but in reality they would be closely tied to both the Confederation and the Imperium. Thus you have a de-facto buffer zone, without the stigma of actually imposing and naming it as such.

And yes, I got the idea from the European Union .
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That actually would be a good idea. Kill through kindness-the normal strategy of the Imperium. Though economic interdependance doesn't make war unthinkable it can make it less likly.
It is possible though that the SWC is so fammiliar with that strategy that it has sharp trade barriers to prevent it. Or that one of the main reasons for joining the Frontier wars in the first place was to disrupt "kill through kindness".
So the strategy has merit-but it may be to fammiliar.
It may be better then the BDA-at the very least the Imperial's should be tactful enough not to give the
vassal a name that reminds him that he is a vassal.