Vox Populi

[LeperColony]

One of the main themes in TNE is the failure of the Imperial system of government, a conclusion that leads the Regency to abandon it. But does this change in the central administration lead result in (or is it tied to) the democratization of local governments?

I could be wrong, but I don't seem to recall wide-spread changes in government codes towards representative systems. But if the people are so dissatisfied with authoritarian, or at least non-participatory governance, why doesn't that reach down to the local level?

 

[rancke]

I could be wrong, but I don't seem to recall wide-spread changes in government codes towards representative systems. But if the people are so dissatisfied with authoritarian, or at least non-participatory governance, why doesn't that reach down to the local level?

GDW and its successors have mostly failed to take the consequences of interstellar government into account when rolling up UWPs. From the available evidence there is absolutely no change in the likelihood of government forms from being an Imperial member world or being a non-aligned world anywhere else (Nor is there any ramifications to any other kind of astrographic position; each world is rolled up in complete isolation from its surroundings). Expecting them to take a change in the attitude of the interstellar government into account is obviously too much (to expect).

(Yes, I am being bitter and mordant and negative here. My regrets to anyone who is upset by negative vibes).


Hans

 

[Vladika]

(Yes, I am being bitter and mordant and negative here. My regrets to anyone who is upset by negative vibes).
Hans

The Bitter
The Mordant
The Negative

Now that's THREE BBs

Half a BatRon. You Danes been eating to much Leverpostej and Beer of late?

Keep it up and we'll have to send THREE full CruRons to deal with your THREE BBs...

 

[LeperColony]

GDW and its successors have mostly failed to take the consequences of interstellar government into account when rolling up UWPs. From the available evidence there is absolutely no change in the likelihood of government forms from being an Imperial member world or being a non-aligned world anywhere else (Nor is there any ramifications to any other kind of astrographic position; each world is rolled up in complete isolation from its surroundings). Expecting them to take a change in the attitude of the interstellar government into account is obviously too much (to expect).

(Yes, I am being bitter and mordant and negative here. My regrets to anyone who is upset by negative vibes).


Hans

Some interstellar states should influence government types more than others. The Imperium, with its laissez faire attitude, wouldn't seem too interested in affecting local governments. However, it is difficult to see the more authoritarian states, like the Solomani Confederation, accepting contrarian localities. And the opposite is true as well, perhaps more so. If you're a liberal representative democracy, the policies of a repressive central government are going to be hard to swallow.

It's possible, of course, that the change from Imperial to Regency is more the result of a top-down restructuring, at the hands of Norris, rather than a "Spinward Marches Spring" rejection of Imperial government. And according to the Regency Sourcebook he is central to the development. The question is to what extent his views reflect those of the public, and if they are, why there isn't a resulting move towards more participatory local governments.

 

[savage]

I agree with Hans regarding disappointment. The impact of interstellar government on the local governments is poorly documented.

What happened to keeping the flame? :rofl::rofl:
The division of the Domain/Regency into two separate governments was absurd. After decades of War, Virus life these people should be utterly terrified not to stick together. They may blame the Nobility, but without it they'd collapse into corruption, think Russian Empire - Soviet - Russian Republic.

IMTU, the Regency is very corrupt, but does not want to fall apart out of fear.
That being said the Regency, OTU, initiated a closer relationship with local world governments and worked to elevate TL and, of course, increasing control. The writers do a very poor job of communicating it.

 

[rancke]

Some interstellar states should influence government types more than others.

That's part of my point.

The Imperium, with its laissez faire attitude, wouldn't seem too interested in affecting local governments.

The Imperium is not supposed to interfere with the internal affairs of its member worlds. That doesn't mean it isn't interested in doing so nor that it doesn't affect the member worlds in various ways. A couple of examples:

* Just by existing, the Imperium makes some worlds viable that wouldn't be able to defend themselves against Aslans, Vargr, and greedy humans if they were non-aligned. IMO non-aligned worlds with low-medium populations that are not client states of big interstellar states ought to have a bigger chance of having a captive government. (All worlds with low populations ought to have captive governments, but then, so should most low-population worlds inside the Imperium.)

* The Imperium has an entire ministry devoted to encouraging the development of colonies. My take on that is that the Imperium prefers worlds that can contribute significantly to Imperial taxes and have decent defense forces of their own. Hence they fund such things as the Forboldn Project. (A passage I wrote for my PYRAMID writeup of Forboldn¹ goes like this: "The plan was to import 1 million new settlers from 1110 to 1120, each new settler receiving roughly the same amount of stock as the original 2.2 million inhabitants. With their skills the tech level and wealth of the planet would hopefully increase to the point where more new settlers could be attracted with less inducement. The Ministry of Colonization goal was a healthy agricultural planet with Early Stellar technology and around 10 million inhabitants. ")

¹ Not canon.²

² Though in my highly biased opinion, it's good enough to be. ​

​

As for the specifics of the Regency, I have very little opinion on it. It doesn't interest me much.


Hans