fandomhigh | Interstellar Relations, Monday, 4th Period

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interstellar relations

Interstellar Relations, Monday, 4th Period

Laura was seated at the front of the classroom, glasses perched across
the bridge of her nose, attention focused on a stack of blue index
cards in front of her. As she finished reading each one, she ripped it
in half and added it to a growing stack just to her right. She decided
it was easier to clean up that way...and there wasn't an admiral to
annoy, anyway.

She looked up as students entered. A smile crossed her lips, her eyes
unreadable behind her lenses. After a few moments, she glanced up at
the clock. She then moved to the front of the classroom just as class
was scheduled to begin, a stack of papers in her arms.

"We're back to the boring lecture portion of the class," she began,
addressing the students. "I hope you enjoyed the Quorum session last
week, and got something out of your discussions with your fellow
colonials. I wish we'd had more time, but there's something to be said
for a short Quorum meeting." She gave a wry smile.

"Today, we're moving on to the constitutional monarchy."
Pacing through the room, she passed a stack of paper to each student. "Because we've only got an
hour, we're going to hit the highlights; the packet I've provided you
should give you some more background reading. You'll need to review
this before class next week.

"We're also having a guest speaker next week, so please be sure to
make it a minute or two early."

Moving back to her desk as the papers were handed out, Roslin placed
the spares back onto her desk. She gave a taut smile, readjusted her
glasses and began the lecture. "Constitutional monarchy is a form of
government that provides a monarch as the head of state, an elected or
appointed head of government, and, in the cases we'll be studying, a
bicameral legislature or parliament; rules and guidelines for the
system are established by a constitution - sometimes in writing,
sometimes only in tradition." She paused, tucking her hair behind her
ear. "Those of you from Earth are probably thinking about the United
Kingdom, the United Kingdom, or Japan...at least those of you from
the, ah, current timeline. Since this is an interstellar
relations class, however, we're going to discuss the Star Kingdom of
Manticore."

Laura pointed a remote at the screen, and the SmartBoard came to life.
On it was a map, showing Manticore and the surrounding
system-states. "This in the center, in green, is Manticore; the red is
the Solarian League, a rough equivalent to the United Nations; blue
shows the People's Republic of Haven; and purple are the planets
allied with Manticore in the ongoing war with Haven. The very tiny
speck marked '30' is the Yeltsin system, where Grayson is located.
Remember this, as you'll need that information later this term.

"Currently, Queen Elizabeth III rules as monarch. While her role is
restricted by the Manticoran constitution, she has retained some
executive power. Most of the executive power, however, is exercised
through the Cabinet, lead by the head of government, the prime
minister. As with the British system, the prime minister is selected
from the majority party in Parliament. On Manticore, however, he - or
she - is selected from the House of Lords, rather than the House of
Commons." Clicking the remote, the map vanished, replaced by images of
Queen Elizabeth III and her prime minister. The image of the queen was
an official state photo, while the image of the PM had been taken in a
more casual setting, likely his home. "This is Her Majesty, Queen
Elizabeth, and the Prime Minister, William Alexander, Baron
Grantville.

"There are six major parties vying for power within the Manticoran
system: the Centrist Party, the Crown Loyalists; the Liberal Party;
the Conservative Association; the Progressive Party; and the 'New Man'
Party. I won't go into the details of each party, but please pay close
attention to the explanations in your handouts."

The image on the screen blinked, replaced by a graphic, showing the
breakdown of Parliament by party, each with a corresponding color.
"We've talked a little in the past about having more than two
political parties. How do you think having six parties in power at any
given time affects governing on Manticore?"

Roslin wove her way through the room as the discussion progressed.
Eventually, she used her remote to change the graphic back to the
inter-system map. "Taking what we've discussed, now consider this: the
Star Kingdom has been at war with the Republic of Haven, as Professor
Harrington explained it to me, for about twenty years. How do you
think a long war like this affects governing? Or how do you think it
might affect alliances with the other systems?"

Turning her wrist slightly, Laura glanced at the time. She allowed the
discussion to continue for a few minutes longer, then reined things
back in. "I think that's about all we have time for today. For
homework, make sure you read the packets and brush up on your
parliamentary procedure."

She dismissed the class and turned her attention to cleaning up the
index cards on the desk.

[Okay...Posting by e-mail and getting a little help with the
threads. Please wait for the OOC thread to show up, and then have at.
They may take a few minutes to show, so I appreciate your patience.
I'll be available to participate this evening, EST.]

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"But war can strengthen the economy as well," Rory pointed out. "Here on Earth, we got out of the Great Depression because of World War II. They might deplete resources, but they create a lot of jobs and change the entire economy."

"But you have to admit that World War Two didn't exactly hit home," Cally said. "It was a war fought elsewhere, so the detrimental effects were lessened. A lot."

"That's true," Rory said, nodding, "and I'm certainly not advocating war as a way to boost the economy. I'm just saying that it doesn't have to be viewed as resource-depleting and entirely bad when weapons have to be made and jobs are thusly created. Silver lining, that kind of thing."

"True," Cally said. "But it's an economy that entirely depends on the conflict. It's hard to make that change when you no longer need as many guns."

"No, that's when you need to rebuild and jobs are created again," Rory replied.

"Good point, assuming you have the population. Unless, like, the government was all 'We need to start having babies' at the people."

"It's not always the government. A lot of that is human nature - people want to have sex when they're happy to be alive," Rory said, blushing a little. "The government might implement a request to repopulate, but it's not often a hardship on the people in question."

"True," Cally said. "That whole baby boom thing, right?"

"Which is why we're struggling a little now because of social security," Rory admitted. "But at the time it was a great thing."

"Social se-what-ery?" Cally asked.

Re: Discussion: Long Wars and Interstellar Politics

auroryborealis.livejournal.com - 2006-10-02 20:37 (UTC) - Expand

Re: Discussion: Long Wars and Interstellar Politics

sogothcally.livejournal.com - 2006-10-02 20:43 (UTC) - Expand

Laura was sure she covered her choke fairly well, clearing her throat afterward as though it might be a cough.

Peter looked up. "I'm sorry. World War Two didn't hit home? It did actually. Quite literally."

"For the Americans, I meant, sorry," Cally said, biting her lower lip. "And you have to admit, Britain's economy didn't exactly bounce back in the same way, due to all the devestation and stuff."

"Ah, I see." Peter nodded. "I agree with you actually. The United States may have pulled out of the Depression due to the war, but Britain and Europe most certainly didn't. Though to be fair, Britain was only able to resist the Nazis because of the aid provided by the United States. Even if they did take too long to get into the war."

Cally nodded. "Kinda like how different colonies were affected differently by the war with the Cylons. Erm, not that anyone but Anders and the teacher understand what I mean."

Peter grinned and teased. "I represented Geminon last week and did my reading fully, thank you very much. But yes, exactly that though - if I'm correct, your war took place more in space than over the land of the colonies?"

"True," Cally said. "But not exclusively."

"Do you have an army as well in the Colonies?" Peter asked. "I just read the information on the Navy - the Colonial Fleet?"

Re: Discussion: Long Wars and Interstellar Politics

sogothcally.livejournal.com - 2006-10-02 21:43 (UTC) - Expand

"Unfortunately that was then. I don't think you can say the same thing today," Isabel said.

"Today's...interesting," Rory admitted. "I still say that we have a lot of jobs that wouldn't be available without what's going on."

"Sure, contractors for Halliburton and mercenaries from Blackwater Securities being paid untold millions or even billions of dollars to do the jobs that had been done by the army itself for years, creating a deficeit that our great grandchildren are going to be paying," she pointed out. "And what are we being told to do? Go out in spend. Put another charge on the credit card buying something that most likely wasn't even made in the US." Isabel's been spending a little too much time on the political blogs. She's getting cynical.

Rory nodded. "And with outsourcing, it's not like we're really getting provided for. It's all about covering up the mistakes in judgement now, isn't it?"

"Exactly," Isabel agreed. "Although given the number of books that are coming out at the moment pointing out all those mistakes, I'm not sure how good that cover-up is going to be."

"That's what I want to do," Rory said happily. "Be a journalist, get the good stories. Hopefully everything won't be so frelled in a few years when I'm doing my thing, but if it is, I'm planning on making it public."

"There's a serious lack of real journalist right now. So good," she nodded. "You're needed."

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