Nation Building and the Origin of Government, Period 5, Class 2, Thursday, 1-13

[glasses-justice.livejournal.com]

"Last week," Alex said, "I asked for your first move, when presented with a brand-new country. And I'd like to say, I was very impressed with your responses. There were several I hadn't expected, but they were all important matters we need to address in our new state."

"If we wanted to simplify, we could probably group them into five headings." The five that were, coincidentally, written on the chalkboard. "Number one: advisers. Ruling an entire country requires far too much work for one person to reasonably handle. Number two, although it feels more like it should be 1B: representatives. Many of you felt we should look to the structures already present in society, and delegate tasks to those already trusted by their communities. Three? Information. Simply put, we don't know what needs to be done yet; we're facing a blank slate. What state is our country in? Are people starving in the streets? Do they lack simple shelter? Four, resources. What are they? Where are they? How are they being managed, and how should they be managed? This is important both on a grand scale -- determining what our key imports and exports are -- and the small scale -- related to food and shelter above. And lastly, order. We need to be sure that our borders are safe from outside attack, as well as our citizens being safe from inside threats."

Alex turned back to her students. "So, this week we're going to deal with one and two, since they're so closely linked. For that, we're going back to our thought experiment."

"It's the second day of your rule, and there was no coup d'etat attempted overnight. The scouts you sent out have reported that the country is, for all intents and purposes, relatively stable. It's far from perfect, and no one held hands at noon to sing songs about your greatness, but the vast majority of your subjects are fed and have a safe place to sleep tonight. There are no swaths of your countryside which are currently on fire. There are, in other words, no urgent uncontrolled situations which require your immediate attention, which means we can start putting the structure in place for longer-term concerns."

"Your goal for this second day of your reign is to choose a number of people to serve as your advisers. Now, when we say advisers, do we mean people who offer their opinions, but wield no power? Are you going to give them authority? Will decisions made in your inner circle be subjected to a vote, or is your word law? Can you be overruled by your advisers? All of them? Most of them? Any of them? What if your advisers suggest someone to replace you, and all of them agree?

"While we're at it, your scouts last night also wrote up some very detailed reports on the local community leaders -- heads of business, religious leaders of varying faiths, wise elders, any individuals who held some kind of authority. Your scouts also marked those people who appear to be loyal to you, those who appear indifferent, and those who appear openly hostile to your rule -- although I should stress that what they appear may have no bearing on what they are. Do we ask any of these people to join our inner circle? Will we, perhaps, have layers of government, where they may have spheres of influence but still be ruled over by one of our trusted advisers? If so, how should we break this down, by subject or by geography? We could have a minister of agriculture, for example, or someone in charge of that large city to the north. Or both, so long as we know how the chain of command flows.

"How do we start? How many people do we want in this inner circle, and what level of power do we hand them? What role are the representatives going to play, if any? How much power do we keep for ourselves? And how do we keep that power as ours, if we're introducing all of these potential threats to our authority?"

Comments

Re: Discussion - Inner Circle - NAT02

[glacial_queen]

"Because of the way gender works back home," Karla said promptly. "It's hard to put into words here, because it just is, you know? Most larger Courts have females in their First Circle--I certainly intend to--and their input and assistance is just as valued and important, but less than twelve males breaks the Court."

Mother Night, how to explain gender here. No matter how she said it, it would come out wrong, she knew.

"Part of it comes from the need Blood males have to bond with a Queen," she said slowly. "It's an emotional bond, it helps them stay grounded and centered. The higher the caste or the darker the Jewel, the more need they have for this and I'm really just not explaining this at all."

Re: Discussion - Inner Circle - NAT02

[glasses-justice.livejournal.com]

Alex was nodding again. "Okay," she said. "We'll take it as given that gender plays an important role in your society in ways that are difficult for an outsider to understand. So having that number of men in your circle is helpful both to you and them."

She offered a quick smile. "I'm mostly asking if you've really thought about the reasoning behind these structures," she explained. "If there's a good reason, that's helpful; if it's just the way things have always been done, that's a little more problematic."