Democracy?

[Karloman]

Hi all,

I know I haven't talked much here, but I've been reading about the laws here and generally how things work for a little while and I had one major question: why is there no democracy here? It's something that I've found interesting, especially since Lazarus is one of the biggest regions in the entire world, and that's a lot of nations to be ruled with no democratic shift in power! I also noticed that we have a system of corporate governance in this region, and I know that even corporations typically elect the CEO either from the board of directors or (in some situations) the shareholders, so I have been curious as to why we don't do it here too. It's just something I was curious about! Thanks for any input!

 

[joWhatup]

There is a democratic system in place to elect the Prime Minister, who is the head of the government.

If you refer to the delegate, that is universally decided upon to be a bad idea. Simply put, we've elected the wrong nations before and it always led to strife and conflict. Keeping a single, trustworthy delegate is the wiser option.

 

[New Rogernomics]

Simply put, the security reason is to keep the Delegacy in trusted hands, and logistically the Delegacy being a non-political role doesn't really intrude on what Shareholders and the Managing Director want to do.

There might be a day when we decide on some structure to elect the CEO, though that day might not come either as the Delegacy has been held by reasonable folks so far.

Though in my experience of Delegates of the CU and HRL, there were only ever a small number of active Delegates elected i.e. Harmoneia, Loftegen, myself, Altmoras, and Funkadelia, were the most active as I remember. The rest tended to fall into inactivity before even finishing their term. So there is an argument to be made that Delegate elections in sinkers doesn't really deliver much of a benefit vs Delegate succession.

That said, if we were ever to do Delegate elections in the distant future, it would be best to vet candidates on security grounds and put in activity requirements, than have the heavily open and easily subverted elections the HRL* and CU* regimes had.

Hope that answers your question.

*Humane Republic of Lazarus and the Celestial Union were highly Democratic regimes of past Lazarus, which held Delegate elections every 4 months roughly.

 

[Istandor]

Lazarus goes through phases. If you have existed as long as I have 12 years in NS, you'll see another democratic emerald dream.

 

[New Rogernomics]

Yeah, hope not. Emerald was so boring that I went to sleep, and just chatted to the Gatesville ambassadors and DYP.

 

[Istandor]

Yeah, hope not. Emerald was so boring that I went to sleep, and just chatted to the Gatesville ambassadors and DYP.

Each rendition better than the previous. We must protect the Emerald Dream.

 

[temmi]

hmm...I don't know a lot about Lazarus history, though I would like to read up on it if anyone can help with that!! I think more elections could help activity in our region too. if there is more chances for people to get involved in positions and compete with ideas for their campaigns, it might help. i don't really know the security aspect of it or what our region has dealt with in the past. just trying to find positives maybe!!

 

[Istandor]

hmm...I don't know a lot about Lazarus history, though I would like to read up on it if anyone can help with that!! I think more elections could help activity in our region too. if there is more chances for people to get involved in positions and compete with ideas for their campaigns, it might help. i don't really know the security aspect of it or what our region has dealt with in the past. just trying to find positives maybe!!

 

[Karloman]

Simply put, the security reason is to keep the Delegacy in trusted hands, and logistically the Delegacy being a non-political role doesn't really intrude on what Shareholders and the Managing Director want to do.

There might be a day when we decide on some structure to elect the CEO, though that day might not come either as the Delegacy has been held by reasonable folks so far.

Though in my experience of Delegates of the CU and HRL, there were only ever a small number of active Delegates elected i.e. Harmoneia, Loftegen, myself, Altmoras, and Funkadelia, were the most active as I remember. The rest tended to fall into inactivity before even finishing their term. So there is an argument to be made that Delegate elections in sinkers doesn't really deliver much of a benefit vs Delegate succession.

That said, if we were ever to do Delegate elections in the distant future, it would be best to vet candidates on security grounds and put in activity requirements, than have the heavily open and easily subverted elections the HRL* and CU* regimes had.

Hope that answers your question.

*Humane Republic of Lazarus and the Celestial Union were highly Democratic regimes of past Lazarus, which held Delegate elections every 4 months roughly.

Thank you all for your replies to this topic. I really appreciate some of the insight that some of you bring to this. Based on my reading and some of the comments made here, I definitely can understand and agree with the concern about having an extra layer of security when dealing with these matters. Doesn't it make sense, then, to have a system like the one that you described with a thorough vetting process, kind of like an actual board of directors does to a CEO candidate? Just personally, I feel like with so many people/nations in our community, if we can't trust them then why bother trying to govern? That's just my thought.

 

[New Rogernomics]

CEOs aren't elected unless the Board decides to hold a vote, and even then it is based on poor performance i.e. the CEO of Disney stood for decades, and Steve Jobs led Apple till his untimely death. We have no reason to push for an unknown, when we've had great Delegates so far, as our method is to allow the Assembly to vote out the Delegate vs holding elections on a security position.

Whenever the debate was brought up, it came down to it being better having a secure Delegacy. It would also undermine the point of a PM/Managing Director under the current mandate, as then you'd have two political positions competing for power, which helped to cause a civil war during the CU regime.

 

[Karloman]

CEOs aren't elected unless the Board decides to hold a vote, and even then it is based on poor performance i.e. the CEO of Disney stood for decades, and Steve Jobs led Apple till his untimely death. We have no reason to push for an unknown, when we've had great Delegates so far, as our method is to allow the Assembly to vote out the Delegate vs holding elections on a security position.

Whenever the debate was brought up, it came down to it being better having a secure Delegacy. It would also undermine the point of a PM/Managing Director under the current mandate, as then you'd have two political positions competing for power, which helped to cause a civil war during the CU regime.

I understand that CEO's are not frequently elected, but I used that as an example because I think the deeper and stronger principle is responsiveness to constituents with frequent checks in the form of elections. Obviously I have done some reading into the history as far as what you mentioned goes, but I may need some more clarification on what exactly happened that caused that situation of dual executives to go so sour.

Also, even if we do keep the status quo when it comes to the selection of the Delegate, perhaps it would be prudent to have the election of some of the other positions, like say ministers or the speaker role. Thanks again for all your responses. I love the discussion going on here. It is very informative and helpful!

 

[Leonism]

I'm here for one and a half years now. There have been some reforms over this time. Currently, the first elected government of the 12th Mandate of Lazarus is serving its term. Before that, no elections took place.

The (semi-)elected government so far has been a success. Tubbius, as the unelected Delegate, does not interfere in the day-to-day business of this government. He is more like a ceremonial figurehead (like the Queen of England or the President of Germany), being a guarantor of stability. Imaginary, who is the first elected PM of Lazarus, appointed the Ministera (Directors) in her government, though all of them were confirmed in their role by public vote. In the future one might consider opening these roles to direct vote as well, but personally I think the current mix of appointments and democratic backing is perfect for both stability and participation in the region.

The PM serves a term of four months. This helps to ensure that there is a regular influx of fresh blood into the government. The PM may also exchange Ministers mid-term, as Imaginary is doing now, with me and Custadia.