Please select a topic from the options to the right.
Intersystem Alliance
The Intersystem Alliance Government
Intersystem Alliance
History
By 2240, the governing body of what would eventually become the Alliance of Independent Systems was the strongly centralized and recently re-instated United Nations born out of the aftermath of World War IV. At that time, the UN government presided over all earth nations, the Martian colonies, and the Jovian colonies.
In 2242, the developing system-state of Loridin was hit by a plague that ravaged the two habitable planets and their populations. Loridin’s two worlds had survived mainly as low population farm worlds and lacked the medical facilities to respond to the medical crisis. Seeking emergency aide, Loridin petitioned the representative assembly of the United Nations government on Earth for assistance. Because the United Nations government did not have the authority to command the UN navy to assist an extra-solar entity, it was impossible to deliver aide. Consequently, UN politicians drafted the Intersystem Alliance Treaty – granting worlds outside of sol sector admission to the UN. In 2243, Loridin joined the representative assembly on Earth. Many historians mark this as the end of the Astrum Diaspora period and the beginning of the Unification Period.
Over the next fifty years, the Intersystem Alliance treaty allowed the admission of another sixty worlds to the UN council. However, by 2295 growing concerns of favoritism and biased to Earth and the Sol Sector Colonies’ needs prompted Loridin and the other extra-solar governments to push for equal representation of their worlds’ populations. By this point, Earth, Mars, and Europa had all become dependent on extra solar economies and the formerly independent UN government had limited options. On January 1st, 2300 – the UN representative assembly and UN government was dissolved and the Intersystem Alliance Government was founded under the Charter of the Intersystem Alliance.
Government
The Intersystem Alliance (ISA) is the universe’s longest standing interstellar federation. Under official terms, it is a federated parliamentary republic comprised of four equal but separate branches. First is the executive branch, headed by the President of the Allied Systems. Elected every twelve years and serving a maximum of two terms, the President is the voice of the government – managing government’s policies and actions. In addition, the President serves as the head of the representative assembly, voting in the event of a tie. Much like the president of the old earth nation of The United States of America, the President of the Alliance retains the ability to veto legislation that is not passed under a two-thirds majority in the representative assembly. Furthermore, the president is a strong central figure in formulating short term policies for his entire government, his party, and the Alliance as a whole.
Given the vast interstellar distance between the member states of the Alliance, at the beginning of his term the President nominates a total of six Deputy Presidents who, after being confirmed by the representative assembly, act as regional governors and retain the same rights of the president on a local scale. In addition to the deputy presidents, the president appoints and relies heavily on his secretaries with respect to following current events and making decision on what course of action the government should take. The principle secretaries are the secretaries of State, Industry, Economy, War, and Policy. Furthermore, within the executive branch is the Joint Chiefs of Staff. These include the military heads of the three branches of the armed services – the Alliance Navy, Marine Corps, and Army as well as additional advisors from each branch of service.
The second branch of the ISA is the representative assembly – the legislative arm of the ISA. Members of the assembly are elected every five years and can serve a maximum of four terms. Each planet in the alliance has a total of four elected voting members except for earth, which – as the capital of the alliance – has no voting representation in the parliamentary council. The assembly writes, debates, and passes legislation and is the only body that can approve military action for longer than six months. Furthermore, the representative assembly is the entity that approves the proposed budgets of the executive branch. Finally, the representative assembly holds the very unique power of being able to raise a vote of no confidence in the President, with a two-thirds majority being sufficient to eject him form office and initiate a special election.
The third branch of the ISA is the Council of Lords. At the time of the ISA’s founding, a number of member worlds were governed under a constitutional monarchy and these traditional monarchies had given birth to hereditary Lords as well as a strong loyalty to their nation’s monarch. Consequently, these worlds pushed for representation of their Monarch’s will through their world’s Lords in addition to their population-elected representatives. After much deliberation, it was decided that worlds having hereditary Lords could have a separate quorum in which those voices could be heard. Furthermore, worlds without a hereditary aristocracy would be able to elect ‘Lords’ who would serve twelve-year terms and could serve an unlimited number of terms; and each ISA member world was granted two seats in the Council of Lords.
In the case of duties, the Council of Lords serves as the panel of advisors to the President and at least twenty percent of the President’s own cabinet must be selected from the council of Lords. However, it is an independent branch, as the President himself/herself does not appoint Lords nor can he sit in on any sessions of the Council. Furthermore, the Council of Lords is the final element of the government through which all legislation must pass. However, the only power the Council has is a veto power and a vote to veto much reach a two-thirds majority for any legislation to be overturned. In addition to the veto powers, the Lords also have direct authority over the yearly budget – with a passing in the Council of Lords being the final step before that budget can be put into practice. In fact, the budget is the only item of policy which the council can modify and return to the representative assembly. For that reason, the budget also passes from the assembly, the council, to the president and is the only element of policy and legislature to which the President has the final say. On the surface, it would seem that the power this body holds would reduce the rights of the common people. However, as of 2680, over sixty percent of the council is formed of elected ‘Lords’ who more directly represent the people (as well as answer to them).
The fourth and final branch of the ISA government is the High Courts. The High Courts serve to interpret the spirit of the Charter of the Alliance government and the Charter of Human Rights. Furthermore, as is to be expected, the High Courts exist to hear cases of Alliance citizens and interpreting the points of the charter during inter-branch disputes. The High Court is composed of ten High Lords. The High Lords are nominated and elected by the Council of Lords and must be confirmed by the Parliamentary Council. At the time of their nomination, the Court candidate cannot be a member of any of the branches of the Alliance government. Furthermore, they must have had ten years of law experience on one of the Alliance member worlds.
Culture
Trying to categorize the culture of the Alliance would be like trying to characterize the composition of the universe. The vast numbers of worlds, despite being under a strong centralized government, have retained their individuality. Consequently, Alliance culture is characterized by a disparity of cultures meshing together into a unique dynamic of societal interaction. The core worlds – the principle commercial and industrial worlds of the Alliance – are fast metropolitan centers with as vastly ranging views as the metropolitan centers of the early 21st century (if not more so). The Spur Worlds have a tendency to by highly intellectual – producing some of the greatest scientist to the finest artist in the known galaxy. The Surge Worlds – a cluster of extreme climate worlds – produce some of the toughest soldiers, marines, and naval officers the galaxy has ever seen. In fact, over twenty percent of the Navy’s, forty percent of the Army’s, and eighty percent of the Marine Corps come from the hostile Surge World cluster. The outer-rim clusters of the Alliance are mostly humble agrarian or small-scale – specialized industrial powers. These nations have a tendency to a conservative mindset and a single religious sect dominates many of the worlds. In the Alliance charter, it said “…and through our diversity we will come together not just for the better of ourselves but all of mankind.” This noble goal drives a strong unity between all of the Alliances worlds despite the varying degree of cultures and beliefs and while there may be some raised voices on the floors of the parliamentary chamber – there exists a fierce loyalty among the Alliance worlds’ populations.
In 2780
By 2780, the ISA is composed of two hundred and fifty member worlds spread across the Orion Spur and sections of the Sagittarius and Peruses Arms. In addition, thousands of supplementary orbital colonies, mining annexes, and research stations fall under the jurisdiction of the burgeoning Alliance, which has recently entered a self-described “golden age.” With a healthy GDP, all Alliance citizens enjoy a high quality of life. Even the Alliances former enemies, the Confederation of Independent Worlds, are trading partners though tension between the two governments has slowly begun to increase after a series of high-profile incidents in the section of space between them known as ‘The Verge’. With regards to future expansion, the ISA retains an open admission policy and does not force worlds to enter into the Alliance. However, they do welcome delegations for worlds seeking membership as well as extends diplomatic protection to words who ask of it.
Copyright to Josheua John Samuelson (2010)