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“As it has been for the last century, the Nivenian Imperial Government is merely a stage for the endless struggle between the largest megacorporations.”
- - Dr. Alisson Carson, Chief Executive Coordinator of the Nivenian empire
Overview[]
The government of the Nivenian empire is a technocratic dictatorship, with an election being held when the current ruler dies. Eligible voters include accomplished scholars, scientists, and engineers, and those with very high intelligence. High-ranking military officers are allowed to vote as well, but this is an honor given only to the most prestigious generals. Typically around 0.0025% of the population is eligible to vote, and voter turnout for those eligible is usually around 81%. A candidate is usually nominated by the previous ruler before their death, and anyone one administrative level below the ruler can run. The title of the ruler is Chief Executive Coordinator. Governors are called ringworld or planetary coordinators, depending upon their domain. Other official titles one level below Chief Executive Coordinator include Research and Development Director, Executive Defense Minister, Treasurer, Secretary of Industrial Improvement, and Secretary of Agricultural Productivity, in decreasing order of political clout.
The government, upon close inspection, is more similar to a confederacy than anything else. The Chief Executive Coordinator's government's main function is to facilitate trade between different sections of the Nivenian Empire, while maintaining a certain minimum of law and order. Individual provinces and colonial provinces have a lot of power locally, so the vast majority of legislation is preformed by provincial, local, municipal, and sub-municipal government. The main methods at the Imperial government's disposal of keeping provinces in line are provincial tariffs, Denial of protium reaction igniters, and the Imperial Navy, in the order of increasing escalation. The Nivenian Government enacts a flat 1.5 Credit/(Nivenian*day) tax rate, charged to provincial governments instead of to civilians.
The Nivenian Empire also has several hydraulic aspects, as only a select few on Nivenia Prime know how to make the plutonium igniters used by most protium reactors. While deuterium reactors do not use this technology, protium is so much more common than deuterium that denial of fusion igniters is a very effective economic sanction.
Legislative Branch[]
Executive Branch[]
Political Parties[]
Industrial Progress Party[]
The Industrial Progress Party is the party currently in charge of the Nivenian Government. It aims to further technological development ans industrial efficiency. Some of the things commonly advocated by the members of the party are increases in research grants, decreases in military spending, decreases in technological regulation, and decreases in welfare. The Industrial Progress Party typically is appealing to industrial managers and investors with high risk tolerance, as it promotes newer industries and de-regulates old ones.
Industrial Safety Party[]
The Industrial Safety Party is a political party dedicated to keeping the industry currently in order safe and productive. Founded around the same time as the Industrial Progress Party, the Industrial Safety Party advocates for more stringent regulation of industry, higher defense spending, higher welfare levels, general conservatism, and fewer research grants. The Industrial Safety Party is generally appealing to defense contractors, bureaucrats at all levels, most of the non-voting population, and investors with low risk tolerance, as it invests in protecting today's industry more than promoting tomorrow's.
Radical Environmentalist Movement[]
Radical Colonialist Faction[]
Hierarchy in the Imperial Government[]
Organizational System[]
This section of the page is used for the umpteen levels of the Nivenian Imperial Governmental system. The Chief Executive Coordinator is defined as Level 0, and every level between a particular position and Chief Executive Coordinator adds one level.
Level 0[]
Chief Executive Coordinator[]
The leader of the Nivenian Empire is the Chief Executive Coordinator, elected by eligible voters (see overview). Elections for Chief Executive Coordinator take place upon the death of the incumbent. The Chief Executive Coordinator's responsibilities include the following:
- Managing trade relations between provinces of the empire and maintaining unified markets through the establishment of inter-provincial standards of measurement and quality and the maintenance of a functional system-wide transport network allowing the transport of goods across the system.
- Vetoing legislation that goes against
those Nivenians who will give the Chief Executive Coordinator a lot of moneythe policies and ideology of the Chief Executive Coordinator.
- Managing the departments and budget of the federal government.
- If the budget is negative for five years in a row, the Chief Executive Coordinator is forced out of office. This, a coup, and a vote of no confidence requiring 75% of eligible voters are the only ways of removing a Chief Executive Coordinator from office.
- Making high-level ethical and strategic decisions regarding the policy and implementation of the armed forces.
The current Chief Executive Coordinator is Dr. Alisson Carson, who has been in power since 51 BNE. Dr. Carson is a member of the Industrial Progress Party, with policies viewed as mildly progressive by most.
Level 1[]
Research and Development Director[]
The manager of the Nivenian Empire's sponsored research program, and the second-most important position in the Nivenian Empire, is the Research and Development Director. In the event of the death of the Chief Executive Coordinator, the Research and Development director performs as the acting Chief Executive Coordinator until the next election, and is typically the closest thing to an incumbent. The Research and Development Director is appointed by the Chief Executive Coordinator, and the position functions much like an employee. The Research and Development Director's responsibilities are as follows:
- Management of the funding allocated to Nivenian Empire-sponsored research.
- Administration of Nivenian Empire-sponsored research laboratories.
- Functioning as a "supreme scientific ethics officer," deciding the ethicality of scientific experiments much like an advisory board.
- Appointing members of the board of technology.
- The appointment of ambassadors.
The current Research and Development Director is Dr. Lester Carey, who has held the position since 3 NE. Dr. Carey is partially famous for his extensive cybernetic augmentation, and his department has made great strides in the fields of megastructural engineering, kugelblitz technology, and fluid dynamics.
The influence of the Artificial Superintelligence NP-L2-ASI01 in the Nivenian Research and Development team and the Board of Technology should not be underestimated, though. NP-L2-ASI01 is currently the most intelligent entity in the Nivenian Empire, and makes up almost thirty percent of Nivenian research capabilities. Though NP-L2-ASI01 is currently working in the underdeveloped and largely "blue-sky technology" field of spacetime engineering, progress in that field has been moving ahead by leaps and bounds in the last several years due to its support.
Executive Defense Minister[]
The commander-in-chief of the Nivenian Armed Forces, the Executive Defense Minister is elected every ten years from the ten highest ranking military officers, with the armed forces in general serving as the electorate. As the Executive Defense Minister is the only Level 1 or above Nivenian official to be elected this way, many join the armed forces for the potential to vote for the third-highest ranking position in the Nivenian Empire. The Executive Defense Minister's responsibilities are as follows:
- Management of the funding allocated to the Nivenian Armed Forces.
- Commander-in-chief of the Nivenian Armed Forces.
- Acting in a way that enhances Nivenian industry and commerce.
- Sponsoring technologies associated with defense.
- Making sure that no parts of the Empire are contemplating revolt.
- Maintaining order throughout the empire to foster commercial and industrial interprovincial connections.
The current Executive Defense Minister is General Howard Tanner, who has held the position since the 0 NE election. General Tanner has served as a military officer since his graduation in 71 BNE, and has participated in the quelling of over twenty minor insurrections.
Treasurer[]
The Treasurer of the Nivenian Empire is elected in a vote similar to the Chief Executive Coordinator, and has to be re-elected every twenty years. Like the Chief Executive Coordinator, a vote of no confidence can be held, and if 75% of eligible voters vote no confidence, the Treasurer is forced out of office. The Treasurer's responsibilities include:
- Maintenance of the Nivenian Imperial Treasury, and manufacture of new coinage.
- Unofficial: Plastering one's face all over any new coinage.
- Maintenance of the Nivenian Imperial resource stockpile.
- Allocation of funding, under the supervision of the Chief Executive Coordinator.
- Use of the Nivenian Imperial resource stockpile to influence economic decisions by tweaking the prices of certain items.
The current Treasurer of the Nivenian Empire is Dr. Danielle Ellis, who has held the position since the 40 BNE elections and has been re-elected three times. Her economic policy is friendly toward large corporations, and is partly responsible for the assimilation of over a third of the Nivenian Economy by the Megastructural Construction Corporation. While her being on the Megastructural Construction Corporation's payroll is a common conspiracy theory, most experts dismiss the theory as absurd.
Secretary of Industrial Improvement[]
The Secretary of Industrial Improvement is charged with the maintenance of an industry-friendly trade atmosphere within and around the Nivenian Empire. The Secretary of Industrial Improvement is appointed by the Chief Executive Coordinator and functions as a government employee. As most upper-class Nivenians tend to have connections in industry, the Nivenian government has dedicated an entire department to industry's promotion. Industrial promotion tactics include shifting tax burdens away from industry, maintaining relatively peaceful relationships with other interstellar empires, and encouraging the development of new industrial technology. The Secretary of Industrial Improvement's responsibilities are as follows:
- The maintenance of an industry-friendly trade atmosphere within and around the Nivenian Empire.
- The allocation of funding to industry-specific research projects.
- Preforming an advisory role to the board of technology.
- Maintaining trade relations with other nations.
- Assistance in the appointment of ambassadors.
- Providing recommendations to others in important positions about the current state of industry in the Nivenian Empire and its needs.
The current Secretary of Industrial Improvement is Dr. Stacy Halley, who was appointed in 14 BNE by Dr. Allison Carson when the previous Secretary of Industrial Improvement retired. Her policies closely match the previous holder of the position, and are very productivity-oriented.
Secretary of Agricultural Productivity[]
In in empire of a quarter quintillion, almost a quadrillion metric tons of food must be processed every day. To maintain this production, and find ways to improve crop yields, a Secretary of Agricultural Productivity exists. The Secretary of Agricultural Productivity is appointed by the Nivenian Board of Technology, and ratified by the Chief Executive Coordinator. The Board of Technology can also fire the Secretary of Agricultural Productivity, if need be. The responsibilities of the Secretary of Agricultural Productivity are as follows:
- Conducting research studies on methods of agricultural productivity improvement, and allocating funds and research grants respectively.
- Organizing a monthly publication listing recent advances in agriculture, and current techniques.
- Developing new crop breeds through radiation exposure.
- Preforming an advisory role to the board of technology.
- Providing recommendations to others in important positions about the current state of agriculture in the Nivenian Empire and its needs.
The current Secretary of Agricultural Productivity is Dr. Fernando Boyd, who was appointed in 18 NE. He was the mind behind the greenhousing of many areas of the Nivenia B ringworlds to improve population capacity and productivity. He is mainly concerned with decreasing the hold of agricultural conglomerates like SuperMegaUltraCorp, as they tend to produce food much less efficiently than single-family production cells.
Level 2[]
Hierarchy in the Regional Governments[]
Organizational System[]
This section of the page is used for the umpteen levels of the Nivenian Regional Governmental system. The various Regional Coordinators are defined as Level 1, and every level between a particular position and a Regional Coordinator adds one level.
It should be noted that regional governments typically have different political systems. To account for this, each regional governmental system will specify where it is in use.
Government of the Republic of Paulo Fluctus Beta[]
Main page: Government of the Republic of Paulo Fluctus Beta