Join the new world

The following are just my personal opinion and brainstorming of the topic of presidential government and that of coalition based government. It is based on my current understanding and it may not be the most accurate understanding of this topic as I never experience a coalition government before. After talking on IRC last night/ early morning with HansR of LSD and Dan Parker of IP, I felt like writing an article about it and that we can discuss more about it. When this took place in the congress I did not know too much about this topic but as time went on and I think and talked more about it I came with the following ideas about it.

Many of us know that our experiment with a presidential system is over from either reading the congress forums or Bok's wonderful article and that we are heading for a coalition based government. Many people are in favor of this move but for me, I think this is a step backwards. I do not see that much benefits and that the cost/ disadvantages are much higher with this move. In this article, I will share with you my opinion and understanding (or the lack of) about coalition governments.

The Issue of Efficiency

In a presidential system, it is very easy. A person in party A wants to run for country president. There is a discussion in party A and if party A agrees to it and that they discuss who they want to work with more, that person with the party president of party A will then go to the other parties and discuss a fair exchange for their support. There is a party role in the presidential system. It is efficient and allows to a greater degree or at least a larger say for smaller parties to be a part of it.

In the coalition government, this is not the case. The largest party in congress choose the formateur in which this middle man leads and directs the discussion to form a government. In our current situation with LSD and I&W tied with 10 votes, the two party PP's need to discuss, debate, and negotiate on a formateur before this person leads the debate and discussion on coalition building. Why do we need a middle man to " lead " the discussions etc.

It is also interesting that the government will work with the president for the following month. Shouldn't the president choose who he/she wants to work with. I mean it is only fair that the CP choose the ministers he has confidence and trust in. In an hypothetical situation LSD won the most congress seats and Pierre is once again a LSD member. The coalition talks made Pierre the MoF. However, in the CP election, it was a I&W victory and the new CP is Garmr or Mitch Rapp etc who has a lot of tension and conflicts with Pierre etc. There will be a lot of infighting and a lot of tension which will not make the government efficient at all. Some will say that this is not likely to happen but with the game mechanics etc I think it is not uncommon and it is very possible.

The Issue of Formateur Neutrality

The neutrality of the formateur I think is the biggest flaw in the coalition government. In real life, the monarchy choose the formateur to form the government. The monarchy choose it since the monarchy at least on principle is a neutral party which its only purpose is to ensure the best for the nation. In eRep, there is no such entity. While all parties are trying to ensure the best for the nation in their own philosophical ways be it the communist way or the liberal way etc, a political party is nevertheless, a political party which tries to win seats and be in power. There is a huge conflict of interest here.

In the World Cup a few weeks ago, we saw many controversy this year. Like the Dutch finals with Spain, Spain got a 12th man, the ref who secure a Spainish victory. Fine, some people do not agree with the above statement, but what about the Germany-Serbia game? What about the Germany-England game or the USA-Slovenia with the no goals? The ref is vital to game and it needs to be neutral. If the ref is bias or if we give them a benefit of a doubt, they had an off day, it changes the dynamics of the game and the results. The ref of football is like the formateur in the coalition government. The formateur leads the discussion of a government/ coalition formation. Depends on how he leads it, it can favor one side so much more.

The largest party choose the formateur? Why? Is the largest party neutral? Of course not! All parties main focus is to secure seats and position in government. The formateur they will choose will most likely will favor them. Will an I&W PP choose a CPNL formateur? Will Shakerr when he was PP of LSD choose Mitch Rapp as formateur etc. Most of the time they will choose a person what is still slightly favors them on key issues. We can blame them for this trend as they are doing what a party president should do. However, is letting the largest party assigning a formateur the best idea? I would say no.

By this time I expect some people and especially past formateurs will be on the defensive and said I was fair etc. I did not abuse power or what I said above is bull etc. Maybe, there are good formateurs out there that did their job in a fair and objective way; however, if you still look at it on the structural way, it is still really poor. The structure allows abuse and in a way encourage it since it is so one party dominated (unless it is a tie like now in which abuse can still happen). The results of the issue of formateur neutrality will lead to the issue of democracy.

The Issue of Democracy

One of the biggest problem with the coalition government is that it is based on congress elections. With tactical voting, it makes congress not truly a representation of the people. With game mechanics that allows only the top 5 parties in congress elections and the ability to move willy nilly, it is not really that democratic ( at least in political democratic theory). I am not bashing IP since I think at least on the game level, they planned masterfully, but will normal fair and realistic democracy will have an similar result for them in Southern Netherlands? I agree that it is the game mechanics and the other parties failure to act which cause the IP's great and well deserve success but it is not democratic in democratic theory since no one can say that the people really wanted or support IP that much.

The CP election is the most democratic election in eRep. There is no tactical voting for it. I look at who I like and I vote for that person, the end. It is the most democratic since I think we can say that it best represent the will of the people. Despite the candidate their PP choose to support, the people vote the way they want more and there is no way to vote tactically. That is why I think in May Mattio lost to I&W with all the other parties support. That is why OMG/ Steinmetze candidates lost to first MachtGeil and later to Letnix in Germany. The role of parties and the manipulations of votes is not possible in a CP election.

With that said, with the tactical voting of congress and the possible abuse of the formateur itself it shows a huge flaw in the system of a coalition government. This is hugely contrasted that of CP election which I cannot think of a way (in under normal situation and not in PTO etc) that there can be abuse.

There are some who rejects my conclusion to the congress. If they reject this notion, they would argue that it is fair for the largest party to create the formateur. Some would say since they are the largest party in congress etc that it is even fair to have a bias formateur since they have the backing of the people etc. While the largest party should be in power but democracy protests not that of the strong but that of the weak and the minority. If one agrees and follow the might is right idea then we really do not need a constitution or democracy at all. All we need is a gang like organizations which fight in a no holding back contest and winner takes all. No, a democracy protects the minority in which it sets clear rules that limits the actions of the majority so that the minority can still have a voice and a role in politics. With a congress that is not fully democratic in nature and a potential of a bias formateur, it does hinders the ideals of a western democracy while potentially promoting a might is right conscience in our society and political discourse.

Presidential Governments are Inactive

I cannot say this is true since the time of the experiment is during the summer and the World Cup. Based on my experience in Germany, we still saw a lot of activity and it was fun. There was a lot of activity as people cares about who the CP candidates choose as their ministers etc. Like the SPeD candidate Strassemann in choosing Chicco (Gassie125 of Germany) as the MoD. This cost a huge outcry from the media as well as other parties etc. Also the party is highly active in the government creation process. The party within vote for which CP like to support and do they want to support the CP with that list of ministers etc. It is not just PP and CP candidates who runs the show and nothing more. I see the inactivity of congress and the gov is something independent of CP based government.

Closing

I heard many people in regards to this issue and they said that they are use to this system. It is the Dutch way etc. To that I cannot offer a discussion. I cannot say anything to that since I cannot say that you being accustomed to something is debatable. So as a coalition outsider who is not accustomed to the coalition government, I wrote my views of the issue. I think it is not efficient. There is a huge space for formateur and party abuse, and it promotes the concept of might is right in domestic politics which is not a great notion to have in a democratic society. I think coalition government and the role of the formateur in eRep does not really work well. Some can say that I too am accustomed to the presidential governmental system and I think it is fair to say. That is why I wrote this article to have more of a dialogue and a discussion about it.

[img]http://teenormous.com/images/t-shirts/faroutshirts.com/images-LiveLong-Preview.png?1234490938[/img]

Konrad Neumann
Former eGerman President x2
Minister of Interior of Netherlands
eGerman Congressman x6
Party President of Open Minded Germany x5
Former eGerman MoFA from Aug-Jan 2010

http://thenewworld.nl/images/rijksoverheid-s.jpg">

Please join the eNL forums and subscribe to the following governmental newspapers

*Forum of the Netherlands
*Ministry of Media & Education
*Ministry of Defense
*Ministry of Home Affairs (Interior Affairs/ Binnenlandse Zaken)
*Ministry of Recruitment & Coaching
*Ministry of Foreign Affairs
*Ministry of Economic Affairs
*Ministry of Finance
*Ministry of Raws