eIreland, eTurkey, Congress and Foreign Policy
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by Satya Yuga
In the following article, Threat made to Irish Congressman, Irish Congressman New Faustian Man decides to initiate communication where, making it clear he is a new member of Congress, makes his desires known that he would be interested in seeing a proposal made regarding an alliance between eIreland and eTurkey.
In response to this, instead of the CP of eTurkey initiating discussions with the CP of eIreland, he makes a proposal directly to the Congress of eIreland. In response to this, tempers flare up.
Was the Congressman doing anything improper in initiating said communications? Was the CP of eTurkey doing anything improper in submitting a proposal directly to Congress, without first discussing the issue with the CP of eIreland? I don't think so.
The eUS has had similar issues with the idea of who can involve themselves with discussions regarding foreign policy. Whenever any discussion regarding foreign policy has been desired by members of Congress, they have quickly been quashed, with the reasoning that foreign policy issues are the sole responsibility of the Executive and that it is the role of Congress to act as a "rubber stamp" in how they cast their vote per a pre-approved list created by the Executive. Considering that Congress was given the ability to vote to approve MPP and Natural Enemy proposals, I have to disagree that this was the intent of eRep Labs.
In response to this, it has been pointed out that the only reason that Congress gets to vote on such issues is due to the expense involved -- therefore it is only as a budgetary decision that they get to cast their vote.
When I've brought up the concept of Separation of Powers acting as a check by one branch of government on the other, players who disagree basically put their fingers in their ears and yelled as loud as they can, this isn't RL.
This misses the point that the design of the Political Module in this game was inspired by real life political theory and that "on it's face" eRep Labs granting Congress the ability to cast their votes on Natural Enemy and MPP proposals gives them a de facto voice where foreign policy issues are concerned.
This was further supported with the eChile and eBulgaria issues. When Congress felt that the Executive was wrong in its decisions regarding eChile and eBulgaria, they quickly spoke up. If the Legislature truly felt that foreign policy issues were outside of its jurisdiction, they would have kept silent and have let the Executive handle things internally.
But, in the spirt of separation and powers and checks and balances, they let their displeasure be known and used their powers in an attempt at impeachment.
Part of the freedom in playing this game, is the freedom to communicate with other players, as long as said communication doesn't violate the Terms of Service as dictated by eRep Labs.
If the CP of another country chooses to act upon receiving said communication and use his powers to submit a proposal, so be it. Congress has the freedom to use its powers to approve or deny said proposal. If you don't like the proposal, vote "No" on it, but don't troll, bully, or harrass another player because they decided to exercise their freedom to play this game as they decided best fit their style of gameplay.
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In response to Threat made to Irish Congressman
Ireland, best allies ever. Do what you want, don't care 'bout other countries, this is how it works. o/
well it was hard to read the writing with those pictures! ^__^
We get a little too hung up on the rules players try to enforce on the game...when a bit of patience and flexibility would actually make a country's gameply more competitive. Instead, we get conflict and division among fellow players/allies.
good article, bad smut, Plugson's comment very true
Since 'game mechanics' places the power to propose MPPs squarely in the hands of Congress, NFM has done nothing wrong...IMO foreign policy is not solely in the realm of the Executive...even IRL Congress has the power to reject the foreign policy of the President...besides why would Ireland reject an MPP with an ally?
Ireland and Turkey have not been allied. There has been no MPP in a few months. It is a delicate situation that will require time as many people here are pro-Bg and do not want to fight against them. The MPP may not have even passed had the Turkish President approached Ireland. Like you said, it is upto congress whether to accept or reject an MPP with them and no matter what, getting this one passed would not have been easy. But when you get a congressman, who knew of the feeling in Ireland
and still went ahead with this knowing that it would cause problems, then you can hardly blame the CP for reacting to that.
The Turkish CP told NFM he was going to propose the MPP, and NFM replied back to him to say "that's great" instead of telling him to wait until it was debated.
PRIMARILY it is the job of the Irish executive to deal with Foreign Policy, not a congressman, and not anyone outside of Ireland. Irish congress will then decide which MPPs pass and which don't.
Is that game mechanics too Ibhoy? Or are you also a big softie role-player? 🙂
Nothing to do with either of those things. It is widely recognised as the best way to do things.
Do you want me to link you to every article in which I've commented today so you can follow me there as well and show how much you dislike me?
A great and thought-provoking article Lysander. As with earlier comments, I really feel that if we were to tear down some of the mental walls we could have a lot more fun, but I think many get on here just to play domineering Executive. To be certain that isn't a comment on IRR, I think he handled it wrong, but I think it speaks to the greater issue of control.
There is a conspiracy to ruin the friendship between Bulgaria and Ireland.
Great article, Lysander!
The separation of powers in Ireland is either not understood, or is not a democratic principle the current Irish regime wish to engage with. I doubt the current Irish CP has any concept of what it means in theory or practice.
V
The point here is that Ireland -whether they like Turkey or not- is refusing to MPP with a country who the Alliance they belong to calls an ally. Most Americans do not like Turkey and support Bulgaria and yet America has an MPP with Turkey. Why? Because Turkey is an EDEN ally.
The question that should be asked is:
Having seen something that did not make sense to him, why did the Congressman decide to go speak to the leader of another country about the subject.
Without first mentioning the issue to: our CP, Congress, MoFA, or even his own party leader first?
Because he wanted to cause a shitstorm sweet, nothing more.
http://www.erepublik.com/en/article/2047369/1/20
Belittling Congress.
Why is permission needed to initiate communications, to attempt to build bridges of friendship with another country? Isn't the 24 hour voting period sufficient to make your viewpoint known?