The Rational Actor: In Defense of the Treaty
Konrad Neumann
It is always easy to say no. It is always easy to be the opposition. It is always hard to govern. Governance is never easy. It is hard and requires a lot of time and problem solving. Therefore, I do not envy people being a Country President (CP). I was CP for 3 terms and while I did enjoy my terms, I am to a point where I do not want to seek such a position. For the ask of being a CP requires a strong ability to micro-manage the country. The CP also needs to have a strong ability to conduct a cost benefit analysis. Being the CP is not being the boss. The CP is not a king nor a queen. The CP is not a dictator, but that of a manager who is rational. Therefore, a good CP needs analyze the many different variables before s/he makes a decision/ policy recommendation. The main premise of this article will argue my support for the Garmr administration in regards to the recent Dutch treaty with Hungary.
Please refer to the following for additional information.
Official Treaty.
Garmr's Article to the Country.
It has come to my attention that some members in eNL is against this treaty. While it is never possible to satisfy everyone, but from my perspective, Garmr's policy is not only great, but shows evidence of a wise and good president. This approach is logical and rational. He analyze the existing variables advocated the best possible option.
eNL is a weak and pathetic country in regards to power and strength. Do not let blind nationalism/ patriotism hinders your sight. For those who disagree, does not understand the basic game and eNL's global position in the world. eNL is not a military/ strength base state. eNL is a political state where it focus on good relations with other countries. In other words, we are a country of soft power and NOT hard power. eNL does not have any real options in this current political and military predicament. It is fortunate that the Hungarians are willing to offer something back. It may be a face saving move but it is also a pragmatic move on their part as they do not have to worry about instability on their flanks. It is also a pragmatic move for us as something is better than nothing. In a totally powerless situation, to have a single region and the tax revenue of the regions lost is much more useful and better than no regions with no income.
I highly recommend the eDutch to look at their own history. I consider the van Spjick administration as the dark times in eNL history. His quest for war and possibility revenge against the Poles was disastrous for eNL. He was against any peace treaties and deals. He views any deals with the Poles as cowardice and selling the country out. He acted not on the rational actor model nor did he conducted any cost benefit analysis. In my opinion, he took it personal. As a result, eNL was wiped for many months with no income or land of any kind.
A country should strive to be on the map unless there is a Political Takeover (PTO) against the country. In the case of eNL, there was no PTO's. The van Spjick administration was a blight to eNL as it provided no benefit to eNL as a whole. He wasted a lot of our treasure on pointless and unwinnable resistance war. He did not put eNL on the map. The country did not receive tax income and the most important thing is, it restricted the growth of the country. A wipe only benefits a country in anti PTO operations as land is the only real means of emigration. With eNL off the map, people cannot apply for Dutch citizenship. Many expats in a foreign country at the time cannot come back. People who wanted to be eDutch cannot be as there was no means to apply for citizenship. This is why van Spjick can hold on to his power for so long. The results did not favor the growth of the country but that of the van Spjick administration as he can hold on to power for many terms.
Reflecting on history, The Garmr administration made the correct decision with this treaty. This treaty secures us an income. It secures are existence on the map. This means we will have a means for people to emigrate to our country. Relating to emigration, this also means we will have a congress. We will not waste our treasure on futile resistance. So my question, what is the problem here? What other realistic options do we have that would benefit the country? Did you not look at history or conduct a cost benefit analysis here? For I see no benefit to resist. eGermany signed a similar treaty and overall, it was not a huge controversy.
This is the difference between governance and the opposition. Presidents need to govern. In the end, he/she is responsible for the well being of the country. The opposition has no responsibility. They can claim that they represent the interest of their party/ constituencies but in the end, they are not responsible of the state and government. They can shout no all they want but in the end, they are not being rated or held responsible. Therefore, it is always easy to be the opposition. No to the treaty! This will be the end of our country, bla bla bla, but what are your ideas? What is your policy? To resist? To waste money? What are your realistic policies besides shouting no? For success here is to choose the option that cost our nation the least. What other options do we have? I highly recommend all people to do a realistic and comprehensive cost benefit analysis before they resort to rhetoric and blind patriotism in their discussion of the eNL-eHun treaty.
Comentários
votado!
lol
Fully agreed 🙂
Nice article Konrad, it was what I tried to convince people of by way of the forum topic, but the few strong opponents didn't take the opportunity to use it.
In an irrational eWorld, it is not easy to be a rational actor. Kudos to those who are still trying.
Very nice article. I never had readed yours articles. I see that you take your time for make a good summary from the situation of eNL. And the true is that if eNL only look for war will be wiped for the rest of the life of eNL.
I love you n.n
I'm not against treaties , but just expected some better deal (rent money)as our president gave us the impression that he and his important connections would make eNL's problems disappear like snow in the sun.....
And we could be better of than we where with poland......
To me this is just a handout from hungaries side , and anyone could've made that "deal" or better have signed it at the dotted line to rectify it.
And hey it is what it is , but that doesn't mean i have to like it because a part of the society does.
We unfortunately have to deal with this situation and all players have their own preferences.
But thats the beaty of democracy and freedom of speach.......everyone can think and say what they want 😉
Im also not against treaties if that is the best thing to do for the country. But I do not like it that this treaty is worse than the one we had with Poland WHILE garmr acts like he is Jesus himself. I expected more of him and his influence and therefore am disappointed how this turned out.
Then the question is, what realistic expectations did you have?
2 region rent deal & taxes would've been nice, at least comparing deal as the one with poland... not that i liked that one but like ur article says 'one has to be realistic at times also...."
Myself i would love to give em a bit of a real struggle just to give em a run for their money and try to negotiate a 2 region rent & taxes deal...
Suppose I sell bread at a market in the middle ages. Suddenly you invade the city and demand to buy your bread to feed your soldiers. If I would tell you the bread is not for sale, would you politely wait and offer to buy it at a higher price, or tell your soldiers to just take the bread and pay me nothing?
Stop making bread altogether. Don't feed the enemies soldiers for your own profit.
Signing an agreement with them just gives their actions legitimacy. And it is not bread we are selling it is more like peanuts in any case.
suppose my cat would bark .....than it wouldn't be my cat but would be my dog ......
BTW ur treaty is non legit coz you never put it through congress to vote for or against it 😉
So what are we discussing here..........some treaty that according the law isn't even legit.
Just be happy the standards of last month aren't uphold yet.
Coz if all who voted than for an impeachment , should do the same now
This could have been a nice article, had it not been it changed quickly into an article against vS/MdR again. Something you seem to have a habit off. You don’t need that, nor does eNL.
That set aside let’s look at the matters mentioned;
A CP doing micro management, to me, is no CP. A CP would have to assemble a team of ministers (with or without a team) who specialize on a certain matter. That team should manage the matters at hand. And for several, if not most, departments, that would even mean appointing a minister that can change every term but that needs to rely on the team that has specialized on matters. Fine examples are MoFA which is built on long term relations, MoD that needs to focus on long term military development and goals and MoF that takes time to comprehend the several mechanisms one can use and prevent us from disastrous transactions and policies we’ve seen in the past.
So that means the CP and a large part of ministers can change but need to rely on a foundation of players/knowledge. Or don’t change the minister like is done often on MoF or MoFA if there is no team due to the lack of a playerbase that is willing to put efforts in the game.
If a CP is unable to stand above his ministers (and/or teams) without trusting them on their departments issues but instead making all the decisions for them he will fail as a dictator as here in eNL that won’t work. The same goes for a minister who is unable to work with his team. Something that has occurred several times over the last year as well.
As for the treaty; I think you will hardly find anyone being against a treaty as we are indeed weak. I for one have always been in favor of a treaty and opposed towards investing in fighting against our oppressors as we never stood a chance. Not even when we were a full member of Eden. At first van Spyck wanted to fight indeed and put our money on it. Well, all that was left after the disastrous months on our finances before he took office that is. He was however quickly convinced that wasn’t wise. A fine example of a CP listening to his team and appointed ministers. You can say a lot of vS, but if there was something he did well it was listen to the players he had in his team on the matters they were appointed for. CP worthy. And if you browse through our forum archive’s you’ll no doubt find discussions several times in which players (or CP’s) wanted to use our reserves to fight against oppressors. And you will find I have always been opposed of that. At least for as long as I visited our forum.
The problem I as a person and as a commander have with the treaty do have other reasons. As explained here.
ur link isn't working m8 😢
Hmm. new attempt or the standard link; http://www.erepublik.com/en/article/2486740/1/20
Thx for pointing to it!
We need to provide a bit of resistance.. create a bit of national pride.. not be in a race to see how quickly we can roll over and play dead..
there are many ways to get to the treaty table.. we took the worst!