Neurathian Political Theory
Day 3,649, 19:39
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Published in Ireland 
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by
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by King Trito Fisher
Reprinting of Albert Neurath's articles published on days 1146, 1147 of the New World.
"Although the exact structure of each government differs depending upon which nation one is located in, each government strives, or at the very least wishes it could obtain, the following:
1. A clear line of succession. In case of the disappearance of the CP, without a clear line of succession, the nation risks falling into anarchy. On a lesser scale, the disappearance of a minister can set back his department for days unless quickly rectified. In either case, a government structure must clearly lay out who succeeds who, and minimize the "dead time" spent between the disappearance of one minister and the rise of his successor.
2. An efficient military. A military is the line of defense for a nation, and, by extension, that nation's government. As such, it must be as efficient as possible, while possessing the least amount of bureaucracy necessary. Nothing kills a state as easily as does a bureaucratic military, filled with squabbling leaders and an inefficient means of distributing resources. Some government prefer to in a way "privatize" their military, by detaching it from the politics of government and establishing it independent of the political sphere. This has its flaws and its benefits, to be discussed in a future entry.
3. A capable series of ministers. The realm of politics is filled with inept and dithering politicians, who find every conceivable excuse not to do their jobs, thus weakening the structure of government considerably. A government needs to find the most capable individuals for a job, regardless of party, and promote them to the highest offices of the land in order to run a strong government.
4. A dynamic system of government. Even if one has the best and brightest individuals populating the ministries, that means nothing if the system is overly bureaucratic. Endless meetings, committees, and requests for permission only prevent a government from operating at peak efficiency. Ministers must be able to pursue their own projects without the need for a massive bureaucracy overseeing their every move. This ties in with no. 1, as a clear line of succession renders government much more dynamic due to a lack of confusion in the hierarchy.
5. A wide selection of ministries, with defined responsibilities. A government needs a lot of ministries to function properly, such as those of Foreign Affairs, Finance, Defense, and Immigration. If one of these ministries is not performing its duties, a government falls into the "not-my-problem" conundrum, as the other offices will normally be loathe to pick up the slack of the flagging ministry. At the same time though, each ministry must have clearly defined areas of responsibility, to prevent ministries from undoing each others' works. This should not preclude the possibility of overlapping responsibilities, but, if such things are established, they must be defined in a way as to prevent "bleed-over."
The ideal form of government that can perform all of these duties will be discussed [below]
The Decentralized Model is a form of idealized government in which political power is delegated to semiautonomous executive bodies from the central government. What has not been stated, however, is the method by which this becomes possible. A Decentralized government is made possible only when four conditions are met within a country:
1. A dedicated group of experienced ministers is available. A decentralized government, since it relies so much upon the establishement of semiautonomous ministries, requires a group of talented individuals to run each of its ministries. These people must be both experienced and trustworthy, and, almost as importantly, they must be good at finding other talented people to work under them.
2. The CP retains absolute power over the government Orgs. Although Ministers should be given access to government Orgs, the CP should still retain control over those Orgs, whether through retention of the passwords or through control over the Org emails. Without this, the risk of theft is much greater.
3. The CP is a very active player. By "very active," I mean more active than 90% of all "active" eRepublik players. The CP needs to always be alert, as it is only through his power that the government at the basic level remains functioning.
4. The Congress is either weak, disorganized, or organized but subservient to the Executive Power. If Congress is strong, a nation cannot be fully decentralized, since Congressmen generally do not like having little power over the affairs of government. Congress should restrain itself to carrying out the directives of the CP and his Ministers, passing declarations of war and peace, and to watching over those same people for evidence of corruption.
If these four conditions are met, and the CP wills it, then a Decentralized Government will naturally arise."
Albert Neurath believed the model of eGovernment described above is ideal for this game. It would allow for safety in politics as well as economic and military growth, both of which are essential in the game.
How do you think we could apply these ideas to eIreland today? Do we have the potential for having such an idealized government, or are we too far away from satisfying the prerequisite conditions outlined by Neurath in his article?
Please let me know what you think in the comments section below.
"Although the exact structure of each government differs depending upon which nation one is located in, each government strives, or at the very least wishes it could obtain, the following:
1. A clear line of succession. In case of the disappearance of the CP, without a clear line of succession, the nation risks falling into anarchy. On a lesser scale, the disappearance of a minister can set back his department for days unless quickly rectified. In either case, a government structure must clearly lay out who succeeds who, and minimize the "dead time" spent between the disappearance of one minister and the rise of his successor.
2. An efficient military. A military is the line of defense for a nation, and, by extension, that nation's government. As such, it must be as efficient as possible, while possessing the least amount of bureaucracy necessary. Nothing kills a state as easily as does a bureaucratic military, filled with squabbling leaders and an inefficient means of distributing resources. Some government prefer to in a way "privatize" their military, by detaching it from the politics of government and establishing it independent of the political sphere. This has its flaws and its benefits, to be discussed in a future entry.
3. A capable series of ministers. The realm of politics is filled with inept and dithering politicians, who find every conceivable excuse not to do their jobs, thus weakening the structure of government considerably. A government needs to find the most capable individuals for a job, regardless of party, and promote them to the highest offices of the land in order to run a strong government.
4. A dynamic system of government. Even if one has the best and brightest individuals populating the ministries, that means nothing if the system is overly bureaucratic. Endless meetings, committees, and requests for permission only prevent a government from operating at peak efficiency. Ministers must be able to pursue their own projects without the need for a massive bureaucracy overseeing their every move. This ties in with no. 1, as a clear line of succession renders government much more dynamic due to a lack of confusion in the hierarchy.
5. A wide selection of ministries, with defined responsibilities. A government needs a lot of ministries to function properly, such as those of Foreign Affairs, Finance, Defense, and Immigration. If one of these ministries is not performing its duties, a government falls into the "not-my-problem" conundrum, as the other offices will normally be loathe to pick up the slack of the flagging ministry. At the same time though, each ministry must have clearly defined areas of responsibility, to prevent ministries from undoing each others' works. This should not preclude the possibility of overlapping responsibilities, but, if such things are established, they must be defined in a way as to prevent "bleed-over."
The ideal form of government that can perform all of these duties will be discussed [below]
The Decentralized Model is a form of idealized government in which political power is delegated to semiautonomous executive bodies from the central government. What has not been stated, however, is the method by which this becomes possible. A Decentralized government is made possible only when four conditions are met within a country:
1. A dedicated group of experienced ministers is available. A decentralized government, since it relies so much upon the establishement of semiautonomous ministries, requires a group of talented individuals to run each of its ministries. These people must be both experienced and trustworthy, and, almost as importantly, they must be good at finding other talented people to work under them.
2. The CP retains absolute power over the government Orgs. Although Ministers should be given access to government Orgs, the CP should still retain control over those Orgs, whether through retention of the passwords or through control over the Org emails. Without this, the risk of theft is much greater.
3. The CP is a very active player. By "very active," I mean more active than 90% of all "active" eRepublik players. The CP needs to always be alert, as it is only through his power that the government at the basic level remains functioning.
4. The Congress is either weak, disorganized, or organized but subservient to the Executive Power. If Congress is strong, a nation cannot be fully decentralized, since Congressmen generally do not like having little power over the affairs of government. Congress should restrain itself to carrying out the directives of the CP and his Ministers, passing declarations of war and peace, and to watching over those same people for evidence of corruption.
If these four conditions are met, and the CP wills it, then a Decentralized Government will naturally arise."
Albert Neurath believed the model of eGovernment described above is ideal for this game. It would allow for safety in politics as well as economic and military growth, both of which are essential in the game.
How do you think we could apply these ideas to eIreland today? Do we have the potential for having such an idealized government, or are we too far away from satisfying the prerequisite conditions outlined by Neurath in his article?
Please let me know what you think in the comments section below.
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Ireland has maybe a dozen effective fighters, most if not all in DIV4. Ireland probably has about half a dozen players who are seriously involved in national level politics. The community is in such poor shape that anything more than a skeleton government doesn't seem plausible. The current government is actually doing quite well in maximising what resources it has, geopolitically speaking. Ireland needs more active players, that should be our top priority.
if you, what would u do.....just waiting for the gold.
FORM THE STRONG GOVERNMENT.