January 25th, 2016

Proposal for Aquilan Executive Governmental Structure

There have been many different viewpoints and discussions raging on slack concerning the structure of the new Aquilan government. By creating this document, I will be walking through the previous Orion government, sharing my view on the success of the structure in 2.0 and the viability as it relates to 3.0. I will be offering my view of a well functioning Aquilan government.

Please go to google docs here if you like a more pleasurable aesthetically pleasing read.

Previous Structure of the Executive Body:

Previously, Orion was ruled by the Executive Council, a team of three elected officials with no term limits who were charged with both managing everyday affairs, such as hosting new friends, market management, plot sales, spearheading most public infrastructure improvements, and ensuring domestic safety. Most of these jobs were delegated to non-elected officials who did their respective jobs out of kindness. In addition, the Executive council was in charge of other affairs as well such as vault management, international agreements, border claims, and crisis management.

I believe it is a fair assessment to say the Executive Council functioned very well for a while after its conception. The structure of three different leaders naturally allowed for more activity guaranteed in game than with just one leader. Having three leaders also required discussion to take place before very large decisions were made (this was not the case in smaller decisions such as plot sales or vaulting) that discouraged rash decisions and encouraged thought processing. I truly believe that the three body council structure that I supported in its birth was, until inactivity struck, very effective in its role of managing everyday affairs and properly and responsibly dealing with crises.

However, the executive council also brought many inherent flaws. First and foremost was the method in which power changed hands. Imperative to a good and functioning democracy, the continuous replacement and change of power did not exist in the Orion constitution. The only way a member of the council could be removed was through impeachment or resignation. Unfortunately, while this clause was created to eliminate the tiring election cycle and apathy that Orion had experienced before hand during the previous Constitution, it ended up becoming the major faulting flaw of the executive council. Councilors, including myself, abused this clause to take extended breaks and rely more heavily on the two other councilors to take care of the city. Many councillors began to feel overwhelmed by tedious jobs such as dereliction and new friend placement while others simply became too busy in their daily lives to spend the time necessary in the city. Towards the end, this point was exasperated to the extent that it can be concluded that the Executive Council had no strong or significant online presence in the game. This is a very large problem. Moreover, many people were rightly justified in feeling that the executive council did not represent the direction of Orion or its new citizens. Towards the end, the executive council failed to leave behind a good legacy.

This can be summarized by the following which is compared to a single elected official.

(TL;DR):

Pros of the EC:

• Efficient day to day management during period of activity
• More online game presence
• Advanced level of discussion on issues
• Efficient dispersion of work

Cons of the EC:

• No routine change of power
• Structurally supported inactivity
• Disconnect of citizens and government due to lack of elections

Proposal for Aquilan Governmental Structure:

I think the old Orion Executive Council can be salvaged in a newer, more democratic incarnation. I am confident that under the right circumstances, a three person body is one of the most efficient forms of civcraft government.

I propose to preserve the Executive Council (perhaps not in name) with several key changes awarded.

1. Rolling Monthly Elections

A very large problem suffered by the Executive Council was its disconnect with the citizens. Monthly elections in which one seat of the council will be eligible for vote each month will allow for input into the running of the government by the current population. This would give each executive a 3 month term before the next election season he/she participates in. I am also a fan of stricter voting laws if they can be implemented fairly to the end that only truly active citizens could be eligible to vote.

2. Addition of Wardens

Proposed along with the new city design, whether that be in squares/hexagons/etc., is the addition of a new more privatized governing body. Wardens will be either sold or given a Ward (name subject to change) upon the approval of the executive and will then proceed to create their own micro development. Examples of this could include stricter building code legislation, dereliction laws, and perhaps even other forms of legislation such as criminal codes and warden elections. These wards will serve to improve the quality of the work that the executive body can do by dividing the rather tedious work of managing a large city worth of builds and will ensure that almost every citizen will feel that their idea on city aesthetics/laws are met. Wards will have the ability to be derelicted or sold on a macro scale by the executive body.

3. Much reduced role in International Affairs/Server Drama

I am of the opinion that during this iteration of the map, Orion should try to isolate itself from the various spats and international events that occur on the server. This does not mean that Orion citizens need to distance themselves from these same events, but the official Orion stance should remain much more neutral than last map. The most clear way to achieve this is to strip a large amount of power of the executive regarding vaults. The city vault should only be used to hold low level petty city criminals. Last map iteration, Orion was ridiculed for its flaunting of its justice system in order to hold HCF players and high level criminals. The new government should seek to avoid this entirely by not engaging in acquisitioning high level pearls. If a criminal is captured of a deemed high profile, the executive should refuse to hold this pearl and defer it to private citizens. Continuing with the state sponsored vault structure that was in place last map could lead to a repeat of reputation loss and flaunting of democratic principles that the city seeks to protect. Criminal codes are great for new friend raiders and citizens that commit crimes, but they lack the power to successfully detain dangerous criminals while remaining fair to low level criminals who have very little offenses. Often, these high level criminals have very little solid and undeniable evidence against them which leads to the need of Guantanamo-esque detainment standards.

It will be hard to definitely codify any wording in the constitution to this effect, but I think that as long as the ideology and understanding is there, the executive body members will be able to make the right decisions regarding server drama.

TL;DR:

Malice likes talking a lot about stuff no one reads. Implement executive body with monthly elections and wardens while avoiding server drama.

Conclusion:

I am very excited by the prospect of ameliorating the current executive body into a more efficient machine. The 3 person body creates a sort of city elder feel where multiple people are capable of enhancing their influence on the city and a multitude of ideas can be proposed from the diversity of the executive body. The executive body would all other roles that were awarded to the former Executive Council if they were not mentioned here. I am very open to any sort of tweaking to this model of government, I think the most important change from Orion 2.0 into Aquila 3.0 needs to be the validation of everyone's ideas. No one should be marginalized. So please, comment your opinions! This piece is meant to be a liquid sketch of the new government.

If you would like to see this in google docs format for commenting/aesthetic purposes, here is the link: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1QK35PtD-9EN7ryh8r5sQThOWwT34tf9KW3dawoPEJKM/edit?usp=docslist_api

Thanks for the time! Looking forward to working with all of you this map <3

~ Malice975