OK, I had another idea. That is crazy stuff, I know, and I don't assume anyone is crazy enough to try to build this idea in our mod let alone in the first version. But I'll post it anyway. Just toying with ideas...
I had that idea of legislative initiatives represented by events that i posted into the events thread. This lead me to the question: How to simulate a (parliamentary) democratic system with a legislative and elections without taking away control of the player:
Parliamentary Simulation
Assuming I play the German leader (we don't have Germany in our mod but it is ok as an example). There is a parliament I have to work with. This parliament would function exactly like UN or Apostolic Palace. I am permanently holding the secretary chair meaning I can propose laws (like UN resolutions).
There are different factions (i.e. parties) in this parliament who can each vote on a law (like Civs do with UN resolutions). Each faction would hold a number of seats (1 seat = 1 vote) which are determined by elections (see below). Whenever one bill gains the majority of votes it comes into effect. You can also ignore the vote of the parliament (like defying resolutions) but this will have bad effects.
For example in German parliament would be 5 factions: CDU/CSU (conservatives, 223 seats/votes), SPD (social-democrats, 222), FDP (liberals, 61), Linke (lefts, 53), Grüne (greens 51). I'd propose a law and get the votes of SPD, Linke and Grüne, then this bill would succeed.
How to determine what the parties will vote like?
It should not be random otherwise it would be not realistic. Since we have to invent any possible bill beforehand we can calculate how each party would be likely to vote. For example green parties are likely to vote for stronger environment laws. Liberal parties are likely to vote against laws that are against personal freedom. But this should only be a 75% chance so you can never be completely sure how the factions will vote.
What kind of legislative initiatives are possible?
I guess that depends on the chosen civic. There might be 3 democratic civics that differ in the amount of power given to the parliament. The lowest could be that you have only less important laws (like smoking restrictions that affect health) to be voted on. The highest could be that you have to propose declaring wars or changing civics to the parliament.
How can the seats and factions in the parliament change during the game?
This would happen by elections. These elections are held every 48 turns. Depending on the happiness of the people small or big changes can happen. This should be a random calculations with the old percentage as initial point. The more unhappiness, the higher the the single parties' chances of big wins or big losses. Otherwise only small random changes happen. But even these can turn over the power structure to your favour.
How can the parliaments be different in different civs?
Of course the US can't have a 5 factions parliament. A unique parliament with unique parties must be composed for each civ. For the US there would be a parliament with two factions (Rep&Dem) at game start and other factions and other parties in other civs. Of course this needs a lot of research.
Of course this can't be totally realistic due to totally different democratic structures around the world. But it would be one step towards more realism...
That's the ideas I had this afternoon, basically. I hope you guys don't get mad at me for always churning out new ideas instead on working to make the existent ones come true...