The Government Structure

[ice2k4]

Introduction - Since we use a legal system, where initiatives are passed to determine how the government works, it isn't very easy to understand the government. Especially when you have to read the initiatives, which are organized by the date they were passed, not what section of the government they pertain to. This thread, will introduce a view of only the current government, which can be read much like the Code of Laws of the past demogame. Sections that are canceled by more recent initiatives will be edited out.

Do not use this as a reference for any law based discussion or decision. Refer to the individual initiatives passed.

 

[ice2k4]

Excerpt from The Constitution

The Constitution

Preamble

We, the sovereign citizens of Yasutan, united by a common interest in our Civilization, guided by our desire for equality and justice, strengthened by our mutual respect, and reminded of our universal rights and responsibilities, do establish and promulgate this Constitution for our beloved nation.

Article A - Forms of Law

1. Governing rules shall consist of this Constitution, such amendments that shall follow and lower forms of law that may be implemented.
2. No rule, law or standard shall be valid that contradicts the Constitution or the rules and regulations of the Civfanatics Forums. Moderators may veto any such rules.

Article B - Citizens

1. A citizen is any member of the CivFanatics forums that participates in the Democracy Game in any way. Citizens are encouraged, but not required, to post in the Citizen Registry. Membership in the user group specific to this democracy game is required in order for a citizen to vote.
2. All citizens share the same fundamental rights, including but not limited to:
   • The Right to Assemble
   • The Right to Vote
   • The Right to be Eligible to hold Public Office
   • The Right to Free Speech
   • The Right to Free Movement
   • The Right to a Fair and Speedy Trial
   • The Right to Presumption of Innocence unless proven guilty
   • The Right of Representation

Article C - Decision Making

1. All decision making power within the Democracy Game is derived from the collective rights of all the citizens.
2. The Power of the People can be delegated to officials of the game in one or more of the following ways, or in other ways which may subsequently be discovered.
   • By Initiative in the form of a completed forum poll initiated by any citizen.
   • By Mandate in the form of game play instructions posted in the forum by a duly elected official with legal authority in the area covered by said instructions.
   • By Constituency in the form of citizen comments in favor of a decision, in a forum discussion.
   • By Designated Player Action in the form of actions made (and logged) during game play.
3. In the event that two or more such delegations of the Power of the People are in conflict, the following hierarchy shall determine which decision has precedence.
   • An initiative has force of law and supercedes any other decision type, including an earlier initiative on the same subject.
   • Mandate supercedes any other decision type (including an earlier mandate on the same subject) except an initiative or another later initiative.
   • Constituency supercedes only designated player actions.
   • Designated Player Action does not supercede any other type of decision.
4. A lower form of law may specify procedures and restrictions on implementing decision types, except
   • Initiative must always be allowed
   • No decision shall require more support than an amendment to the Constitution.

Article D - Elections

1. Terms of service of all elected and appointed offices shall be determined in advance of the beginning of such term, as further defined by law.
2. All Election and other polls in which specific individuals are chosen by name shall be private polls, and not public polls.
3. The candidate with the highest vote total is the winner of an election poll, regardless of whether such vote total is a majority of votes cast or not.
   1. Should two or more candidates tie for the most votes, as many runoff elections shall be held as needed to resolve the election, as further defined by law.

Article E - Playing the Save

1. No person may play the save other than a Designated Player specifically tasked to do so, or an official who is required to attempt certain actions to get information about what is possible in the game.
   • If any action must be performed outside a scheduled play session, to obtain information about possible options, the game must then be immediately closed without saving, and without performing further actions.
2. Obtaining information which would not be visible to someone playing the game, at the current point in time reflected by the current saved game or a previous saved game, by any mechanism, is prohibited. As noted in Section 1.a of this Article, actions performed by an official, where performing the action is the only way to determine options, are permitted as long as the game is immediately closed following such investigation.
3. Inadvertent discovery of information shall not result in any penalty, provided no attempt is made to further disseminate the information or use it to advantage within the game.
4. Use of any exploits is prohibited. No person may manipulate the game in any way other than by normal play mechanisms, unless expressly permitted by law.
5. Lower forms of law are free to (and expected to) further define what actions are allowed and disallowed by this rule.

Article F - Judiciary

1. The Judicial Branch will consist of the Chief Justice, Public Defender, and Judge Advocate.
2. These three justices are tasked with upholding, clarifying and reviewing all changes to the Constitution and its supporting laws through Judicial Reviews, and upholding the rights of all citizens through Investigations.
3. The Judiciary will carry out all its tasks in a fair and timely manner.
4. Any poll by the judiciary for which the primary subject is an individual or impacts upon an individual must be private.
5. A lower form of law may specify judicial procedures and standards for the conduct of Judicial Reviews and Citizen Complaints. If the law does not define such procedures, then the responsibility for setting procedures is granted to the Judiciary.

Article G - Ratification and Amendments

1. The Constitution shall be initially ratified by a two-thirds majority of votes cast in a poll which shall be open for no fewer than 4 days. A two-thirds majority is one where at least twice as many votes are cast for ratification as are cast against it.
2. The Constitution may be amended by a three-fifths majority of votes cast in a poll which shall be open for no fewer than 4 days. A three-fifths majority is one where at least one and a half as many votes are cast for an amendment as are cast against it.

 

[ice2k4]

Excerpt from Citizen Initiative - Tribal Government (Final Tweaks)
Current Government Structure - Tribal Government

Section 1 – Offices
In order to function, the structure of the Government must be defined, and duties allocated. In all of the offices declared below, the specifics of how the office is run are left up to the office holder. Office holders can delegate duties, but not responsibilities. This means an official can have another citizen conduct actions in their name, but the official is responsible for the actions, or lack thereof.

As our nation is small, this government reflects that reality.

The Chieftain is the supreme leader of our nation. They control all units and have all powers not granted to another official. This includes overseeing Elections and the Designated Player pool.

Each city will have an Elder. The Elder controls all functions of the city. If a city is founded in mid-term, the Elder will be appointed by the Chieftain. The Elder for the first city will be elected in the first term.

Additional offices may be created by initiative. Offices created in the middle of a term will be filled by appointment, for that term only.

Section 2 – Coup
Officials may be removed from office by a Coup. To declare a Coup, any citizen may post a thread in the citizen forum declaring a coup against an official or group of officials. If two other citizens support the coup, a poll is posted asking if the citizens support the official(s) targeted by the coup. This poll is private, single-choice, and must be set to expire in 4 days.

If the number of citizens that voted to not support the officials exceeds by number of citizens that voted to support the officials by at least one and a half as many votes (a 3/5 majority), the coup is successful. The citizen who originally called for the coup immediately replaces the official targeted by the coup. If more than one official is targeted, the citizen may choose which office they take. The citizens removed from office may not be reappointed to any office for 7 days.

If the coup fails, the citizen calling for the coup is removed from any elected office they hold. They may not be appointed to any office for 7 days. They may not call for another coup for the remainder of the current term.

Section 3 – Confirmations
Any appointment may be challenged by a confirmation poll. If a confirmation poll does not already exist for an appointment, any citizen may create such a poll. This poll must be created within 48 hours of the appointment, and must ask "Do you approve of <description of appointment>", contain only Yes, No and Abstain options, be marked private, single-choice and expire in 2 days. When the poll closes, if the majority of citizens, not including abstain, voted No, the appointment is overturned. Any other result confirms the appointment.

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Excerpt from Initiative 2 - Playing the Save
The Playing The Save Act

Section 1

The DP for each game session, including special sessions, must maintain a log of their actions in sufficient detail that another citizen may generally recreate their actions.

All official instructions must be posted in the current game session instruction thread. Instructions must be clear and defined. Officials must post their instructions at least one hour before the scheduled start of the game session. Officials may make changes to their instructions up to an hour before the session, so long as those changes are clearly noted. Officials that do not post instructions for a game session are considered to have given the DP complete control over their area for that game session, even should they be at the game session.

During a game session, citizens are encouraged to comment and offer advice to the DP. The DP may also seek comments from citizens. The DP is not required to do so, and is not required in any way to follow any such advice.

The game session may last for as long as there are relevant instructions, until a posted instruction says to hold the session or when the DP decides to end the session. Once a game session is over, the DP must post a summary of that session, a detailed log of their actions, and a save in the instruction thread and in the summary thread.
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Excerpt from Citizen Initiative - Conducting Elections
The Election Act of 4000 BC

Conducting the affairs of Government in our system requires periodic elections. These elections allow citizen to chose their leaders based on their personalities, views and stated goals.

Terms of office will run from the first of the month to the last day. If the first term starts in the middle of a month, that term will not end until the last day of the subsequent month. No citizen can be elected to the same office in more than two consecutive terms.

Elections will be conducted by the official in charge of Election (called the EO). The EO will create nomination threads for each elected office, plus the Designated Player poll, 7 days prior to the end of the current term. After 3 days, the EO will post voting polls, one for each contested office, listing each candidate that has accepted their nomination in order of acceptance. These polls will be marked private, single-choice, and will be set to expire in 3 days.

Citizens can only accept one nomination for an elected office. If they accept more than one, the EO will try to determine which one is their preference. If the EO cannot, they will assume the most recent acceptance takes precendence. The Designated Player pool is not considered an elected office.

The citizen recieving the most votes at the conclusion of the election poll is deemed the winner of that election. In the event that more than one citizen is tied for the most votes, a runoff election poll, listing all citizen's tied for the most votes, will be conducted. This poll will be marked private, single-choice, and will be set to expire in 2 days. This process will be repeated until one citizen recieves the most votes.

A citizen can withdraw from an election at any time. This is an irreversible choice. When they do so, their name, and number of votes, is ignored for determining the winner of the election and for any runoffs.

The Designated Player poll will list all citizens that accepted their nomination. This poll will be marked private, multiple choice and will be set to expire in three days. All citizens receiving the required support will be considered to be the Designated Player pool for that term.
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Excerpt from Game Play Session Scheduling Initiative
Game Play Session Scheduling Initiative

Any game play session must be publicly announced in the CivFanatics Civ4 - Democracy Game II forum at least 24 hours before the scheduled start of said game play session. Said announcement must include:

• The date and time the game play session will start
• The Designated Player for the session
• A link to the sessions's game play instruction thread
• The purpose of the game play session

 

[ice2k4]

Change Log

March 25, 2007 -
Nation Name changed.
Game Play Session Scheduling Initiative.

 

[DaveShack]

Nation name edited in Constitution post.

 

[DaveShack]

It would help to have this thread updated. Here's one of several updates to come.

Aimag Amendment

Aimag Amendment to the Tribal Government Act of 4000 BC

Purpose:
As our Nation continues to grow and develop, we need to better organize and plan the guidance and care of our cities. Accordingly, with this Amendment we eliminate the position of Elder, and create the new position of Governor. Our cities will be organized in to Aimags, each one under the control of a Governor.

Section 1:
The fourth paragraph in the Tribal Government Act of 4000BC is hereby stricken and removed. Specifically, this paragraph created the office Elder, and defined the duties of the Elders.

Section 2:
The following paragraphs are to be placed after the 3rd paragraph.

Each city will belong to a Aimag which is run by a Governor. The governor will have control of all cities within their Aimag. Governors also assign tasks to the Workers allocated to their Aimag.

All cities will belong to an Aimag. The Governors will decide amongst each other which Aimag control all new and/or captured/flipped cities. Governors may also reallocate cities if all Governors affected accept the reallocation. Aimags will be created or removed by Initiative, which must identify any affected cities, and what Aimag will control them.

All Governors belong to the Khural, to help better coordinate and plan the activities of the Governors.

Section 3:
The following sentence is to be added to the paragraph detailing the duties of the Governor.

Workers will be allocated each game session to each Aimag by the Chieftain, to perform tasks as instructed by that Governor. The Chieftain may only issue worker instructions for National projects.

Section 4:
Upon adoption of this act, an Aimag will be created for each city that we currently control, containing only that city. The current Elder of that city will be made the Governor of that Aimag.