Types of Government
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Types of Government |
Government and political institutions vary widely throughout the various empires and polities that make up terragen civilization. This is due not only to cultural and cladistic differences, but also to the different meanings of power, leadership, and administration in the different archailect empires
To the hierarchical and stratified Solarians the traditional concept is of leadership by right and by example (less so by force). To many in the NoCoZo all but the most token government is abhorrent, and leadership is through being the smartest, most flexible, most profitable beings, and there is no need to have a single leader since everyone can niche themselves to become their own kind of leader. To the Negentropics political power is about righteousness in some sense, true leadership in interstellar politics is by being consistently right and true. Keter sees power more as evolution/development, and has little interest in government institutions. The Sophic League of course sees government as the province of the spiritually elevated, and that only the enlightened ones, the avatar-ruler, the philosopher-prince or sage-king are qualified for leadership. While the Caretakers and Utopians likely see power of any kind as a mere tool for their own infinitely more important goals of preservation and happiness. Cyberia tends to regard political power as information, access and maybe most importantly, the ability of being the sysop/caretaker of vital systems. The Communion sees political power as a matter of being the ones who influence things.
Outside the big imperials, government conditions are a lot more variable, and sentients do not always have the sort of security they have under the archailects. The following is a list of only a few of the many types of government that can be found in many of the larger and smaller non-aligned and nominally aligned polities
| Anarchy (chaos) | No organized government at all. Some SI:<1 feral/pirate/barbarian regions in the outer volumes have with this type (or lack) of government. This sort of arrangement always is replaced by another more organised but still short-lived form of government - e.g. Dictatorship, or more often through conquest by a neighbouring state, government, or military power. |
| Anarchy (self-rule) | Rule by individual responsibility, creativity, and input. A sort of meta-socialism/meta-democracy. This type of government requires advanced emotional and spiritual development, usually a society of superiors. Such government types can be very long-lived. |
| Aristocracy | Rule by a hereditary elite. A sort of minor monarchy. Many of the great Houses during the later Federation to Empires age were Aristocracies, and such government remains in isolated fiefdoms scattered throughout the galaxy even today. Almost always there will be a House AI behind the scenes, as a sort of tutelary, oracular or even manipulative power (depending on the personality of the AI). Provided they are not subverted by higher toposophic AIs, aristocracies area very stable and long-lived government type, if tending towards oppressive caste structures. |
| Charismacracy | Rule by animal magnetism, sometimes reinforced with erotic presence and/or empath abilities. Note that this is very different to Meritocracy, which is more intellectual. Many of the old Genetekker biospheres, and many Erotogini and Communion worlds, are of this sort. Often only lasts as long as the single charismatic ruler or clade-clone succession. |
| Company-Owned World | A planet, moon or asteroid controlled by a company or corporation and run for profit. This system was quite common during the early to middle first Federation period, and can still be found throughout many sparsely settled libertarian capitalist (either NoCoZo or independent) dominated regions in the outer volumes where there is little government or policing regulation. This type of government is very rarely long-lived. Almost always, with increasing colonization, the world or planetoid will declare independence and seize the company's assets. Alternatively, the world or planetoid and its resources will be claimed by a passing ISO or transapient power. See also Syndicracy. |
| Confederacy | A number of smaller areas banded together under one loose government. During the Interplanetary Age there were a number of orbital alliances and belter polities of this sort. Today a number of polities in the hinteregions and outer volumes, are good examples of confederations. |
| Democracy / Republic | A government run by elected representatives. Many of
the Industrial Age, Information Age, early Interplanetary Age, and
First Federation era
governments were of this sort. The rule by hyperturings make true
democracies no longer competitive in the modern galaxy. Nevertheless
there are a great many successful and long-lived democratic systems
under hyperturing guidance. Democracies are more common in some nearbaseline polities
away from the big capitals and power centers. In the middle regions,
the Puppis Democracy
and New Daffy Panoparchy
are examples of empires that favor this option.  more |
| Dictatorship | Absolute rule by one leader. This is a common, sometimes brutal, more rarely benevolent, and always short lived phenomenon among middle tech and luddite lower level high tech polities and societies where higher level transapient influence is weak. |
| Femtotheocracy | Government by religious leadership or priesthood, usually in the service of a high level transapient or minor archailect. The actual form the government takes can be astonishingly diverse. One of the most common government types in the galaxy today. |
| Meritocracy | Rule by merit or natural abilities - not in the same sense as charismacracy. e.g. most of the great scientific Institutes are Meritocracies. |
| Monarchy | Rule by a king or a queen, usually of one family or dynasty or aristocratic clan or House that manages to acquire an empire. Monarchy and Feudalism was a common and very stable system of government in medieval and iron age Old Earth, and later attained a brief revival through the aristocracies of some of the larger post-megacorp hereditary Houses. There are however an abundance of petty egomaniacs and eccentrics who have set up their own hereditary principalities, kingdoms etc, on minor biospheres throughout the galaxy. Most of these are harmless, even benign; a few are oppressive. Few of these regimes last more than a century or two, although very isolated monarchies have been known to be quite enduring. More successful is when a ruling AI empowers a biont sovereign, who thus becomes, in the archaic phrase, the representative of God on Earth. |
| Nanarchy | Nanarchies are societies controlled by nanotechnological systems not of the same kind as the normal inhabitants. Usually the result of deliberate planning to ensure security or an accident. The nanosystems enforce certain policies, preventing attempts to overthrow them or change their programming outside the allowed channels. Reasonably common. |
| Panocracy | Rulership by the Collective or Totality. Can be benevolent as in Metasoft, where individuals retain autonomy of will, or more devouring, as in some hegemonizing swarms, where existence is only for the sake of the Collective |
| Plutocracy | A government run by those with the most wealth - a popular government in the early Interplanetary Age Earth, the later First Federation period, and remains popular in some of the more backward worlds of the Non Coercive Zone. But unless the ruling class has the backing of the local hyperturings they are easily undermined |
| Socialist State | A popular but often impractical system in which the state owns and controls most activities for the equal good of all people. Many Utopia Sphere worlds are of this sort. Without the leadership of benign AI, this sort of regime frequently deteriorates into totalitarianism is overthrown by a different system |
| Stochocracy | Form of government very popular in medium-tech clades
and polities that are of a decidedly libertine bent. In a stochocracy,
the number of government positions is kept to an absolute bare minimum
needed to ensure that all the necessary functions of government are
fulfilled without anyone being overworked more |
| Stratocracy | Rule by a nation's military leaders, or the military leaders of a clan or clade. In the aftermath of the Version Wars a number of military commanders, isolated from the main government in relativistic fleets, set up this kind of government in many of the worlds of the outer volumes. Generally these regimes are short-lived. |
| Syndicracy | Rule by an organization of the most powerful corporations on the planet. This was very common during the First Federation era. Syndicracies are fragile, depending on the alliances between the megacorps in question. Few last longer than a century. See also Company World. |
| Theocracy | Government by religious leadership or priesthood. A common phenomenon among medieval/iron age states, less common in the industrial age, almost non-existent in the Information Age (the internet savvy Islamic cultures on mid/late 21st century Earth being a rare exception) Theocracy began to flourish again among the mushrooming of utopian and eccentric factions in the Interplanetary Age. The Interstellar era saw some local theocratic biosphere-states. The Stella Umma was the only Theocratic Empire to really make it big during post-Federation time. Theocracies are very common today, but almost all the successful ones are Femtocracies. Non-AI theocracies are common and quite long-lived but, like monarchies, only survive as isolated polities |
