Difference between revisions of "Talk:Government of the Amarr Empire"

Latest revision as of 08:29, 15 January 2013

Imperial Ministries

The Amarr government has several organizations that run the day-to-day operations of the Empire. These institutions are commonly known as the Imperial Ministries, or Imperial Departments. These organizations cover a broad array of functions, from trade and taxation to organizing the military. The Imperial Chancellor oversees the ministries as their official head, the Court Chamberlain is the official head of the departments.

Amarr Civil Service

The Amarr Civil Service is the single largest employer within the Empire and is the main body of the Imperial bureaucracy.^[1]

[...]

Amarr Trade Registry

The Amarr Trade Registry is the central financial overseer of the Imperial economy.

[...]

Imperial Chancellor

The Imperial Chancellor, currently Aritcio Kor-Azor, administrates the vast bureaucracy of the Empire by being the overseer of the four Imperial Ministries (Ministry of Assessment, Ministry of Information^[2], Ministry of Internal Order, Ministry of War). All four ministries report directly to the chancellor, who in turn reports to the Privy Council and emperor. The chancellor is technically answerable only to the emperor himself, but history has seen chancellors who act nearly autonomously from the emperor and others who are heavily swayed by the Privy Council.

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https://forums.eveonline.com/default.aspx?g=posts&m=2355023#post2355023

Chancellor section added to page!--CCP Abraxas 15:00, 2 January 2013 (GMT)

HI, first thanks for the fast answer. I think a little misunderstanding has crept in:( I added the text, because of an question which I have about the amarrian goverment: "Is the Amarr Civil Service, Amarr Trade Registry overseen by the Imperial Chancellor or Chamberlain?", as can be ssen here. So the section above is about how I like to change the text of the page, not about adding the imperial chancellor as ministry. Sorry for any confusion- --Publius Valerius 17:27, 02.01.2013 (CET)

Because of the earlier confusion, I have now flash out more what I meant and what I like to have to change. I will be soon in-activ (5.1.2012) for a short break, so I cant anwser any future questions, but I hope I could make some stuff more clearer...Your Publius Valerius 06:18, 05.01.2013 (CET)

P.S. keep up the good work. :)

Ah, now I get you! We've decided to go for the Chamberlain option, of having him oversee the Civil Service and the Trade Registry. I made a few minor edits - very few changes were needed - but if you should spot anything that's still out of order, by all means let us know. And enjoy your time off :-) --CCP Abraxas 14:29, 15 January 2013 (GMT)

Imperial Ministries

The Amarr government has several organizations that run the day-to-day operations of the Empire. These institutions are commonly known as the Imperial Ministries, or Imperial Departments. These organizations cover a broad array of functions, from trade and taxation to organizing the military. The Imperial Chancellor oversees the ministries as their official head, the Court Chamberlain is the official head of the departments.

Amarr Civil Service

The Amarr Civil Service is the single largest employer within the Empire and is the main body of the Imperial bureaucracy.^[3] It handles many of the more mundane tasks for the Empire such as petitions to government offices, providing permits and licenses, managing the Imperial Archives, mediating between the various governmental bodies, ensuring the maintenance and upkeep of public utilities, and overseeing the infrastructure of planetary governments.

The Amarr Civil Service is made up of a number of departments, each of which specialize in a different area of governance. The Central Department, which is the largest, acts as the organizational body which regulates communications between the other departments. Other large departments include the Legal Department (which determines case jurisdiction and handles petitions to the emperor and Theology Council), the Public Works Department (which maintains utilities such as communications and computer networks), the Census Department (which collects data for the Book of Records), and the Planetary Governmental Department (which works with Holders and other planetary officials to run local governments).

Because of the sheer scope of the organization, the Amarr Civil Service is at times considered the most powerful secular body in the Empire. The head of the Civil Service can wield significant political influence, often comparable to the heirs themselves. The Civil Service employs a large number of commoners; few Holders or other nobility enter its ranks. This makes it one of the few ways a commoner can attain influence in the Empire.

Amarr Trade Registry

The Amarr Trade Registry is the central financial overseer of the Imperial economy. The registry's main function is recording all financial transactions within Amarr space, all the way from entire businesses bought by the heirs to the smallest beverage purchased by commoners.^[4] The Registry recognizes that recording every single transaction is impossible, as some are done with physical currency, but as the vast majority are done electronically, a computer is capable of recording them. It works closely with the Secure Commerce Commission on this and other matters.

In additional to documenting purchases, the Registry also records bank transactions, creation and transfer of stocks and bonds, founding of businesses, and any other undertaking that involves the trade of money or goods or can fall under the broad umbrella of commerce. In this way, the Registry is intimately involved in the slave trade, which gives it tremendous sway in Imperial politics.

The Trade Registry is responsible for monitoring all trade, both domestic and foreign. It is the primary branch of government responsible for customs within the Empire. It works closely with the Ministry of Internal Order to combat smuggling, while it must often compete with the Ministry of War for proper funding of its police vessels. The Registry sets and collects all Imperial tariffs, while monitoring any tariffs set by the heirs and Holders and ensuring they comply with any Imperial mandates (such as ensuring that goods from the Caldari State are not taxed at a greater rate than similar products from the Gallente Federation).

As its final, but perhaps most important duty, the Amarr Trade Registry contains the Imperial Taxation Collection office. All Imperial taxes are collected by the Registry, while it also makes sure other taxes in the Empire adhere to Imperial law. At times, it will contract out tax collectors for the heirs or Holders to assist with proper collection and accounting, but most Holders wish to use their own staff for this purpose.

Ministry of Assessment

The Ministry of Assessment was formerly one of the most powerful governmental bodies in the Empire, but its importance has waned significantly over the past several decades. At one time, the Ministry of Assessment was the primary body responsible for charting unexplored systems, assaying the mineral wealth of asteroid belts, moons, and planets, and ensuring that those resources were exploited to the maximum degree.^[5]

While it still performs all these tasks to some degree, the cessation of exploration and expansion has relegated the Ministry to a mostly custodial nature. It continues to keep records on all surveyed celestial objects and the companies responsible for mining them, but it rarely comes across a new body to investigate. Because of this, Holders and other Amarr businessmen are no longer so vicious in currying the favor of the Ministry in an attempt to gain lucrative mining rights and contracts.

The Ministry still has the power to terminate a mining contract, but it does so fairly infrequently in order to avoid disruptive turnover. When it does announce that rights to a particularly lucrative body has become available, however, some of its old glory becomes evident for a short period as various companies enter into a frenzy to win the contract.

The Ministry itself remains fairly neutral and detached from Imperial politics. This has hindered the Ministry at times, but more often it has allowed it to operate without undue restraint. It is one of the more efficient parts of the Imperial bureaucracy because of that.

Ministry of Internal Order

The Ministry of Internal Order is the primary intelligence and police force of the Empire.^[6] Its duties include ensuring the safety and stability of the Empire, keeping track of all foreign elements within the Empire's borders, keeping tabs on and eliminating criminal and pirate activity, and preventing heresy. Unlike in other empires, where intelligence officials and “secret” police are kept in relative secrecy, the Ministry of Internal Order works mostly in the open. When necessary, its agents can go undercover, but Ministry officers tend to be readily identifiable and welcomed by the populace, despite the sometimes underhanded nature of their work.

The Ministry has an extensive network of informants across the Empire that assist it with its task of controlling and monitoring the population. In addition, regular citizens are encouraged to report suspicious activity directly to the Ministry. This keeps the Ministry relatively well-informed and it needs to rely on activities such as wire-taps and covert surveillance far less than groups such as the Black Eagles.

The Ministry works closely with the Amarr Trade Registry to combat smuggling and illegal immigration. While the customs fleet is under the full purview of the Trade Registry, Internal Order officials are almost always present at any cargo inspections or immigration checkpoints. The two ministries have a close working relationship because of this cooperation and often side with each other on political matters.

One of the most notorious branches of the Ministry of Internal Order is its Inquisition, called the Ministry's Ordinators. The Inquisition works hand-in-hand with the Theology Council to undercover heresy within the Empire. It most frequently targets Sani Sabik cults and other heretics, but it also handles tasks such as the suppression of forbidden documents, the destruction of blasphemous relics, and the repudiation of apostasy.^[7]

While the Ministry publicly only concerns itself with the internal affairs of the Empire, it is known to have an extensive spy network in place in all of the other factions of New Eden. The efficacy of these spies are debatable, with many considering the Empire's foreign intelligence network among the weakest in the cluster.

Ministry of War

The Ministry of War oversees all the various branches of the Amarr armed forces, such as the Imperial Navy, the Imperial Army, and the 24th Imperial Crusade. It additionally works closely with the house fleets of the five heir families, who are more properly security forces than military, though its power over them is limited without a decree from the emperor. Because of its great importance, the Ministry of War is one of the most politically powerful bodies in the Empire.^[8]

Traditionally, the Ministry of War has been staffed by civilians, with military officers in key leadership positions. Prior to the ascent of Empress Jamyl I, the Ministry itself was far more of a political and organizational body aimed at ensuring the armed forces were well funded and maintained. It did little to define actual strategy or deployment.

However, under Jamyl's rule, the Ministry of War has become far more of a military command. Many of the bureaucrats were ousted from the Ministry and replaced with high-ranking military officials. Today, the Ministry of War can be seen more along the lines of a central command, directing the actions of every branch of the military, keeping them organized and orderly, and making sure they all work toward the same goals.

Even with these changes, the Ministry continues to concern itself with constructing and maintaining the Amarr Navy and 24th Imperial Crusade's fleets, as well as equipping the other branches of the armed forces. The majority of its funding goes toward these ends, especially as the Empyrean War grows in scope.

The Ministry of War often chafes against the family fleets of the five heirs. Because the fleets do not coordinate with the Ministry, many politically unfavorable situations can arise. It also technically has no control over the Ammatar Fleet, though prior to the Ardishapur takeover it treated the Ammatar Fleet as a lesser branch of the Amarr Navy. Currently, the Ministry wields only minor influence over the direction of the Ammatar Fleet. It also coordinates closely with the Royal Khanid Navy and the Caldari Navy, typically on joint training exercises and patrols.

Imperial Offices

The final, and often most ill-understood, parts of the Empire's government are the two positions known as the Imperial Offices: the Court Chamberlain and the Imperial Chancellor. These two posts are appointed directly by the emperor, answer only to him, and have broad, wide-ranging powers. The two are often conflated with each other and throughout history both offices have held powers that overlap and regularly conflict. Currently, the Court Chamberlain is the weaker of the two offices.

Court Chamberlain

The Court Chamberlain is a role traditionally held by the emperor's top advisor and confidant, earning it the reputation as the “emperor's right-hand”.^[9] Many functions are held by the Court Chamberlain, the most important of which is generally its role as Imperial Regent. The chamberlain speaks with the full authority of the emperor and, in the absence of the emperor, is considered to be of equal importance. A chamberlain's decrees and mandates can only be overruled by the emperor himself or the Speakers of Truth in extraordinary cases.

The Court Chamberlain thus functions, in many cases, as a surrogate for the emperor, essentially allowing the emperor (or his authority) to be in two places at one time. Many of the Empire's treaties and other political negotiations have been conducted utterly by the chamberlain with no involvement from the emperor himself. Similarly, other matters of state can be conducted by the chamberlain and his signature is as good as the emperor's.

In addition to acting as a secondary emperor, the Court Chamberlain also traditionally acts as the final filter for appeals before they are passed on to the emperor. Matters such as requests for pardons, Imperial judgments, and recommendations Cross of the Sacred Throne Order cross the desk of the Court Chamberlain before being passed to the emperor for final approval. Often times, the chamberlain makes the decision on such matters and the emperor will simply sign off on them.

Finally, the chamberlain is the de facto leader of the Empire in the absence of an emperor. Famously, Dochuta Karsoth acted as emperor for several years following the death of Doriam II, frequently rebuffing attempts to move the Succession Trials forward. During this time he essentially usurped the throne, becoming the emperor in everything but name. It is partly because of this that the post was so weakened following the coronation of Jamyl I.

The current chamberlain is seen as little more than a figurehead filling the post while being completely subservient to Jamyl I. While he still fulfills his duties, he has rarely had a chance to act on Jamyl's behalf, instead mostly acting in his function as an intermediary between the Empress and her subjects.

Imperial Chancellor

The Imperial Chancellor, currently Aritcio Kor-Azor, administrates the vast bureaucracy of the Empire by being the overseer of the four Imperial Ministries (Ministry of Assessment, Ministry of Information^[2], Ministry of Internal Order, Ministry of War). All four ministries report directly to the chancellor, who in turn reports to the Privy Council and emperor. The chancellor is technically answerable only to the emperor himself, but history has seen chancellors who act nearly autonomously from the emperor and others who are heavily swayed by the Privy Council.

The chancellor is the one who sets the budgets for the various ministries, appoints their leaders, signs off on upper-level promotions, and assigns their yearly goals. Through this, he typically has great influence over the entirety of the Empire, as each part of the Imperial bureaucracy strives to claim his favor.

In addition to his administrative duties, the chancellor is also the penultimate law enforcement official in the Empire, subservient only to the emperor himself. The emperor often sends the chancellor to lead suppression fleets during times of internal chaos, such as when the Refusards rejected Jamyl I's emancipation decree.^[10] He claims this right as the dual overseer of the Ministries of Internal Order and War.
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