Quote:
Originally Posted by Johnny1A.2
This is a variation on a hereditary aristocratic ruling body that I've used in my Orichalcum Universe setting, but it wouldn't have to be specific to it, adjust details to taste:
The Chamber of Princes is made up of 26 Great Families, each with the primary aristocratic title of Prince. This doesn't refer to royal descent, but rather to 'prince' as a title of (semi)-sovereignty in itself, and is also a play on 'merchant prince', since this aristocracy had its roots as much or more in corporate business activity as military prowess.
There are 26 Princely families, and no constitutional provision to increase it or add to it, though a new Great Family could be admitted to replace one rendered extinct by accident or infertility. Each Family is entitled to two seats in the Chamber, however.
Though the theoretical power balance in the Chamber is fairly simple, in practice it can become byzantine under these arrangements.
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I quoted my earlier post because this is another idea that I used in my Orichalcum Universe world, this is another chamber of the same imperial legislature that contains the Chamber of Princes above. Again, this concept could be adjusted to taste for use in other settings.
The future Empire in question is multinational, multiethnic, multilingual multicultural, multifaith, and spreads over several continents. It has an institution reminiscent of 'Roman Citizenship' in the first century AD, however. Some subjects of the Empire are granted 'citizenship' in the Empire as a whole, giving them a status that transcends most of the local authorities and states and so forth within the Empire. All Imperial Citizens are also Imperial Subjects, but the converse is far from true. Once granted Citizenship, it can not be revoked short of death.
All the Imperial Citizens in the Empire, along with whatever other political status they have, are also entitled to vote for representation in the Civil Chamber. Only Imperial Citizens can stand for election to the Civil Chamber, and only Imperial Citizens can vote for the membership of the 100 member Civil Chamber.
What makes this unusual by traditional democratic standards is that Citizenship can come about by birth, by special grant, sometimes it accompanies other accomplishments or status. Citizenship status is not controlled by any one authority, so the exact composition of the electorate for the Civil Chamber changes somewhat unpredictably with time.
Also, instead of geographical representation, each newly enrolled Citizen is assigned to a particular Seat in the Chamber more or less at random, with the process breaking the electorate down evenly into 100 constituencies, and you keep that Seat as your Civil representative permanently, regardless of where you live or go. This spreads the constituencies of the 100 Civil Deputies out all over the Empire, intermixed with each other. An Imperial Citizen living in what is today France might share the same Deputy as a Citizen living in what is today Brazil. Meanwhile, his next-door-neighbor Citizen might share a Deputy with Citizens living in what are currently (say) Norway and Rwanda.
This factor makes the Civil Chamber the most 'geographically' representative body in the Imperial Diet, their constituents are spread out all over the Empire. On the other hand, it has a very restrictive franchise, only about one Subject in 1000 is also a Citizen. On the other hand, Citizens can and do come from almost all walks of life, socio-economic levels, and backgrounds. To the confusion of many observers, it is simultaneously a very elite body and a very egalitarian one.
This also makes campaigning to seek and/or hold a Civil Chamber seat a complex proposition, because any given Deputy's constituents are likely to be scattered from Kamchatka to Madrid, and from Cape Horn to Mexico City, and also from Johannesburg to Cairo and probably a few on the Indian subcontinent, too. The interests, priorities, and preferences of such a diverse constituency can be...challenging...to manage.
Civil Deputies serve five year terms, with 20 seats being open for election every year (the Empire has annual elections).