Talk:Widow
From Inselkampf
New Policies Established during March 23, 2007 Elections
article by Sumikoska of [WIDOW]
DUTIES OF A MEDIATOR:
Passed by 100% of Registered Voters
The Mediator will be a point of contact for the resolution of internal conficts with in the alliance. The mediator will act as a friendly, unbiased point of contact for unallied individuals who are not members of the alliance and hence, have no diplomat of their own alliance to represent them.
DECLARATIONS OF WAR:'
Passed by 66% of Registered Voters
The [WIDOW] Alliance can only declare war on another alliance by majority vote of its membership. No other powers of any office (Administrator, Admiral, Diplomat or other unmentioned offices) shall be able to declare a war aside from with a majority vote.
(NOTE: 33% of Registered Voters thought that Presidential consent should also be required. That part of the measure was voted down, so [WIDOW] may declare war without consent of it�s administrators.)
DUTIES OF A DIPLOMAT: CESSATION OF WAR
Passed by 83% of Registered Voters
The duties of a diplomat shall include beginning negotiations for cessation of war (either temporary cease fires or permanent cessation) but final decisions can be made only after group discussion and a vote.
(NOTE: 17% of Registered Voters felt only a discussion was necessary but not a vote.)
DUTIES OF A DIPLOMAT: REGARDING PACTS
1) Discussion of entering pacts with another alliance should be voted on before talks even get started with that alliance. When an alliance approaches any member of [WIDOW] - whether or not that member is an officer or official - about pacting with [WIDOW], that member is now obligated by alliance law to take that issue directly to the voters for discussion and a vote.
Passed by 83% of Registered Voters
(NOTE: Traditionally, discussion of pacts and treaties is announced by a post on the internal forums so posting a new topic (�So and So wants a Pact�) would fulfill that requirement. 17% of voters felt pacts should only go to a vote only after discussion with the administrators. 17% of voters felt diplomats should be able to discuss pacts without a vote.)
2) The powers of a diplomat shall include discussing pacts with other alliances but final consent for a pact can only be made with an alliance vote.
Passed by 100% of Registered Voters
(NOTE: In conjunction, these two laws together can be interpreted to mean that a diplomat cannot discuss terms for a PACT until after a group discussion and vote. Once the terms the voters want are set, then the diplomat would negotiate and take measures to the voters until the issue is resolved)
PROCEDURE REGARDING TREATY DISSOLUTION
Passed by 100% of Registered Voters" No citizen or office of Widow is empowered to dissolve a treaty without a 24 hour period of discussion on the boards with a stickied conversation with a self-explanatory title . _________________
Political Speeches
Temporary Addition For Candidates to Speak
Kolikona
Candidate for: Mediator
My fellow pirates, ninjas, humans, ninjapirates, ninjahumanpirates, drunken Vikings, mermaids, and everyone else.
I would like to personally announce my candidacy for Mediator in the March 23rd elections.
According to my memories of conversations I was a part of and various online texts that I read, this means I would become your friendly neighborhood councelor, among other things.
If you have an inner-alliance issue with one or more of your peers, come to me with your stories and I will act as an unbiased (free from all prejudice and favoritism) interpreter of right and wrong. Of course 'right and wrong' arent always easy to determine so I'll be giving you my opinion, which you can choose to take into consideration or not.
Think of me as a diplomat (skilled in handling affairs without arousing hostility). My mission is to come up with fair solutions to your problems, as to avoid having our members aiming their catapults at one another with intention to launch large and/or explosive objects.
If you are an unaffiliated (independent, no alliance) player, and you have issue with a [widow] alliance member, you can also come to me instead of our diplomats.
Discussion of Emerging Politics at Widow
Article by Sumikoska of [WIDOW]
(Originally written in response to questions at the Inselkampf Forums - edited for conciseness and relevance)
At this time, specific ballot measures regarding the governance of BlackWidow that are not posted are only for discussion amongst the members of [WIDOW] and shall remain so until such time as they are ratified into law and posted sometime after March 23.
DESIRED ACHIEVEMENTS OF THE ELECTORAL PROCESS
Enough internal harmony to build a strong alliance. And an agreed upon process for handing over the reins that can be repeated overtime without constantly disrupting the alliance whenever there is a change of power.
Once elected, an official will be expected to perform the duties of office until such a time as the term is over, and on his or her honor, not abdicate his or her position for any reason until the next President (the President-elect) takes office, after the election. The President-elect has time to learn the job, and isn't forced to take it over immediately upon completion of the election.
Policies are based upon a combination of learning from experience (positive and negative) as well as careful planning.
In a democracy, a majority should be able to set forth policies of governance that have enough support from the group to be inacted, but there is always room for dissention. However, what is law is law. The current administration should not be "pushed out" by external forces, or replaced before the term of office is completed unless there is a dire reason for some sort of impeachment, which should then be done through some sort of judicial process.
The goal is for the people of WIDOW to be able to say it if they have a disagreement with leadership, and for leadership to know that the people of WIDOW have the ability to oust them at the next election, and the leadership ARE PUBLIC SERVANTS with a job to do.
It is to discourage the leadership of WIDOW from abdicating and leaving thier post at the throw of a hat, and to enact policies that will discourage outside parties from telling us who our leadership should be.
one of the measures on the ballot right now is the length of terms of office. They would be actual set terms off office, with regularly scheduled elections. We don't have term limits, so people could keep running for office, but they'd have to be re-elected after the end of each term.
TERMS OF OFFICE
As of this writing, proposed terms of either 3, 6, 9, or 12 months are on the ballot.
A lot of specific measures about what the powers of the Office of President (Admin), Office of Diplomat (Diplomat), and even one about the Office of Admiral (Admiral) should be - are on the ballot. They have to do with what decisions each office can make with or without the consent of other offices or the voters, how long the decision making process can be in a crisis situation or when an emergency vote is called, etc.
With only 4 members, at this time anyone can propose a ballot measure without any formal process. All of the measures proposed by all of our members have thus far been very sensible, and all four members have been active in making proposals.
(responses to questions posted at http://z10.invisionfree.com/IKC by Squinty and Kirby)
