The States (Lesre)

Bergonian state government is the real laboratory of Bergonian politics, with the various states designing their governments in very different, sometimes very unique ways.  

Each Lesre may adopt whatever form of government it wants, providing that four fundamental conditions are satisfied:  (a) The form of government is rendered in the form of a constitution.  (b)  The constitution must be established and amended only with a popular referendum.  (c)  The Lesre constitution must "be democratic in nature and method and otherwise comport with the commonwealth constitutions, and (d) (most importantly) every state's constitution must vest all law-making power in a popularly-elected assembly or legislature.  

Most Lesre have unicameral legislatures, though some are bicameral.  A very few states have established People's Assemblies, chosen from among the population by lot. 

Every state's system of government is tailor-made to its unique pattern of communal & demographic divisions, taking into account interest group realities.

Here are the different types of state governments:

The constitutions of 10 states imitate the national gov, including a one-house Legislature, ranging from 68 to 330 members, a weak governor (four states call him a premier, as in Canada) and a powerful executive council which the governor chairs.  Usually the executive council, rather than the governor, holds the power to veto bills.  In a uniquely Bergonian variation, any executive body holding a veto power has the power to rescind a veto and approve the bill before the next session of the legislature begins. The governor usually may force any item onto the legislature's agenda or the executive council's.  The governor or the executive council appoints and supervises the department heads.

Ten states have a purely plural executive in the form of an executive council (with a chairman).  The executive councils can have as few as three heads, and as many as twenty, but most have in the range of five to eleven members.  Some of the executive councils allocate membership among the state's constituent ethnic groups, to guarantee representation (as done in Belgium).  

Four states have parliamentary systems, with a prime minister and cabinet, modeled directly after the British system.  Not surprisingly these four have English population, and were included in the southern regions that the British colonizers controlled the longest.  These four are Bruntaigo, Serpi, Soleinia, and Lampanira. 

The very small and very English Giles Free State has the simplest constitutions: A single house legislature of 33 members and a governor.  Five states, including Giles F.S., have elected governors and no executive council.

Halemarec's government resembles the commonwealth government, with a weak governor and a strong executive council, except that it has a bicameral legislature.  One house is an elected legislative body, with delegates elected by proportional representation, and the second house is an assembly chosen by lot, like the national peoples assembly. 

The state of Bun-Vosuget has the most  peculiar constitution.  It provides for a complicated tri-cameral arrangement between a 200-delegate Legislative Assembly elected from single-delegate constituencies, a 36 member State Senate with members elected from the six different autonomous counties into which the entire state is divided, and a Consultative Assembly consisting of 600 members selected out of the general population by lottery (like the national peoples assembly).  Some classes of bills need the approval of only two houses (such as the budget), but others (like changes to the criminal law) require approval by all three.  Moreover Bun-Vosuget has no governor, but rather a six-person executive council with one member from each of the six counties.

Cities and Towns  (Tunec) 

The bigger cities are organized into urban counties.  The government includes a city assembly, a mayor, an executive council, a planning council and a housing council.  The urban counties have their own school system, so they have education councils.  The smaller cities of course are subject to the government of the county they are located in and therefore have less power.  Most towns and villages conduct all their affairs with one city council and a mayor.

The city is divided into self-governing wards or arrondissiments, each with a council that fix streets and sidewalks, approves minor zoning changes, allocates parking, maintain the local park and market, maintain the neighborhood watch, and in many cases control the allotment of housing.  

Autonomous Counties  (Zhubon)  

Ethnic groups concentrated into compact geographical areas too small to justify the formation of a state are  sometimes included in a larger state but given special autonomy.  These autonomous counties are called zhubon.  The bulk of the European population resides in self-governing autonomous counties.  Some of these are actually autonomous cities.

The zhubon control education and communications, including the licensing of radio and television stations (though the allocation of frequencies is done by a neutral national body according to purely technical considerations.)  The zhubon also promote culture and arts specific to the ethnic group. The zhubon also designates its own official languages, including languages for signs.   Otherwise, Zhubon exercise the same powers as counties.

How States and Subdivisions generally conduct business

Transparency:  The various state laws requires that state and local governments all conduct their business in an open, transparent way.  All ballots in legislatures and assemblies must be open and recorded. 

Conflicts of Interest:  Disclosures of assets, income and associations are required of all officers and elected officials.  Conflicts are often assumed as a matter of law.

Documentation:  No decision is a valid decision unless it is in writing and duly recorded with the appropriate organizational clerk of records, which is often open to the public.

Freedom of Information:  Laws in every state require all levels of authority to disclose and make available to the public all their records upon request, except for private cases or "personnel" matters, matters related to criminal investigations, security provisions, and the military. 

Open meetings:  All meetings of executive and legislative councils must conduct their proceedings in public, with certain provisions for closed discussion concerning criminal investigations, security provisions and the military.  Executive councils do have authority to close doors for private debate.  But all votes must either be taken in public view or documented by the signatures of a majority of members.  

Patronage:  Bergonians have a rather relaxed idea about patronage.  Patronage is benign if the people who benefit from it have the abilities and willingness to do good work, and in honest fact many of them do.  A powerful man violates the prerogatives of patronage if he appoints an incompetent or a fool to a position, and the political opposition and local newspapers will openly complain, but if the powerful man appoints good, smart people then he can bring credit to himself.  The People figure that patronage will occur in any event, and there is no reason to make patronage relationships covert or suspect.  It is often said that the concealment of the relationship is usually a worse thing than the relationship itself.  There are now two recognized limits on patronage: first, patronage is not permitted for leadership positions; second, patronage is expected to be occasional, so too much patronage can now be defined and limited by law.