So the term `chancellor´in the Klingon sense is much discussed.
Then there is the term `First Minister of Bajor´. In the German novels it is translated as Erster Minister, on TV as Premierminister. Premierminister would be Prime Minister. Where's the difference?
I mean, functionally, there's not a lot of difference: a head of a government in a parliamentary system is a head of government in a parliamentary system.
However, the impression I get is that the term "Prime Minister" evolved to reflect the status of the particular person as the
primary adviser to the Monarch (this being back in the day when "Minister" referred to someone who is advising, before it took on the meaning of "person who runs a department in a Cabinet government"). So there are connotations of centrality and dominance, but not necessarily an explicit
ranking of the minister as first. Certainly the etymological ancestors of "Prime" and "First" have similar meanings, but I think they carry different connotations today.
The term "First Minister," meanwhile, has in real life most commonly come to refer to the heads of government of subnational entities -- hence the First Minister of Scotland vs. the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. Wikipedia tells me that "First Minister" is also the English translation of the term used for the head of government of Norway (
førstestatsråd) back during most of the period when it was in personal union with Sweden. It is my understanding -- and someone please correct me if I am wrong -- that Sweden was the real center of power in that relationship.
Bajor: Fragments and Omens contains a brief reference to the First Minister being Bajor's head of state. If so, that would mean that, unlike most parliamentary systems, there is no separate head of state whose job it is to appoint the First Minister. This seems to make sense given that the First Minister position in the show was popularly elected.
We don't really know the reason the Federation translates whatever the Bajoran term is to "First Minister." We
do know from
Mission: Gamma that the First Minister's primary adviser and deputy within his/her cabinet is the Second Minister, who becomes First Minister if the F.M. dies or resigns. And we do know from
Terok Nor: Day of the Viper that all members of the Chamber of Ministers hold a title translated as "Minister." We do not know why the Federation so translates this title, either. (
Vipers also depicts at least some Ministers as having inherited their position prior to the Occupation.)
The show depicted the Bajoran Kai as ascending to the position of First Minister temporarily when the first post-Occupation F.M. died in office. But this seems to have been an
ad hoc arrangement, presumably stemming from the Bajoran government not having yet formulated its constitutional provisions post-Occupation.
Re: Ministers. It is possible that each minister has a numerical rank. It is also possible that only members of the cabinet (assuming they have one) hold numerical rank. It is possible that Ministers are so-called because their office evolved from religious authorities who advised someone -- perhaps constituents and members of the public, or perhaps and earlier and now defunct aristocracy?
And which translation would be correct? As far as I know, no German would say Erster Minister. Ministerpräsident is more common. But I wouldn't use it in the Bajoran government context.
My sense would be that it's best to use "Erster Minister" because we don't know what the fictitious cultural reasoning is for the First Minister to hold that name. There may be some plot/Bajoran cultural reason that the leader is called "First Minister" rather than something else.
So the term `chancello´in the Klingon sense is much discussed.
Then there is the term `First Minister of Bajor´. In the German novels it is translated as Erster Minister, on TV as Premierminister. Premierminister would be Prime Minister. Where's the difference? And which translation would be correct? As far as I know, no German would say Erster Minister. Ministerpräsident is more common. But I wouldn't use it in the Bajoran government context.
I don't think there is a huge difference. The First Minister of Bajor seems to be the leader of the Chamber of Ministers the same way the Prime Minster of an Earth government is the leader of an executive ministerial body.
Hm. I always got the impression that the Chamber of Ministers was a legislature, like a Parliament. Maybe the Chamber of Ministers is an executive body like a Cabinet?
I do find myself wondering if maybe the modern Klingon Qang is a bit like the ancient Roman Emperor or the modern Chinese President -- an office that lacks certain legal authorities in and of itself, but which is often held as a sort of "centerpiece" office by someone holding multiple offices simultaneously which collectively confer supreme executive authority onto the office-holder through their unique separate legal powers.
You made the same argument regarding the Emperor of the Centauri in
Babylon Five, as I recall.
I did? I don't recall!
But it makes sense, because it would nicely reconcile why their state is called the Centauri Republic while their leader is called the Emperor.
That might give us some insight into the legalities of Gowron's succession crisis? Maybe his position as Qang was assured, but he had some trouble coupling the position of "Leader of the High Council" with the position of Qang, helping cause the constitutional crisis? Just some speculation.
I like this idea. The speculation that there are multiple foundations for the Chancellor's authority and that they might not come as a package if you don't pull off your ascent correctly raises all sorts of interesting possibilities; it certainly makes the Klingon political plotlines more nuanced and interesting.
Thanks! It's pure speculation, though -- I can't recall enough about those episodes to know if there's anything that can be interpreted to support that idea from the canon.
And because he wanted to address the idea you just did, about a legislature that's full of career politicians who may not be well-tied to the "real world," Robinson set Mars's legislature as a Congress with two houses -- a Senate full of elected Senators... and a Duma, the lower house, whose membership is chosen by lottery from among all adult Martian residents every two Martian years. The idea being that you get a more diverse range of experiences and a closer connection to the people, while also acknowledging that the Duma won't be the primary engine of government.
I have to admit that the idea is somewhat attractive.
If I might take a heady dive into personal musings here...
In my opinion, the last people you want running things are career politicians. Politicians are masters of politics, that's the whole point; they seek positions of security, influence, or authority through social manoeuvring. So they stir up support from the populace through appeal to common assumptions or instinctual impulses, they ride the waves of popular thought while tweaking it and they direct disorder to achieve momentary outcomes that (supposedly) benefit the politicians. It's a system that can never be allowed to actually function, nor can it be disassembled. In order to ascend, or to maintain their position relative to others, politicians must wrack the system with stresses without seeking to alleviate those stresses or permit an actual collapse. When one's foundation for support comes from discontentment and perceived dysfunction, discontentment and dysfunction must remain.
Anyone operating within a tribal framework seeks to ensure their security and their claim to membership by conforming to the shape of that society, by altering their behaviour, attitudes and assumptions to fit those of the people around them, sharing their fundamental perception of the world. Preserving the integrity of the group structure is considered paramount, but to acquire greater status within the group there has to be a shake-up. Behaviours are governed by two almost paradoxical urges: to assimilate into the group (subordinate the self to group identity) and to stand out as an exceptional individual (promote the self relative to others within the group). In order to preserve the current social model while also creating opportunities for one's greater pursuit of influence one needs to cause disorder or channel discontent, so one may ride that localized uncertainty into a new position or boost the status of the self. (This is by no means confined to parliaments and councils, of course, and the tendency to view politics and social influence in those terms alone, or primarily, is a problematic one in my opinion). I'm not saying some good doesn't result from this on occasion, but I don't see how you can base a successful system on what is essentially a constant deconstruction that nonetheless seeks to maintain the shape of things. Pulling and tugging and undermining the structural integrity of a body, with more time spent checking itself than actually performing a useful function. Societies need to run on practical expertise, not on social manoeuvring. People will do the latter anyway, it seems foolish to prioritise it. Career politicians are those expertly trained to exploit and create problems, rather than fix them. Putting dedicated politicians in charge of things is like putting crooked art dealers in charge of your museum.
Well -- I don't fully agree with this idea, even as I do agree with the idea that career politicians experience a level of social distance that can make it hard for them to empathize with or feel connected to the lives of normal people. On the other hand, I also think that the business of running a government is inherently so complex that saying you shouldn't have career politicians running the state is a bit like saying you shouldn't have career neurologists performing brain surgery or career pilots flying a plane. Things are too complex for someone who is not specialized in the mechanisms of governance not to be needed.
That's one of the advantages to Robinson's set-up, I think -- you've got career politicians in the Senate and normal people in the Duma, and they both have to negotiate with each other to pass legislation.
(Robinson also has Mars using a seven-member Executive Council as a collective head of state and government, with a rotating Council presidency, rather than an elected President or Prime Minister. The idea being to de-personalize an executive role that ought to be about policy rather than personality. He based it on the Swiss model.)
I guess Martok wouldn't be happy about this hairsplitting regarding political terms. He's a man of action.
Although Klingons
have been presented as placing considerable emphasis on language as a political tool. The whole business from the background texts by Okrand regarding
ta' Hol, the Emperor's Klingon. Martok is a commoner from the Ketha Lowlands - his language, including his favoured terminology, would probably be reason enough to earn him enmity from some quarters. Martok might have to pay
some attention to linguistic disputes.
Excellent point. As always, Klingons aren't quite as action-oriented as they like to imagine themselves.
Martok's enemies - both personal and professional - are already lying in wait. Which requires constant attention.
Is Alexander still embassador to the federation on Qo'noS?
Well, Alexander was never the ambassador to the Federation. He was the ambassador
from the Federation -- as Federation Ambassador to the Klingon Empire, he represented the Federation to the Klingons, not the Klingons to the Federation. (The Klingon Ambassador to the Federation from 2379 onward is someone named K'mtok. He lives and works on Earth, just as Alexander lived and worked on Qo'noS.)
However,
A Time for War, A Time for Peace established that all Federation ambassadors to foreign states customarily submit their resignations when a new President comes into office. That new President then has the option of either re-appointing that ambassador or of appointing a new person to the position. So presumably Alaxander would have submitted his resignation upon Kellessar zh'Tarash becoming Federation President, but we do not yet know if President zh'Tarash chose to keep Alexander on or to appoint someone new.
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