A Production of the Ministry of News and Records
The East Pacific News Service
October, 2020
Foreign Affairs In the East Pacific
By Eunopiar
The East Pacific’s Foreign Affairs belief has caused controversy among many circles around NationStates. Many have expressed disdain around the Foreign Affairs style, with prominent players doing things from writing long posts to criticise the Foreign Affairs stance to stating “LOL TEP.” Now of course, there obviously is a reason why The East’s foreign affairs stance has aroused so much controversy and criticism. This was an object of curiosity for me - I have disagreed with the East Pacific’s Foreign Affairs decisions before, because they seemed erratic and a little discombobulated. However, this does beg the question: is there a method behind the madness? I interviewed the current delegate of the East Pacific, Serge (also known as Libertanny), and here’s what I found out. One: TEP’S STANCE IS ABOUT MAKING FRIENDS OVER STRATEGICAL ALLIES When I asked Serge how he would describe TEP’s Foreign Affairs stance, he replied: “[...] my main approach was that, we [sic. are making friends, not strategical [sic.] allies. Because strategic interests change, and strategic allies fade away, whilst friends stay with you no matter what. And we can see it working - TSP, NPO, Thaecia or Free Nations Region. That's examples of where we went for friendship, and that's examples of perfect relations. So our stance in nutshell? Treat UCRs equally with GCRs, make friends, not allies & give a chance to promising regions, even if they aren't big.” This makes the Foreign Affairs Stance of the East unique, to say the least. The “Friends Not Allies” philosophy is particularly prevalent in many Foreign Affairs decisions of the East Pacific an indeed regionwide - the regional government has passed many treaties and Non Aggression Pacts (such as the treaty with the Free Nations Region and The New Pacific Order) that seem to be wanting to find genuine “friends” over “strategical allies.” The government of the East Pacific seems want to continue prioritising these long term “friends” alliances as well - in our interview, Serge has made it clear that they preferred mutually beneficial alliances, where both regions remain loyal and faithful to each other over a long period of time, with a sense of collaboration built up with , over short-term strategic allies where regions are purely in a treaty to prevent a short term occurrence (such as a coup), or a treaty where regions are exploiting the other region through some way, shape or form. Simply put, the government of the East Pacific prefers meaningful alliances over short term, pointless alliances. Two: TEP VALUES GOVERNMENTAL AND REGIONAL COLLABORATION. When I asked Serge about what the characteristics of a good treaty are, he stated: “(A) characteristic is obviously (a) cooperative and active government willing to participate in different activities with us.” This isn’t a new or groundbreaking idea, however, it is an important one. Often, alliances in NationStates now become either political symbols of a region’s alignment or just simply fall inactive and don’t signify anything. The delegate seems to be committed to ensure that treaties remain active, and mandated for several events to be organised as well, such as the three renditions of Paradoxical (the most recent one being the Viking Edition, that was organised with the South Pacific and the Rejected Realms). Three: Quality > Quantity Serge was insistent that he would seek to ensure that all allies are fostered and are in a good state before seeking new ones. They stated: “It's about quality, not quantity. We first have to take care of all relations we have, and then, we can talk about new friends. Once I feel like the situation is good enough, I will then consider making more friends.” Four: GCRs are equal to UCRs Again, this isn’t a new, groundbreaking or revolutionary idea, but Serge stated that they would like to ensure that all allies are treated equally, without any discrimination due to the nature of the region. Libertanny re-iterated that he would like to stay away from the elitist mindset that some Game Created Regions currently have, and do everything in his power to ensure that all allies are treated in a similar way. In Conclusion This Foreign Affairs modus operandi isn’t a new or revolutionary idea, however, it does provide an insight into the East Pacific’s stances on how they conduct Foreign Affairs: they value long-term, mutually beneficial relations.
1 Infinite Loop - the Legend Lives
By Evrigenis Author’s note: This article is a synthesis of several sources, including but not limited to email correspondence, RMB posts, and discord messages. Narrative consistency has been privileged above verbatim responses and realism.
∞You might have heard people declare that they are a “history buff” or a “math nerd” but you probably haven’t heard many say they are both. Besides, why would history and math have anything in common? Because why not? But more pertinently because the compass and square have had a long, illustrious history of being symbols of The East Pacific. And that history all started with a nation named 1 Infinite Loop.
∞Even though I had only been wandering the multiverse for less than a year, finding my home in a small archipelago in the East Pacific meant that I had heard much about 1 Infinite Loop. It was a land steeped in eccentric traditions — a nation noted for its immortality and Japanese holidays and big Frenchness and high-tech investment and ability to make flags for nations in need and much, much more — that spread its ideals across the region, unifying the otherwise culturally barren lands. To a noob like me, 1 Infinite Loop was the name of a faraway fairytale. Fascinating? Definitely. Tangible? Definitely not. Something worth researching to procrastinate on pondering my Monday to-do list? No more questions needed. So I ambled into my local library to find out more about the founder of the East Pacific. Strolling among the first aisle, I quickly found several volumes on the subject. What I could read was entertaining as expected. However, much of the history that I wanted was absent. A bit disappointed, I went to the information desk and asked if there were possibly other places to locate information concerning Loop. The Nekomini librarian gave me a couple suggestions. After finding them inadequate, she gave me a sad shrug, “Not here.” After a pensive pause, the clerk suggested I look elsewhere: “if you’re reeeeally interested, you just might find what you’re looking for...” she suppressed a chuckle as the corners of my lips turned up and my eyes brightened before finishing the sentence with three dread-inducing words “in the catacombs.” I shivered at the thought. Superstitions run high in October, and for good reason: the possibility of coming across an irradiated life form like a ghost or a zombie in the catacombs becomes all too real at this time of the year. However, my curiosity was piqued, and I asked for directions to the catacombs. She wrote them out while her eyes sparkled with amusement. After thanking her for her purrfect service, I descended.
∞It didn’t take very long to get lost in the dark maze of dusty tomes. I was on the verge of giving up hope when I absentmindedly stumbled into a shelf, and it began to glow a faint orange. I rubbed my forehead expecting the light to dissipate — I had hit my head fairly hard — but the light continued to get brighter until it was a brilliant white. The Great Architect of the Universe seemed to have guided me to it. On the shelf, two slim pamphlets and a book lay, pulsing with potential. Each had been written by the one and only Loop. I picked one up and flipped it to read its back cover, to read the autobiographical “about the author” section. To my surprise, it read “Email.” I jotted it down as I noted my Monday to-do list was not already full enough. I teleported away to deal with the other items, but “What to say? What to say? What to say?” echoed in the back of my mind.
∞After deciding what to write and sending it, I had zero expectation of receiving a reply. Loop was clearly busy in another realm. Yet it only took 20 minutes for me to get a “ding!” — even faster than my correspondence with Max Barry. Loop seemed in good spirits and was happy to accommodate my request for a meeting.
∞A couple days later, I marched into Cupertino to meet a man almost entirely made of candy. I didn’t know what to expect, but I definitely wasn’t expecting to march out with him and several fleets of military-grade geo-shifting helicopters several hours later. Nor, for that matter, was the EP. Loop’s return temporarily turned the regional message board into a regional welcome back board, and I was terrified that he would blame me for forcing him to come back. And of course he did.
∞Since then, “Loop” has become much more to me than the name of a land loaded with legends; he is alive. I am happy that he founded the community I have grown so attached to. I am happy to have a small part in his joining East Pacifican conversations on multiple platforms, learning more about the card game, and being nominated for delegate symbolically nearly a dozen times. I am happy to have heard his response to “What's one thing you would like every TEPer to know?” which cannot be altered: “that the EP is the greatest region in the game because of them they make it wonderful with every post every time they help someone new and every day they do it their way”. But more than that, I thank him for being part of the greatest region in the game; because of him, with every post every time, he makes it more wonderful in his own way. His additions to TEP grounded the region in its rich history, giving it a direction in the form of a compass, a square, and uncountably infinite opportunities for fun.
Delegate Election Rundown
By Art
The Delegate election of The East Pacific (TEP) has concluded with Libertanny winning another term in office. They ran against many other contenders, some of which ran on what could be considered joke platforms. Among Libertanny’s opponents were some familiar faces, including his predecessor Marrabuk, as well as Zukchiva (the former Director of the Bureau of Public Affairs and a cabinet advisor); SirShadow (the current director of the Bureau of Public Affairs); and Lerasi (a former Chief Minister of Foreign Affairs, Minister of Culture and current Vice-Delegate). Libertanny’s campaign mainly focused on continuing the work and projects that he had worked on in his previous term. During his first term, Libertanny changed the whole structure of the TEP government: Libertanny split the Ministry of Information and Communication into the Ministry of News and Records (BnR), and the Ministry of Publishing (MoP), and also introduced the Ministry of Virtual Enhancement and the Bureau of Public Affairs. Libertanny was also a driving force in the establishment of ‘The Consortium,’ a military and diplomatic co-operative between the East Pacific and five other regions. He steered TEP towards making alliances. For the future of TEP, he plans to enact several projects like creating a World Assembly Development Program, which is a program similar to The South Pacific’s SWAN, developing stronger relations with allied regions, translating regional dispatches into multiple languages to make the East Pacific more accessible and ensuring the improvement and continuation of Paradoxical, a multi-regional event organized by the East Pacific. Libertanny also plans to cultivate an active TEP, not just in government but in the region as a whole. Marrabuk’s campaign was straight to the point. The former delegate was coming out of retirement “to set a clear path of direction for the region with consistent guidance that will bring out future leaders with decision-making skills and qualities”. Marrabuk felt that despite Libertanny helping increase the activity in the region, the activity wasn’t headed in a proper, solid direction. Marrabuk pledged to close down ministries that he deemed were unnecessary and attempt to trim the current government structure. Zukchiva, who has been consistently running for the delegate position since 2019, advocates for the development of the MoP’s TEP Podcast, the creation of recruitment drives, the addition of more consulates, further development of Raising Eastern World Assembly Recognition and Development (REWARD), and many more projects. In the last election, Zukchiva and Libertanny had a very close race as the region was relatively split between the two. Aivintis/Lerasi, an active member of the community who has served in almost all of the ministries of TEP, wishes to bring about ideas and projects that they see will help the TEP community. Lersi presents the idea of transparency and accountability through Cabinet Dialogue Sessions and Monthly Goals/Reports, published and accessible to everyone. Leasi e also pledged to get rid of the position of the Vice Delegate, stating: “ I will not be continuing the tradition, because I believe it to be a potential liability in the event of another coup.” For the Eastern Pacific Sovereign Army (EPSA), Lerasi promised to introduce bookkeeping, a system of recording EPSA operations, and encouraging war games with allies to strengthen relations with our allies. The last candidate is Eastern Alksearia, also known as SirShadow, who’s an up and coming member of the community. Joining TEP in May 2020, SirShadowalready has a distinguished history of service for TEP. SirShadowwas the first Minister of the newly established Bureau of Public Affairs. They pushed to not only bring the Forum Roleplay (RP) and RMB RP closer but also TEP and the government itself. For their plans for TEP’s future, they plan to work on a lot of projects but mainly a rework of the Bureau of Public Affairs. He stated: “I see BPA as a Ministry that could have a poll on government approval published once or twice a month, at tops.” Perhaps the most debated topic during the election concerned the executive branch, with many criticizing its bureaucratic structure for lacking usefulness, including departments such as the Ministry of Virtual Enhancement, the Bureau of Public Affairs, and the Ministry of Publishing. Another common concern among citizens was TEP’s relations with its former allies, The West Pacific and Osiris. Libertanny was particularly pressed on whether or not their administration handled the situation as well as they could. Voting for the election ended on October 16, 2020. The election tallied a total of 51 votes and ended with Libertanny overwhelmingly winning 32 (63%) of the 51 ballots voting in his favor while Zukchiva was able to garner 7 votes (14%).
Interview with Fedele
By Aivintis
It is worth noting that the following interview was more of a structured dialogue with Fedele, and that it took place back in June. The following account has been edited to preserve the flow and manage grammar, but the information itself remains the same. The contents of this interview are not necessarily objectively truthful, so readers are advised to take this with a grain of salt. Lerasi: So I wanted to ask a few questions about the Rahl Family and hear what you had to say about the coup. When you're free, would you be willing to answer some questions? Fedele: I can answer your specific questions if you have any. Lerasi: So, generally, how would you describe the Rahl Family? Precoup and Postcoup? Fedele: Well, the Rahl family no longer exists. Lerasi: I'd like to know how it disbanded if it's not too much trouble. Fedele: Rahl disbanded, I think, because there were differing opinions on what it was as a "family". Was it a bunch of friends? Was it people who always wanted to be in the same region as each other and working together? I think it started as the former and organically started becoming the latter. Rahls kept making Rahls pharaoh in Osiris, for example. I think Altino was the last person to become Pharaoh while in Rahl. Rigel used to be in Rahl. So was Lynxi. So it wasn't this ominous conspiratorial thing, but there was an obvious natural inclination to act on the trust and familiarity you have with the people that you spend a lot of time with. Then, you had members of Rahl who didn't want the friendship to affect the meta-game in NationStates. At least that is my take on it. Lerasi: When did it disband? I hadn't known about it until last night. Fedele: It never officially disbanded, per se, it just isn't around anymore. l'm still in the server, for example, but I don't see any activity since October. It had people dropping out here and there for a while. One person leaked details of a conversation into a chat with raider orgs. It had become obvious that you couldn't create a clear separation between friends speaking candidly with each other and the NationStates meta-game. Lerasi: Are any of you guys still working together at all? Any successor groups or anything? Fedele: For example, I didn't know Davelands before I joined Rahl. There's no successor groups but many people who were in Rahl were former members of LWU and still hang out in the #Baby_Seal_Club. Some are in the Sportsbook. Badger has a friend server where some are. We still keep in touch but there's nothing cohesive. Why? What's this about? Lerasi: I'm just interested in learning more about it. For example, do you think you would be in control of TEP right now, if Tim Stark had stayed and Aleister and Funk left? Fedele: Well, me staying in power long term wasn't the goal. A transition to a more inclusive government was the goal with on-site voting and a government more firmly grounded in the realities of site mechanics, keeping much of the concordat but borrowing aspects from TSP's elections and TWP's guardian system. Aleister and Funk are wildcards but Tim only left when he saw it wasn't working out. Lerasi: But it could be argued that, since you guys basically controlled the Executive and Legislative branch, you could have made the region better yourselves. Fedele: If we change your question a bit: "Do you think the reimagined government of TEP would have worked out if Tim Stark had stayed and Aleister and Funk left?" It wasn't necessarily dependant on Tim or really even Aleister or Funk or Dave. But, again, if I go into more detail, I'm going to start pulling in people who haven't been pulled in to the discussion. Lerasi: I was mostly referring to how his large amounts of influence could have been used. Fedele: Influence was not a limiting factor. Lerasi: Interesting. I believe you still raid with LWU right? I'm sure I've seen you in Imperium of the Wolf. Fedele: Imperium of the Wolf is one of those knock-off groups that seem to pop up and disappear once couple of years. I founded LWU in 2005. I don't have any official role there but I still hang around and I enjoy raiding with them. Lerasi: Have you ever considered trying other aspects of NS like Defending or RP? Fedele: I dabbled in RP in the East. I suck at it but I enjoyed it and I enjoyed the culture. In fact, I enjoyed the role-play community and culture in the East more than l actually enjoyed trying to RP myself because my work schedule and the responsibilities of being delegate made it hard to keep up. Lerasi: Interesting. I've joined our forum rp but l'm mostly inactive because it's just so much culture and history etc. and l don't know where to even start. How about defenderism? Have you ever seriously considered that? Fedele: Nope. I'm old-school crasher and I keep the old prejudices. Crossing the river back then was anathema. Lerasi: I've read Twobagger's speech about how fendas a while ago made out raiders to be ruthless game-ruiners and I don't know how much that opinion has changed, especially when I see people say that "Raiders ruin people's regions" and stuff like that. I see why you wouldn't want to try joining them. Fedele: You seem to have picked up on a lot of things that other people have largely overlooked, even if your aim is a bit off like with the question about Tim. I've been impressed with your questions. Lerasi: Why thank you. Fedele: In fact, Tim was really inactive and wasn't much of a factor around that time. Crashers are the Leviathan that churns the waters of NationStates. Without them, the game becomes stagnant. Lerasi: I've heard that before I think. I'm inclined to agree. To an extent. Fedele: Probably from me. Lerasi: Yeah probably lol. People have heavily memed the whole Cthulhu thing. Why was it that you trusted him with BC? Fedele: It wasn't that I trusted him, it was that there was 0 stakes at that point. Someone who had been involved for a long time had gotten cold feet. Lerasi: Did you laugh when you were ejected? Fedele: Yeah, I did. I thought that was pretty damn funny. Lerasi: I did too lol. You've been in this game for a long time. What was your favorite operation? Fedele: My favorite operation was when we invaded Hell many years ago, because the natives were an absolute blast to interact with. Instead of complaining or whining about having been invaded, they mocked and ridiculed us. It turned out over the course of the invasion that their culture and the culture of LWU had a lot in common. One of the LWU members in the Raider Hall of Fame, Ditzie Freaks, was a native of Hell that joined LWU after we left. Lerasi: Oh that's cool. It's well known that your "Cabal", as we call it back in TEP, considered their actions to be beneficial. Do you think you actually helped the East in the end? Fedele: Well, it seems like it's an active and vibrant community now and it looks like some positive changes have been made but that's mostly side effects that I can't try to take credit for. We were working toward changes that would have been beneficial but they didn't work out. Overall, I would certainly say the East is in an indisputably better condition now than when I was first elected. Lerasi: So why did you guys get into the public power struggle that we now call "the coup" in October instead of trying to get Davelands elected at a later date? Fedele: Look at how Aelitia was treated during his delegacy. Where is he now? Look at what happened to McStooley. When you say "the cabal" and "you guys", keep in mind that the people involved with me were not in communication with each other for the most part Aleister and Funk talked with each other a lot. They rarely spoke with Tim. Davelands spoke with Tim some but not very much. If I remember correctly, that's about the extent to which any of them spoke with each other. My idea was to keep it compartmentalized so that not everyone got burned if it didn't work out. Lerasi: Yeah that's a strong tactic. I never really learned what happened to cause a stigma around Aelitia and I hadn't even heard of such a thing happening to McStooley. ‡ Fedele: So, at the end, I chose to make the transition then because felt Marrabuk was actually a good choice to lead a newly established government. Davelands couldn't win an election to save his life. He is plenty capable as delegate but has all of the charm of a Pax Fruit. Literally none of them save one unnamed person informed my decision. Lerasi: I have to ask: What do you think about Libertanny as our new Delegate? Fedele: That's a difficult question to answer because I'm not up to date on how the roles and responsibility of the delegacy have changed since I was delegate and I hope they've gone through quite a few changes. Lerasi: There have been some changes as far as I am aware, but I didn't get interested in government until the October Elections began so I don't know much about how it was before. Looking through the archives I see there have been a lot of different stuff. If you could redo the whole power struggle thing, what would you do differently? Asking for a friend Fedele: That's a good question. Knowing what I know now, I would have just let the normal course of politics play out. There was no way at the time to know that people who were resolute would get cold feet. In fact, I might even say I was a bit naive to think that certain people had the stomach for anything more than status quo, despite their stated intentions. Lerasi: "Once upon a time, there was a man with a pet dodo bird. This dodo bird would ride on the man's shoulder and talk to him throughout the day, giving him words of comfort and encouragement. Every day, as he went about his life, the dodo bird was someone he relied on. One day, he met a pretty girl and introduced himself. They began talking and it was obvious that the pretty girl liked him. After a while, he realized he had forgotten to introduce his pet dodo bird and, when he did, she pointed out there was nothing there. Of course there was. This was the sole companion he had relied upon for years. She insisted that there was nothing there. He argued fervently until the pretty girl waved her hand over his shoulder where the pet dodo bird was and he suddenly realized the pretty girl was right. There was no dodo bird. It had been a figment of his imagination all along. A delusion. Angrily, he accused her of killing his pet. But the pet had never existed. It was one of the last dodo birds. But it wasn't real. Frightened and confused, he struck the pretty girl in the face and clawed at her neck until she was dead."‡‡ So what was this? Fedele: I think it speaks for itself. Lerasi: Interesting... When did you decide you wanted your group to hold power in TEP? Fedele: You keep using the word "group" but it was really not a clearly defined group. Lerasi: I just don't know what else to call it, to be honest. Fedele: If you look at the people in my cabinet, the intention was for a lot of continuity in the transition period. Lerasi: So when did the whole thing actually start being planned? Like what's the original timeline of how it all when down? Fedele: I can't answer that question. Lerasi: Okay. Interesting. Did you think the people that opposed marsupial purges were threats to your power? Fedele: No, That was just a riff on obvious inadequacies in the Concordat That certain people did not want being discussed even though they had been exploited in the past and far more sinister ways Such as throwing people out that you didn't want before they had a chance to become citizen Also, it became a fun theme There were a lot of those intentional loopholes and ambiguities in the Concordat. Lerasi: The Marsupial Purges are actually why I endotarted in the first place. Unfortunately, by the time I reached 200 endorsements l realized that it's not a very nice thing to do :/ Did you think it succeeded more than a WA Development program would? And do you think it promoted unity against a common enemy? Fedele: Meh. It was specifically designed to only affect the people who typically create a nation and never sign into it again. I think it fostered a sense of community from people who liked it and people who opposed it and that it was mostly just a fun gimmick. It did get quite a few people to start trading endorsements. Lerasi: Since that, there's been this new law that requires regional officers to record all bans with evidence and sufficient reasoning, and a law that says the Magisterium has to approve all RO appointments.‡‡‡ If these existed during your time, how much of a hindrance would it have been? Fedele: It would have negated the whole reason that it started. Lerasi: I think I'm running out of questions. There's still a lot I wish to know but there's not much I have in the form of tangible questions. What's next for you? Do you have big plans or will you just stick with what you're doing? Then again, if you have big plans, can I really trust that you'll be able to answer the question truthfully? Fedele: That's a good last question. Why would I tell you? I'm not sure that I have big plans in the meta-game sense other than to continue helping JoWhatup in any way he wants my help, but he's a really good leader. I have irons in the fire and just looking for where I can get involved. Nothing really stands out right now that l'd commit to. Lerasi: Well I wish you luck in every region that I am not in. Fedele: Hahaha. Thanks. Lerasi: I do believe that's all I have to ask, unless there is something you want to say, like any opinion, advise, idea, or fact that I might want to know. Thanks for being so receptive to my questions. It's been enlightening. Fedele: Sure. It was good talking with you. You've always been pretty thoughtful and level headed, even in disagreement. That doesn't go unnoticed. Lerasi: Thank you. ‡: Since the interview, I have learned about Aelitia's accidental coup, which recent evidence has been revealed to be not-so-accidental at all. ‡‡: This is referring to a poll hosted by Fedele in the later stages of his delegacy. Marrabuk and Dreamersistan notably interpreted it as a piece of Rahl propaganda in which Fedele is the one telling The East Pacific that are practices are ineffectual, which The East Pacific responds to by opposing his attempts at reform. ‡‡‡: This law has since been amended, and now Regional Officers can be appointed as long as there is no objection from the Magisterium.
The Vice-Delegacy - is it harming the East Pacific?
By Zukchiva
AUTHOR’S NOTE: This article is not meant to insult the performance of our Delegates nor Vice-Delegates current or past. Instead, this is an opinion article from a writer focusing on why the position of Vice-Delegate itself harms the East Pacific. The Vice-Delegacy is one of the most controversial positions in the East Pacific. Many believe its very existence to be prejudicial to the region's long term safety. So, what is a Vice-Delegate and why is the position so controversial? THE VICE-DELEGACY: SECOND IN COMMAND In general, the Vice-Delegate is the Second-In-Command to the Delegate, with the position’s specific duties varying every Delegate’s term.. During Marrabuk’s term, the Vice-Delegacy was not that well defined. However, what we do know is that the position served as an obvious Second-In-Command position. During Marrabuk’s first term, the Vice-Delegate assisted Marrabuk in doing various tasks like dealing with Foreign Affairs. As Marrabuk’s Delegacy progressed to its second term, the Vice-Delegate began to pick up more and more of the Delegate’s work. Under Libertanny, the Vice-Delegacy’s position is more clearly defined: the Vice-Delegate holds the power of the Delegate when Libertanny is offline. This continues the idea of the Vice-Delegacy being Second-In-Command, but now it also gives a better justification for the position’s existence. It is obvious from the past year that the Vice-Delegacy is a malleable office. What its job description specifically is is subject to change, but in general a Vice-Delegate is a Delegate’s right hand man. The position is obviously helpful for the Delegate by providing them someone who can be trusted to take over the Delegacy at any moment, who they can lean on, and who they can seek advice from. Additionally, due to its proximity to the Delegate’s daily tasks, the Vice-Delegacy is the perfect position to train future Delegates. This idea of the position of the Vice-Delegacy being a position for training is the exact problem. PROBLEMS WITH THE VICE-DELEGACY The Vice-Delegacy is one of the most influential positions within the East Pacific. Vice-Delegates feature prominently game-side as one of the Region’s primary Regional Officers and they are the Delegate’s “right hand man”. The problem with this is that it gives a serious advantage to Vice-Delegates within Delegate elections, compared with other candidates. Think about it. The Vice-Delegacy is usually given to one or, at most, two nations within the duration of someone’s Delegacy. The Vice-Delegate is now prominently featured on TEP’s in-game page (one of the places citizens who don't use the regional forums notice ). It also has built in experience from performing some of the Delegate’s day-to-day duties, giving them an edge over all other candidates. The Vice-Delegate also is probably the only person (besides former Delegates) to know exactly what the job of Delegate entails. This advantage is not beneficial to our region’s democratic elections. The reason is that it gives a candidate an advantage few other nations have: experience in being Delegate. Sure, Ministers do some of the Delegate’s duties, but the Vice-Delegacy is usually only given to one person every term while there are multiple Ministerial leadership positions. While Ministers may display their leadership skills during their term, an active Vice-Delegate will have the supreme example of authority: literally doing some of the Delegate’s regular job. No Minister can really say their job lets them handle some of the Delegate’s day-to-day tasks, but the Vice-Delegate can. This advantage of experience shows itself within elections where candidates have equally valid campaigns. More experienced/involved voters will probably choose the candidate who was a former Vice-Delegate since that candidate simply has more experience. For those voters less interested in regional governance, they will probably vote for the Vice-Delegate since they naturally assume that the Vice-Delegate is more prepared to take the Delegacy. But there is a danger far greater than just making it harder for some people to win elections. The Vice-Delegacy can be used as a tool to train new heirs to the Delegacy, or in other words, allow a Delegate to select a “successor”. A monarchy hiding in the folds of a democracy. It is true that Vice-Delegates still need to win elections, which does not always happen. Voters may sometimes prefer another candidate. However, the chances for not being elected are not that high, due to the aforementioned advantages a Vice-Delegate has: more widespread recognition and experience. This means that, while a Delegate cannot expect with a one-hundred percent guarantee that their Vice-Delegate will be elected, the odds are in their favor. Some people will argue that the simple act of voting makes electing a Vice-Delegate as Delegate a democratic choice. But is it? Delegate Incumbents win an election for a second or third time around sixty percent of the time, due to their know-how as Delegate and familiarity with voters. Both advantages which the Vice-Delegate also enjoys, leading it to be more likely for a Vice-Delegate to be elected. This limits who the voters would reasonably choose, because of course most people will vote for the candidate with the most experience and a great campaign. In other words, the Delegate is hand-picking and artificially creating the best candidate possible and placing them in front of the voters’ hands. So voters are more likely to pick the Vice-Delegate. And this cycle repeats over time until it's common sense to (usually) elect the Vice-Delegate, just like nowadays it is common sense to (usually) elect the incumbent. We have seen this type of succession be tried during the Fedele coup, with Davelands. While the Vice-Delegate did not exist back then, the Chief Minister of Regional Affairs was somewhat similar in influence (although limited to dealing with regional projects). Davelands was appointed as Chief Minister by Fedele, and subsequently failed to do anything in the position besides writing a daily news report. Despite this, Davelands received a startling 34% of votes in the October 2019 Delegate elections, despite being highly inactive within the Executive. This number becomes more impressive when you consider that many people revealed that Davelands had broken the law multiple times right before the election. There may have been many reasons why Davelands received so many votes, but no one can deny that his position of Chief Minister of Regional Affairs most likely helped him out by a large margin. While Fedele’s plans ultimately failed, his actions prove the idea that people will use high-level positions to gain popularity within elections. Given how much more respected the Vice-Delegacy is, we can be sure that the Vice-Delegate will get many more votes than an inactive Chief Minister would ever get. In a nutshell: the Vice-Delegacy is detrimental to the fairness and openness of TEP’s Delegate elections. At best, it can break what would otherwise be a close Delegate election between comparable candidates if one was not Vice-Delegate. At worst, it can serve as a useful tool for those wishing to subvert TEP’s democracy.
THE SOLUTIONS
1) SWITCH ‘EM OUT Instead of having one Vice-Delegate, Delegates could perhaps switch the Vice-Delegacy between 4-8 nations during their terms as Delegate. While the advantage of Vice-Delegacy still exists, at least it is spread out between more people who are likely to run in next elections.
2) ELECT THE VICE-DELEGATE Another solution; elect the Vice-Delegate. Presumably, we would need a separate election and legislated duties for the Vice-Delegate. But this way, we can ensure that all the benefits of the Vice-Delegacy are secured (someone to rely on, a back-up, training future Delegates) all the while avoiding the negatives.
3) MAKE THE VICE-DELEGATE A VIZIER BY LAW Make the Vice-Delegate a Vizier. This has some problems on its own, (like Viziers do sometimes run in Delegate elections, thus they still gain an advantage), but at least this way we can be sure they are trusted. Afterall, if the Viziers fall, the East Pacific is sure to fall soon after, so not much use going after the idea of an untrustworthy Vizier.
4) ABOLISH IT Another equal solution is to just abolish the position. Solves all the problems, but on the inverse we lose all the benefits the Delegate gains from having a Vice-Delegate. It is undeniable that the Vice-Delegacy serves a purpose. However, it is a part of our elections that threatens to change if not harm our Delegacy. Ultimately, it is up to every citizen to ask themselves whether the Vice-Delegacy is worth it. Are the benefits worth the risks? Is a right hand person worth an altered democracy?
An Overview of Libertanny's Term
By Wille-Harlia
Ever since being elected in June following the end of Marrabuk’s second term, TEP’s regional parrot, Libertanny, has accomplished a lot as Delegate. In June, Libertanny established the Bureau of Public Affairs, naming Zukchiva as the director. On June 24, the Consortium was finally implemented, after being discussed extensively during Marrabuk’s term. Towards the end of the month, the Cabinet, in a VC, discussed future policies and actions regarding the World Assembly Development Program, or the WADP. In July, Libertanny reopened the University of The East Pacific, a place where people from all around the region can go and learn something new. This time however, the University, along with a forum board, also now has its own Discord server, where more casual discussion can take place. Castle Federation (also known as Wondoress) was appointed Chancellor. In August, Libertanny continued Marrabuk’s work in making great overtures to the region of Thaecia, ending in a unique treaty between the two regions, as they shared many interests, such as democracy. In September, Libertanny sided TEP with the faction of ATOMIC for N-Day, as the UPPERCUT GCR faction was not happening on N-Day 5. After nuclear obliteration, Libertanny awarded the Order of the Golden Ocelot, the highest distinction in TEP to eight individuals: Asendavia, The Atlae Isles, Dragons Blood, Marrabuk, Nova-Columbia, Tretrid, Tulvatastan, and Zukchiva. Lastly in September, three amendments to the Concordat, TEP’s constitution, were brought before the Magisterium. The first was a proposed rewrite of Article F, which guarantees the rights of citizens and residents, while the amendment simplifies the article. The second proposed amendment is to Article B, which details how the Magisterium works. The amendment will go into further detail to avoid potential abuse of the vaguely defined powers of the Magisterium laid out in the Concordat. The third amendment proposes a new Article A, which will lay out things that pertain to TEP’s identity, such as the compass being the logo of TEP, and green and yellow its colors. Libertanny has been exceedingly active in his first term as Delegate, and only time will tell where he goes next.
Ambassador of The East Pacific, Independent Ocean Platform of Sycona
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