History Main / GenericistGovernment

[[folder: Film ]]

* ''MontyPythonAndTheHolyGrail'': Rather deliberately subverted, where KingArthur claims to be a king, and the peasant blithely demands to know what kind of government he offers, and how it is an improvement over the anarcho-syndicalist model already practiced by the local peasantry (which he insists on describing in detail). The conversation ends with the peasant complaining about "being oppressed" when KingArthur attempts to shut him up in annoyance.

** Senator Organa represented more than just his planet, but the entire Alderaan sector, which included the other inhabited planets near it. This is how Senatorial representation worked. Presumably the other planetary governments respected him enough to have the Alderaanian head of state as their representative in the Senate.

[[folder: Literature ]]

* ''{{Discworld}}'': Somewhat justified: The government of the Lancre kingdom literally consists of the King, the Queen, maybe a few other servants, and a standing army [Shawn Ogg, except when he's lying down], who also does some servant duties as well. In this case, though, Lancre only has a population of 500.\\

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* ''StarTrek'': Does the Federation have an assembly? How are its members selected? What's the role of the President (seen in ''StarTrekDeepSpaceNine'')? Is Starfleet Earth's space military, the Federation's as a whole, or is it some combination? Is it even a military force at all? We don't know how the civilian government is selected at all, the role of Starfleet (how does it answer to the civilian authority?), what it means to be a member of the Federation (does a member planet completely lose its independence, or is it like being in the UN?)...

** ''ArticlesOfTheFederation'' laid out some of the fine points; the Federation, appropriately, seems to be a federal legislature, not entirely unlike the American Congressional system (or perhaps the Articles of Confederation; member nations retain a lot of individual control).

* ''StarTrek'': Does the Federation have an assembly? How are its members selected? Is there an executive branch? Is Starfleet Earth's space military, or is it something joint? People have talked about this, both in and out of canon. But the answers to most of these are not consistent. There is an assembly, but outside of ''StarTrekVI'' we don't see it do much. We don't know how the civilian government is selected at all, nor if there's a way for an admiral ''not'' to be in the Starfleet government. There is an executive branch and a spy branch: the question is, what ''else'' is there? Starfleet isn't ''supposed'' to be a military organization, but alternate versions of it ''are'', and the ships are quite well armed... And we aren't sure if there's a non-Starfleet earth defense force.\\
\\
There's an entire branch that was created in the charter under section 31 and has been acting independently and behind the scenes ever since. We do know there's an executive branch of the Federation: the President appears in two of the movies and in ''StarTrekDeepSpaceNine''.

* ''YesMinister'' is a particularly interesting example: as a very detailed look at the British system of government it obviously went into great detail of many areas, but in order to appear neutral had to avoid any hints of which political party Jim Hacker belonged to. (In the first episode, he's shown wearing a white rosette -- white is not and never has been a party color. His party headquarters is "Central House", a mashup of the Conservative's "Central Office" and Labour's "Transport House." Et cetera.) In fact, many of the plot points in ''Yes Minister'' are based on real incidents, but they occurred under both Conservative and Labour ministries.

* ''YesMinister'' is a particularly interesting example: as a very detailed look at the British system of government it obviously went into great detail of many areas, but in order to appear neutral had to avoid any hints of which political party Jim Hacker belonged to. (In the first episode, he's shown wearing a white rosette -- white is not and never has been a party color. His party headquarters is "Central House" a mashup of the Conservative's "Central Office" and Labour's "Transport House." Et cetera.) In fact, many of the plot points in ''Yes Minister'' are based on real incidents, but they occurred under both Conservative and Labour ministries.

* ''DungeonsAndDragons'' lists a "Magocracy" (a government made up of magic users) as a government type. It was also used in a vague manner in TheMovie and the sequel. Given the vast distinctions between inherited magic (sorcerers), book-learnin' (wizards), and divinely-granted magic (clerics, etc.), "magocracy" raises ''lots'' of questions...\\

There's an entire branch that was created in the charter under section 31 and has been acting independently and behind the scenes ever since. We do know there's an executive branch of the Federation: the President appears in two of the movies and in ''StarTrekDeepSpaceNine''.\\
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There are papers written about the potentially ''communist'' underpinnings of ''Star Trek''. What sticks most in my mind is how the only transportation we see ''anywhere'' is Starfleet, which is clearly a military of some sort. So evidently the government controls all forms of transportation? The only example this (not particularly knowledgeable) fan can recall is the parents of Seven of Nine, although maybe even they were scientists working for the government on some project or other.\\
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Harry Mudd and Cyrano Jones had their own ships (one of Mudd's offenses was not having a valid license, implying that there was a system of licensing civilian spaceships and pilots). Furthermore, Cassidy Yates had her own ship. Of course, all three of those people were criminals, and the communist underpinnings are mostly absent in the original series.

* ''HarryPotter'': Who runs the Ministry of Magic isn't particularly clear at all, but it doesn't appear to be an elected position. The Daily Prophet is said to be explicitly in the ministry's pocket. The only other newspaper mentioned is the Quibbler, which seems to be for conspiracy buffs, which seems to indicate that whatever the government is, its views are unchallenged by any kind of opposition. [[FascistButInefficient Which is pretty bad, all things considered]].\\

* The Castle in ''SeptimusHeap'' has a Queen and a Palace buraucracy, but it is never shown what her job exactly is or what the bureaucracy does, apart from the vague "keeping the Castle safe".

* ''{{Inheritance}}'': It's not terribly clear why the [[strike:Emperor]] King of the Empire(?!) is such a bad guy, nor is it explained what was so great about the previous government, which seemed to just be a bunch of guys with huge dragons running around doing... something. Partially justified by UnreliableExpositor.

* ''MontyPythonAndTheHolyGrail'': Rather deliberately subverted, where KingArthur claims to be a king, and the peasant blithely demands to know what kind of government he offers, and how it is an improvement over the anarcho-syndicalist model already practiced by the local peasantry (which he insists on describing in detail). The conversation ends with the peasant complaining about "being oppressed".
* ''StarWars'' and its prequels use this trope. ''Star Wars'' blurs the line between democracy and hereditary autocracy. Naboo is a monarchy with an elected queen who serves a fixed term, and Alderaan is a hereditary principality whose head of state, Crown Prince Bail Organa, is also the planet's representative in the Galactic Senate (and later, the founder of the Rebellion). ''DarthsAndDroids'' makes fun of this. Naboo's constitution isn't as silly as it looks. Malaysia's mostly ceremonial King serves a fixed term of five years and is chosen from the royal families of the several states of that country. Naboo might work the same way. (Except that in Malaysia, a minor would be passed over and would have to wait until it was his family's next turn to be king.)

This concept is the Genericist Government. Genericists are government the way people who aren't involved in government see it -- definitely present, but not relevant except in it's lowest level of bureaucracy (e.g. the local police and the DMV). They're most common in works of fiction where the main point of the story is the CallToAdventure, so the nature of government and political science isn't all that important to the plot. This trope is a common cause of much FridgeLogic.

[[AC: Literature]]

* Who runs the Ministry of Magic in ''HarryPotter'' isn't particularly clear at all, but it doesn't appear to be an elected position. The Daily Prophet is said to be explicitly in the ministry's pocket. The only other newspaper mentioned is the Quibbler, which seems to be for conspiracy buffs, which seems to indicate that whatever the government is, its views are unchallenged by any kind of opposition. [[FascistButInefficient Which is pretty bad, all things considered]].
** There's almost no resistance when the feared villains openly take over, except from those already in conflict with them. A major plot point in the last book revolves around no-one but the heroes realizing that pretty much every wizard has enough power to easily punch through their enforcers and just walk out.
* Somewhat justified in the ''{{Discworld}}'' novels: The government of the Lancre kingdom literally consists of the King, the Queen, maybe a few other servants, and a standing army [Shawn Ogg, except when he's lying down], who also does some servant duties as well. In this case, though, Lancre only has a population of 500.
** Most of the governments are pretty generic, except for Ankh-Morpork (Best. Tyranny. ''Ever''.), Klatch and Sto Lat(monarchy) and, kind of, Pseudopolis - in ''Unseen Academicals'', Lord Vetinari is very amused by the fact that they decide to try a brave new experiment in democracy, and promptly vote not to have to pay taxes.

[[AC: WebComics]]

[[AC: Film]]
* Rather deliberately subverted in ''MontyPythonAndTheHolyGrail'', where KingArthur claims to be a king, and the peasant blithely demands to know what kind of government he offers, and how it is an improvement over the anarcho-syndicalist model already practiced by the local peasantry (which he insists on describing in detail). The conversation ends with the peasant complaining about "being oppressed".
* StarWars and its prequels suffer from this a little. In particular, Star Wars blurs the line between democracy and hereditary autocracy. Naboo is a monarchy with an elected queen who serves a fixed term, and Alderaan is a hereditary principality whose head of state, Crown Prince Bail Organa, is also the planet's representative in the Galactic Senate (and later, the founder of the Rebellion). DarthsAndDroids makes fun of this.
** [[FridgeBrilliance Naboo's constitution isn't as silly as it looks. Malaysia's mostly ceremonial King serves a fixed term of five years and is chosen from the royal families of the several states of that country. Naboo might work the same way. (Except that in Malaysia, a minor would be passed over and would have to wait until it was his family's next turn to be king.)]]

[[AC: LiveActionTV]]
* ''StarTrek'': Does the Federation have an assembly? How are its members selected? Is there an executive branch? Is Starfleet Earth's space military, or is it something joint? ''¿Quién sabe?''
** Wait, do you mean, even with such a big ExpandedUniverse as ST has, ''no one'' has ever thought about such things?
*** They have, both in and out of canon. But the answers to most of these are not ''consistent.'' (There is an assembly, but outside of StarTrekVI we don't see it do much. We don't know how the civilian government is selected at all, nor if there's a way for an admiral ''not'' to be in the Starfleet government. There is an executive branch and a spy branch: the question is, what ''else'' is there? Starfleet isn't ''supposed'' to be a military organization, but alternate versions of it ''are'', and the ships are quite well armed... And we aren't sure if there's a non-Starfleet earth defense force.)
*** There's an entire branch that was created in the charter under section 31 and has been acting independently and behind the scenes ever since.
** We do know there's an executive branch of the Federation: the President appears in two of the movies and in ''StarTrekDeepSpaceNine''.
** There are papers written about the potentially ''communist'' underpinnings of ''Star Trek''. What sticks most in my mind is how the only transportation we see ''anywhere'' is Starfleet, which is clearly a military of some sort. So evidently the government controls all forms of transportation? The only example this (not particularly knowledgeable) fan can recall is the parents of Seven of Nine, although maybe even they were scientists working for the government on some project or other.
*** Harry Mudd and Cyrano Jones had their own ships (one of Mudd's offenses was not having a valid license, implying that there was a system of licensing civilian spaceships and pilots). Furthermore, Cassidy Yates had her own ship. Of course, all three of those people were criminals, and the communist underpinnings are mostly absent in the original series.
* ''YesMinister'' is a particularly interesting example: as a very detailed look at the British system of government it obviously went into great detail of many areas, but in order to appear neutral had to avoid any hints of which political party Jim Hacker belonged to. (In the first episode, he's shown wearing a white rosette - white is not and never has been a party color. His party headquarters is "Central House" a mashup of the Conservative's "Central Office" and Labour's "Transport House." Et cetera.) In fact, many of the plot points in ''Yes Minister'' are based on real incidents, but they occurred under both Conservative and Labour ministries.

[[AC: VideoGames]]
* The government in ''MirrorsEdge''. [[ZeroPunctuation Yahtzee]] offers up the AlternateCharacterInterpretation that the player character is not LaResistance but a straight-up terrorist.
* Most ''FinalFantasy'' games seem to be right up this trope.
* ''MassEffect'': We know the three (later four) people at the very top of [[TheFederation Citadel space]], law enforcement on the Citadel, a small organization of black-ops agents with extremely high authority, and beyond that... not much else. We don't see any middle management or local self-government except on two ViceCity planets that aren't even part of Citadel space. We know that Earth is still fractured into nation-states, but nothing about the colonies.

[[AC: TabletopGames]]
* ''DungeonsAndDragons'' lists a "Magocracy" (a government made up of magic users) as a government type. It was also used in a vague manner in TheMovie and the sequel.
** Given the vast distinctions between inherited magic (sorcerers), book-learnin' (wizards), and divinely-granted magic (clerics, etc.), "magocracy" raises ''lots'' of questions...
*** Magocracies tend to be run by wizards, the ones who benefit the most from a structural edifice with libraries and suchlike. They tend to be like a university on a larger scale, with everyone who can't cast being stuck as a servant. Pretty much a plutocracy/meritocracy, except the only merit being measured is how good you are at playing hob with the fabric of reality and nuking those who annoy you.
*** Except for the monarchy/magocracy, where the ruling family are all sorcerers.
** Alternately known as the Tippyverse, after a forum poster who theorized a setting where the wizards took over the world and installed a combination post scarcity utopia/1984-esque dystopia and the slightly less powerful clerics (Minus those of Emperor Tippy and certain gods of magic) and druids are hunted fugitives.
* {{GURPS}} lists "Utopia" as a government type.

[[AC: {{Anime}} & {{Manga}}]]
* In the manga version of ''ChronoCrusade'', we know there's a Queen of the Demons and there are "Elders" that have some position of authority, as well as possibly a caste system or military (Chrono is specifically mentioned to be a soldier, and some demons are referred to as "low-ranked")...but we're never really clearly told how all of this works, and who makes what decisions. We're only really told that it's "corrupt." The anime is even worse in this regard, the demons are said to have a leader that rallied against God, but are still apparently working under God...

<<|PoliticsTropes|>>

*** [[strike:And except for the theocracy/magocracy]] Theocracy has always been listed as a separate government type.

*** Harry Mudd and Cyrano Jones had their own ships (one of Mudd's offenses was not having a valid license, implying that there was a system of licensing civilian spaceships and pilots). Furthermore, Cassidy Yates had her own ship.Of course,all three of those people were criminals.

*** Harry Mudd and Cyrano Jones had their own ships (one of Mudd's offenses was not having a valid license, implying that there was a system of licensing civilian spaceships and pilots). Furthermore, Cassidy Yates had her own ship.

*** And except for the theocracy/magocracy, where the rulers are all clerics.

This concept is the Genericist Government. Genericists are like any government you've ever seen, to the point that they don't seem like any specific type. They're most common in works of fiction where the main point of the story is the CallToAdventure, so the nature of government and political science isn't all that important to the plot. This trope is a common cause of much FridgeLogic.

* ''YesMinister'' is a particularly interesting example: as a very detailed look at the British system of government it obviously went into great detail of many areas, but in order to appear neutral had to avoid any hints of which political party Jim Hacker belonged to. (In the first episode, he's shown wearing a white rosette - white is not and never has been a party color. His party headquarters is "Central House" a mashup of the Conservative's "Central Office" and Labour's "Transport House." Et cetera.) In fact, many of the plot points in ''Yes Minister'' are based on real incidents, but they occurred under both Conservative and Labour ministries, SoYeah.

* {{GURPS}} lists "Utopia" as a government type. SoYeah...