History Main / SkeletonGovernment

* ''Franchise/TheElderScrolls'' shows from time to time some glimpses of how the Imperial bureaucracy works. ''[[VideoGame/TheElderScrollsIIIMorrowind Morrowind]]'', for example, makes you fill in your class and race information at a tax office, you need a "passport" scroll to enter Sadrith Mora, and number of quests revolve around such mundane acts of government as tax collection and diplomatic banquets, not to mention the workings of the local goverments: the Tribunal Temple and the the Dunmer Great Houses, which often find themselves at odds with the empire and each other.
** ''[[VideoGame/TheElderScrollsIVOblivion Oblivion]]'' on the other hand plays it straight, you hardly ever get a glimpse of how the Empire and its people roll, and the plot only deals with the demon invasion, with no quests that involve political intrigue when compared to Morrowind, it is one of the reasons why Oblivion is such a polarizing game among the fanbase. For example, the Elder Council is supposed to be an advisory body to the Emperor and rule in the Emperor's name if he's incapacitated. You never meet or hear about anybody who is actually on the council, aside from Chancellor Ocato, who you only talk to a few times, never provides any sort of help and seems to be the only person that sits in the enormous Council Chamber.
*** ''Oblivion'' was originally supposed to include a questline that would involve the pc climbing through the ranks of nobility, eventually becoming a count. Presumably, this quest would have been much more involved in politics and would have averted this trope to a degree, however the line was DummiedOut as the devs felt it distracted from the main quest.

* In James Howard Kunstler's ''Literature/WorldMadeByHand'',there is no longer any real government in the USA due to a lack of oil. When the main character reaches Albany, New York, he finds that the state capital has but a few people 'running' it. They even admit that they have no power, calling themselves 'a skeleton crew sailing a kind of Flying Dutchman of government'.

* In the ''Literature/InheritanceCycle'', the main governing body is called TheEmpire, even though it is ruled by a king and has a centralized government. In the second book, we find out that officially, it is called the Brodering Kingdom. The major cities are ruled by governors. How much power those governors officially have is never stated, but with Galbatorix spending all his time [[spoiler: finding the Name of Names]], at least one of those governors, Marcus Tabor, essentially had free reign for a while. The soldiers of Feinster are far more loyal to their governor, Lady Lorana, than to Galbatorix.
* The Shire government in ''Literature/TheLordOfTheRings''. Justified because hobbits naturally tend towards the good, and consequently tend to manage their own affairs without much hassle- the main services the government provides are mail distribution and law enforcement (though it's stated that law enforcement officers spend as much time looking for lost sheep as anything else).

* In James Howard Kunstler's ''Literature/WorldMadeByHand'',there is no longer any real government in the USA due to a lack of oil. When the main character reaches Albany, New York, he finds that the state capital has but a few people 'running' it. They even admit that they have no power, calling themselves 'a skeleton crew sailing a kind of Flying Dutchman of governent'.

** However, the newer episodes like [[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS5E10PrincessSpike Princess Spike]] do portray Equestria as TheFederation with each settlement having autonomy to run their own affairs with sending delegations to Canterlot for conference.

Due to ConservationOfDetail, any story (no matter the genre) where the government is not important is likely to be this. It is most common in children's television, [[JustifiedTrope because it's hard to explain to a child how a government runs]] without reprising the "Bill" song from ''SchoolhouseRock''.

* Most of the nations in ''NationStates'' are like this. It is justified by no player actually wanting to explain every single government institution. Some do, however.
* The Mushroom Kingdom from ''SuperMarioBros'' (and Bowser's kingdom) fall under this, it's never really shown that they have any officials so to speak other than the princess and/or a king and a bunch of random advisers and, perhaps, the Mushroom Chancellor from ''VideoGame/SuperMarioRPG''. The former also has no real shown army or method of defense other than "call Mario and Luigi to sort out their problems". We can see why everyone likes Peach then, apparently they have no taxes and their "defense budget" consists of giving Mario some [[strike:princess booty]] cake.
** Slightly better in Super Star Saga, where there are some officials related to the relations between the Mushroom and Bean-Bean Kingdoms. The Bean-Bean Kingdom also seems like more of an established Monarchy, and is also a far richer state. (1,000,000 Mushroom Coins = 10 Bean-Bean coins).
*** Exchange rates aren't always indicative of a countries wealth. Currently (March 19, 2011) 80 yen is about $1 Australian. However, Australian is the 17th country by GDP while Japan is third. A better determination of wealth might be how much one can buy with equivalent amounts of money in said countries, averaged over all industries (since a smaller island nation has less grazing land and more fishing, beef is proportionately more costly than fish).
* In ''VideoGame/{{Fable|I}}'' and its [[VideoGame/FableII sequel]], the only authority figures in the whole of Albion are the mayor of Bowerstone and the chief of Knothole glade. Someone must be organising all those guards. Subverted in ''VideoGame/FableIII'', where the plot revolves around becoming the king!
** It's hard to call that much of a subversion, considering that there doesn't seem to be much in the way of checks and balances on royal power and the bureaucracy that carries out the king's orders (if any) is largely invisible. The hierarchy appears to be nearly as simple as King > King's Butler > Low-Level Guardsman.
* ''{{Pokemon}}'' has hints to some sort of government, with the [[InexplicablyIdenticalIndividuals Nurse Joys and Officer Jennys]] in every city, and the very efficiently organized Pokemon battling hierarchy. But the government never plays much of a part in the story in either the game or the anime. The games actually have a stronger police presence and even park rangers but the criminal syndicates also have a much tighter grip on the world in the games so...
** Taken to extremes in ''[[{{Pokemon}} Orre]]'', where the player characters encounter precisely ''two'' police officers, and both in Pyrite Town, where there are more low-end hooligans than you can shake a Pokeball at. Is it any wonder Cipher's running the show in ''Pokemon Colosseum''?
** Given the fact that about '''everything''' in the Pokemon world seems to [[SeriousBusiness revolve around Pokemon training and battles]], it wouldn't be too much of a stretch to say that the Pokemon League organizers '''are''' the government. They also presumably would have [[BiggerStick little opposition]]. It would be some sort of [[SocialDarwinist semi-social Darwinist meritocracy]], but they seem [[BenevolentDictator nice enough]].
*** And this is more or less explicitly the case in the ''PokemonSpecial'' manga. The League chooses the Gym Leaders, who in turn are law-enforcers along with their Gym duties and are very well organized in getting together to take on threats. The Elite Four, as shown in the RS arc and possibly the HGSS one, are brought in when things get ''really'' serious.
** The PokeWars fanfic series elaborate on this apparent system, where each city is run by a local council and a "military" gym, which can vie for power over a city or region. Larger scale politics seem to consist mainly of coalitions of cities.
* ''GearsOfWar'' has the players under the banner of the "Coalition of Ordered Governments" (COG). That said, the actual government shown in the games is almost nil. Chairman Prescott, the only character representing non-military leadership, isn't even introduced until the opening cinematic of the second game. Justified in the third game, where the opening cinematic has [[MissionControl Anya Stroud]] recording a message that, since Prescott has gone missing and there are no freestanding COG cities left, they cannot call themselves a government any longer.

* In ''CityOfReality'' the government consists solely of the mayor. Who is a rabbit puppet.
* Justified for the Martians in ''AMiracleOfScience''; being a sort of post-Singularity CyberPunk quasi-HiveMind (it's complicated), decisions are taken by instantaneous majority-consensus polling of every Martian through their implanted wireless transceivers. They do have a president, but the post is largely ceremonial.

* The World Government of ''OnePiece'' was at first only seen through its military, but that's somewhat [[JustifiedTrope justified]] as the main characters of One Piece were criminals. As the series progressed, more was shown about its system of governing and politics began playing a larger role as the main characters became more wrapped up in [[GovernmentConspiracy hidden plots and intrigue]].

** To run an empire of several trillion souls ''without computers'', yet. Imagine the size of the file stacks!

** The series goes into detail about the Havenite government, as there has been two internal regime changes and one failed coup d'etat on screen, as well as several plebacites once Haven becomes a representative democratic republic once more. Keep in mind that Haven is the enemy of the good guys. The governments of several worlds get mentioned, but Grayson stands out as well by having its own system of government fleshed out, demonstrating how a theocratic feudal monarchy can avoid being a bad guy very well.
* In ''ASongOfIceAndFire,'' local lords theoretically have absolute power over their subjects, higher-ranking liege lords over the lower-ranking lords sworn to them, and the king over everyone, with succession determined at least as much by a complex set of traditions (along with a healthy helping of might-makes-right) as any kind of codified law. In practice, though, the frequency of armed rebellion means that nobody can afford to piss off their subjects too much, and getting anything done tends to require an absolutely brain-pummeling amount of politics.

* In ''{{Mistborn}}'', the political structure of the Final Empire is explored in detail, particularly the uneasy relationship between the [[AristocratsAreEvil aristocracy]] and [[CorruptChurch Obligators]], because the heroes are deliberately exploiting the cracks in the system to make it collapse.

** There are multiple [[BuffySpeak security-officer-police-guard-type-people]], it's just that only one (the one on the player's side, of course) is shown doing his job properly.

** ''[[VideoGame/TheElderScrollsIVOblivion Oblivion]]'' on the other hand plays it straight, you hardly ever get a glimpse of how the Empire and its people roll, and the plot only deals with the demon invasion, with no quests that involve political intrigue when compared to Morrowind, it is one of the reasons why [[BrokenBase Oblivion is such a polarizing game among the fanbase]]. For example, the Elder Council is supposed to be an advisory body to the Emperor and rule in the Emperor's name if he's incapacitated. You never meet or hear about anybody who is actually on the council, aside from Chancellor Ocato, who you only talk to a few times, never provides any sort of help and seems to be the only person that sits in the enormous Council Chamber.

* ''TheWitcher'' and its sequel avert this, with most towns and outposts in Temeria and the surrounding countries maintaining government posts. For example, the port town of Flotsam in ''Assassins of Kings'' is run by the official Bernard Loredo, his security detail, the post office, and government issued jobs on the town board.

** This continues in the series; they never got a new vizier. Basically the only people who seem to live ''or'' work in the palace (which is [[BigFancyHouse enormous]]) are the Sultan and Jasmine. ''Foreign'' leaders show up more often than any government employees of Agrabah do.

'''KingArthur''': Be quiet! I order you to be quiet!\\

->''"One main problem in calling the Empire evil is that we are offered precious little information as to how the Empire is run. It could be a democracy for all we know."''

* ''Franchise/TheLegendOfZelda'' series: Besides Princess Zelda, the guards, and sometimes a mayor, Hyrule appears to be more a loose confederacy of autonomous city-states than a kingdom

* A major focus in ''Series/{{Battlestar Galactica|Reimagined}}'' is the functioning of the civilian government of the fleet and the interactions it has with the military.

* There is an intricate system of military governors (Moffs) in the ''StarWars'' universe, although The Emperor and Vader still maintain the majority of decision-making power. The prequels show the ''massive'' Senate building that serves as the legislative core of the Republic.

** Tyrion mentions in A Clash of Kings that the Iron Thrones Treasury equivalent is composed of a considerable number of officials and part of the background events of A Feast For Crows is rebuilding the Navy after it either sided with an usurper in Clash and Varys' system of little birds is also technically part of the government. It is unclear whether the Iron Throne possesses a similar law enforcement bureaucracy under the Master of Laws.

-->-- [[http://www.hidden-street.net/forum/threads/27667-3rd-book-of-the-Inheritance-Cycle-is-named-Brisingr-and-new-release-date?p=457541&viewfull=1#post457541 Anti-Shurtugal]] on TheEmpire of ''[[Literature/InheritanceCycle Eragon]]''

->-[[http://www.hidden-street.net/forum/threads/27667-3rd-book-of-the-Inheritance-Cycle-is-named-Brisingr-and-new-release-date?p=457541&viewfull=1#post457541 Anti-Shurtugal]] on TheEmpire of ''[[Literature/InheritanceCycle Eragon]]''

Skeleton Government (as per the term Skeleton Crew, referring to the bare minimum to operate a vessel) is a simplified version of governments to the point that they resemble authoritarian dictatorships, if even that. If some sort of public servants are shown, expect them to be soldiers.

* In ''TheFairlyOddParents'', when a government building in Fairy World is invaded, it's completely empty. The only civil servant seems to be Jorgen. However, since fairies are effectively omnipotent and immortal, he is portrayed less as a dictator and more like a volunteer. In season six, it's revealed that there is a Fairy Council that handles a lot of things, like declaring that no more fairies are to be born. The "Wishology" trilogy shows us that they are still active.

* While the ''Franchise/{{Dune}}'' novels show little of the Galactic government outside the lives of the Great Houses, the massive galactic bureaucracy is mentioned often. Paul's massive palace on Arrakis in ''Dune Messiah'', in particular, is described as having been built less as a monument to his ego than as a necessity to house the millions of clerks, ministers, and bureaucrats needed to run an empire of several trillion souls.

* While the ''{{Dune}}'' novels show little of the Galactic government outside the lives of the Great Houses, the massive galactic bureaucracy is mentioned often. Paul's massive palace on Arrakis in ''Dune Messiah'', in particular, is described as having been built less as a monument to his ego than as a necessity to house the millions of clerks, ministers, and bureaucrats needed to run an empire of several trillion souls.

* In ''Literature/JenniferGovernment'', taxes were abolished years before the events of the book, so these days the government mostly tries to prevent crime as it happens, and investigate them if the victims can pay for the investigation.

* In ''{{Jimmy Two-Shoes}}'', Lucius seems to be the only one in charge, and he's not even a government official, but a CEO of a MegaCorp. A BrokeEpisode shows that when his riches disappear, so does his power. Police show up in...one episode, as a quick joke, and everything else is handled by Lucius' personal army.

* In ASongOfIceAndFire, local lords theoretically have absolute power over their subjects, higher-ranking liege lords over the lower-ranking lords sworn to them, and the king over everyone, with succession determined at least as much by a complex set of traditions (along with a healthy helping of might-makes-right) as any kind of codified law. In practice, though, the frequency of armed rebellion means that nobody can afford to piss off their subjects too much, and getting anything done tends to require an absolutely brain-pummeling amount of politics.

'''Dennis'': Oh, NOW we see the violence inherent in the system! COME SEE THE VIOLENCE INHERENT IN THE SYSTEM! HELP-HELP, I'M BEING REPRESSED!

* The government of Agrabah in Disney/{{Aladdin}} is this; nobody seems to actually work in it apart from [[EvilVizier Jafar]] and some [[PoliceAreUseless really incompetent guards]]. Jafar being evil and controlling the Sultan himself might justify the lack of ''high-ranking'' officials, as he wouldn't want the competition for influence, but there aren't even any lower functionaries about. They might just be [[LawOfConservationOfDetail unnecessary to show to the audience]] but they're never even mentioned.

* In ''FinalFantasyVIII'', the government of Galbadia seems to consist entirely of the president and the Minister of Defense, up until Edea's coup d'etat. After her HeelFaceTurn, Seifer, her ''teenage bodyguard'', becomes head of state apparently by default.

* In ''TheFairlyOddParents'', when the government building is invaded, its completely empty. The only civil servant seems to be Jorgen. However, since fairies are effectively omnipotent and immortal, he is portrayed less as a dictator and more like a volunteer. In season six, it's revealed that there is a Fairy Council that handles a lot of things, like declaring that no more fairies are to be born. The "Wishology" trilogy shows us that they are still active.