History Main / SkeletonGovernment

** Also appears in the original [[ComicBook/{{WITCH}} comic books]]: Meridian (that is shown to not cover the whole planet) under Phobos plays this straight, as Phobos had absolutely no interest in doing anything (the only high ranking officials we ever see are Cedric and Vathek, who are shown to work as police chiefs, prison wardens, army commanders, and StateSec leaders, and this on top of trying to invade Earth, make Elyon believe the Guardians are evil and teach her how to use her powers), and on Arkhanta the government of the whole planet appears to be ''king Ari'' ({{Justified}} by him having an overpowered [[JackassGenie banshee]] at his orders and [[DidYouJustScamCthulhu tricked into obeying any of his orders at the best of her abilities]], allowing him to literally do anything his people need to live well. It's unknown if this is still the case after the banshee got free). Also {{Subverted}} by Meridian under Elyon: the government isn't too detailed, but Elyon mainly appears to serve as a figurehead and ultimate arbitrator, with her ministers ruling in her name.

* Sheriff the police car is actually now the only authority figure running Radiator Springs in ''[[WesternAnimation/{{Cars}} Cars 2]]'', since they actually decided to kill off the town's only judge and doctor.

May be a StrawmanPolitical or DesignatedVillain. See also EasilyConqueredWorld. For a [[JustForFun/IThoughtItMeant government run by skeletons]], see TheNecrocracy.

* ''Franchise/StarWars'' has generally gone out of its way to avert this. The first film ''Film/StarWarsANewHope'' has a scene where the Imperial military brass are discussing how the Emperor has disbanded the civilian Senate and moved to direct military control by the regional governors.
The Prequels doubled up on Galactic politics , to the complaint of some fans.

* A major focus in ''Series/{{Battlestar Galactica|2003}}'' is the functioning of the civilian government of the fleet and the interactions it has with the military.

** Justified in Mass Effect 3 for humans, after a CurbStompBattle leaves Earth's power structure in shambles, a SkeletonGovernment is all there is.

* The World Government of ''Manga/OnePiece'' was at first only seen through its military, but that's somewhat {{justified|Trope}} 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]].

* 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.

* ''Literature/{{Discworld}}'': 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 and civil service duties as well. In this case, Lancre only has a population of 500. In ''Discworld/LordsAndLadies'' we're told that Verence ''tried'' to have a parliament, but no-one was interested.

* 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.

* ''Fanfic/{{Ripples}}'' averts this trope in practice and implies a justification for it in [[WesternAnimation/{{WITCH}} the cannon show]]. Meridian is largely aristocratic government with some smaller tribal communities and a few unique governments, and a large number of noble houses declared against Phobos in the CivilWar following his ascension to the throne. Decimating them without mercy as [[TheDragon Cedric]] constantly suggests was presumably the reason for Meridian's SkeletonGovernment in the original timeline.

** Plus for the most part Vaults are only have 100 to 1,000 people in them[[note]]The Vault Dweller's memoirs in ''Fallout 2'' note that Vault 13 had 100 rooms for living quarters and a max capacity of 1,000; max capacity required heavy hot bunking.[[/note]] so there don't really need a that many people to run it.

** 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 nice enough. This is more or less explicitly the case in the ''Manga/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 Fanfic/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.

** Plus for the most part Vaults are only have 500-2000 people in them so there don't really need a that many people to run it

** Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendsForeverIssue15 further subvert this trop for local government, like Ponyville. Where Mayor Mare had to work with various departments, Chamber of Commerce, and paperworks to maintain the town's everyday life.

May be a StrawmanPolitical or DesignatedVillain. See also EasilyConqueredWorld. For a [[IThoughtItMeant government run by skeletons]], see TheNecrocracy.

* In the animated version of ''WesternAnimation/{{WITCH}}'', the entire planet of Meridian seem to be run by a single monarch, assisted by a couple of advisors. In a particularly {{egregious}} scene in the second series, Elyon was asked to negotiate a boundary dispute between two groups of farmers. You'd think there'd be some sort of regional governor to see to such matters.

** 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 [[BigFancyCastle enormous]]) are the Sultan and Jasmine. ''Foreign'' leaders show up more often than any government employees of Agrabah do.

* ''Fanfic/{{Ripples}}'' averts this trope in practice and implies a justification for it in [[WesternAnimation/{{WITCH}} the cannon show]]. Meridian is largely aristocratic government with some smaller tribe communities and a few individual territories with unique government, but a large number of major noble houses declared against Phobos in the CivilWar following his ascension to the throne. Much of Van's work has been ensuring that this Phobos doesn't get pushed to the point where he needs to decimate anyone not loyal to him; presumably the reason for Meridian's SkeletonGovernment in the original timeline.

* The Mushroom Kingdom and the Koopa Kingdom from ''Franchise/SuperMarioBros'' 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 cake.Slightly better in Super Star Saga, where there are some officials related to the relations between the Mushroom and Beanbean Kingdoms. The Beanbean Kingdom also seems like more of an established Monarchy.

* The Mushroom Kingdom and the Koopa Kingdom from ''Franchise/SuperMarioBros'' 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 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.

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!!Aversions

* The World Government of ''Manga/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]].

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* 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 rein for a while. The soldiers of Feinster are far more loyal to their governor, Lady Lorana, than to Galbatorix.

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** ''VideoGame/TheElderScrollsIVOblivion'' 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'' (see below), it is one of the reasons why ''Oblivion'' is such a [[BrokenBase 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. There was [[WhatCouldHaveBeen originally supposed to include]] a questline that would involve the PlayerCharacter 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 questline was DummiedOut as the devs felt it distracted from the main quest.