Government

Government (Social Science) Synopsis

Government types in the UWP indicates the general type of authority. The Planetary Government table describes characteristics of each government type.

See Allegiance Code for more information.

Sovereign vs. Unitary States

A sovereign state is a state run by a centralized government that has sovereignty over an astrographic area, sometimes as small as a single solar system and, at other times, as large as a multi-system or even multi-sector polity.

A unitary state

Government Power Structures

A federation (from Latin: foedus, gen.: foederis, "covenant"), also known as a federal state, is a political entity characterized by a union of partially self-governing states or regions under a central (federal) government. In a federation, the self-governing status of the component states, as well as the division of power between them and the central government, are typically constitutionally entrenched and may not be altered by a unilateral decision of either party, the states or the federal political body.[1]

The governmental or constitutional structure found in a federation is known as federalism. It can be considered the opposite of another system, the unitary state. Germany with sixteen Länder is an example of a federation, whereas neighboring Austria and its Bundesländer was a unitary state with administrative divisions that became federated, and neighboring France by contrast has always been unitary.

Federations may be multi-ethnic and cover a large area of territory (e.g. United States or India), although neither is necessarily the case. The initial agreements create a stability that encourages other common interests, reduces differences between the disparate territories, and gives them all even more common ground. At some time this is recognized and a movement is organized to merge more closely. At other times, especially when common cultural factors are at play such as ethnicity and language, some of the steps in this pattern are expedited and compressed.

Government (Social Science) Standard Codes & Descriptions

The Imperium use a tadardized system of government codes within it UWP System. These codes are mostly useful for worlds presided over by members of Humaniti or sophonts with similar psychologies.

General Government Codes & Descriptions

Worlds inhabited by Humaniti are generally classified with the following codes. Balkanization is a special result which indicates that there is no world government; instead several rival territorial governments exist. In such cases, the specific qualities of each territory on the planet should be separately listed.

Subordinate Government is a government type on other planets within a system. These governments are usually code 0,1,2,3 or 6.

Government Codes

Code	Name	Description
0	No Government Structure.	In many cases, tribal, clan or family bonds predominate
1	Company/Corporation.	Government by a company managerial elite, citizens are company employees
2	Participating Democracy.	Government by advice and consent of the citizen.
3	Self-Perpetuatlng Oligarchy.	Government by a restricted minority, with little or no input from the masses
4	Representative Democracy.	Government by elected representatives
5	Feudal Technocracy.	Government by specific individuals for those who agree to be ruled Relationships are based on the performance of technical activities which are mutually beneficial
6	Captive Government/Colony.	Government by a leadership answerable to an outside group, a colony or conquered area.
7	Balkanization.	No central ruling authority exists. rival governments compete for control.
8	Civil Service Bureaucracy.	Government by agencies employing individuals selected for their expertise
9	Impersonal Bureaucracy.	Government by agencies which are insulated from the governed
A	Charismatic Dictator.	Government by a single leader enjoying the confidence of the citizens.
B	Non-Charismatic Leader.	A previous charismatic dictator has been replaced by a leader through normal channels.
C	Charismatic Oligarchy.	Government by a select group, organization, or class enjoying overwhelming confidence of the citizenry.
D	Religious Dictatorship.	Government by a religious minority which has little regard for the needs of the citizenry
E	Religious Autocracy.	Government by a single religious leader having absolute power over the citizenry
F	Totalitarian Oligarchy.	Government by an all-powerful minority which maintains absolute control through widespread coercion and oppression

Government (Social Science) Other Codes

However, the Imperial UWP Government Codes do not adequately describe the world of sophonts with radically-different psychologies and mindsets. So, alternate sytem and codes were created for sophonts with different mindset and methods of governance.

Aslan Governments

In human terms, all Aslan worlds have a feudal form of government. Thus, one of several normal governmental codes might be assigned by humans to various Aslan planets (0,3, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, A, B, and C are all applicable), and these codes might be found in a human catalog of world types. Kusyu, the Aslan homeworld, is often assigned a government type 8 in this fashion. Some UWP descriptions use the following codes to refine Aslan dominated worlds:

Aslan Government Codes

Code	Name	Description
G	Small Station or Facility	Either operated by an off-world clan or controlled by an Aslan company (the only instance where a world is controlled by anything but a clan)
H	Split Control	Different parts of the world are owned by several on-planet clans. An analogy to human balkanized worlds
J	Single On-world Clan Control	Other small clans may also be present, but they will be dominated by the major clan.
K	Single Multi-world Clan Control	The world is controlled by a single clan whose span extends over several worlds, not necessarily nearby.
L	Major Clan Control	The world is controlled by one of the Tlaukhu
M	Vassal Clan Control	The world is controlled, but not owned, by a vassal clan in fief to a larger clan
N	Major Vassal Clan Control	The world is controlled, but not owned by a vassal clan in fief to one of the clans in the Tlaukhu.

For more information on the forms of governments used in the Aslan Hierate, please see Aslan (government).

Droyne Governments

Due to the biological caste nature of the Droyne, independent Droyne worlds essential have one underlying government type: Droyne Hierachy. When balkanized worlds are found containing Droyne, each and every Droyne territory is a Droyne Hierachy type government:

Droyne Government Codes

Code	Name	Description
X	Droyne Hierarchy	Established communities are ruled by hereditary and long-established governments

For information on the nature of Droyne Hierarchies, please see Droyne.

Hiver Governments

Hiver Governments include:

Hiver Government Codes

Code	Name
S	Sept
T	Unsupervised Anarchy
U	Supervised Anarchy
W	Committee

For information on the forms of governments used in the Hive Federation, please see Hiver (government).

K'Kree Governments

From the human point of view, the K'kree have little in the way of a government structure. Most K'kree worlds are given a government code of 0 in human descriptions of world types. Some UWP catalogs use more specific codes:

K'kree Government Codes

Code	Name
P	Small station or facility maintained for the good of a family
Q	Ruled by a krurruna or a group of krumunak answerable to an offworld steppelord
R	Ruled by a steppelord on-planet

For information on the forms of governments used in the Two Thousand Worlds, please see K'Kree (government).

Government (Social Science) Other Standards

In source information of from other eras of history, other government codes and types have been used.

Era: The New Era

Standard Government 0 thru F were kept, but the following were introduced in The New Era to reflect the changed nature of Charted Space. UWP catalogs contain the following additional codes:

New Era Government Codes

Code	Name	Description
M	Military Dictatorship or Junta	Government by the armed forces as an interim survival measure or result of a Coup
Q	Interim Government	The world is ruled by a temporary government (which may have been in power for some time)
S	Slave World	The world’s government is ineffectual or non-existent. The populace survives by offering tribute or slaves to an outside power (often Vampire ships) which does not care to rule the world directly.
T	Technologically Elevated Dictator	A leader or small group holds power through the use of relic technology
V	Viral Hell	The world is run by malevolent Viral Entities, ether openly or through a Quisling government

Additional Codes were introduced for specific regions. The same code (N) is used in two different regions to represent two different government types. In one case (M), the regional code conflicts with the general government code:

New Era Government Codes

Code	Region	Name	Description
G	Spinward States: (Found in Spinward Marches, Trojan Reach, Deneb, Reft Sector)	Small Station or Facility (Aslan)
H	Spinward States	Split Clan (Aslan)
J	Spinward States	Single On-world Clan (Aslan)
K	Spinward States	Single Multi-world Clan (Aslan)
L	Spinward States	Major Clan (Aslan)
M	Spinward States	Vassal Clan (Aslan)
N	Fourth Imperium	Noble House	Noble Houses rule Imperial worlds directly. The 'ruling' noble may be an absolute leader or the head of state for a civil government
N	Spinward States	Major Vassal Clan (Aslan)

Government (Social Science) References

This list of sources was used by the Traveller Wiki Editorial Team and individual contributors to compose this article. Copyrighted material is used under license from Far Future Enterprises or by permission of the author. The page history lists all of the contributions.

• Classic Traveller Book 6: Scouts
• Alien Module 1: Aslan
• Alien Module 2: K'kree
• Alien Module 5: Droyne
• MegaTraveller-Referee's Manual
• New Era 1248 Sourcebook 1: Out Of The Darkness
• New Era 1248 Sourcebook 2: Bearers of the Flame
• New Era 1248 Sourcebook 3: Spinward States