Sol Alliance

The Alliance of Sovereign Solarian Nations (ASSN), commonly referred to as SolGov, the Sol Alliance, and sometimes the Alliance, is a federal union of 23 member states and 112 dependencies, with the capital being the bustling Unity Station in orbit over Earth. All 23 member states and 79 of the Alliance's dependencies are located within the Inner Colonies. The remaining 33 dependencies and all 15 associated states are located within the Mid Colonies. With control over 188 systems of significant population and a population of about 20.8 billion, the Sol Alliance is by far the largest nation within all of known space. It is arguably the most culturally and linguistically diverse entity within known space, owing primarily to the age of its colonies and its control over the Sol system and Earth.

Economics
The economy of the Sol Alliance is dominated almost entirely by the biggest four megacorporations: Nanotrasen, Einstein Engines, Zeng-Hu Pharmaceuticals, and Hesphaistos Industries. Nanotrasen is the largest of these mega-corporations, utilizing its monopoly on plasma to keep the Sol Alliance firmly reliant on them for intergalactic travel.

The Alliance never fully recovered from the Second Great Depression of 2260. That economic collapse and the resulting civil war left confidence in the Alliance economy extremely shaky. The Alliance has an extremely condensed cycle of boom and bust, with a brief year of growth followed by two years of recession, on average. This is partially the reason that trans-stellar corporations are so powerful and influential: With Sol Alliance bonds or ventures radically decentralized and untrustworthy, the resilient economic strength of trans-stellar corporations makes them a much more lucrative investment.

The prosperity of the Alliance is extremely centralized to the inner colonies, most notably the Sol system, which benefit from their proximity to Earth and being the commercial and industrial centers. Farther away from Sol, the average wealth of systems gradually decrease. The frontier of the Sol Alliance territory tend to be far less wealthy than the inner colonies. In some extreme cases, travel to and from these systems can be made difficult as maintenance of bluespace beacons or shuttle services are the responsibility of individual systems. The only assurance in all Alliance systems is the presence of the federally funded Extranet post-service, allowing messages, if not people, to go from one end of the Alliance to the other.

Government
The Sol Alliance operates as a hybrid between a Federal Democracy and Westminister system, while at the same time also being an alliance between systems, hence its name. Being the result of original negotiations on Earth to create a new world order between over a hundred nations, including the former United Nations, and the resulting few hundred years of development has left the Alliance government a nearly impenetrable labyrinth of complexity and seeming hypocrisies. An ongoing joke by seasoned politicians is that no one elected to an office actually knows what they're doing.

The government as a whole is extremely decentralized, but operates as a Federal Democracy. The federal government consists of a bicameral Senate, split between the upper Senate and the lower Parliament.

Type: Federal Parliamentary Democracy Head of State: Prime Minister
 * Executive Minister of Commerce
 * Executive Minister of the Defense Staff

Upper House: Alliance Senate

Lower House: Alliance Popular Assembly

Judicial: Alliance Central Judiciary
 * Alliance Court of Justice
 * Alliance Central Court

Administrative Divisions
The Sol Alliance is divided into Member States, Dependencies, and Associated States.

Member States are represented in the Alliance Senate and possess varying degrees of autonomy. They can comprise anything from one to five star systems. The Alliance Charter grants certain rights to member states, which can only be revoked by amending the Alliance Charter. The degree of autonomy varies by member, with certain members such as the Eridani Federation retaining near-complete control over internal affairs, while others such as Sol maintain only negligible autonomy.

Dependencies contain the vast majority of Alliance systems; they are sparsely populated systems with little to no control over their internal affairs, which are subject to all Alliance laws, although day-to-day operations are left to locally elected legislatures or corporate sponsors.

Associated States are independent states which have agreed to turn over control of their external affairs to the Alliance in return for military protection and economic aid. Associated states reserve the right of secession and have de jure control over their internal affairs, though the prerequisites attached to Alliance aid gives the Alliance considerable influence.

As of 2456, there are 23 member states, 112 Dependencies, and 15 Associated States.

Alliance Senate
The Senate is the 'upper house' of the Alliance Assembly. Senators are appointed for five year terms by the government of their constituency rather than by direct election. There are currently 230 seats in the Senate, with each member state sending a delegation of ten senators. Each senator has a 'voting weight' directly proportional to the population of their constituent. As only member states can appoint senators, dependencies and associated states are not represented within this chamber. Associated States are limited to sending one non-voting observer each.

Special powers accorded to only the Alliance Senate include: Senators tend to be senior politicians with decades of experience. There is no term limit.
 * Approval of changes in borders between the member states and dependencies of the Sol Alliance;
 * Approval of a decree of the Executive Council on the introduction of martial law;
 * Approval of a decree of the Executive Council on the introduction of a state of emergency;
 * Approval of international treaties.
 * Approval of nominations for the Chairman of the Executive Council
 * Approval of nominations for ministers of the Executive Council

Popular Assembly
The Popular Assembly is the 'lower house' of the Alliance Assembly. Assembly-persons (often called 'legislators') are directly elected for five year terms by Sol Alliance citizens with member state citizenship residing within a member state or qualifying dependency. There are 5000 seats within the Alliance Assembly, which are divided among the member seats by population. The few dependencies which surpass the minimum population threshold (currently 4.16 million) are also granted representation within the Alliance Assembly. All other dependencies go unrepresented.

The Popular Assembly is the only body able to submit spending bills. It also has the power to nominate a Chairman of the Executive Council, who must then be approved by the senate.

Executive Council
The Executive Council is the executive branch of the Sol Alliance and is responsible for the day-to-day operation of the government. It is headed by the Chairman of the Executive Council, informally known as the Prime Minister. The Prime Minister is selected by the Popular Assembly and is normally the leader of the dominant political coalition. They are in charge of appointing administrators to head the various government agencies, determining the priorities of the government, and overseeing the operation of the various government agencies.

Alliance Security Council The Alliance Security Council (Or ASC) is a body of government officials serving as the primary forum used by the Chairman of the Executive council for considering security and foreign policy matters with his senior security advisers and Cabinet officials.

Attendees of ASC meetings can be sorted into three groups; Statutory Attendees, Regular Attendees and Invited Attendees.

Statutory Attendee's: - These members of the government must be in attendance by law.
 * Chairman of the Executive Council
 * Vice Chairman of the Executive Council
 * Executive Minister of Defense
 * Executive Minister of Energy
 * Executive Minister of Commerce

Regular Attendee's: - Although not required by law, these members customarily attend meetings of the Security Council.
 * Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff - Military Adviser
 * Director of Alliance Intelligence Services - Intelligence Adviser
 * Director of Internal Affairs - Internal Affairs Adviser
 * Foreign Affairs Minister - Foreign Affairs Adviser
 * Alliance Security Adviser - Security Adviser
 * Minister of the Alliance Central Judiciary

Additional/Invited Attendees - Although not officially members of the security council, these members of government are invited to sit on the security council at the discretion of the Executive council.
 * Assistant to the Chairman for Economic Policy - Economics Adviser
 * Ambassador to the Republic of Biesel
 * Ambassador to the Eridani Federation
 * Ambassador to the Governance of Akhet

Alliance Central Judiciary
The Alliance Central Judiciary consists of two separate institutions; the Alliance Court of Justice and the Alliance Central Court. The Alliance Court of Justice is responsible for resolving disputes between member states and on matters regarding international law.