Sol Alliance
General
The Alliance of Sovereign Solarian Nations (ASSN), commonly referred to as SolGov, the Sol Alliance, and sometimes the Alliance, is a federal union of 125 member state star systems, and 212 dependencies, which themselves can vary between undeveloped star systems, outposts on asteroids, or even micro-nation space stations. The capital of the Sol Alliance is the bustling Unity Station in orbit over Earth. 52 Alliance states and 25 dependencies are located within the Inner Colonies. The remaining dependencies are located within the Mid Colonies and outer colonies. With control of hundreds of systems and a large 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, and the tax office.
Politics
Overview
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.
Current Ruling Parties
The current ruling party came into power after the Unathi Crisis of June 2457 sparked a snap election. The election saw a radical shift in the political climate of the Sol Alliance, with GAIA and ATLAS forming a coalition that currently holds 73% of seats in the Alliance Parliament, and 65% of the seats in the Alliance Senate. This gives it a super majority in the Parliament and Senate, effectively seizing control of the entire Alliance legislator. Their coalition appointed Miles Theodore Chater as their choice for Prime Minister, with him becoming the Prime Minister of the Sol Alliance on June 30th, 2457.
GAIA, also known as Earth and Ares Initiative Associated, holds 44% of the seats in Parliament and 33% of the seats in the Senate. A party founded by Gregory Theadore Miles on the 22th of April, 2447 with a primary agenda of furthering the prosperity and ensuring survival of humanity, concentrating on the places where majority resides. They seek to investments and regulations on Alliance economy, wanting to decrease the overall power and economic significance of mega-corporations.
ATLAS, also known as the Sol National Union, holds 29% of the seats in Parliament and 32% in the Senate. The party was founded early in the creation of the Alliance, and its mission and platform has slowly evolved. Now the mandate of ATLAS is a "human first" policy, stressing the importance of human supremacy in the galaxy for the greater prosperity and safety of mankind. They have strong grassroots support in the outer colonies, and their coalition with GAIA have given them a very strong voice in the federal government.
The Worker's Party, which holds 11% of the seats in Parliament and 15% in the Senate, is a coalition of socialists, communists, and anti-megacorporation advocates that seek radical unionization and the dismantling of the major galactic monopolies.
The Utopian Front is the last major party, which holds 16% of the seats in Parliament and 19% of the seats in the Senate. They seek equal integration of all alien species into the Sol Alliance, increased regulation on mega-corporations, and peaceful coexistance with other major galactic factions.
Branches of Government
The Sol Alliance's federal government is divided into three branches of government, and their relationship with one another is incredibly complex, but the basics have much in common with 21st century federalism.
The Executive Branch
The Executive Branch is based on Unity Station in orbit of Earth. It carries out and enforces laws passed by the legislative branch. It includes the president, vice president, the Cabinet, executive departments, independent agencies, and other boards, commissions, and committees.
Alliance citizens do not directly elect the Prime Minister. Parties appoint a representative from within their party to represent them as candidate for Prime Minister, and that representative becomes Prime Minister if their party wings the majority of seats in Parliament or, during a tie, they enter a coalition with another party to gain the majority.
The current Prime Minister of the Sol Alliance is Miles Theodore Chater, a member of the GAIA party. He won a contested election in June of 2457 during snap elections during the Unathi Crisis. He won with his platform of "humanity first", though more moderate than the ATLAS platform.
The Judicial Branch
The judicial branch interprets the meaning of laws, applies laws to individual cases, and decides if laws violate Alliance law.
The judicial branch is comprised of the Alliance Supreme Court and other federal courts.
The Legislative Branch
The legislative branch is made up of the bicameral upper Alliance Senate and lower Parliament, confirms or rejects presidential appointments, and has the authority to declare war.
The Senate is made up of 129 Senators, one from each member state, and four from the Sol System. Each member state elects a single senator to serve a 3 year term. Qualifications for senators are up to individual states. They can be the head of state of the planet or system, or be a single representative elected separate of the local government.
The lower Parliament is made up of 218 representatives, and represents the dependencies of the Sol Alliance. Each dependency has its own governing parliament, and their Prime Minister becomes a Member of Parliament for the federal Parliament, and serve as long as their term as Prime Minister in their respective system. The Prime Minister of the Sol Alliance is, confusingly, also a member of the lower Parliament, and counts as 6 representatives, one for Earth, Mars, Europa, the Moon, and Unity Station, giving him 6 effective votes in the lower parliament, because each of these locations are individual member states of the Alliance.
History
By the 2120's, after overcoming great obstacles in engineering and humanity had managed to establish small colonies on Mars and the moon, while more nations were beginning to tap into the vast wealth of the solar system. However these advances in science had come on the heels of an immense economic crisis; the economy of Earth had collapsed in the Crisis of 2127.