Thanks to Richard Hands (aka Supreme Councillor Bradbury, Governor of Martian Colonies Q7)

Answers to the internal politics questionnaire for MAFC

Regional Authority

The MAFC has a very devolved structure as befits its freewheeling, frontier past. The key to the organisation of the MAFC are the Regional Councils. Each region (Quadrant) has a legislative body based at the Regional Capital - the Regional Council. Representatives are sent by all of the planets in the Quadrant to the Regional Council - the council usually has 2-300 seats, with the number of seats per planet allocated on a population basis.

How planets decide upon selection of representatives to the council is entirely their own business. This is why it is an association of FREE colonies, and it helps to facilitate the joining of new, non-Martian colonies to the MAFC, allowing them to keep their own local government structure intact.

There is thus a high degree of local autonomy. Within Quadrant 7, the planets have mostly chosen to model themselves upon the old Viking tradition of popular assemblies ('Things') which deal with all matters by popular vote - government by referendum in effect. The representative nature of Martian government means that they are forced to elect popular leaders to represent their views at councils, but also means that these leaders are frequently replaced by the somewhat mercurial nature of politics on the so-called 'Viking worlds'. Xynam is actually one of the exceptions to this, and representatives are generally life appointments. This has served to strengthen Xynam politically at the expense of the other planets.

There is also a Regional High Council, which has one representative from every major world in the Region (definitions of 'major worlds' are essentially to do with population and are mostly to stop small research stations and the like declaring themselves as a separate 'world'). Again the method of election of representatives is down to individual planets. If the Regional Council is the legislature, then the High Council is the Executive, forming a sort of 'cabinet'.

One member of the High Council is then elected as Supreme Councillor by the Regional Council. Martian politics is mostly regional and there are no organised political parties as such - merely temporary interest groupings or 'factions'. As a result, the preponderance of votes in the Regional Council held by the Regional Capital tends to mean that the Supreme Councillor is almost inevitably the representative of the capital world. Although he or she is notionally 'primus inter pares', this backing tends to give the Supreme Councillor more leverage over his/her fellow High Council members.

Selections of representatives for Regional and High Councils are held every seven years (although, as said above, some planets choose representatives more or less frequently - some hold the post for life or even on a hereditary basis - nevertheless, barring death or impeachment, representatives are only changed in the actual councils every seven years).

The actions of Regional and High Councils are very much left to their own discretion BUT there is a Association Court which is appointed by the MAFC centrally and which is able to rule any action unconstitutional or remove any Councillor who is viewed as having transgressed too far. The Association Court is also the main court of appeal for any Region (only exceptional cases are allowed to be appealed to the Supreme Court on New Mars).

Central Authority

As well as the nine Regional Councils (even Quadrant 0 has - or had one) there is also a Grand Council, formed by representatives of all of the major worlds in the MAFC, which meets at New Mars. The Grand Council is a bit like the General Assembly of the old United Nations, acting as a forum for individual worlds to air grievances. Its actual powers are quite limited (think the European Parliament), and it has somewhat of a reputation as a 'Talking Shop'.

The meat of central government is the Martian Senate. The Senate has two representatives from each Region (18 in total), plus 12 who are supposed to represent various walks of Martian life, but who tend to be major figures on New Mars and the old colonies.

The Senate has the ability to appoint justices to the Association Court and the Supreme Court. It also has (in theory) overall charge of the Martian Star Navy.

The Martian Star Navy (MSN)

The MAFC decided from the beginning to have a very devolved power structure, where the interests of all were represented. However, it was recognised that this was a sure-fire way to losing the fight for independance from Earth if extended into the military sphere. As a result, the Martian government is exclusively civilian, and military matters are placed into the hands of the MSN.

Over the years a body of 'custom and practise' has built up around the MSN, which has turned the military almost into a separate branch of government.

The MSN is an almost totally autonomous body. It has control over starships, bases, shipyards, marine forces, ground forces, and has expanded its activities into defence research and procurement.

It is funded by Association-wide taxation: the Navy is virtually the sole recipient of taxes collected Association-wide (some go for admin and Association courts, but 95% of 'Federal' taxes go to maintain the Navy). For this reason, the local Association bureaucracy - Association Courts etc - in any Quadrant is closely tied in with the MSN, and operates virtually as an extension of it.

Civil/Military separation

The total separation of civil and military authority means that an organised revolt by any one Quadrant is virtually impossible. To prevent any Quadrant's Navy taking matters into its own hands the Navy rotates units so that they tend not to serve in the Quadrant in which they were recruited, and rotates senior officers even more frequently so that they are not able to create local power bases. The Navy is thus the one totally centralised structure in the MAFC.

By custom and practise, no officer is able to stand for political office until at least five years have elapsed since they left the service. Since recruitment tends to be for very long terms of service anyway (25 or 30 years is common) and since the armed forces form a priveliged elite in Martian society with all manner of tax exemptions, special shops, free education and healthcare and purpose-built accomodation for families etc, and generally because they have such a high perceived status by the rest of Martian society, the armed forces are a sought-after career in their own right, and there is little incentive to dabble in politics.

Also, since the Navy is more organised and centralised than any other aspect of the state, it is also able to exert a disproportionate influence on policy anyway, without having to take overt political power (which would in any case be completely intolerable not only to the public at large but also to the quasi-religeous codes by which the armed forces live).

The Martian Union

The rather decentralised nature of the MAFC has tended to mean that it is unlikely to come up with coherent, Galaxy-wide strategies, preferring to organise on a regional basis. As a result, the MSN has had what some feel to be undue influence on policy-making, leading to Mars' traditional belligerence in the pursuit of new colonies.

As a counter to this, some attempt to create a greater centralisation of power has occurred among some of the worlds of Quardant 0. The worlds have agreed to pool sovereignty under the banner of the Martian Union. This state-within-a-state has virtually subsumed the old Quadrant 0 Regional Council, and has also come to control nearly half of the seats in the Senate and is able to wield them as a block, bringing representatives from other regions onside via a combination of bribes and threats. Some blame the MU for the decline in powers and importance of the Grand Council, and there has been some restless talk from the other Regional Councils.

So far the MU has not tried to trespass too much on the jurisdiction of the other Regional Councils, but some say it is only a matter of time. Whether the Exterminator War will provide the impetus for a gathering of powers at the centre of the MAFC, and what effect this will have on theregions is a matter for great speculation within the MAFC.