The Land of Kings and Emperors
The Land of Kings and Emperors, also known as simply The LKE, is a country and empire in Nationstates. It is a member of the Congress of Sovereigns and is a Parliamentary Constitutional Monarchy.
The State
The LKE is a Constitutional Monarchy. However although there is freedom of speech, free and fair elections the Monarchy still wields considerable influence and power. There is very little Seperation of Powers in the LKE, though there is an extensive system of checks and balances.
THE EXECUTIVE
The Executive consists of the unelected Monarch and his elected Prime Minister and Ministers who act on his behalf and form His Supreme Majesty's Government.
The Monarch
The Land of Kings and Emperors has a very detailed and complex form of government. The Head of State is the Monarch, who by law must be from the House of Superbus. The current monarch is Lucius Magnus Rex. The Monarch has the power to dismiss Parliament, dissolve Parliament and Open Parliament. He may also dismiss and invite a government. In addition he has the right to veto and grant assent to Bills of Parliament, upon which they become Acts of Parliament. The Monarch is also responsible for declaring war or making peace, and is needed to assent to treaties. The Monarch is also Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces. He also grants Honours and Peerages and appoints the Speaker of the House of Lords. He must also approve of Parliament's nomination of a Lord Chancellor. The Monarch is the single most powerful person in the Empire, though gradually more authority is being delegated to Ministers and the Prime Minister. There has only ever been one Emperor, the current heir to the throne is His Supreme Highness, Westiana, Prince of Norwood and 1st Archduke of Wellington.
The Prime Minister
The Prime Minister of The Land of Kings and Emperors is the Head of Government for the LKE. He/she is invited to form a government by the Emperor after a General Election. By precedent and constitutional protocol the Prime Minister is the person who can best command the support of the LKE Parliament. In practice this amounts to having a Party Majority, Coalition majority or simply the support of most Members of Parliament in the House of Commons. The LKE Prime Minister has the power of patronage over Cabinet Ministers, and de facto power of appointment over Junior Ministers. He also nominates a Lord Chancellor for the approval of Parliament and the Sovereign. In addition he nominates the Speaker of the House of Commons and advises the Monarch on the appointment of the Speaker of the House of Lords. The Prime Minister also is ultimately responsible for a Government's success or failures. He sets the government agenda. The Prime Minister also advises the Emperor on the Honours Lists.
The Cabinet
The LKE Cabinet consists of the Ministers of the Crown, who are appointed and dismissed by the Prime Minister alone (the Monarch does have the right to dismiss an entire government, but not Ministers individually). Traditionally Cabinet meets twice a week with MSN meetings. However Cabinet Collect Responsibility has never been enforced, though some principles are involved. The Cabinet is chaired by the Prime Minister, and managed and minuted by the Cabinet Secretary. Any individual Cabinet Minister may add items to the Cabinet Agenda, though ultimately the Prime Minister will decide how much discussion time they get. As a group the Cabinet is very much subject to the will of the Prime Minister and it mainly acts as a policy unit for him, in addition to a means of implementing government/Prime Ministerial policy.
THE LEGISLATURE
The Legislature consists of a bicameral Parliament, consisting of the unelected House of Lords forming the upper, inferior House and the directly elected lower, superior House of Commons.
The House of Commons
The LKE House of Commons is the lower House in the Parliament of the LKE. It is the more powerful house. The majority of Prime Ministers are members of the Commons. The HoC consists of 11 elected members, who are elected from individual Constituencies. Only Members of the House may speak in it. The Emperor is forbidden to enter. The House of Commons has the power to overule the House of Lords.
The Political System
Parties are at the heart of the LKE Political system. Throughout the history of the LKE the only independent Governments have been those of pre civilised LKE. Political Parties in the LKE are notorious for being short lasting. Typically they tend to be based on a loose left/right idelogical spectrum, though people are known to sacrifice principles for power. Because of this there is also a tremendous culture of Party switching, which partly explains why parties do not last long, typically being formed around election periods. Occasionally parties have to go into coalitions with each other to form a government. Due to the complete absence of Whippage i.e voting according to party policy, party membership is only really important for Government forming. Indeed a Cabinet is very rarely made up of Government Party members only, regardless of a coalition status. There are a few independents, but due to the nature of the voting system they tend to fail. This is because voters tend to identify with a party more than an individual candidate.
The Media
The LKE has a long history of active media, indeed many Newspapers have been founded since the creation of a Civilised LKE. There are three main types of newspaper in the LKE; Broadsheets, Tabloids and Satires. Newspapers are ranked according to activity and readership, though also in the order of Broadsheets, Tabloids and Satires. Typically broadsheets tend to focus on the serious events of the region and Empire, and to a lesser extent wider NS world. Tabloids focus on more socially minded events, in addition to some non news articles. Satirical newspapers tend to make fun of everything and everyone in current affairs. On average there tends to be at least one issue of the combined Media every two days or so. Media activity does tend to come in booms and slides, with one active newspaper tending to have a positive activity effect on others.
The LKE has never really attempted to create a radio station, though it has always been talked about.
The Media was also the seen of the powerful Imperial Broadcasting Corporation.
