Prime Minister of Themiclesia

Prime Minister
尚書令
Incumbent Lja Le (徐貽) since 2016
Type	head of government
Member of	Council of Correspondence
Reports to	The Emperor
Residence	Council Residences
Seat	Court Hall (Themiclesia)
Nominator	Ministry of Administration Council of Protonotaries
Appointer	The Emperor
Term length	unlimited
Constituting instrument	Standing Order of Administrators (吏令) Customary usage
Formation	c. 550
Deputy	Right Minister, Left Minister

The Prime Minister of Themiclesia, more formally President of Correspondence (尚書令, ′djang′-st′a-mlingh), is the head of the Council of Correspondence and thus the Themiclesian government. The incumbent is Lja Le, who assumed office in 2018 after the retirement of St′ang Krugh.

History

Pre-Themiclesian development

The institution of the Council of Correspondence can be traced to Menghe in the Warring States, when a trend to centralize administration necessitated a secretariat to handle state papers on behalf of the monarch; however, policies were most often made by a chancellor, leaving the monarch a limited role in government. Chancellors were often talented individuals who could, over their careers, serve in multiple courts; as a result, monarchs usually wished to retain a final check on the chancellor's actions, though active policy-making would still be done by the latter. It is understood that the monarch's secretariat, titled "managers of correspondence", handled communications between the chancellor, which led what could be called a government, and the monarch. In this period, the managers of correspondence were effectively secretaries to a passive monarch. This arrangement of power was to continue after Menghe was unified by the eponymous Meng dynasty in 192 BCE, which was the principal influence on perambulating Themiclesian political structures during the Hexarchy.

However, monarchs soon desired to take a more active role in policy-making than the contemporary arrangement permitted. The Chancery was reduced from government to an administrative body that interpreted the policies that the Meng emperor and his privy courtiers made, and the managers of correspondence, who controlled communication between the monarch and chancery, grew to dominate the emperor's policy will. The most senior secretary was called the President of Correspondence, though he had no formal powers over the other secretaries, so that he could not constrict the channels of communication. The power of the secretaries was reflected in many social institutions. Though not high-ranking, virtually all other ministers were expected to yield and bow to a secretary when he passed, including the chancellor. The shift from chancellory to secretarial government is thought to have occurred in Menghe, gradually, between 150 BCE and 50 BCE. The same shift was slower to occur in Themiclesia, as monarchs there were more willing to yield power to talented administrators, though the nominal unification of the country under the Tsjinh in 265 is thought to precipitated a similar shift.

Dynastic development

In Themiclesia, the power of the Council of Correspondence follows a similar arc as in Menghe. The king of Tsjinh was the chief administrator of a centralized state, and administrative departments periodically reported on their affairs and required the approval of the monarch for certain actions, as laid out by statute. Their "correspondence" were opened and read by the Council of Correspondence, which would draft the king's response to them. This naturally implies the authority to create policy. While the king had the ultimate say in which draft he approved, he saw fit to give much latitude to the Council, which also had the power to summon administrators to the palace for questioning, sometimes on behalf of the monarch. The Council assigned one or several of its members as secretaries of state managing correspondence from different policy areas, giving rise to the modern institution of government ministries. Each secretary of state had individual access to the sovereign, but the President of Correspondence supervised the entire operation of the Council. In the later part of the Tsjinh dynasty, it became customary for the secretaries of state to be unanimous on "major affairs" before the monarch. Scholars take the Council under Slje-da Lan (司徒延, in office 345 – 369) to have assumed its modern function as a chief executive, inherited by every later dynasty as the political norm. This arrangement survived challenges by several alternatives, as shown below.

See also

• Themiclesia