Cabinet of Themiclesia

The Cabinet of Themiclesia (治書省朝, lre-sta-sring-tru, 治朝, lre-tru) is the leading committee of the Government of Themiclesia, which is collectively the executive branch of the national government of Themiclesia. The Cabinet is chaired by the Prime Minister of Themiclesia.

History

The modern Cabinet developed out of political conventions which date at least to the Restoration of the Meng dynasty in Themiclesia. The Themiclesian royal court, having deposed its monarch, wished to maintain an extant power-sharing arrangement between the throne and various officials filled by the aristocracy. To prevent a fatal fissure between himself and his new court, the restored Meng emperor commanded his crown prince to oversee a conference of his representatives, senior officials whose appointment was largely beyond his control, as well as neutral aristocrats. This conference was required to give counsel on all matters which come before him. Despite its broad remit, it is thought the emperor intended the conference would dilute the influence of his most powerful opponents at court and ensure he was not forced to comply, if he could rely on a minor but contradictory opinion that stalled the conference.

This conference existed independently of the other royal courts and courts held by the chief officials, such as the Chancellor's court. Slowly, the conference seems to have achieved its function of penetrating through the existing power structures of the official bureaucracy by encouraging subordinate officials to give opinions that contradict their superiors' at an alternative forum. With few exceptions, the Emperor was never personally present at conferences nominally held to counsel him on his portfolio; instead, he commanded his representatives to report the conference's resolutions to him and then approved of them in private. Emperors of the Restored Meng dynasty never formally rejected the recommendations of the conference, though they sought vehemently to steer its outcome and disguise their will as much as possible as the consensus.

Academics have noted that the emperor's personal absence had at least two functions. First, it would have avoided direct confrontations between the throne and its officials, the negative outcome of which could become a political precedent and wash away what little prestige and authority the throne then possessed. Even though the Emperor's representatives attended the conference (and frequently spoke on behalf of the throne), their rejection was not necessarily that of the throne itself. Second, it permitted the Emperor to maintain a mystique and perhaps curry favour as a neutral arbiter, though this is somewhat debatable because the conference never "hung" and always had to decide one way or another. As the council's decisions were relayed by the Emperor's envoy to him in private, it was known that more than the recommendation was reported; the Emperor often was more interested in politics of the council than its policies.

This arrangement was seen in one form or another in the Themiclesian dynasties that followed up to the Lren and Themiclesia's defeat by Menghe in 1385.