Kenar Ministry

The Kenar Ministry was the Conservative government in power in Themiclesia between 1892 and 1898, led by the eponymous Baron of Kenar (暵矦).

Notable policies

Army reform

During the preceding administrations led by Lord Tlwang-men (1881 – 1887) and the Baron of Krungh (1887 – 1892), governments took a permissive if not supportive attitude towards the gradual reform of the army, granting moneys for research expeditions to foreign states and the drawing up of policies for consideration. Acceptance of such policies, however, was relatively rare and then almost always piecemeal, given political and fiscal restraints. Most important of the organizations established for army reform was Lord Tlwang-men's Army Reform Board, which consisted of active and retired officials and consultants appointed by the government; it possessed a statutory budget and could approve minor planning work without prior government approval.

As soon as the Kenar Ministry transitioned into power, the Reform Board saw its arrival as an opportunity to ask for more activity, since new governments usually introduced ambitious legislative projects at the outset, when the mandate was fresh and strongest. However, it seems the members on the Board failed to appreciate Kenar's position as a younger politician of the same party as the exiting Krungh, and Krungh lingered as an elder statesman figure in Conservative circles. Kenar was not, politically speaking, at much liberty to exert himself, and keeping Krungh at bay (his departure had not been completely voluntary—as evidenced by his restoration) was still a key consideration for the entire administration. Thus, even though the Kenar administration was supported by a majority in both houses, a sound foundation for his politics was neither ready in the first months of his administration nor forthcoming in the rest.

Kenar and his inner circle felt a line had been crossed when members on the Reform Board solicited acknowledgement from figures close to Krungh, especially when this resulted in a string of stinging questions in the House of Lords. These actions were not illegal: the Board was not bound of secrecy, and the mere expression of opinion was a recognized right, yet still Kenar felt the Board had bypassed and undermined him. From April 1893 onwards, Kenar postponed appointments to the Reform Board, refused to summon it, and rejected all its recommendations and minutes. He treated the Capital Defence Force Board in like manner as he felt its officers were the most supportive of the Reform Board, though permitting some appointments to provincial and border militias.

By 1890, it had been customary for the Government to assign reports to the Secretary Board for deliberation and consultation, but because the war ministers in Kenar's administration felt it risky to give more information to the Reform Board (which had many members in common with the Secretary Board), most reports were sent to the Cabinet Office instead. This flow of information, important to the nascent practice of professional staff involvement at the higher level, was thus blocked and not restored for a long time.

Kenar's reticence towards the Reform Board and related bodies, in the view of many historians, had a profound but delayed effect on Themiclesia's defence modernization. During Kenar's premiership, few noticed, let alone criticized, his rejection of the Board, but with Kenar in retirement and Krungh restored in 1898, this policy continued with its adherents, in the new Ministry through to Krungh's third between 1903 – 1909 (which saw major social reforms) and then under the indisposed Baron of Rem to 1911. With the Liberal Baron of Mik victorious that year, defence modernization restarted in earnest but was cut short by the radical premier Gwah Mar-ke in 1913, who internally displaced Mik, and the next major step since the Reform Board would not occur until 1916—the Consolidated Board established that year. In this view, something which had been planned for implementation in 1884 was delayed more thna 30 years by reason of Kenar's insecurity.

provisional
The Dayashinese military officer and theorist Yutaka Ueda treated the Kenar Ministry's military policy in a long paper he published while studying at the University of the Military Academy between 1913 – 20, which is the period when Themiclesia's army was thoroughly re-organized. In the paper, he argued that Kenar himself was not necessarily against military modernization but chose to block it, so that his administration would not appear beholden to a competitor's administration. 

Ueda attributes this choice to the political custom developed during the Great Concession of 1801 and Great Reforms of 1831 and 1844, which he said concentrated all power in Parliament and the Government responsible to it, to the exclusion career officials, who had views outside of this political process—particularly of the Crown—and which are "unconstitutional". While officialdom was valid in and of itself, political orthodoxy now was to view officials as automata, to operate mechanically, and deviations, such as what the Reform Board did in 1892, were stamped out. A lax attitude towards the same would be construed as feebleness or corruption in Government and grounds for its replacement. The defensive attitude persisted long after the Crown had ceased to engage in any meaningful political activity.

Ueda wrote in 1916 of his concern that the conventional dogma, as accepted in Themiclesia, regarding parliamentary supremacy had become excessive and now stifled critical and beneficial opinions. Having written this, Ueda now found it difficult to get his manuscript accepted by a publisher willing to print his work.