Local Government of Barrayar

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The local government bodies of the Imperium of Barrayar are a set of bodies, rules, models and traditions which vary widely across the Empire, according to tradition, organic evolution and different ways of establishment. However, despite this, there is a common model where the Imperial Authority has not any pre-existing limit, that is to say in the Southern Continent as well as on Sergyar. In other places, i.e. Northern Continent and Komarr, the Imperial Authority is variously modulated, according needs and, most important, traditions.

Barrayar

The planet of Barrayar for purposes of administration consists of 124 Districts, 280 Regions and a number of municipalities. All these subdivisions, alongside with central government, constitute the planetary government.
The subdivisions of the imperial state is administrative in nature: the political power is held by the central government and by the whole Empire. Municipalities, Regions and Districts are a sequence of levels of government, according to a hierarchical system.
The planetary administrative system of Barrayar, is divided into the following levels:

  • 124 Districts, of whom
    • 60 Northern Districts, each ruled by a District Count with a different subdivision
    • 64 Southern Districts, which are subdivided into 280 Regions
      • Regions are in turn divided into 36,569 municipalities
  • 3 Special Urban Communities (Vorbarr Sultana, Black Reach City, Neurussland)

The planet of Barrayar is composed of two major continents. The Northern Continent is subdivided into 60 Districts, each ruled by a Count, who sits in the Council of Counts. Southern Continent is formally a personal property of the Emperor: although it is also divided into 64 Districts, its system and legal status is quite different.
Apart of the rest, there are orbital installations, as well as mining installations or scientific facilities.

Northern Continent

In Northern Continent, a District is an area of the Empire of Barrayar that shares sovereignty with the Imperium central government. Since the reign of Dorca Vorbarra, there are sixty Northern Districts. A Barrayaran subject is a citizen of both the imperial entity and of his District of domicile. District domicile and residence is flexible and few government approvals are required to move between Districts.
The Barrayaran legal system allocates certain powers to the central government and places some limitations on the District governments. The tasks of public security, public education, public health, transportation, and infrastructure are primarily district responsibilities, although some of these have significant imperial funding and regulation as well.
The District Count is the sole and ultimate ruler of his District. In each of the Districts Counts exercise many of the functions traditionally associated with sovereignty. In the first instance the Counts —rather than the Emperor — collect taxes, administer justice, and claim responsibility for the material and moral welfare of their subjects. Many of the Districts have their own parliamentary bodies representing the estates of the territory. General support for unitary inheritance preserves the Northern Districts to be partitioned. Each Count runs his District on his own, and Districts' organisation and operations are not the same across the continent, although some common models can be found, such as the granting of charters to major cities.
District governments are power originating from the relevant Counts and from the Emperor through their individual legal systems. The general tendency has been toward centralization and incorporation, with the Imperial government playing a much larger role than it once did. For example, the Imperial government, which includes the Council of Counts, can regulate monorail traffic across District borders, but it may also regulate monorail traffic solely within a District, based on the theory that wholly intra-district traffic can still have an impact on inter-district communications. Northern Districts may be divided into further territorial levels, which may be assigned some local authority but are not sovereign; the administrative structure varies widely by District.
Local Count's Justice is also run by and for the District Count, who exercises it either by Count's Voices and by Count's Courts. District Counts are free to organize their individual governments any way they like, so long as they conform to the sole requirement of the Empire general legal custom that they are the ultimate rulers. In practice, each District has adopted a similar system of government generally along similar lines as that of the Imperial government. District Counts can also organize their judicial systems differently from the Imperial judiciary, as long as they protect the duty to procedural due process. Most have a trial level court, an appellate court and a Cassation Court, as well as a Count's Voice system.
Counts' power, however, is not unlimited. The Council of Counts, although it is reluctant to do so, may intervene in disputes between Districts and even between Counts and their subjects. If a Count is excessively autocratic or tyrant in his behiavour, the Council may take harsh measures as exiling or even removing him. Districts are required to give at least faith and credit to the acts of each other's bodies, which is generally held to include the recognition of legal contracts and criminal judgements. Other legal acts are often recognized District-to-district according to the common practice of comity. A District must extradite people located there who have fled serious District charges, if the other District so demands. Districts may also enter into agreements between two or more other Districts. Such agreements are frequently used to manage a shared resource, such as transportation infrastructure or water rights. Northern Continent governance, in the policy areas not pertaining to the Government of the Empire, is carried out by the common agreements over policies or through the open method of coordination.

Historical evolution

From an historical point of view, all Northern Districts originate from the earliest fiscal/administrative boundaries; after the collapse of the early interstellar colonization, original boundaries collapsed as well. While some Districts originate as independent realms, brought to the heels by the unification wars, some others originate as Districts Palatine, i.e. an area ruled by a hereditary Count possessing special authority and autonomy from the rest of the Empire (or Vorbarras' possessions); it thus implied the exercise of a quasi-imperial prerogative within a District. The Count of a District Palatine swore allegiance to the Emperor yet had the power to rule the county largely autonomously of the Emperor. A District Palatine were different from both feudal possessions held from the Emperor, which possessed no such independent authority, and from independent Districts, which were completely independent. In general, such Districts Palatine were on the periphery of the realm ruled by the Vorbarras. Originally such a rulership was not hereditary, but in practice the hereditary rule of a District Palatine became the norm short after its introduction; ruling houses, however, maintained close ties of allegiance with House Vorbarra. A prominent Count Palatine family is House Vorrutyer; Count Pierre Vorrutyer was the main ally of Emperor Dorcas Vorbarra.
With the complete unification of the Northern Continent under the rule of the Vorbarra Emperors, the formerly independent Districts had their status assimilated to those of the Districts Palatine, in order to weaken the desire of rebellion among newly-defeated Counts (Vorrutyer Law, which pairs with the Vorloupolos Law).

Open method of coordination

The open method of coordination is a means of governance in the Northern Continent, based on the voluntary cooperation of its Districts. The open method of coordination is a light but structured way Northern Districts use to cooperate at continental/planetary level. This method helps to build consensus on solutions and their practical implementation.
The open method rests on mechanisms such as guidelines and indicators, benchmarking and sharing of best practice. This means that there are no official sanctions for laggards. Rather, the method's effectiveness relies on a form of peer pressure and naming and shaming, as no participating District wants to be seen as the worst in a given policy area; of course, if it is deemed that a policy is not in the interests of his District, each Count may exit from the policy coordination or by the method altogether.
The open method of coordination works in stages. Firstly, a board made up by participating District Counts (or their representatives) or in some cases the Council of Counts agrees on broad policy goals. Secondly, participating Districts then transpose guidelines into internal policies. Thirdly, specific benchmarks and indicators to measure best practice are agreed upon. Finally, results are monitored and evaluated. However, the open method of coordination differs significantly across the various policy areas to which it has been applied. It is a decentralised approach through which agreed policies are largely implemented by the participating Districts and supervised by the board or the Council of Counts. The Government of the Empire has primarily a monitoring role; in practice, however, there is considerable scope for it to help set the policy agenda and (albeit to a lesser extent) persuade reluctant participating Districts to implement agreed policies. Under the open method of coordination, experts from District governments meet 6 to 8 times over 18 months to exchange good practice and produce policy manuals or tool-kits.
The actual method of coordination are based principally on jointly identifying and defining objectives to be achieved, jointly established measuring instruments and benchmarking, i.e. comparison of the Member States' performance and exchange of best practices (monitored by the Government of the Empire).
The Government of the Empire is responsible for organising the coordination processes, hosting most of its meetings, reimbursing travel expenses, and supporting participating Districts with research and studies. The Government does not chair coordination meetings or decide who participates; it is the responsibility of District governments to designate the members of each group, who elect their own chair at the first meeting. The group decides if and how to involve additional experts. The Government of the Empire also produces reports on the implementation of the processes.

Extra-planetary settlements, installations and facilities

Within the Barrayaran boundary there are several orbital bases and stations, as well as installations of varying nature and origin, built on the two moons, on uninhabited planets or established in the void. Among these space stations there are the civilian jumpstations at the ends of the wormholes towards Komarr. Each of them has its own administration structure.

Lagrangian Stations

Barrayar has two moons. This determines the presence of several Lagrangian points, which are used to house several void objects, especially of military/surveillance use.
The Lagrangian points are the five positions in an orbital configuration where a small object affected only by gravity can theoretically be part of a constant-shape pattern with two larger objects. In contrast to the collinear Lagrangian points, the triangular points (LSBP4 and LSBP5, i.e. Sun-Barrayaran Lagrangian Barrayaran Point 4 and 5) are stable equilibria. When a body at these points is perturbed, it moves away from the point, but the factor opposite of that which is increased or decreased by the perturbation (either gravity or angular momentum-induced speed) will also increase or decrease, bending the object's path into a stable, kidney-bean-shaped orbit around the point. In the Barrayaran-Moons cases, the problem of stability is greatly complicated by the appreciable sun gravitational influence.
Lagrangian Stations is the collective name for the two massive space stations built on the LSBP4 and LSBP5 equilibrium points in the orbit of the Barrayaran star-planet system. While there are several other planetary bodies within the star system of Barrayar, none of them has inhabited Lagrangian points.
The Xav Vorbarra Station (LSBP4) and the Ezar Vorbarra Station (LSBP5) were conceived, proposed and built between late 2970s and early 2980s. They house, respectively, 152,500 and 185,000 inhabitants, mostly but not only immigrants and high-technology industries workers. They also house military-related civilian activities for the near His Majesty's Space Stations. As space stations, both settlements practice rigorous sanitary screening.

Administration

The administration of the two Lagrangian stations, due to the important stakes hold by the military complex, is entrusted to the Inter-ministerial Regulatory Committee for Administration and Management of Lagrangian Stations. The committee consists of the Ministry of War, the Ministry of Interior and the Ministry of the West, and it is the ultimate administrative body for what concerns the ordinary governance.
Below the Inter-ministerial Committee in each Station there is the Station Governor, appointed by the Emperor on non-binding suggestion of the Inter-ministerial Committee; however, no civilian has been appointed until the present date (3003 A.D.). The Station Governor has large regulatory and management powers, his functions being constrained only by the settlement nature and features: he directs the rescue and police activities, although he is not the local commander of such bodies, enacts ordinances and regulations, presides over the local Barrayaran courts and chairs the Station Commission for the Order and Security. Real day-to-day powers, however, are those of administrative police, focusing mostly on biocontrol, health, prevention, environmental and quarantine policies.
The Governor is assisted by a complex of offices, bureaus and other bureaucratic bodies, and by the Consultative Board, composed of representatives of industries and of inhabitants. In turn, industries delegations are composed of both shareholders and workers representatives, ensuring a degree of corporatism. The Board has mere consultative powers, although can reject a regulation bill (but not ordinance ones), forcing the Governor to submit rejected bill to the Inter-ministerial Committee.
Within the Stations there are some autonomous sectors, entirely managed by specific bodies: the Quays, which fall under the exclusive competence of the respective Quays Departments, and the Power Generator, which is managed only by the relevant Engineering and Power Authority.
Security and law enforcement in each Station are ensured by a Security Commission which ensures the co-ordination of activities in a such compartmented space and is composed by the Presidents of Barrayaran Station Criminal and Civil Courts of First Instance, of the Imperial Criminal and Civil Station Courts of First Instance, the Police Senior Councillor in charge of the local Imperial Police Force, the Captain of the Imperial Security, the Imperial Loyalty Chief Commissioner in charge for the Special Corps of Gendarmes and the Liaison Captain of the Service Security.

Xav Vorbarra Station

The Xav Vorbarra Station is located on the Lagrangian Point LSBP4, next to the military Serg Vorbarra His Majesty's Space Stations; it serves as a hub for entry space traffic directed to Barrayar and as a industrial centre for experimental and high-technology industries, as well as to space traffic-related service providing, with 152,500 inhabitants. The Xav Vorbarra Station is also inhabited by 22,300 foreigners, making it the second most populous foreign community within the Barrayar star system after Vorbarr Sultana, while the remaining inhabitants are further subdivided: 100,400 Barrayarans and 29,800 Komarrans, although all are subject to the Barrayaran jurisdiction. The Station was established as a separate administrative entity in 2984, when Brigadier General (retired) Ivan Tochev was appointed first Governor; previously, the various offices were directed from Vorbarr Sultana by the Delegated Senior Councillor of the Ministry of the West, the last one being Ivan Tochev himself.

Crown Domains

Both South Continent and Sergyar are "Crown Domains", belonging to the Emperor, not to the Counts Vorbarra. Crown Domain is an area belonging to the Emperor, which is passed with the monarchy and could not be alienated from it. The hereditary revenues of Crown lands provide income for the Monarch. The Crown Domain is a property portfolio owned by the Crown.
The Crown Domain is subject to a particular status: it is not the classical private property of the reigning monarch and it cannot be sold by him; revenues, or debts, from the non-assigned lands of the estate accrue to the monarch, while assigned lands generate revenues which are part of the State treasury.
Barrayaran subjects living on Crown Domains are entitled to granted permanent free tenancy of lands and tangible assets, while other intangible goods are regulated by the same laws which regulate them in other parts of the Empire.

Imperial title

The reigning monarch may decide to bestow the honour of the "Imperial" title to a settlement, both spontaneusly or upon request. Petitions either come directly from the Government or are made through the Privy Council. Requests for the title are made for various reasons and cities, towns, boroughs and hospitals can apply.
Once the Emperor has conferred the title, the new name legally comes into effect on the date she signs and seals a Letters Patent. This is a type of legal instrument in the form of an open letter, granting the title.

Ministry of the West

The Ministry of the West is in charge of overseeing Barrayar's South Continent, which is in the planet's western hemisphere (henceforth the name), as well as of overseeing Sergyar and Komarr. The Ministry tasks and duties include the overall management of the Southern local government, the co-ordination and facilitation of terraforming efforts, the direct management of the terraforming efforts on the Southern Continent, and the overall supervision (but not management) of the Komarran and Sergyaran Viceroyalties. Broadly speaking, the Ministry is responsible for the management and conservation of Imperial land and natural resources. The Ministry is administered by the Minister of the West, who is a member of the Council of Ministers.
The West Ministry keeps extensive files on every world, space installation and city under its care. The document containing these files is referred to as the West Ministry Factbook, edited and published each year. These files contain everything from topographic maps to the information on the materials the city sewer system is built from. The Ministry is centrally organized along three main Departments, which deal with various issues of the support of local authorities:

  • Department of Territorial Affairs: it is the main operational arm of the Ministry, and it performs functions relating to general administration and planning, including support of the tasks of government in the territory, guarantee the regular functioning of the elected organs, Directorate General of local finance, supervising the registry.
  • Department of Protection of Oceans and Atmosphere: it is the executive-scientific department focused on the conditions of the oceans and the atmosphere. The Department is the counterpart of both Territorial Affairs and Land Management Departments, and supports the usage of oceans and atmosphere, charts seas and skies, guides the protection of ocean resources, and conducts scientific research.
  • Department of Public Lands Management and Terraforming: the Department is the executive department which administers Southern Continent public lands. Therefore the Department is in charge of distributing accessible public lands as well as coordinating both private and public terraforming efforts on the Southern Continent; it is also tasked with supporting Northern Continent counterparts.

Inspectorate for Territorial Compliance

The Inspectorate for Territorial Compliance is established in order to ensure the effectiveness of the local government of the Empire of Barrayar, with a view to eliminating the two major faults, inefficiency and corruption. The Inspectorate acts through teams of inspectors and auditors who are free at any time to enter the local offices and watch the work done there.
The Central Office of Complaints is an internal department, whose sole purpose is to find and eliminate inefficiency within the state’s administration. Any citizen could file a complaint against a local government official.

Central Control Committee

The Central Control Committee is an organ of the Ministry of the West tasked with control functions over the acts of Districts and other local authorities. The Control Committee supervises the legality of local authorities acts and, in cases determined by law, it may also exercise control over the very content. The Committee works alongside with the Inspectorate for Territorial Compliance.

Commission for the Determination of Place Names

The Commission for the Determination of Place Names is a commission within the Central Control Committee; its mission is the establishment of toponyms for newly founded places, villages, towns and cities. It comprises a chair and 6 commission members, including five historians (4 linguists and an historian) and five officials. The Commission directs the work of local institutions such as the Plains Institute in Warzgrad, the Black Mountains Institute in Crowford, and the Coastal Institute in Gyrosborough.
The Institutes prepare recommendations for the Commission, which ultimately endorses or rejects them. Following approval by the Commission, a place name had to be accepted by the Central Control Committee and by the Minister of the West.

Southern Continent

The Southern Continent is divided into 64 administrative Districts, 62 of which are on mainland, and two of which are archipelagos. Each District is further subdivided into Regions, ranging in number from 3 to 5 per District. The Imperial system of local government gives two broad aspects for the various heads of local government bodies: on one hand, they are representatives of their communities and are charged with limited, corporative and non-democratic self-government functions; on the other hand, they are representatives of the Empire, of the Imperial Crown, of the Emperor and of the person of Emperor Serg Vorbarra, and therefore are empowered with the duty of exercise the sovereign functions, i.e. mainly collecting Imperial taxes and revenues, ensuring instruction, guaranteeing the public order and security and giving execution to all Government policies. While responsible to the Ministry of the West for general duties, governors and other local government heads are dependent on the Ministry of Interior for public order and security duties.

Imperial Lands Distribution Committee

The Imperial Lands Distribution Committee is a body that oversees the assignment of Southern Continent lots. The Committee, being a body of the Ministry of the West, Department of Colonization Affairs, has a Continent-wide jurisdiction, and consists of several sub-Committees, at both District and Region level. Both the Imperial Committee and sub-layers consist of a Bailiff and four Provosts.
All Bailiffs are appointed by the Emperor, upon proposal of the Minister, while Provosts are appointed directly by the Minister himself.

Land Allocator

The Land Allocator is a land sub-contractor, who is responsible the Imperial Lands Distribution Committee for the final land conditioning, survey and apportionment of Southern Continent land that is to be settled. In addition, he actually selects settlers for this purpose, provides their means of subsistence during the transitional period and makes materiel and implements available.

Governors of the Southern Continent

In Barrayar, a Governor (variously styled: District High Sheriff, Region Sheriff, Urban Sheriff, Municipal Portreeve and Commissioners, Heads of Villages or of Local Rural Communities) is an official responsible for the implementation of legislation and government decisions in individual administrative authorities. Governors of all sorts are legally required to be politically neutral and have power over public offices within their boundary. They also have a paramount role in local government. The boundary head of the police force also concurrently serves as deputy governor.

Southern Districts

Basic template for Southern Districts coats of arms.

The Southern Continent of Barrayar is divided into 64 administrative Districts, 62 of which are on mainland, and two of which are islands. Each District is further subdivided into Regions, ranging in number from 3 to 5 per District. Often, District borders form cultural and/or geographical boundaries. Therefore, Southern Districts have come to serve an important cultural role in Barrayar, also because people tend to be identified in terms of their native Districts, and each province has a stereotype that corresponds to their inhabitants.

Southern Districts lack full separate legislative authority and therefore they cannot write their own statutory law; each District is administered under laws passed by the Government of the Empire.. They levy their own taxes and, in return, receive a decreasing part of their budget from the central government, which gives them a portion of the taxes it levies. Districts have considerable discretionary power over infrastructural spending, e.g., education, public transit, universities and research, and assistance to business owners. Local services of the State administration are traditionally organised at District level, where the District High Sheriff represents the Government. Since Barrayar is an unitary state, there is little true political power and weight that Districts actually hold. Districts are subservient to the central government, but in practice provincial officials have discretion with regard to economic policy. However, powers of the central government is (with the exception of the military) not exercised through a parallel set of institutions.
The District seat of government is called the Capital City and is generally a city of some importance, roughly at the geographical centre of the district. Each District is administered by a General Council, an assembly appointed for ten years by the Prime Minister or, in his absence, by the Minister of the West, with the District High Sheriff, who represents the Government in each District and serve as its local chief executive: he often is a retired military officer and is appointed by the Emperor. The District High Sheriff is assisted by one or more Aldermen (which are appointed by the High Sheriff himself) and by Regional Sheriffs.

Southern Districts names

There are 64 Districts:

Regions

Basic template for Southern Regions coats of arms.

In the administrative division of Barrayar, the Region is the second of the three levels of government below the national level, between the District and the Municipality. Regions may be further subdivided into mandments and sub-mandments; the latter ones have no autonomy and are used only for the organisation of public services. The Regional government is an administrative branch office with the rank of a national ministerial department and dispatched by the higher-level provincial government. The leader of the Regional government, titled as Regional Sheriff, is appointed by the Minister of the West.
Regions are administered by an appointed Regional Junta and their Regional Sheriff, whose main areas of responsibility include the management of a number of social and welfare allowances, of junior high school buildings and technical staff, of local roads and school and rural buses, and a contribution to municipal infrastructures. Both Junta and Sheriff are appointed by the Prime Minister or, in his absence, by the Minister of Interior; however, there is also an indirectly elected Regional Council, which is charged to pass the most important regulation bills.

Arrondissements and Municipalities

Basic template for Autonomous Municipalities coats of arms.

The Regions are further divided into Arrondissiments and Autonomous Municipalities, governed according to two different systems.
While the municipality is the lowest level of administrative division in the Southern Continent, this system applies to urban centres of a certain size. Each of the municipalities possesses a Municipal Commissioner and a Municipal Council who jointly manage the municipality from the city hall; Municipality government has varying powers, composition and procedure, according the varying size of the municipality. Apart few exceptions, Municipal Commissioners are appointed by the District High Sheriff with the consent of General Council, while the Municipal Council is appointed by Regional Sheriff. The Imperial Law makes allowances for the vast differences in Autonomous municipality size in a number of areas of administrative law.

Greffiers

Greffiers are monocratic structures of the lower administrative levels, i.e. Regions, Municipalities and Arrondissiments. The Greffiers are employees of the Ministry of the West in order to ensure the centralized control of the system of local government. The Greffier is appointed by the Minister of the West or by the Regional Sheriff according to the importance of the institution.
The Greffier oversees the managers performance and directs their activities, participates in an advisory and assistance role to the Council meetings and the meetings of the Board and expresses the opinion of regularity on each proposed resolution. Moreover, he is a Judicial Officer and acts as a Notary Public. In particular, in Arrondissiments the Greffier has all the functions of management. In addition, the Greffier is responsible for the prevention of corruption, being linked to the Ministry of Protection of Imperial Loyalty.
There are four Greffier Classes, which correspond to different government levels:

  • A-Class Greffier: Regions, Regional-level cities, large Municipalities (Middle Towns);
  • B-Class Greffier: small autonomous Municipalities (Country Towns and Small Towns), Arrondissiments;
  • C-Class Greffier: Arrondissements Municipalities and Local Rural Communities;
  • D-Class Greffier: Villages (often one Greffier serves more than one Village).

Special Urban Communities

A Special Urban Community is a city that has a status equivalent to that of a District. Hence, like the Districts, such cities are under the direct administration of the central government. There are three directly governed cities on Barrayar: Vorbarr Sultana, Black Reach City and Neurussland. Each Special Urban Community has its own system of government.

Viceroyalties Government

Ministries, departments and agencies of Komarr and Sergyar govern their assigned sectors within the respective Viceroyalty. Ministries, departments and agencies are headed by their ministers (or otherwise styled) and are responsible for status and development of their respective sector and execution of state plans as well as solution of other tasks that those sectors face.
Ministries, departments and agencies of Komarr and Sergyar (i.e. of the individual Viceroyalty) are categorized in Imperial-Planetary and Planetary only. Planetary-only ministries, departments and agencies are administered by the Imperial Representative or Viceroy and by the planetary government, while Imperial-Planetary ministries, departments and agencies have double subordination to the Komarran or Sergyaran government as well as to their respective Ministries and other similar bodies of the Government of the Empire.
The Viceroyalty executive body in charge for its own Viceroyalty and serves as planetary government for all issues that are reserved to the individual Viceroyalty and for execution of planet-related policies of the Government of the Empire.

Komarr

The planet of Komarr, differently from Barrayar which does not possess a planetary government distinct from the Government of the Empire, has a centralized government body presided by the Imperial Representative, performing the same functions of the Barrayaran Viceroy.
Emperor Serg Vorbarra has introduced, in continuity with his predecessor's latest policies and reforms, a partial association of the Komarran oligarchy to the conduct of planetary affairs, while the legislative power related to the government of the single domes is entrusted to the Komarran local share-holders as how was before the Barrayaran conquest, although under the local Imperial Representative's surveillance and supervision. Both in central and in peripheral bodies, governance is shared between local share-owners assembly and local Imperial representative, variously styled. The former makes and prepares laws and legislative acts, the latter decides whether approve them and provide executions, as well as emergency legislation.

Voting shares

Komarr was born as a semi-democracy: the early Komarran colonists set up a reward system. In addition to an inalienable vote, the colony awarded additional votes and to those taking on the work and risk of creating more living space. Nowadays, being a corporation, governance was, and still is, exercised by share-owners and their vote is proportioned to their amount of share; however, being also a planetary community, all Komarran citizens (including Barrayar-born people legally resident) have at least one voting share, inalienable by law, while additional shares can be purchased on a secondary market. These "extra votes" are inheritable and trade-able. The plutocratic oligarchies control the government by clan possession of these extra votes. In order to avoid the degeneration of a private corporation owning the planetary corporation, voting shares cannot be held outright by corporations-they have to be in the hands of individuals.
Komarran oligarchs, although being actually in charge of planetary affairs, are not an individual social class formally designated, due to the fact that "Oligarch" is anyone who controls more than their single personal share. "Real" oligarchs control all the shares of a wealthy Komarran family, even thousands or more. Regardless of the *actual* value of the shares, the psychological value in shares has a relevant role in the consensus construction (single (or few)-share Komarrans are set up to identify themselves strongly with owners of huge funds) and in the decision-making, although the latter social function has been greatly reduced since the Barrayaran conquest. Typically, a planetary-level oligarch detains from a thousand to five thousand planetary voting shares.
The ownership of shares is not only designed to have the right to vote, but also to enjoy profits (and suffer losses) of government-owned undertakings.
In order to thwart attempted chicanery with its voting system, voting shares can't be held outright by legal persons, but they have to be in the hands of individuals, with tested systems for proxies.

Komarr Corporation

Komarran government formally has a dual nature: for Imperial interests it is a Viceroyalty, while for local matters is organized as a planetary corporation, which owns the whole planet. Voting shares are owned by Komarran citizens: at least a single share is granted by law, extra-shares could be purchased and brought. The owner of 67% of Komarran Corporation is the Barrayaran Empire, personified by the Emperor, which delegates his Imperial Representative to govern the Komarran Corp.
The Barrayaran legal system allocates certain powers to the Komarran Corporation.

Imperial Representative

The Imperial Representative is the deputy and delegate of the Emperor and of his Government in order to govern the planet and the star system of Komarr. The Imperial Representative is also the chief executive of the Komarran Board: he may approve or veto bills passed by the Komarran Council in matters regarding self-government sphere. Imperial Representative can appoint his ministers of Komarran Board and dismiss them. The Imperial Representative is the head of the executive branch of the devolved government of Komarr. He is accountable to the Emperor and, from a political point of view, to the Council of Counts.
The Imperial Representative is the Viceroy of Komarr and head of the Komarran Board. The Imperial Representative chairs the Board and is primarily responsible for the formulation, development and presentation of Komarran policy. As representative of the source of justice within the Barrayaran borders, he is also the chief of the whole Komarran judiciary, as well as the chief of the whole local security forces. In his capacity of Viceroy, the Imperial Representative can require the Imperial Service assistance, although he is not directly in charge of armed forces and of Imperial Security.
The Imperial Representative is appointed by the Emperor with the consent of the Council of Counts. Members of the Board as well as the Komarran law officers, are de facto appointed by the Imperial Representative: however, highest officials are unofficially proposed by the Komarran Council, officially and formally proposed by the Imperial Representative and approved and appointed by the Emperor.
Aral Alexander Graceev is the current Imperial Representative; he resides in the Imperial Government Building, Solstice, Solstice Sector.

Powers and duties

The Imperial Representative is the chief representative of the Emperor of Barrayar and is the head of the government of Komarr as both a Viceroyalty and a Komarran law-based planetary corporation. According to the Basic Annexation Law, the Imperial Representative exercises the following powers and functions:

  • To lead the government of the star system;
  • To be responsible for the implementation of Imperial law and of Komarran local laws;
  • To sign bills passed by the Komarran Council and to promulgate Komarran local laws;
  • To approve budgets passed by the Komarran Council and report the budgets and final accounts to the Government of the Empire for the record;
  • To decide on government policies and to issue executive orders;
  • To nominate and to report to the Government of the Empire for appointment the local governors and chiefs of central departments;
  • To appoint or remove judges of the courts at all levels in accordance with legal procedures;
  • To appoint or remove holders of public office in accordance with legal procedures;
  • To implement the directives issued by the Government of the Empire in respect of the relevant matters provided for;
  • To conduct, on behalf of both the Komarran Corporation and the Viceroyalty of Komarr, external affairs and other affairs as authorized by the Government of the Empire;
  • To approve the introduction of motions regarding revenues or expenditure to the Komarran Council;
  • To decide, in the light of security and vital public interests, whether government officials or other personnel in charge of government affairs should testify or give evidence before the Komarran Council or its committees;
  • To pardon persons convicted of criminal offences or commute their penalties; and
  • To handle petitions and complaints.

Komarran Board

The Komarran Board is the executive body of the Komarran Corporation: it serves as planetary government. The Board is responsible in Komarr for all issues that are reserved to the Komarran Corporation; such devolved matters include health, education, justice and policing, rural affairs, economic development and transport. Furthermore, the Board is responsible for execution of Komarr-related policies of the Government of the Empire.

Komarran Immigration Services

The Komarran Immigration Services is an Komarran Board sub-department. It is responsible for immigration arrangements, border control, citizenship, ethnic affairs, multicultural affairs. The purpose of the Komarran Immigration Services is to manage movement and settlement of people on Komarr and their entrance into the Imperium across Komarr. The K.I.S. is depends on the Komarran Security Department and is overseen by the Ministry of the Interior on Barrayar.

Planetary Security Commission

The Planetary Security Commission (PSC) is a Komarran Board sub-department tasked with coordinating security policies, as well as providing an useful top-level forum. Although the supposed role is to support the Imperial Representative's planet-based policies, the latter's participation is confined to chairing meetings and to appointing the Security Advisor, who is also in charge of the Imperial Representative's Security and Military Office. Members of the Komarran Planetary Security Commission are:

  • Chief of Komarran Security Department (or a deputy);
  • Chief of Imperial Security Komarr (or a deputy);
  • Liaison Officer of the Service Security (or a deputy);
  • Liaison Officer of the Ministry of Protection of Imperial Loyalty (or a deputy);
  • Director of Komarran Immigration Services (or a deputy);
  • Imperial Representative's Security Advisor (traditionally a retired security officer), secretary.

The PSC has an its own Information and Investigative Office, distinct from the intelligence apparatus, tasked with analysis and documentation duties; on the other hands, the Office is staffed almost exclusively with Komarran police officers.

Komarran Council

The Komarran Council is the 200-seat ruling council of the planet Komarr. After long preliminary phases, the Council was fully re-established in 2989 as premise to the policy of devolution of local powers to Komarr. Traditionally, the wealthiest families purchase seats in Komarr's ruling council, permitting family members to serve as Komarran Councillors.
The Komarran Council, which acts as Komarran legislature, has limited but effective powers, enjoying of the Cooperation procedure: the Council of Counts could reject the proposed law by the Komarran Senate by adopting a resolution with a qualified majority of 40 votes (out of 60 in total). The Cooperation procedure is permitted only on relatively restricted areas regarding the custom duties, some areas of the Komarran monetary policy and Komarran share-voting procedures and rules, within strict limitations dictated by the Emperor. However, in entirely internal matters, where general interests of the Empire are not involved, Komarran Council can legislate with the sole consent of Imperial Representative.
The Komarran Council is chaired by Chancellor General, who is elected by the Councillors, and has also the important function of supervise most of Komarran Board branches: he can, therefore, summon branch chief requesting clarifications and explanations, but nor he neither the Council can issue punishments.
The Council Commission of Inquiry is the body responsible for the preventive evaluation and analysis of the issues to be submitted to the Council. The Commission consists of nine members elected by the Council itself among the former Councillors.

Komarran Planetary Court

The Komarran Planetary Court is the highest court on Komarr for what regards Komarran Law. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over Sector courts and Dome court cases, both civil and criminal, with the exception of interventions of the Supreme Court of Empire, which are rather sporadic, of the Imperial Representative on behalf of the Emperor or of the Emperor himself. The Court consists of a Chief Justice and eight Associate Justices who are nominated by the Emperor and confirmed by the Council of Counts. Once appointed, Justices have 10 years tenure unless they resign, retire, or are removed after impeachment.
Within the Komarran Planetary Court the specialised merchant section is named "Supreme Committee of Merchants" and receives appeals from the subordinated "Committee of Merchants", which are system-wide bodies; beyond the Supreme Committee of Merchants, there are other Sections, both civil and criminal: five Criminal Sections and five Civil (non-Merchant) Sections.

Sectors

The planet is divided into twenty equal-sized Sectors, with responsibilities for regional government, headed by the Imperial Sector Representative. The Sectoral assembly is composed of 40 to 60 elected representatives of share-owners. Each Sector has a capital domed city, which gives its name to the whole Sector. Each Sector has at least a domed city; many also have several smaller domes for terraforming work. Sectors are the main local framework for affairs exceeding Dome-level competences: since the Sector Governments run their own internal affairs, they have control over a part of local tax money, run their local Sector Court of Appeals and provide a significant quota of local public services.

Sector Imperial Representative

The Sector Imperial Representative is the deputy of the planetary-level Imperial Representative. He is in charge of representing Imperial interests, of providing execution to both Imperial and planetary policies and acts, and to bills passed by the local Sector Assembly, unless the latter ones are judged of being capable of harming Imperial interests. In order to execute laws and acts, the Representative presides the Sector Executive Commission.
The Sector Imperial Representative resides in the local Sector Consulate Building.

Sectoral Police Services

All Sectors operate sector-wide police forces. They may are called "Police Service - SECTOR NAME" (e.g. "Police Service - Solstice Sector"). Sector police are a police body unique to each Sector, having sector-wide authority to conduct law enforcement activities and criminal investigations. In general, they perform functions outside the jurisdiction of the Dome Security Office, such as overseeing the security of the Sector capitol complex, protecting the Imperial Sector Representative and local officials, training new officers for local Dome police forces, providing technological and scientific support services, and helping to coordinate multi-jurisdictional task force activity.

Sector Assembly

The Sector Assembly is the legislative body of the sectoral government. Differently from Komarran Council, it is composed of elected representatives of share-owners, and not of direct seat purchasers: however, Sector Assemblies are elected according each's voting power and there is no equality. It has a general competence over sectoral matters, such as administration, health services, terraforming specifications (within the planetary framework), security regulations and inter-dome services.
The Assembly is elected according to a electoral systems with single-member legislative districts: usually an average Dome has 3 to 8 representatives.

Domed cities

Due the inhospitable environment, all the Komarran population is closed within the domed cities. These cities are sprawling urban communities covered by massive arcologies which keep citizens protect from the oxygen-poor atmosphere. Cities are far apart from each other, and outside them there is nothing but some research stations and Komarr Terraforming Project advanced laboratories: therefore the City is the very basic unit within Komarran polity and all basic services are carried out on a City basis.
Since cities are the very basic level of essential services provision, Dome Government retains the most part of taxes which are not to be turned to the Imperial Government.
The executive–assembly government system is the form of local government adopted for the Komarran domed cities. Characterized by having a governor who is appointed by the Emperor, the executive–assembly consists of an executive branch, a governor and a unicameral council as the legislative branch. The appointed governor is given almost total administrative authority and a clear, wide range of political independence, with the power to appoint and dismiss department heads without council approval and little, or no public input. The governor prepares and administers the city budget. The governor is appointed to a five-year term and is responsible for the administration of city government.
The City Assembly is a unicameral body consisting of 30 to 60 members, each elected by local shareholders, normally for five-year terms.
In each Dome the "Commission for Peace" is a criminal court in charge of settling minor acts of violence, while the "Judges of the Undesidered Ones" deal with major criminal cases.

Executive branch

The executive branch consists of the Imperial City Representative-and-Governor and two to five Borough Lieutenant Governors. The heads of city departments are appointed by the Governor. The Governor also appoints several Deputy Governors to head major offices within the executive branch of the city government. Deputy Governors report directly to the Governor.

City Imperial Representative-and-Governor

The City Imperial Representative-and-Governor is responsible for all city services, police and fire protection, enforcement of all within the city, and administration of public property and most public agencies. The Governor is appointed by the Emperor for a five-year term.

Lieutenant Governor

Each recognized borough within the city is headed by a Lieutenant Governor. The Lieutenant Governor's powers are limited. They generally serve as ceremonial leaders who advocate for their boroughs on key issues. Lieutenant Governors advise the Governor on issues relating to each borough, comment on all land use items in their borough, advocate borough needs in the annual municipal budget process, administer a small discretionary budget for projects within each borough, appoint Community Boards, and chair the Borough Boards.

Dome Assembly

Legislative power in domed cities is vested in the Dome Assemblies. Bills passed by a simple majority are sent to the mayor, who may sign them into law or veto them if bills are judged of being capable of harming Imperial interests. The Assembly is a unicameral body consisting of 30 to 60 Assembly members. Assembly members are elected every five years.
Assemblies have several committees with oversight of various functions of city government. Each Assembly member sits on at least three standing, select or subcommittees. The Speaker of the Assembly is ex officio members of every committee.

Sergyar

Sergyar is part of the Barrayaran Empire as a Vice-royalty. The Viceroy is appointed to govern and rule over Sergyar, basing his authority on the mandate received by the Emperor. The viceroy has some military authority for matters directly related to the system security; although it is not a military position, he is most often a senior military officer, both active duty and retired.
The Viceroy carries as much clout as Imperial Auditor; like the latter, the Viceroy speaks "with the Emperor's voice", the Viceroy doing so in the running of a government and exercising the capital powers.
It is to note that, while Komarr is "only" five days away from Barrayar, to reach Sergyar from Barrayar with a fast courier a one-and-half weeks long trip is needed. Therefore, any fast physical communication takes no less than three weeks to go from the capital to Sergyar and to return. Such a distance makes necessary to establish a semi-autonomous government system, and the human factor is even more important in the choosing of the Sergyaran Viceroy than in the choosing of the Komarran Representative.

Viceregal Government

The Vice-royalty is administered by a Viceroy who resides and organizes his government in Gridgrad. The Viceregal Government in turn has administrative oversight, direction and control powers and legislative and executive functions for the planet. Most matters are handled by the local governmental bodies, which govern the various regions of the Vice-royalty. First among these are the 21 Territorial Chanceries, which are administrative and regulatory authorities as well as superior tribunals. Each of the Territorial Chancellors is responsible directly to the Viceroy in administrative matters, although in judicial ones he is responsible to the Legal Commission. Chancery districts further incorporate the smaller divisions known as Governorates. At the local level there are 630 Districts, which are headed by a Government Commissioner, who has judicial and administrative powers.

Viceroy's General Commission

The Viceroy's General Commission is the most important administrative organ of the planet. It consists of eight Executive Commissioners, who in turn preside over individual Executive Commissions which are responsible to subject to the Viceroy's approval general rules pertaining their own area of responsibility. Civil suits of sufficient importance and criminal cases can be appealed from a Chancery to the General Commission, Legal Commission, functioning as a court of last resort.
The Central Organizational Committee is a body present within the Sergyaran Viceroy's General Commission (but not part of any Executive Commission) that handles construction and colonization matters as well as development of the colonial settlements on Sergyar.

Planetary Executive Security Commission

The Planetary Executive Security Commission (PESC) is a Sergyaran Executive Commission tasked with coordinating security policies, as well as providing an useful top-level forum. Differently from the Komarran counter-part, the Sergyaran Planetary Security Commission is a quite significant body, and its president is a General Commission-level figure. Although the supposed role is to support the Viceroy's planet-based policies, the latter's direct participation is usually confined to appointing the Security Commissioner, who is also in charge of the Viceroy's Security and Military Office. However, should a crisis arise, the Viceroy is fully empowered to attend and preside the Commission meetings. Members of the Sergyaran Planetary Executive Security Commission are:

  • Director General of Sergyar Gendarmerie (or a deputy);
  • Chief of Imperial Security Sergyar (or a deputy);
  • Liaison Officer of the Service Security (or a deputy);
  • Liaison Officer of the Ministry of Protection of Imperial Loyalty (or a deputy);
  • Director of the Sergyar-based Department of Immigration offices (or a deputy);
  • Viceroy's Security Commissioner (traditionally a retired security officer), President.

The Sergyaran PESC has an its own Information and Investigative Office, distinct from both the Sergyaran Police Service and from the intelligence apparatus, tasked with analysis and documentation duties.

Territorial Chancery

The Sergyaran Territorial Chanceries are composite authorities which have regulatory, executive and judicial functions, and thus represented both the Emperor in his role as maker of laws and dispenser of justice and the Viceroy as Emperor's representative. Chanceries share many government duties with the Viceroys. In Viceregal capital, the Viceroy himself serves as a Territorial Chancellor. The Territorial Chancellor serves as the Government Commissioner of the local district and the region is often referred to as a "Pretorial District". The Viceroy retains the right to oversee, control and manage the administration of other Territorial Chanceries, but could not interfere in judicial matters out of the review of the Legal Commission.
Chancery officials, especially the Chancellor, are subject to two forms of review. At the end of the Chancellor's term, a judgement of the period in office is carried out, which reviews the Chancellor's performance on the job and collected interviews many people affected by the Chancery's performance. Unscheduled inspections are also carried out by the Viceregal Auditors or even by Imperial Auditors, if the Emperor feels it is needed.

Judicial functions

In their judicial function, a Chancery hears appeals from cases initially handled by justices of first instance. The Chancery also serves as the court of first instance for crimes committed in the immediate jurisdiction of the city that served as the Chancery's seat and any case involving Imperial officials. Criminal cases and major civil cases could be appealed to the Viceregal Legal Commission, and only then within a statute of limitation of one year.

Size and composition

The size and composition of a Chancery varies over place. Usually, a Chancery has four Deputy Chancellors, one Chancellor and two Judicial Chambers, handling civil and criminal cases separately. The Civil Judicial Chamber has seven Civil Judges and a Prosecutor. The Criminal Judicial Chamber has five Criminal Judges and its own Prosecutor. In addition the Chancery has sundry other officers such as notaries, bailiffs, and public defenders.

Internal movement

District residency are quite flexible and few government approvals are required to civilian subjects in order to move between Districts or within the Empire. The passport regime identifies everyone's place of origin within the Empire of Barrayar. A person is bound to his or her permanent place of residence; only within his or her place of residence a person could receive higher education or advanced medical treatment, although these services are not limited to the location registered. All residents are required by law to record their address in the document and to report any relevant changes to a local office of the Ministry of Interiors or to a District purpose-dedicated office. The change of residence was farraginous before the Vorkosigan Residence Reform: after 2910s, change of residence can be prohibited only under special circumstances, and ordinarily in Northern Districts a Count could not oppose to a transfer of a vow of fealty, although there is a number of bureaucratic passages.
However, internal passports are not necessary for travelling per se; bus, train, and air tickets are sold without names, except when travelling to/from special areas. Nevertheless, passports are necessary for temporary residence permits in a number of situations such as checking in a hotel or renting a private dwelling.
The passport contains the full name, sex, date and place of birth and a hologram of the bearer. It also contains remarks about the holder's registered home address, military duty, marital status, children under 14, other passports issued by the authorities, blood type and individual taxpayer identification number.

Related voices

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