A/N: Hey guys. Sorry I haven't posted in a while, this past month has been a little crazy for me. What with my computer breaking and me having to wait two weeks to get it fixed, work, Jury Duty, keeping up with Baseball (go Nationals!), and Slenderman coming after me and me having to stay up all night trying to find his eight goddamn pages (Spartanninja should get that joke).
So yeah I've been pretty busy. I won't be able to post a new chapter this weekend but I should have two to three new chapters for all my stories coming to you next weekend so at least you have that to look forward to. I also have another one shot planned centered around Cortana and my OC Jack in case anybody is interested in that.
What I do want to do very briefly is give you a quick rundown of the three main political factions present in Halo Civil War. Yes I know its politics, but I do think this is a subject that has almost never been touched upon in Halo Lore and I found it very interesting to think about how politics within the UNSC would work. Also, as the Human Civil War draws closer these political factions will take on increasing importance. So essentially this brief aside is to give you the necessary information without having to go into the lengthy bit of exposition I had to do in order to explain how the various corporate interests work within the UNSC.
I'll start off by explaining how I believe the UEG is set up. For the most part it is modeled upon the western style representative democracy with power concentrated in the three main branches, the executive, the legislative, and the judiciary.
The executive is headed by the UEG president who serves for a period of six years and can serve for up to three terms.
The legislative exists a little differently then what we Americans might be used to. Power is concentrated in the UEG Senate which is responsible for passing all laws within the UEG. The Senate contains 100 senators elected by popular vote, with one senator representing each district. Now Earth is divided into 97 districts of equal population (with the exact boundaries and size of these districts being adjusted accordingly after each census) with the remaining three districts representing Luna, Mars, and the Jovian moons. Now the representative body lower than the UEG Senate is the General Assembly. Unlike the Senate, the Assembly represents the nations of Earth, with each nation having an equal number of representatives. Their main function is to introduce legislation to the Senate, but it should be noted that legislation introduced in the Senate does not have to go through the Assembly for approval.
The judiciary is set up as much as you would expect, with Earth's High Court reigning as a sort of Supreme Court with eleven justices sitting on it.
Now since the Great War started the UEG gradually began to give more and more power to the UNSC, until eventually by the time the Halo games start humanity is essentially governed by a military oligarchy, with the UEG rendered near impotent. Much of the political friction occurring in this story is because of how much power the UEG ceded, and the efforts of some of the more radical members of the UEG to try and win it back.
Lord Hood is in favor of giving the UEG more power, but he is wary of doing it too quickly, especially since the war with Jul Mdama went into full swing. He is opposed by the much of the UNSC Security Council, particularly Serin Osman who believes the humanity can only survive the dangers the galaxy presents if ONI is allowed to maintain and expand the power it currently has.
Nevertheless the UEG has been able to regain some of its power since the Great War ended. Yet, the pace of reform is slow, and much of the money that once went to social welfare and public works projects is still being spent on defense. The citizens of the Sol System were once perfectly willing to make these sacrifices so that the UNSC could have the extra money to stave off human extinction, but now that the main threat has been eliminated they are beginning to grow restless at not having these privileges immediately returned to them. Many are beginning to suspect that the UNSC means to permanently keep the power that they obtain during the Great War, and the strict hold ONI has over the media has caused many to distrust any information given to them. With any dissenting voice within the media, or even outside it, immediately silenced an increasing cloud of bitterness and hatred is slowly brewing among Earth's population against the UNSC.
In now steps the players into this political tempest.
You have the Globalist party, keepers of the conservative wing of the UEG. The Globalists emerged in the 22nd century following the first Interplanetary War. They were originally considered very liberal, calling for the uniting of humanity under one government, essentially being the party responsible for the formation of the UEG. However, as the decades and centuries dragged on and more of humanity began to spread out among the stars, the Globalists became increasingly seen as conservative, wanting to preserve the UEG as they had originally conceived it and being resistant to sharing power with Earth's other colonies, especially the outer colonies which they felt had not existed long enough to properly earn their place amongst humanity. They believe in spending money on Earth first, the inner colonies second, and the outer colonies a very distant second if at all. They are the party that advocated the violent suppression of the Insurrection who they characterized as ungrateful traitors. The motto of the Globalist Party is FROM EARTH FOR EARTH
In now steps the Colonialist party. Established in the 23rd century, the golden age of human colonization, they represent the liberal wing of the UEG. Traditionally they have been seen as an advocate for Earth's colonies, campaigning for reforms within Earths colonial administration, decreased emphasis on military spending, and greater social and public works projects aimed at colonization. As the Insurrection dragged on the Colonialist gradually gained power until the majority of the UEG was in their hands, elected on the promise of ending the Insurrection by peaceful means, even if that meant granting some of the Outer Colonies independence. But before any actions could be taken the Covenant arrived at Harvest. As humanity lost battle after battle during the Great War the Colonialist gradually lost power to the more militarily minded Globalists. By the time the war ended the Colonialist party was only a shadow of its former self, holding little more than a dozen seats within the senate. Their motto is INTO THE STARS.
Of course just as it seemed that the Globalists would have their final victory something completely unexpected happened. A rebellion within the Globalist party itself.
The Covenant War left a wide, gaping, festering wound with the soul of the people of Earth. Hatred, anger, and frustration that was never truly allowed to heal against the Covenant, combined with the increasing distrust of the UNSC as well as the UEG establishment, swirled together to create the perfect environment for passionate radicalism. Thus the Terra party was born.
It is a common joke within the UEG that the Terra party is a movement so radical that it made the full circle from conservatism back to liberalism, and they aren't far off. While the Terra party, headed by the young but no less ambitious Senator August, is characterized by its fervent patriotism for Earth, as well as militarism, it is also in favor of giving Earth's colonies increased autonomy and even representation within the UEG, so long as they pledge loyalty to Earth first of course. It is also extremely critical of the UNSC, frequently calling for the resignation of Lord Hood, the disbanding of the Security Council, and the dissolution of ONI. Some have pointed out the contradiction between the Terra party's passionate militarism and their equally passionate hatred of the UNSC. All that can be said on that subject is that radicalism very rarely makes any sense. The Terra party is also well known for openly advocating the complete eradication and outright genocide of all alien species. As Senator August says "Humanity can never be truly safe until the last alien draws its last breath." The speed in which the Terra party grew, gaining nearly half the seats within the UEG Senate in the first few years of its existence, have led many to speculate as to the true origins of the party and what type of financial backers it might have. Any attempts to uncover a possible corporate conspiracy, however, have turned up fruitless. The motto of the Terra Party is LIBERTY EQUALITY UNITY.
Well that should give you a basic explanation of how politics within the UEG work. Hope you guys enjoyed it and like I said at least two new chapters next Sunday. Have a great week.