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Politics of the Moon Kingdom
RE: Politics of the Moon Kingdom
#16
(10-06-2023, 12:29 PM)robkelk Wrote:
(09-12-2023, 07:15 PM)Labster Wrote: Which means that all of us still using Sailor Senshi should really be using Sailor Guardian as their titles. 

On the other hand, there's always Tradition to take into account. (We still have sheriffs instead of police chiefs in some places, after all.) And Rei can be very Traditional.

I feel a song coming on...

I don't really have somewhere to sneak this in, but maybe Sailor Guardian is redundant anyway. Tangentially to some research for the last post, I noticed PIE *ser- means something like "guard". So possibly Sailor Mars literally means Guardian Mars. So Sailor Guardian is like saying "ATM machine"? I think Bob already covered something like this in Drunkard's Walk S — we really do not know how the PIE words were pronounced.

(10-06-2023, 12:29 PM)robkelk Wrote:
(10-05-2023, 03:43 PM)Labster Wrote: The one thing I don't get to is: what's beyond nationalism?

So far, federalism.

AFAIK federalism is completely unknown in Japan, so somebody would need to teach it to Usagi. And she is not the type t soak it up from newspapers or high-school homework. ("Go audit some Poli-Sci courses, Usagi. Or major in Political Science, whichever you prefer." Then she comes back with more questions than she started with.)

If we go with federalism, we could use either federalism within a single country (the Québécois "form a nation within a united Canada", after all) and multi-country federalism (such as the EU).

Of course the birth of modern federalism happens at essentially the same time and place as the birth of nationalism, in the creation of the United States.  So it's really hard to say that this comes beyond nationalism.  The thing is that states with autonomous areas, or amalgamations of nations are still fundamentally right in the center of a nationalist framework.  It assumes that a culture or ethnicity exists, then boxes off some land for self-rule of that group to some extent.  (How well these boxes work is another thing entirely.  Post-colonial Africa is kind of famous for no one wanting to redraw the colonial borders, despite how obviously unrelated they were to cultural geography.)

What's weird about nationalism is how it tells you this myth about how it was always there, and it really feels like it was, but it is in fact one of the newest ideas in governance. I've been talking about the classical Greeks, and the feudal Middle Ages. But nationalism is an idea of incredible power, and things like federalism, Marxism, communism, and fascism are all reactions to the idea. And it only works with mass literacy, which is one of the reasons why it's so new.

I haven't mentioned Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri yet (actually by Brian Reynolds, never mind the title), but I suppose this is as good a time as any. At least Reynolds gives it a try. The seven factions are not based on ethnicity at all, but on the ideology of the people in that each state. At least it's an attempt to show a radically different form of politics in the future, though one didn't evolve from a preexisting state system, but instead from a space colonization mission, where the guy everyone liked, let's call him Captain Bruno J. Global, got killed.

It's not too bad a metaphor for what our Moon Kingdom will turn into. I think we all know that there will be more science academies on Mercury than on Venus, for instance. People will gravitate to the leader they like, and take up the ideology of their Princess to some degree — but of course not entirely, and children are often different than their parents.

Back on the note about Usagi: Yes, she definitely needs a degree in political science. She's pretty good for a novice, but a novice politician can only get so far. Politics is a profession like any other, and to advance you either need education, experience, or both. (Those of you reading this who are against professional politicians: you are deluding yourself into thinking novices will be good at this, and that those who call themselves outsiders actually are outsiders. If you don't like professional politicians, also avoid professional doctors and professional contractors, and see how that works out.) I feel sorry for whoever will be Usagi's statistics tutor.

On federalism in Japan: Oddly enough the Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere was nominally federal and for national self-determination, though the IJA was pretty much making all of the calls for everyone, including the puppet states. Much like the Russian "Federation", which continues centuries of tradition where Muscovites have imperial rule over other cultures. Imperial Japan did fund a few nationalist rebellions, which, well, every country is for national self-determination except in their own land or their allies. But you're absolutely right that modern Japan is a very strong unitary state, where prefectures don't have that much authority to make decisions. Even city zoning is done by national law; local officials can determine which of the nationally determined zones apply.
"Kitto daijoubu da yo." - Sakura Kinomoto
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Messages In This Thread
Politics of the Moon Kingdom - by Labster - 06-21-2023, 07:36 PM
RE: Politics of the Moon Kingdom - by Labster - 09-10-2023, 10:34 PM
RE: Politics of the Moon Kingdom - by robkelk - 09-11-2023, 07:40 AM
RE: Politics of the Moon Kingdom - by Labster - 09-12-2023, 07:15 PM
RE: Politics of the Moon Kingdom - by Dartz - 09-11-2023, 12:51 PM
RE: Politics of the Moon Kingdom - by Labster - 09-14-2023, 12:44 AM
RE: Politics of the Moon Kingdom - by Labster - 09-14-2023, 03:17 PM
RE: Politics of the Moon Kingdom - by robkelk - 09-14-2023, 06:40 PM
RE: Politics of the Moon Kingdom - by Norgarth - 09-14-2023, 07:52 PM
RE: Politics of the Moon Kingdom - by Labster - 10-05-2023, 03:43 PM
RE: Politics of the Moon Kingdom - by robkelk - 10-06-2023, 12:29 PM
RE: Politics of the Moon Kingdom - by Labster - 10-07-2023, 04:26 AM
RE: Politics of the Moon Kingdom - by robkelk - 10-07-2023, 06:59 AM
RE: Politics of the Moon Kingdom - by Labster - 07-10-2024, 05:53 PM
RE: Politics of the Moon Kingdom - by Dartz - 07-10-2024, 06:26 PM
RE: Politics of the Moon Kingdom - by robkelk - 07-10-2024, 08:40 PM
RE: Politics of the Moon Kingdom - by Labster - 06-07-2025, 04:55 AM
RE: Politics of the Moon Kingdom - by robkelk - 06-07-2025, 08:39 AM
RE: Politics of the Moon Kingdom - by Labster - 06-07-2025, 03:11 PM

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