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Dispatch → Bulletin → Campaign
Eri-more!
(Psst! Want to see how I performed as delegate last time? Why not read my Delegate Blog!)
Greetings, fellow South Pacificans,
- The Southern World Assembly iNitiative (SWAN) launched last summer at least in large part due to the increased focus on endorsements and influence seen during my term. I’d like the opportunity to return to the forefront of this initiative and promote the great work of United States of Vietnam, the Council on Regional Security and the MoRA in bringing this to fruition.
- With a new Local Council due to be elected at the start of the term, the opportunity to shake up the political aspect of the gameside comes to us once more and I’d like to take the lead in helping new LC members find their feet and make the most of the powers granted to them by the Charter.
- Having made myself available as a source of advice and encouragement on the RMB during my last term, and having experienced the value of such things myself, I’d like to create a network of resources that all nations can use to find help and support when they need it.
What is your opinion on the current debate between Sandaoguo and Kringalia about whether a High Court justice should have a security background or not?
As a legcomm member, do you believe that there should be more requirements for legislatorship, and/or do you believe the background check should be tougher on legislators? i.e, not allowing legislatorship to anyone who has ever been a citizen in, say, Balder or the Black Hawks?
What do you believe is the most necessary approach to prompt gamesiders to vote forumside?
Do you believe that evidence should be released publicly when an individual is banned or has their legislatorship status taken away? (Excluding situations like Yuno, Solorni, or 5-million population RMB spammers)
I don't believe that a security background is necessary to be a High Court Justice. All that should matter is a strong ability to interpret the law fairly and consistently.
I'm reasonably happy with our requirements as they stand at the moment. Whilst there might be some merit to preventing former members of hostile regions from joining, I'd be reluctant to deny those who have genuinely recanted in the process and fear it might be a step too far. Our current processes allow us to consider if anyone requesting Legislator status might be doing so in bad faith, which would cover those with such histories if we do not believe they have really moved on.
Your use of the word 'necessary' is interesting. I think the best approach is to give them general information about what is going on in the forums and the Assembly, explain the advantages of joining the forums and of being a Legislator and then leave it up to them. If they do not wish to take part, that's fully their right, but they should at least know what it is they don't wish to be a part of.
This would have to be evaluated on a case-by-case basis. Given how lenient we can be as a region, the majority of bannings will be either of the generic trolling/spamming kind, for which the evidence is usually already publicly available, or of the safeguarding or anti-harassment kind, for which the evidence may be sensitive and should not be shared without the express permission of those affected, if at all.
As has been highlighted many times over the years, most recently by Viet, we could also do more to improve our integration, although we have certainly taken some positive steps in this direction since I first joined two and half a years ago. The pace is not rapid, but change is happening and that's not nothing.
Finally, I think we could benefit by expanding SWAN towards a full WA ministry, but the issue of having the right people and culture behind that remains a big one and one for which I don't think there's a simple solution. It will take time and it's not clear where we need to start the ball rolling, either.
SWAN was inspired by and modelled after the World Assembly Development Program of our ally, the North Pacific, but in TNP the WADP is accompanied by a full World Assembly ministry, headed up by a cabinet minister, whose job it is to ensure engagement with the World Assembly at all levels from encouraging nations to become members to helping those members vote and even draft WA legislation. TNP is majorly engaged in the World Assembly and that, along with their WADP is why they are so successful with endorsements and so influential in WA votes. To get anything like that would take a very long time and a lot of work and isn't something I'd expect to see achieved in the course of a delegate term, but it is something I still feel we should aspire to.
That being said, as I see it, to accomplish a functioning WA ministry we would need:
A base of existing players engaged with the WA and willing to contribute
Experienced and talented WAers willing to promote debate on and analysis of resolutions as they are proposed
A creative/technical team willing to produce propaganda, guides and other materials
Full backing and involvement from the delegate, LC, MoRA and the cabinet in general.
This is just what we would need to get the ball rolling to produce enough of a culture of WA engagement to actually need a WA ministry. It is not a small job and there has to be an actual desire to see it through from a whole host of parties. It might be a pipe dream, but, if I'm making any kind of promises on this for my delegate campaign, it's that I'll keep on probing the community and raising the profile of the WA to prepare the ground.
What is your opinion with the relations we have to other regions? Is there some region you would like to strengthen or weaken our bonds with?
I do not think it is the place of the Delegate to dictate our foreign affairs agenda, only to serve to carry out that agenda as required, much as the Queen of the UK does not decide Britain's foreign affairs policy, but has been one of its most important diplomats. I would offer my services to the MoFA in this regard (for example, I was one of TSP's signatories to the constitutional agreement in Lazarus last year, because that would have been significant to TWP, another signatory region) and not seek to influence their policy direction except as any other member of the Assembly.
How will a "network of resources" work? In other words, what would be its organizational structure, and why would that be better than just creating more resources without forming a network?
How do you plan to distribute these resources?
As for distribution, I would hope to have a keystone dispatch pinned to the WFE and would encourage the LC to share them on the RMB in situations where it was deemed useful/appropriate. I would also promote them in my Delegate blog (which I plan to resume).
What makes you more fitting for the role than other candidates?
What makes me more fitting? I have the experience of doing the role well before and the demeanour to be a caring, gentle leader.