I'm fairly sure a decent amount of people role-playing Senators are American, and thus aren't used to a parliamentary system of government. I'm the same. I had to look up a lot of stuff about it in order to figure out how things work.
So, this thread is mostly about informing yall about that so you can have some cool Senator role-plays. First thing I would recommend doing is to read about the Galactic Senate and related offices related to the Old Republic, as that seems to be the system most of us want to use.
So you've become a Senator:
Whether elected by some means or appointed, a Senator is then expected to attend full assemblies of the Senate on Coruscant. Either that, or likely their planet doesn't get representation. Also, since a lot of senators might not come from democratic backgrounds, there are a lot of things that he/she might not know. One of those things is the fact that democratic assemblies have rules of order so that meetings do not last unnecessarily long.
Parliamentary procedure is required for large assemblies. With over two thousand members, the Senate definitely has some order. Reading about Robert's Rules of Order is something I would recommend for those writing a Senator character. Like more democratic assemblies in the world, the Galactic Senate would likely use a variation of these rules.
In order to maintain parliamentary procedure, there needs to be a presiding officer. Canon already has a presiding officer for the Old Republic Senate: the Vice Chancellor, who is elected by the Senate. There are several things the Vice Chancellor does to keep order:
It is important to know how order is usually done. For example, this is roughly how a Senate meeting using Robert's Rules of Order would be held:
Now, the Vice Chancellor will usually set an agenda for which business is dealt with first when the appropriate time to deal with it comes up. This gives the Vice Chancellor considerable sway in the Senate. He/she could effectively curb the powers the Supreme Chancellor and committees are given that require Senate approval. Yet, a Supreme Chancellor and Vice Chancellor that are of the same faction/party can effectively run the government as they please.
Now, motions are a vital part of parliamentary procedure. There is an easy chart for people to get an overview of them. There are some view terms to know:
Now that's a very structured process. What if we want to do informal debate?
Canon states that most votes were won in the Senate's lounges and in side talks outside of the Great Convocation Chamber. Building bridges wins hearts, so a lot of the wheeling and dealing in the Senate is done through personal one-on-one talks - or by bribing and extorting members. It's up to Writers on how nasty they want their Senator to be.
There are also parties and factions. Usually if one wants certain legislation to pass, it's best to get a group of like-minded Senators. Forming a political faction or party for the Senate is the easiest way to gain a majority, since that group will be united in its votes. This is in theory, though, as some members of factions might be on the borderline and vote either way - and this is where the debates in the Great Convocation Chamber come to play compared to private conversations.
Where does the Supreme Chancellor come into all of this?
The Supreme Chancellor is just like a Prime Minister in the Westminster system combined with the head of state. Election of the Supreme Chancellor is exclusively through the Senate, which means that he/she is ideally just an arm of the Senate.
A Supreme Chancellor normally does not have many powers. Palpatine was the exception in that he managed to win the favor the Senate and got them to bestow powers to him. Those before him were very limited in actual powers.
Normally, the Supreme Chancellors could call for Extraordinary Sessions of the Senate. These were for moments of emergency. He was also given exceptional privilege in the Senate, allowing him to bypass parliamentary procedure. This would probably result in moments where the Supreme Chancellor speaks to the assembly without the Vice Chancellor's recognition.
The Supreme Chancellor would also appoint a Staff Aide and several other offices of the Senate. The Staff Aide was essentially the secretary of the Senate.
Using Prime Ministers in real life as an example, the Supreme Chancellor also likely appointed ministers for departments and bureaus at the Senate's approval, thus forming the executive branch of the Galactic Republic. He/she also could most likely nominate Supreme Court Justices, thus having influence in the judicial system.
The Supreme Chancellor, due to being the head of state, likely served as the Chief Diplomat of the Republic - especially in the times of the Old Republic when there were multiple states that could rival the Republic.
Before Palpatine, there was little else the Supreme Chancellor could do. It was a prestigious position, though. Plus, the Senate had the ability to have a Vote of No Confidence and start an early election of the Supreme Chancellor. The vote also had no inherent consequences for the Senate, unlike real Votes of No Confidence in real life which normally force the entire parliament to resign or have a general election.
Therefore, the Senate was actually the strongest arm of the government at the time before Palpatine.
So, the Senate holds nearly all of the power?
Assuming laws enacted at Palpatine's time aren't in use here, then yes. The Senate has the power - it can recall both the Vice Chancellor and Supreme Chancellor, for example, as well as any office deemed necessary. The Senate had the power to control the military (thus appointing the Supreme Commander of the Republic), regulate trade within the Republic (thus establishing that it has control of the economy), mediate disputes between members (thus stating it can have some laws), and making trade agreements with outside powers (thus, by extension, giving it the ability to control alliances).
And that, in effect, is the Republic's greatest shortcoming. With nearly all of the power invested in an assembly of over two thousand beings from different worlds and of many different species, the Senate was usually gridlocked and ineffective. It functioned much like a confederacy, with each world having its own rules and corruption running rampant due to the lack of oversight from the Senate. The ability to remove the Supreme Chancellor and other officers without consequence also made such executive positions very weak. This allowed for the charismatic Palpatine to sweep in and change the system through his manufactured state of emergency - forcing the Senate to give him emergency powers because there was not enough time to debate about it.
Hopefully you've read all of this and learned some new things. If not, oh well. Above all though, have fun with your Senators.
So, this thread is mostly about informing yall about that so you can have some cool Senator role-plays. First thing I would recommend doing is to read about the Galactic Senate and related offices related to the Old Republic, as that seems to be the system most of us want to use.
So you've become a Senator:
Whether elected by some means or appointed, a Senator is then expected to attend full assemblies of the Senate on Coruscant. Either that, or likely their planet doesn't get representation. Also, since a lot of senators might not come from democratic backgrounds, there are a lot of things that he/she might not know. One of those things is the fact that democratic assemblies have rules of order so that meetings do not last unnecessarily long.
Parliamentary procedure is required for large assemblies. With over two thousand members, the Senate definitely has some order. Reading about Robert's Rules of Order is something I would recommend for those writing a Senator character. Like more democratic assemblies in the world, the Galactic Senate would likely use a variation of these rules.
In order to maintain parliamentary procedure, there needs to be a presiding officer. Canon already has a presiding officer for the Old Republic Senate: the Vice Chancellor, who is elected by the Senate. There are several things the Vice Chancellor does to keep order:
- Formally opening and closing sessions of the Senate.
- Formally opening and closing Senate debates and discussions.
- Moderating Senate debates and discussions.
- Calling senators to attend Senate sessions.
- Enforcing the procedural rules of the Senate.
- Disciplining senators who break said procedures.
It is important to know how order is usually done. For example, this is roughly how a Senate meeting using Robert's Rules of Order would be held:
- Call to order - The Vice Chancellor calls the meeting to order, formally opening the session.
- Roll call - This is probably done electronically with the Senate pods. Roll is important due to quorum, which is the minimum number of members necessary to make business official. Normally, assemblies have quorum to be half of the members.
- Reading of the minutes of last meeting - The minutes are essentially the formal notes of the meeting. This isn't really necessary to role-play, but it means that Senators will always know what happened before their time. Minutes will need to be accepted, meaning that after they have been read the assembly agrees that the minutes are correct and can be archived.
- Officer Reports - The Office of the Supreme Chancellor can have several officers in them. This means that any of the officers in the Senate are able to bring forth information to the Senate and depending on the Vice Chancellor, business may or may not be done due to the reports.
- Committee Reports - The Senate has several committees, which ambitious Senators will be a part of. Committees allow for the streamlining of business, and the Senate likely deferred certain responsibilities to these Senates. These reports are basically how the Senate knows what these committees are doing.
- Special Orders - These are items that 2/3's of the assembly wished to address. It's not important in role-playing, just understand that special orders come before any other business after reports.
- Unfinished business - This is any items that have been tabled in previous meetings (provided they were not tabled indefinitely).
- New business - This is when new business can be brought to the Senate.
- Announcements - Anything necessary to announce will be done so last.
- Adjournment - This requires a motion to adjourn followed by a majority vote. There really isn't any reason to role-play this unless people role-play an entire session of the Senate.
Now, the Vice Chancellor will usually set an agenda for which business is dealt with first when the appropriate time to deal with it comes up. This gives the Vice Chancellor considerable sway in the Senate. He/she could effectively curb the powers the Supreme Chancellor and committees are given that require Senate approval. Yet, a Supreme Chancellor and Vice Chancellor that are of the same faction/party can effectively run the government as they please.
Now, motions are a vital part of parliamentary procedure. There is an easy chart for people to get an overview of them. There are some view terms to know:
- Interrupt - This column means whether or not one can interrupt a speaker. One of the points of having order is allow for debate without being interrupted.
- Second - If a motion requires a second, that means at least one other person needs to state that they second the motion. Doing so means that the motion is now valid. If a motion requires a second and no other Senator seconds it, then the motion is not valid. This is to prevent highly unfavorable motions from wasting time, thus avoiding secondary motions, debate, and voting.
- Point of Order -If the Vice Chancellor says this, it means that someone broke parliamentary procedure. Though, people can ask about the rules through a Parliamentary Inquiry, which can interrupt.
- The member (with the motion) rises to address the Vice Chancellor, then the Vice Chancellor recognizes the member - This is actually what everyone who wants to speak or make a motion has to do. If something is already going on, then the Vice Chancellor may ask why the member is rising. If everything is in order, then the Vice Chancellor can recognize the member.
- The member states the motion - This is when business is brought to the Senate. For main motions, there needs to be no other pending motions. Usually, this is Role-Played by starting a new thread. It will usually be worded as, "I move to enact the Security Act as law," so it is assumed that the Vice Chancellor recognized them.
- Another member needs to second the motion - If there is no second, then the motion is not considered and it ends there.
- The Vice Chancellor then restates the motion - This can be handwaved since things are written. It's restated in real life so that everyone knows what that motion is.
- The Vice Chancellor recognizes the person that made the motion, allowing them to speak - This is essentially the lead thread of stuff in the Senate form, sort of. One can assume an NPC seconds the item if necessary, or wait for another player-character to second the item if they wish. The Senator then explains what the motion is and why it should be accepted.
- The Vice Chancellor then recognizes other members that wish to speak or make a more privileged main motion or an secondary motion - Once the person making the main motion has finished speaking, other members may debate the motion or make their own motions. They require recognition from the Vice Chancellor, or it would be out of order and invalid. Debate can be whatever. Motions, though, require to be either incidental motions or main motions of higher privilege. Since a main motion is §10, all other main motions are more privileged - thus allowing recognized senators to kill the motion, table it, amend it, postpone debate, close debate, defer it to a committee, call for recess, or to adjourn the meeting. Unless the motion is voted for or tabled indefinitely, it will be brought up again in unfinished business.
- Debate is closed - Now, there is a chance that the debate could continue for a long time. No one wants to read several pages of filibusters. Therefore, a recognized Senator may "Move to previous question," thus calling for a non-debatable vote to close debate and vote on the item. It requires 2/3's of the assembly. Alternatively, the Vice Chancellor could ask the assembly, "Is anyone opposed to voting on the item?" If no one opposes, then the item is voted on.
- Voting - For the Senate, it's most likely done electronically. Most main motions requires a majority vote. Changes to the constitution and removing officers requires 2/3's.
- The Vice Chancellor then announces the results.
Now that's a very structured process. What if we want to do informal debate?
Canon states that most votes were won in the Senate's lounges and in side talks outside of the Great Convocation Chamber. Building bridges wins hearts, so a lot of the wheeling and dealing in the Senate is done through personal one-on-one talks - or by bribing and extorting members. It's up to Writers on how nasty they want their Senator to be.
There are also parties and factions. Usually if one wants certain legislation to pass, it's best to get a group of like-minded Senators. Forming a political faction or party for the Senate is the easiest way to gain a majority, since that group will be united in its votes. This is in theory, though, as some members of factions might be on the borderline and vote either way - and this is where the debates in the Great Convocation Chamber come to play compared to private conversations.
Where does the Supreme Chancellor come into all of this?
The Supreme Chancellor is just like a Prime Minister in the Westminster system combined with the head of state. Election of the Supreme Chancellor is exclusively through the Senate, which means that he/she is ideally just an arm of the Senate.
A Supreme Chancellor normally does not have many powers. Palpatine was the exception in that he managed to win the favor the Senate and got them to bestow powers to him. Those before him were very limited in actual powers.
Normally, the Supreme Chancellors could call for Extraordinary Sessions of the Senate. These were for moments of emergency. He was also given exceptional privilege in the Senate, allowing him to bypass parliamentary procedure. This would probably result in moments where the Supreme Chancellor speaks to the assembly without the Vice Chancellor's recognition.
The Supreme Chancellor would also appoint a Staff Aide and several other offices of the Senate. The Staff Aide was essentially the secretary of the Senate.
Using Prime Ministers in real life as an example, the Supreme Chancellor also likely appointed ministers for departments and bureaus at the Senate's approval, thus forming the executive branch of the Galactic Republic. He/she also could most likely nominate Supreme Court Justices, thus having influence in the judicial system.
The Supreme Chancellor, due to being the head of state, likely served as the Chief Diplomat of the Republic - especially in the times of the Old Republic when there were multiple states that could rival the Republic.
Before Palpatine, there was little else the Supreme Chancellor could do. It was a prestigious position, though. Plus, the Senate had the ability to have a Vote of No Confidence and start an early election of the Supreme Chancellor. The vote also had no inherent consequences for the Senate, unlike real Votes of No Confidence in real life which normally force the entire parliament to resign or have a general election.
Therefore, the Senate was actually the strongest arm of the government at the time before Palpatine.
So, the Senate holds nearly all of the power?
Assuming laws enacted at Palpatine's time aren't in use here, then yes. The Senate has the power - it can recall both the Vice Chancellor and Supreme Chancellor, for example, as well as any office deemed necessary. The Senate had the power to control the military (thus appointing the Supreme Commander of the Republic), regulate trade within the Republic (thus establishing that it has control of the economy), mediate disputes between members (thus stating it can have some laws), and making trade agreements with outside powers (thus, by extension, giving it the ability to control alliances).
And that, in effect, is the Republic's greatest shortcoming. With nearly all of the power invested in an assembly of over two thousand beings from different worlds and of many different species, the Senate was usually gridlocked and ineffective. It functioned much like a confederacy, with each world having its own rules and corruption running rampant due to the lack of oversight from the Senate. The ability to remove the Supreme Chancellor and other officers without consequence also made such executive positions very weak. This allowed for the charismatic Palpatine to sweep in and change the system through his manufactured state of emergency - forcing the Senate to give him emergency powers because there was not enough time to debate about it.
Hopefully you've read all of this and learned some new things. If not, oh well. Above all though, have fun with your Senators.
