NationStates

Please bear with me as I think out loud.

Apart from the cute name, the natty flag and its popularity within my region, the main reason I run this puppet is part of a larger project experimenting with nation categories. Pixies on Toadstools is my Benevolent Dictatorship.

Benevolent Dictatorship, in my experience, is one of three quite unstable categories. The other two are Moralistic Democracy and Free Market Paradise. Blink and they slide into an adjacent category.

Concentrating on Benevolent Dictatorship, the difficulty is with issues. There are very few issues that encourage or promote BDs. Many, discourage it.

BD requires high personal and economic freedoms, but with low political freedoms. Issues, of course, have a cost involved. The typical economic freedom boost comes at the expense of personal freedoms. And vice versa. This pattern in issues means that, if I don't want to be forever dismissing issues, it's difficult to remain a BD.

What I think NS needs is some issues that simultaneously promote personal and economic freedoms. There are some but not enough. Issues are biased towards other cost/benefit trade-offs.

Now, there must be a cost in any issue. If an issue is going to promote both personal and economic the obvious cost should be political. That would be ideal for BDs. Anyway, I'm thinking I should try to come up with an issue that meets these needs.

OK. An issue is forming in my mind. As it turns out, it doesn't necessarily have a political cost.

The basic idea is the issue of planning or building controls, ie somebody wants to be able to build what they like, where they like.

Point of view A: I want to build anything I like on my land. Benefits - high personal and economic freedom. Costs - environmental, social.

Point of view B: We are custodians of the land and must care for it for future generations. Benefits - environmental, social. Costs - personal and economic freedoms.

Point of view C: No, you do what the government says. Looks like a good location for a palace / government department. Benefits - nil. Cost - political.

Point of view D: Planning effects everybody in the community. Democratically elected local government bodies ought to decide, for the benefit of everyone, the best use of the land. Benefit - political, social. Cost - personal.

I don't think there is another issue quite the same as this. What do people think?

I like the concept here, just needs bulking out, but I guess you knew that.

The trade off seems fair at a first look, although I rarely pay too much attention to issues anymore so I'm not sure how it compares to others.

Instead of trying to create an issue geared towards creating a benevolent dictatorship (which would be very difficult - benevolent dictatorships only come about from the good grace/whimsy of the ruler. There are little to no external factors), why not write an issue concerning a problem facing a benevolent dictatorship? It's very easy for me to make issues only valid for nations with a specific government category.

It's very easy for me to make issues only valid for nations with a specific government category.

Interesting.... Ideas... Ideas...Ideas....

Sirocco wrote:Instead of trying to create an issue geared towards creating a benevolent dictatorship (which would be very difficult - benevolent dictatorships only come about from the good grace/whimsy of the ruler. There are little to no external factors), why not write an issue concerning a problem facing a benevolent dictatorship? It's very easy for me to make issues only valid for nations with a specific government category.

Pixies on Toadstools is no longer a Benevolent Dictatorship:

NationStates wrote:2 days ago: Pixies on Toadstools was reclassified from "Benevolent Dictatorship" to "Compulsory Consumerist State".
2 days ago: Following new legislation in Pixies on Toadstools, the nation has welcomed its expats back with open arms.
2 days ago: Following new legislation in Pixies on Toadstools, convicted felons are forced into slavery for their crimes.

Forcing convicted felons into slavery is the likely culprit here. This is a common dilemma - personal freedoms seem to be alway opposed to economic freedoms. I chose to reinforce economic freedoms and paid the price - personal freedoms declined and my nation is now a CCS. It will likely take two or three weeks to get it back to a BD.

It's quite a knife-edge. Make different choices and before-you-know-it my nation becomes a Libertarian Police State.

Other government types (apart from the other 2 I mentioned above) are quite easy to maintain. In fact CCS is so stable that it can be maintained with a pristine environment.

Anyway, this is all beside the point. I understand what you're saying about designing an issue specifically for a BD. I will think about what that would entail. In the meantime, I quite like the planning issue I've come up with in my second post above. Is it worth pursuing?

I think "benvolent" and "dictatorship" rarely go well together, but your point is a good one.

You're right, because power corrupts so quickly and easily. BD is probably the hardest category to remain, I know that when I was it lasted only two days before it had become a corrupt dictatorship. I think that it is like that because it reflects the reality, you would have to work very hard to stick your principals with total and ultimate power

Even if your nation wasn't a BD, you would still get the issue if it was accepted. Issue authors get their issue automatically on it being accepted.

I think an issue about building permissions would be quite neat.

I've just come out of hospital to have a couple of hernias repaired. I'm now at home recuperating. I'll come up with something on building permits.

Here's a first draft. I'm not all that sure on how stats will be effect but what do people think?

Whose Land Is It, Anyway?

A land developer is incensed that local planning authorities have knocked back his application to build a thirty storey hotel beside one of the most beautiful waterfalls in @@NAME@@.

[option]”This is my land,” says @@RANDOMNAME@@. “I paid a premium price and I should be able to do whatever I like with it. Planning controls must be abolished altogether. Never mind that you will get adult book stores popping up next to childcare centres. That’s all part of a free economy.”
[effect]parents have to cover the eyes of their children as they enter kindergarten.
[stats]economic freedoms increase, personal freedoms increase, environment decreases, social equality decreases, government size decreases

[option]Environmental activists are aghast. @@RANDOMNAME@@ from the organisation Friends of Waterfalls, while precariously maintaining a protest vigil on a rock ledge near the top of the falls, shouts to you, “The environment belongs to future generations and must be preserved at all costs. All tourist developments must be halted now.”
[effect]with demand for holiday accommodation far exceeding supply only the wealthy can afford to go away for their holidays in @@NAME@@.
[stats]economic freedoms decrease, environment increases, tourism decreases

[option]Indigenous leader Chief @@RANDOMNAME@@ points out to you that this is one of the most sacred sites in @@NAME@@. “Secret rituals have been performed there for thousands of years. It’s about time our belief systems were treated seriously. Only the initiated are permitted to see the sacred falls. Everyone else must be banned.”
[effect]More and more of @@NAME@@ is becoming off limits as religious groups claim exclusive access to their holy sites.
[stats]personal freedoms decrease, religion increases.

[option]The local planning authority is standing by its decision. “The waterfall belongs to everybody,” says Councillor @@RANDOMNAME@@, “and therefore the interests of all parties must be thoroughly examined before deciding upon an outcome that is acceptable to the majority.”
[effect]installing a new letterbox requires a three year approval process
[stats]political freedoms increase, personal freedoms decrease, government size increases

[option]Your adviser, @@RANDOMNAME@@, reminds you that you have been eyeing off that very location for a summer palace. “I think you should solve this problem in one swift move,” she says with a mischievous glint in her eyes. “And if anyone complains too loudly, they might like to check out some of your underground real estate.”
[effect]tourist promoters have been taking a keen interest lately in the possibilities of former royal wine cellars as tourist attractions.
[stats]economic freedoms decrease, personal freedoms decrease, political freedoms decrease

I'd lose the third option (it's about the actual site, not building permits), the fourth option (it's sort of vague, and well... dull) and the fifth option (same reason as the third).

I'd focus more on what people should and shouldn't be allowed to do with their land. Remember that the issue at hand is just how much a land owner's land belongs to the owner. Not the waterfall itself!

Here's a little suggestion to get you going.

Option 1: land-owner can do anything they want on their own land
Option 2: land owners can only build with permission from government inspectors (this could possibly be broken into some separate options. One with an environmental slant, another with a more tourism bearing, who knows?)
Option 3: property is theft! Eminent domain!

Good luck!

Sirocco wrote:I'd lose the third option (it's about the actual site, not building permits), the fourth option (it's sort of vague, and well... dull) and the fifth option (same reason as the third).

I like the third option, and Bears Armed would probably end up choosing it out of the possibilities that are listed here so far...

I'd suggest making a different issue about natives' sacred grounds being encroached upon, but I think we've already got one.

I'm really aiming at building towards (Benevolent Dictatorship", so this warns of a hard road ahead.

Since we are on the issue of benevolent dictatorships I was wandering (This is probably a stupid qustion) whats the difference between a BD and a father knows best state? They always seem quite similar to me.

Ledarre wrote:Since we are on the issue of benevolent dictatorships I was wandering (This is probably a stupid qustion) whats the difference between a BD and a father knows best state? They always seem quite similar to me.

Economic freedom maybe? FKBS is average and BD is above average, I think. This nation was once father knows best state, but I increased political freedom and it became inoffensive centrist democracy.

Ledarre wrote:Since we are on the issue of benevolent dictatorships I was wandering (This is probably a stupid qustion) whats the difference between a BD and a father knows best state? They always seem quite similar to me.

This chart should explain the difference, gameplay-wise.

Father Knows Best State aren't necessarily Benevolent, or compassionate with the people. However both would have a cult of personality surrounding them - so they are close in that respect.