Greetings, and welcome to the General Assembly! The General Assembly is the legislative body of the World Assembly, an international federation of nations within NationStates. While membership in the World Assembly is optional, legislation that is voted on and passed by the General Assembly is binding on the World Assembly and each of its member states.
Any member of the World Assembly can create and submit a proposal for consideration by the larger body. However, if you fail to comply with the following rules, your proposal will be removed or discarded by the Secretariat; that's us. (The "Secretariat" is the in-character way of referring to the World Assembly moderators.) Follow them carefully, however, and you'll be one step closer to "improving the world one resolution at a time!"
Mandate
Basic provisions
MA1. The mandate of the World Assembly is defined by NationStates rules. Your proposal must do one or more of the following, but only one or more of the following:
- require or recommend that individual member states take a particular action or refrain from taking a particular action;
- recommend that non-member states take a particular action or refrain from taking a particular action;
- require or recommend that the World Assembly as an institution take a particular action or refrain from taking a particular action, so long as this is consistent with the NationStates rules and game mechanics;
- define some attribute of the World Assembly, so long as this definition is consistent with the NationStates rules and game mechanics;
- establish a committee or international organization under the auspices of the World Assembly with a mandate tied to some combination of the above; or
- repeal a passed resolution that has not yet been repealed.
Game mechanics
MA2. The World Assembly does not have the power to change NationStates game mechanics, or how the game actually works. Unfortunately, passing a proposal doesn't automatically cause the game code to change to match! The proper place to propose these changes is the Technical forums.
MA3. The following are some examples of game mechanics violations that will get a proposal removed:
- Changing the vote threshold for proposal approvals or resolution passage;
- Adding an amendment feature to resolutions, similar to the existing repeal feature;
- Preventing certain resolutions from being repealed;
- Creating a new resolution category; or
- Increasing the maximum character length for proposals.
Player behaviour
MA4. You should note as well that the World Assembly does not have the power to control the way players behave within NationStates. The World Assembly has no control over real-life people and their actions in the game or forums.
MA5. The following are some examples of player behaviour violations that will get a proposal removed:
- Requiring players to answer issues in a particular way;
- Forcing players to change their nation's custom fields, such as national animal or currency;
- Mandating that players participate in some way on the forums; or
- Requiring the Secretariat to take any action, including changing these rules.
MA6. In interpreting this rule, it is important to keep in mind that the relationship between the General Assembly and the rest of NationStates can be a bit fuzzy. Since inconsistencies between the World Assembly and the rest of the game are tolerated, the World Assembly is allowed to take actions that seem to infringe on player freedoms. Accordingly, the moderators will therefore only remove proposals that explicitly require certain player behaviour, rather than simply imply it.
MA7. The following are some examples of permitted inconsistencies:
- While players reserve the right to ban divorce by answering issues in a particular fashion, the World Assembly is nonetheless permitted to compel nations to permit divorce.
- Establishing a World Assembly military or universal currency would not necessarily violate the rules either because it's not automatically assumed that their existence would require players to participate in war roleplay or change their national currency fields.
Restrictions on the World Assembly
MA8. A proposal may only prohibit the World Assembly from passing future resolutions on a particular topic so long as the prohibition does not amount to closing off an entire category, as it would unfairly limit the potential proposal topics available to new authors.
MA9. The following are some examples of overly restrictive proposals:
- Preventing the World Assembly from regulating private gun usage, which would close off one of the areas of effect of the Gun Control category; or
- Preventing the World Assembly from legalizing recreational drugs, which would close off one of the areas of effect of the Recreational Drug Use category.
MA10. As mentioned above, a proposal may not prohibit the World Assembly from repealing its own resolutions since the World Assembly must always be free to pass new legislation.
Non-member nations
MA11. Note that the mandate of the World Assembly does not allow proposals to compel non-member states to act in a particular way, since they have not accepted the jurisdiction of the World Assembly and so it would be a violation of their national sovereignty.
Perspective
Basic provisions
PR1. The General Assembly is a roleplay organization, and resolutions are written from the perspective of the General Assembly. This perspective is distinct from the perspective of the real world, the Security Council, and NationStates as a whole. References to things that don't exist in the General Assembly world are not permitted in proposals.
Gameplay references
PR2. Proposals cannot reference anything related to NationStates gameplay. This includes:
- specific nations or regions;
- any NationStates game concept, such as telegrams, dispatches, regions, or even nations in a gameplay sense;
- any events that take place within the NationStates world; or
- this very set of rules.
PR3. The sole exception to this rule is proposal branding, which is discussed in the Format section.
Real world references
PR4. References to real-life persons, places or things is not permitted in proposals. For instance, A proposal that mentions Angela Merkel, the Great Wall of China or the Michigan Code of Laws will be removed.
PR5. Obviously, some things are shared between the real world and the General Assembly world. Real-life ideologies and religions are fine, as are scientific concepts and units of measurement. Generally speaking, any common nouns are fine.
Format
Language
FO1. Proposals must be written in English, which is the official language of the World Assembly and the language used by NationStates as a whole.
Style
FO2. Proposals with substantial spelling or grammar errors will be removed. However, the occasional typo will be forgiven.
FO3. Informal or colloquial writing is not explicitly prohibited but is certainly discouraged. Proposals are legal documents and should be written as such.
Structure
FO4. You should structure your proposal in the World Assembly standard format, which is similar to the format used by real-life United Nations resolutions. In this format, the proposal is one long sentence separated by commas and semicolons that explains what the World Assembly is doing and why it is doing it.
FO5. Using the standard format is not required, but it is the norm within the General Assembly. As such, this approach is strongly recommended, especially for new authors.
FO6. If you choose to follow the standard format, you should start your proposal with a series of preambulatory clauses that explain the World Assembly's intent in passing the resolution. Each clause begins with the present participle of a "thought-oriented" verb and ends with a comma.
FO7. In the standard format, the preambulatory clauses are followed by the grammatical subject of this long sentence, which can be either "The World Assembly" or "The General Assembly", followed by a comma.
FO8. In the standard format, the subject is followed by the operative clauses, which detail what the World Assembly is actually doing. Each clause begins with an "action-oriented" verb and ends with a semicolon, except for the last clause which ends with a period.
FO9. The following is an example of the World Assembly standard format, though please keep in mind that it's not a particularly good example of resolution content:
Recognizing that something bad is happening in the world,
Believing that the World Assembly must do something to rectify it,
The World Assembly,
Declares that all member states must do something good;
Urges member states to consider doing something even better;
Establishes the Committee for Doing Things Better to assist member states in doing things better.
Length
FO10. Proposals have a character limit of roughly 3500 characters. You won't be able to submit a proposal greater in length -- the proposal submission form will stop you from doing so -- so be concise!
Branding
FO11. Notwithstanding the rules on gameplay references in proposals, you may list proposal co-authors by nation name only. For example, you can conclude a proposal with the following text:
Co-authored by [nation=short]Testlandia[/nation] and [nation=short]Exampleia[/nation].
FO12. There is no formal limit on the number of co-authors that may be specified by a proposal, but each co-author you credit must have made a significant contribution to the development of the proposal. Don't list everybody in your region or nations who simply promised to vote in favour.
Consistency
Contradiction
CO1. Proposals cannot directly contradict previous passed resolutions that have not been repealed. For instance, if a previous resolution mandated jury trials in all member states, you can't submit a proposal banning jury trials.
Exceptions
CO2. The contradiction rule is only enforced when the contradiction is glaringly obvious. The moderators have absolutely no desire to engage in statutory interpretation or judicial review; it's complex, tedious, and requires too many subjective judgements on our part.
CO3. The bottom line is that if you can make a plausible argument for how to reconcile your proposal with an allegedly contradictory resolution, we won't remove it; we'll let member states vote it down or repeal it if they believe there's a problem.
Originality
Duplication
OR1. Proposals, whether in their entirety or in part, cannot be plagiarized. Violations of this rule may result in immediate ejection from the World Assembly.
OR2. Even if a proposal isn't plagiarized, proposals cannot simply duplicate or be a subset of prior legislation. For instance, if a resolution has already mandated public health care in all member states, you can submit a proposal that merely legalizes public health care.
Exceptions
OR3. Again, the latter rule is loosely enforced as we prefer to leave things to the voters to deal with. If you can make a plausible argument that your proposal, while similar to an existing resolution, still does something unique, such as clarifying or strengthening existing legislation, we'll leave it be.
Categorization
Basic provisions
CA1. All World Assembly proposals, with the exception of repeals, must have a category and strength or area of effect that specifies the proposal's statistical effect on member states.
Categories
CA2. A proposal's category must match the actual text of the proposal. For example, a proposal guaranteeing the right to free assembly must be categorized as Human Rights and not any other category. A list of all of the World Assembly categories and their descriptions is available here.
Strengths and areas of effect
CA3. Every proposal category has a corresponding set of strengths or areas of effect. A proposal's strength or area of effect must also match the text of the proposal. For example, a Free Trade proposal mandating complete free trade between all member states must have a strength of Strong.
Exceptions
CA4. Determining the correct category, strength, and area of effect of a proposal is subjective. As in the case of duplication and contradiction, if you can make a plausible argument that your proposal fits the appropriate definition, we won't remove it.
Independence
Prohibited references to other resolutions
IN1. Since any resolution can be repealed at any time, all resolutions must generally remain independent of one another. Specifically, a proposal may not reference another resolution in such a way that if that resolution were to be repealed, all or part of the proposal would irreparably cease to have any effect or would no longer make any sense.
IN2. For this reason, a proposal cannot contain language amending a previous resolution. If you wish to amend a resolution, you must first repeal it and then pass a replacement resolution.
Exceptions
IN3. However, proposals may certainly reference past resolutions in general, resolution-agnostic terms, so long as the above restrictions are met.
IN4. For example, if the World Assembly has already criminalized genocide, in a proposal about the establishment of an international criminal court, it would be permissible to make reference to "the World Assembly's tradition of protecting human rights" in a preambulatory clause or "acts previously defined as 'war crimes' under extant World Assembly legislation" in a clause about the court's jurisdiction.
IN5. Proposals may also make use of committees and international organizations established by past resolutions as well, since it is assumed that the committee or organization will continue to exist so long as at least one resolution that references it is in effect.
IN6. Repeals are not subject to the independence rule; this is discussed in the Repeals section.
Repeals
Basic provisions
RE1. Although proposals may not be amended, they may be repealed and replaced.
Format
RE2. Repeal proposals must contain a single operative clause repealing a single proposal. The remainder of the proposal must consist of preambulatory clauses outlining the reasons for the repeal.
RE3. The independence rules do not apply to repeal proposals, as they must be free to identify specific faults in the resolution they are repealing or to reference apparent duplication or contradiction of other resolutions.
RE4. Proposals must only be repealed using a proposal's repeal function, which can be accessed by clicking the "Repeal this resolution" link underneath its official resolution listing.
Content
RE5. Repeal proposals must not misrepresent the proposal they are repealing. However, any plausible interpretation of the repeal proposal will be accepted.
Site Rules
SR1. Proposals obviously cannot contain profanity or any other content that violates the site rules. Violations of this rule may result in immediate ejection from the World Assembly.
Penalties for Rule Violations
PE1. Proposals that violate the rules will be removed from the queue. If they have already gone to vote, they will be discarded, which means they won't pass even if they get a majority of votes in favour.
PE2. In general, if you break the rules three times across three different proposal submissions, you will be permanently expelled from the World Assembly.
PE3. Some offenses, including plagiarism or violations of the broader site rules, can result in an immediate expulsion.
PE4. If you notice that you broke a rule after submitting a proposal, let us know as soon as possible. If you acknowledge your mistake before we have to remove the proposal, the violation won't count towards your limit.
PE5. If your nation has been expelled from the World Assembly, you can usually rejoin with a different nation.
Conclusion
While you are obliged to follow these rules, you really don't need to be scared of submitting a proposal for fear of breaking the rules. We're well aware that in many cases, someone can submit in proposal in good faith, having read all the rules, only to have it removed because there was a minor strength violation or a small contradiction. We're probably not going to penalize you for errors like these.
Ultimately, the purpose of these rules is to ensure that only good quality proposals are submitted, not to kick as many people out of the World Assembly as possible. The best advice we can give to avoid any trouble, though, is to post a draft in this forum first so that more experienced authors can comment and fix any problems.
By the way, these rules are not set in stone; they've been modified many times over the history of the game. If you can think of a good reason to make a change, create a post about it in the General Assembly forums and we and the other players will certainly consider it.
