There was admittedly some hesitation as whether or not this piece should be written. However, upon reflecting on the current debate, we feel that it is desirable if not necessary to be very clear on what we assert to be our primary motivation for government reform: structural balance. It is not a question of personal competencies in the Ministry of Regional Affairs or of its activity.

If we consider the main areas of a typical NationStates executive government (separate from that of the legislature and the judiciary), players would most likely identify foreign relations, military affairs, integration, events, communication, and perhaps education. These are the focal points of a region which most players would engage with in their time here. As it currently stands, our executive composition is not reflective of this reality. Rather, we maintain ministerial portfolios for foreign and military affairs but have amalgamated similarly critical areas into one mega-ministry. In so doing, we have inadvertently created an unnecessarily large vertical and unequal hierarchy in the executive government which spans some several layers when it could very well be more horizontal and balanced.



Proponents for a mega-ministry argue that their areas are related; that an integration portfolio would be unable to educate a new player without some mention of culture and events, and that as such, these should be intertwined with one another in a large portfolio. It is not an unreasonable argument but it severely undervalues the potential of Cabinet as a decision-making body, and more importantly, the role of the Prime Minister. As the above graph shows, currently and no doubt inadvertently, there is a whole bureaucracy which exist separately from Cabinet — the Minister of Regional Affairs is in a position similar to that of the Prime Minister in coordinating these portfolios. As two former Prime Ministers, we say from personal experience that our roles were therefore more focused on foreign affairs issues and, where necessary, to the military.

Overall, we feel a split ministry would create a more balanced, more logical and more aesthetically pleasing cabinet structure, better placed to serve the region and work together to produce solutions for the future.

Signed,
Amerion and Seraph