Kinds of Galactic Governments?

I gave shout-outs in the 'What We're Reading' thread to the Requiem For Homo Sapiens series by David Zindell. There's no official galactic government, most planets go their own way and there are countless systems not in contact with each other. But the majority of technology (including FTL travel) and all science is the sole property of the Order of Mystic Mathematicians and Other Seekers of the Ineffable Flame. They're sort of a combination of trade association, college, and mystery cult, and draw inspiration from none other than Herman Hesse's Glass Bead Game. There's no actual authority or governace involved, but anyone who wants to travel through space at all has to deal with them, and all scientific inquiry is pursued through their methods. So they're the default rulers of the galaxy, and no one will dare to cross them.

I always thought most forms of united space governments would work in some form like that, whatever their governing ethic. Something to the tune of 'You get to control everything within your atmosphere, we get to control everything outside of it'.

I'd think available tech would dictate what kinds of governments are even possible across large distances. You can't govern what you can't reach, or at least communicate with, after all... and it would have to be economically feasible. Without some sort of Macguffin/handwave tech, you're probably going to be limited to fairly small (on galactic terms) governments that might form alliances or rivalries with neighbors, but the vastness of the void would likely preclude any true multisystem rule/government.

I will point out that historically “Confederate” style governments have failed spectacularly. From the Holy Roman Empire to the pre-Constitution US to the Southern Confederacy (which had the bonus of basing its economy of the horrific exploitation of slave labor). Not saying you can’t use it as a basis for a story. Weak, chaotic governments have loads of conflict and story potential.

I also believe you can have any sort of government as long as the travel/communications technology support it. Empire, republic, city-states. It’s all interesting and potentially viable, imho. Whatever supports the story

The government in London managed to rule the British Empire before the invention of the telegraph with governors/viceroys and slow communication by sailing ship.

Depends on technology in your universe. Say if there is no ansible-type communication technology, any direct control from a part of the government to another 'community' 20,000 light years away will be a joke. So maybe some sort of nominal governance. A state on the planet zxcvy-123 may adopt the powerful government on the planet qwer-321 as their lord government and will send one cybercoin as annual taxation but 'leave me alone otherwise.'

OTOH, if communication and travel are instantaneous, you can even revive and modernize the Roman Empire/Republic or Babylonia.

I'd recommend looking into the political portions of the Battletech series. It's an incredibly diverse galactic system with multiple governments in charge of various planets in their sectors.

Maggie Maxwell said:

I'd recommend looking into the political portions of the Battletech series. It's an incredibly diverse galactic system with multiple governments in charge of various planets in their sectors.

Click to expand...

Yeah, they really had a bit of everything. There were idealistic constitutional monarchies, authoritarian shogunates, powerful, insidious techno-cults, and unstoppable barbarian raiders. And all have an incredible amount of backstory, plausible histories, and tons of nuance.