Charter of The Foreign Division (21st February 2007)

Constitution of The Foreign Division

Updated: February 2009

Table of contents

Membership of The Foreign Division
Government Structure
Elections
State of Emergency
Legal system
Peace and War
Espionage and unprovoked attacks

I.) Membership of The Foreign Division (TFD)

All members of the Foreign Division have to add “The Foreign Division” into their Alliance Affiliation” and their nation bio. “The Foreign Division” has no team color and is an inter-color alliance, although we prefer the blue team.

Membership in “The Foreign Division” is open to all members of CyberNations. We don’t ask you where you were and what you did. Here with us only what you are and do now and in the future counts. This is your place to start over, leave the past behind and move on. We ask that applicants don't join under false pretenses end any war(s) and diplomatic situations they may be involved in prior to seeking membership.

All members enjoy the right of free speech, security and identity protection. It is illegal for any government body to investigate the past of any member. This information may only be provided by the members themselves.

All members commit themselves to obey the laws of “The Foreign Division” and inform themselves about laws and rules.

II.) Government Structure

II A. Speaker

The Speaker of “The Foreign Division” is a Senator and Head of the Ministers. He can veto a ministers’ decision and a Senate decision once. A veto can be overruled by a unanimous vote of all other Senators. The Speaker can declare an emergency.

The Speaker is technically a "normal" Senator and has to go through normal Senate Elections. The Speaker is re-elected after every Senate-Election by a majority of the Senate. He can be impeached by a simple re-election inside the Senate or a majority-vote (> 50 %) of all members of “The Foreign Division”. Due to fluctuations in the number of TFD-members, the 50 % will be checked against the total number of members at the beginning of the vote. In case of impeachment, a new Speaker has to be elected within the next two weeks. There's no limitation of terms for the position of Speaker.

The Speaker oversees all government work and gives political impulses.

II B. Senate

Senators are elected from and by the general membership of The Foreign Division. To be eligible for a Senate position, a nation must have resided in The Foreign Division for at least 3 months (determined by the validation date on the forums). Should a TFD member leave the alliance and then return, that member will not be allowed to run for Senate for the same amount of time he or she was away - up to a maximum of 3 months.

Senators are in office for 4 months, after which there are elections for the positions. If a Senator resigns or is expelled, another election is held immediately, for that Senate seat only.

Every two months two or three senators are re-elected. The two senators up for re-election are the two senators who were NOT up for election two months previously. Thus every two months two senators are re-elected who then serve for 4 months before being up for election again.

The members of the alliance have the power to organize re-elections. If a majority of all members (> 50 %) vote to dissolve and re-elect the Senate, the Senate is dissolved and elections are held within the next two weeks after that.

There are five seats open for Senators.

The Senate’s reponsibilities are:

Appointing the ministers (3/5-majority)
Managing the election of the Speaker
Vote on foreign treaties (3/5-majority)
Dissolving the Senate (4/5-majority)
Dismissing ministers (4/5-majority)
Decide about peace and war (unanimous)
Ban members (3/5-majority)
Oversight of all activities within the alliance
Decision to change the constitution (4/5-majority)

If a Senator doesn’t vote on an important issue 48 hours (2 full days) after the beginning of the voting, his vote is not counted. An “abstain”-vote is counted as “zero”. If a senator fails to vote on two seperate occasions without good reason, he/she will be put under review for inactivity by the magistrates.

II C. Ministers

Ministers are elected by the Senate from amongst suitable candidates for the position. There are four Ministers for the four Ministries (Foreign Affairs, Economic Affairs, Internal Affairs, and Security). A Minister may not be a Senator or vice versa. Ministers have to be appointed or re-appointed after each Senate election. If a Minister resigns, is expelled or the election result is vetoed, another election is held immediately, for that Minister position only.

Deputy Ministers are assistants of Ministers. They are appointed by the Ministers themselves and act as their assistant. The amount of responsibility is individually determined by the Minister. During the absence of the Minister, the Deputy Minister is fully responsible for the Ministry and has all rights and duties of the Minister until he/she returns. Deputy Ministers are granted TFD-government access with a 3/5 senate vote after their Minister calls for the vote

II C i. Minister of Foreign Affairs

The Minister of Foreign Affairs is responsible for the relations with other alliances, embassies and contacts with other alliances/organizations and the public reputation of the Foreign Division. He may appoint diplomats and aides, found embassies, establish foreign relations and he has a mandate for brokering treaties, although those treaties have to pass the Senate.

II C ii. Minister of Immigration

The Ministry of Immigration is responsible for the Growth of the Foreign Division and it's new members. This is promoted through the recruitment of newly created and established unaligned nations.

The Ministry is headed by the Minister of Immigration who is responsible for the oversight of all activities within the Ministry of Immigration. His goal is to promote the recruitment nations into TFD through constructive means, and he is given special authorization to administer payment, via TFD bank, to aides at his discretion.

II C iii. Minister of Education

The Ministry of Education is responsible for the distribution of game-related information (Cybernations Rules and Mechanics) and TFD's rules, laws, and guidelines.

The Ministry is headed by the Minister of Education who is responsible for the oversight of all activities within the Ministry of Education. The Minister of Educations goal is to educate the membership of TFD to the point where they themselves can guide further new members. He is also in charge of the Academy and is responsible for appointment of the Head of the Academy, however he may assume this role himself.

The Minister of Education is given the authorization to administer payment, via TFD bank, to his aides and academy graduates at his discretion.

II C iv. Minister of Security

The Minister of Security heads the Defense Group. He manage the Divisions and appoints officers for the divisions. The internal management of all divisions is his responsibility. He can order defense missions to help attacked members. He is also responsible for the internal security of the alliance. He obeys orders from the Senate only.

The “General of the Army” is head of the armed forces of the Foreign Division. He coordinates the defense forces and is the highest ranking officer. He’s responsible for military protocol and rules of engagement. He can also order defense missions to help attacked members. He obeys orders only from the Minister of Security.

II C v. Minister of Economic Affairs

The Minister of Economic Affairs is responsible for the Alliance's markets (which include the Technology Market, the Trade Guild Engineering Section). Each market is headed by an appointed Deputy Minister, although the Minister can decide to run the Ministry without Deputies.

The Deputy Minister of Trades shall orchestrate Trade Guilds.

The Deputy Minister of Tech shall oversee the Tech Market, combining buyers and sellers where needed.

The Minister and his Deputies can employ and appoint any workers in their respective departments, including, but not limited to, Trade Guild Managers and Tech Market Managers. Both Deputy Ministers are strongly suggested to keep within their area of appointment and only interfere with the other Deputy if asked for help.

II C vi. Director of the Bank

The Director of the Bank is responsible for the banking section of the alliance and is a manager with Minister-level classification. The Director of the Bank will be in charge of the Aid and Development programs within the alliance. He may appoint as many Deputies and aides he may wish in order to make the Bank Department fully functional.

II D Senate Advisory Council

The Senate Advisory Council is an optional organ of the government. If the Senate wishes to hear the opinion of TFD-members who are not involved in the government, the Senate can appoint members as Senate Advisors. The Advisors can see the secret parts of the forums and can comment on any issues. They don’t have any power or vote. Senate Advisors need to be re-appointed after each Senate election. The Advisory Council can also be dismissed entirely and not re-established.

II E Judiciary Branch

I.) The Judiciary Branch consist of three Magistrates. The Magistrates oversee all work within the Judiciary Branch. They can appoint aides when necessary.

II.) The Magistrates are directly elected by all TFD Members every four months. A Magistrate can be impeached by:
a.) A unanimous vote of the Senate
b.) By the election of a new Magistrate by TFD Members. A re-election needs the support of 10 members.
A Magistrate may not hold the office of Senator, Speaker, Minister or Deputy Minister. To be eligible, a candidate has to be a TFD-Member for at least three months. Furthermore, the same eligibility rules that apply to Senate candidates, apply to Magistrate candidates.

III.) The Magistrates are heads of all trials within TFD.

IV.) The Magistrates check that the TFD Government (Senators, Ministers and Aides) works according to TFD laws and the TFD charta. In case of violation, the Magistrates are authorized and obligated to inform all TFD Members about it. They may also start impeachement-processes against single TFD Senators (including the Speaker) according to article IIB of the charta. They may not dismiss a Senator themselves.

III.) Elections

For the purpose of elections, a special forum account will be used (Ballot Box). Every member of The Foreign Division who is member on the forums, shall send a PM with his/her votes to this account. The admins shall have the password for this account. They will count the votes independently from each other and announce the result. The result has to be announced within one week after the end of the elections.

Votes need to be consistent with the number of open seats. If there are two open seats, two candidates have to be elected. Cummulating votes on one candidate is forbidden. A voter can, however, abstain from a vote, meaning that if there are two open seats, he can vote for one candidate and abstain on the other seat.

If TFD drops below 20 members, a state of emergency automatically comes in effect. The Speaker then rules by decree. His goal has to be to bring TFD back above 20 members.

IV.) State of Emergency

The following people can announce a state of emergency:

Speaker
Minister of Security
Minister of Foreign Affairs
Senator (the ranking equals seniority)
Minister of Internal Affairs
Minister of Economic Affairs
Deputy ministers in a similar ranking as the ministers
General of the Army
General of the Intelligence Service
Colonel of the Lower Divisions (the ranking equals seniority)

A state of emergency is a situation where the internal and/or external security of TFD is threatened. Possible examples are: War, serious international tensions close to war, rebellion, collapse of the internal structure of TFD, major unavailability of the TFD government - however, these possible scenarios are only a fraction of scenarios where a state of emergency may be announced. The goal of the state of emergency is to create a fast-acting government that can address and quell the source of the problem.

If nobody is available, but an emergency situation is obviously at hand (e.g. a full-grown frontal attack that is threatening the existence of TFD and its members), the emergency is automatically declared and may be formally declared by any of the authorized members later.

During a state of emergency, a Emergency Executive Commitee (EEC) is created. The Emergency Executive Commitee (EEC) consists of all members of the government (Speaker, Advisors, Ministers (including Deputies and Aides), Senators).

The Emergency Executive Commitee (EEC) rules by decree. It is organized in a hierarchy, corresponding with the list above. An order by the highest ranking available person can only be overruled by a 2/3-majority of the whole Emergency Executive Commitee (EEC). Until such a majority is found, the order is valid and has to be followed. Normal constitutional decision-finding processes do not apply during a state of emergency.

The State of Emergency ends with a Emergency Executive Commitee (EEC) majority vote (> 50 %).

If the state of emergency hasn’t ended after one month, the Senate (not the Emergency Executive Commitee (EEC)) has to support it with a majority vote (including the Speaker's vote), or it ends.

Violations against the constitution that happened during a state of emergency cannot be prosecuted afterwards. However, it is illegal to change the constitution during the state of emergency.

V.) Legal system

The Magistrates are head of the legal department. If they are not prosecuted, they are head of all trials. In the end, all three judges have to vote unanimously on the outcome of the trial. The prosecutor is appointed by the Speaker and the Magistrates, the defender by the defendant.

The Senate watches over the trial and checks if the Trial System is applied properly.

Trial System

Art 1: A trial consists of three judges, a prosecutor and a defender.
The accused may defend himself or be defended by someone else.
The judges have to be neutral.
Art 2: The prosecutor reads the accusations against the accused and shows proof to back up the accusations.

Art 3: The defender shows proof to counter the accusations.

Art 4: First the prosecutor shows his proofs, then the defender. When both are finished they may make a final speech.
After the defender has finished, the prosecutor may react one time to his proofs.
The defender may react one time to the prosecutor's reaction.
Every step has to be made in one post only.
Art 5: The judges confer over the proof. They need a unanimous vote for a decision; the unanimous vote is compulsory.
The maximum time for reaching a decision is 7 days (to prevent stalling)
The maximum time for a trial is 14 days (to prevent stalling)
The minimum time for a trial is 3 days. After defender and prosecutor are finished, the judges have to confer at least 1 day (to prevent decisions out of the heat of the moment.)
Art 6: The judges specify the punishment of the accused.

Art 7: Both the accused and the prosecutor may call for a revision once each. Three different judges (all appointed by the Magistrates) will re-examine the presented proofs and decide again. The maximum number of trials in one case is thereby set to three. The last decision is valid.

VI.) Peace and War

The Senate is the only body of the Foreign Division that decides on Peace and War. Unprovoked offensive wars (raiding, tech farming etc.) are illegal. Only defensive wars (declaration of wars against nations that have attacked alliance members) are legal, if they are sanctioned by a Senator, the Minister of Security, the deputy Minister of Security, General of the Army, Colonel of the Lower Divisions (all in general) or division officers (during war-time).

VII.) Espionage and unprovoked attacks

If a TFD members are caught spying on or attacking someone outside TFD, they are reprimanded for endangering the neutrality of the alliance. Spying and attacking is considered illegal and a threat to TFD as a whole, as such declarations are subjected to the Senate and/or MoS only. The punishment is: Paying reparations to the nation that was hurt (equal to damages or same amount of money that was invested in the mission if damages can't be calculated). A second violation will lead to the banishment from TFD and a declaration of war from TFD until ZI, "Perma-ZI" if necessary.

If a TFD member is caught spying on or attacking someone inside TFD, they are effectively ejected from the alliance. At the same time, a state of war exists between the nation and TFD that will end with the ZI-status of the nation. The nation will be placed under "Perma-ZI" if it's deemed necessary.[/list]