New Cambridge Executive Council

The New Cambridge Executive Council is the governing body for the city of New Cambridge on the planet of Hawking. Their authority extends out to geosynchronous orbit of the planet, though in practice their authority only extends to the human operations on the planet as the vast majority of the surface and space surrounding it are under the control of the local Grawla.

The Council is a representative democracy, that is mostly responsible for selecting the individuals responsible for running the organizations that handle the day to day operations of the city.

"An Ivory tower is a fine place as long as the door is open."

-Walter Darby Bannard

The Branches of Government

The New Cambridge Executive Council has a single branch that operates like a board of directors. Directors are appointed based on a political party's share of votes during elections. Decisions are made using a simple majority vote, and changes to procedures for voting requiring a 66% vote.

Political Stability

The Council was originally formed in 2190 to oversee the initial colony on the planet. Originally this involved managing only a few hundred people, though as the population of New Cambridge increased so too did the size of the Council. In modern times, the council itself is far too small to handle all of the same duties it did during its founding. The majority of the powers originally invested in the council are instead delegated to various other agencies and organizations that the Council oversees. The infrequent meeting schedule also makes the Council slow to respond to changes. This, combined with pressures of dealing with the local Grawla provided great pressure on the Council that it was ill-equipped to handle.

In 2320 these tensions and problems with the American Union would lead The Magnetic Assembly to win a majority of seats in that year's elections. This would lead to The Machine Exemplar getting a majority control of the government, and also achieve the 66% majority required for control of voting procedures with the help of other allied parties. This would lead to many organizations and agencies being placed under the authority of The Magnetic Assembly, absorbed into other factions of the Assembly, or simply automated in their entirety. This would essentially make the current version of the Council an apparatus of The Magnetic Assembly.

This has greatly expanded the amount of AI, Strategy-engines, and software-defined political systems that run New Cambridge. While it is believed that these systems are incredibly stable, they have not really been tested in the same ways that older or larger governments have been.