Recently there's been a lot of talk about the supposed stagnant nature of Europeian government. I decided that I would investigate just how stagnant the government has actually been in the Executive branch. The legislative branch clearly has lots of turnover, while the Court is admittedly a high barrier to breach. That leaves the Cabinet as the sort of middle ground that people love to occasionally lash out at as the problem part of the government, susceptible to a lack of turnover, which favors older members. How much truth is there to this? Well, I went through the Cabinet confirmations going back to Anumia's first 2013 term until the present Cabinet of Writinglegend to see who gets nominated and where. I made a table, which you can view here but that honestly just shows how many times we create new Ministries more than it helps the average reader for the purpose of this article. What I will now do is break each Ministry down and discuss the composition of its nominees during these last sixteen terms to examine potential stagnation and favoritism. Let's get started.
To clarify how these lists are going to work, I've listed each occupier of the office, and the amount of total terms served during the last sixteen terms. They are listed in chronological order of their first appearance in the position so we can see who the last "new" holder of the office truly was. If they have [N] by their name, then I've designated them a newcomer, since they are within their first six months in the region.
We've seen nine people hold this office in the last few years, with nobody serving more a quarter of that time on their own. Most Presidents in recent years have either run for two or three terms, so this pattern makes sense. We found that most office holders are more experienced (as we would expect from the President), with Kraken and Rylian being the possible exceptions (each rose to power just after six months).
Stagnant? No
Newcomer Friendly? No
With twelve people holding this office in the same amount of time as nine Presidents, there's obviously a little more turnover. This office once again has very few newcomers, which is to be expected, I suppose, as they serve as a back-up Presidents, voters might have higher standards.
Stagnant? No
Newcomer Friendly? No
Here we're starting to see very little turnover, with only six people holding this office in the recent past. This is a position that we entrust to very few people in the region, with many office holders often going several terms before being replaced. There have been training programs in place for many terms, but it seems those are more precautionary than they might otherwise seem.
Stagnant? Yes
Newcomer Friendly? No
Once again we see nine people holding this position in the last sixteen terms, which gives them the same average time in office as the President. However, a lot more newcomers seem to be able to hold this position, which is encouraging for those criticizing the Executive.
Stagnant? No
Newcomer Friendly? Almost
Ten people have held this office in sixteen terms. For a Ministry dealing with newcomers, however, they have less running the Ministry than one might expect. There's a good mix of experience, however.
Stagnant? No
Newcomer Friendly? Almost
With fourteen people filling this position in the past few years, we've seen more turnover here
than anywhere else. However, despite so many rotations, less than half the people have been newcomers at the start.
Stagnant? Definitely not
Newcomer Friendly? Almost
Fifteen people have held this office in sixteen terms, giving it the highest turnover (they keep topping themselves). What's interesting here isn't that people get replaced every term like Culture, but it seems this area just has a lot of midterm resignations. Lots of newcomer participation here as well, the most yet.
Stagnant? Definitely not
Newcomer Friendly? Yes
Nine people have served in the last sixteen terms here, which kind of surprised me. This area, since it so closely tied to the Court, I feel like it has a reputation of being hard to get into, but that's a pretty good turnover. There are, however, no newcomers in this position, which is less surprising.
Stagnant? No
Newcomer Friendly? No
Interesting Trends: CSP has a lot of partial terms, Sopo seems to be put in almost anywhere when someone resigns.
So, what's the takeaway from all this? Most of our Ministries have high turnover and have a good degree of newcomer leaders. There's certainly room for improvement in some areas if that's something we want to focus on, though I would argue some areas should not be judged by this standard. Overall, I think there are better complaints to lodge against the region than the idea that we're an old boys' club with no diversity in leadership, and I hope this article settles the debate, at least to some degree. Until next time, this is Calvin Coolidge, making increasingly tinier charts.
To clarify how these lists are going to work, I've listed each occupier of the office, and the amount of total terms served during the last sixteen terms. They are listed in chronological order of their first appearance in the position so we can see who the last "new" holder of the office truly was. If they have [N] by their name, then I've designated them a newcomer, since they are within their first six months in the region.
Average Time in Office: 1.78 terms
We've seen nine people hold this office in the last few years, with nobody serving more a quarter of that time on their own. Most Presidents in recent years have either run for two or three terms, so this pattern makes sense. We found that most office holders are more experienced (as we would expect from the President), with Kraken and Rylian being the possible exceptions (each rose to power just after six months).
Stagnant? No
Newcomer Friendly? No
Average Time in Office: 1.33 terms
With twelve people holding this office in the same amount of time as nine Presidents, there's obviously a little more turnover. This office once again has very few newcomers, which is to be expected, I suppose, as they serve as a back-up Presidents, voters might have higher standards.
Stagnant? No
Newcomer Friendly? No
Average Time in Office: 2.67 terms
Here we're starting to see very little turnover, with only six people holding this office in the recent past. This is a position that we entrust to very few people in the region, with many office holders often going several terms before being replaced. There have been training programs in place for many terms, but it seems those are more precautionary than they might otherwise seem.
Stagnant? Yes
Newcomer Friendly? No
Average Time in Office: 1.78 terms
Once again we see nine people holding this position in the last sixteen terms, which gives them the same average time in office as the President. However, a lot more newcomers seem to be able to hold this position, which is encouraging for those criticizing the Executive.
Stagnant? No
Newcomer Friendly? Almost
Average Time in Office: 1.6 terms
Ten people have held this office in sixteen terms. For a Ministry dealing with newcomers, however, they have less running the Ministry than one might expect. There's a good mix of experience, however.
Stagnant? No
Newcomer Friendly? Almost
Average Time in Office: 1.14 terms
With fourteen people filling this position in the past few years, we've seen more turnover here
than anywhere else. However, despite so many rotations, less than half the people have been newcomers at the start.
Stagnant? Definitely not
Newcomer Friendly? Almost
Average Time in Office: 1.07 terms
Fifteen people have held this office in sixteen terms, giving it the highest turnover (they keep topping themselves). What's interesting here isn't that people get replaced every term like Culture, but it seems this area just has a lot of midterm resignations. Lots of newcomer participation here as well, the most yet.
Stagnant? Definitely not
Newcomer Friendly? Yes
Average Time in Office: 1.78 terms
Nine people have served in the last sixteen terms here, which kind of surprised me. This area, since it so closely tied to the Court, I feel like it has a reputation of being hard to get into, but that's a pretty good turnover. There are, however, no newcomers in this position, which is less surprising.
Stagnant? No
Newcomer Friendly? No
I'm not going to do the Average Time in Office here because there's too many things to compare. r3n was Chief of Staff for a long time, but Innovation and other Ministries had a short shelf life. The areas are completely different focuses as well, but if anything, this just shows how often we create new Ministries in this region.
Interesting Trends: CSP has a lot of partial terms, Sopo seems to be put in almost anywhere when someone resigns.
So, what's the takeaway from all this? Most of our Ministries have high turnover and have a good degree of newcomer leaders. There's certainly room for improvement in some areas if that's something we want to focus on, though I would argue some areas should not be judged by this standard. Overall, I think there are better complaints to lodge against the region than the idea that we're an old boys' club with no diversity in leadership, and I hope this article settles the debate, at least to some degree. Until next time, this is Calvin Coolidge, making increasingly tinier charts.
