- Pronouns
- He/Him
Foreign affairs, for many, is the most dynamic and exciting element of gameplay. It certainly is for me. In a vacuum one might assume that such a function would offer a great deal of opportunities for involvement of citizens, new and old. Unfortunately we know this to be a false assertion and not just in Europeia but throughout the NationStates world.
Most foreign services have a minister and a corps of ambassadors that are liberally assigned and drop off the mail. This arrangement can only work if your minister knows everybody and everything. It can only work if he has time to perform the entirety of administrative tasks before him while still reserving energy for the development of his institution. I can only work if you don't need to train a future minister that is not already a tenured and qualified citizen. None of those things have ever been true of any of us.
Europeia, as the preeminent user-created community in the world should demand more from its foreign service. We, as a matter of course, should boast the most effective, well-informed, deliberate foreign relations apparatus in the game. We can't depend on a mythical super minister or a perfect EAAC to provide it either. Enhancement to the structure of the ministry itself and paradigm change pertaining to existing programs is necessary.
In the United States, particularly during the nineteenth century, being posted as an ambassador to certain nations was a tremendous source of prestige. If you were the ambassador to Great Britain you were essentially a presidential candidate. I suggest that from here on out, the most prestigious regions are assigned to the most able among the foreign service. This serves dual purposes. It ensures that our most important partners and enemies are dealt with and observed capably. Secondarily, it gives service an aura of prestige and those lower on the totem poll something to aspire to. Now of course we don't go running around with a rankings list. That would be embarrassing for us and others.
Most importantly, I suggest a system of delegation under which the MoFA would appoint deputies to compartmentalize responsibility for both physical work and knowledge. An official for game-created regions, an official for user created regions, and an official for emerging regions quadruple the number of brains that are charged with knowing everything happening to everyone in the world and what to do about it. It serves to train future ministers for the top job and also frees up the MoFA to focus on a bigger picture agenda.
This is just a start to a foreign service that can engage and entertain a larger section of our population while enhancing our ability to effectively carry out our objectives.
