Subdivisions of the Batavian Empire

The Batavian Empire is officialy a centralised state, but because of it's large extend and ethnic differences there is a very complex administrative subdivisonal system. In summary, the Batavian Empire is divided into 111 departments, 4 crown-territories, 1 imperial city and 1 Military Administrated Zone.

Departments
The main subdivisons in the Batavian Empire are the departments. A department is comparable with a province and it covers a certain area of the empire. In total there are 111 departments with 63 located in Europe, 24 in Africa, 12 in Asia, 4 in North-America, 5 in Latin-America and 3 in Oceania.

Imperial-Governor
The chief executive officer of a department is an Imperial-Governor. Governors are appointed by the Emperor and serve at length of his wish. He executes the national policy in the departments and serves as a substitute of the Emperor. Governors need ratification of the State Assembly, although the Emperor can also choose to appoint a governor with an executive order, which does not need to be ratified by the State Assembly. An executive order to appoint a governor is not rare, it happens often when a State Assembly is filled with turncoats who oppose the government's policy. In rare cases when the State Assembly rejects the appointed governor the Emperor can ask for a comprise-council, in which the State Assembly may suggest a governor, this only happens in some cases when large populated departments reject a governor.

Baronies
Every department comprises of smaller regions, these are the baronies. Baronies are local municipalities with a baron as leader. A baron, which is the leader of a barony, is named an executive-baron, to distinguish them from other barons. The exectutive-baron is appointed directly by the Emperor and does not require any approval. The barons have a pure symbolic position, the only political powers they have are inaugurating the mayors appointed by the Ministry of National Affairs and attend the Council of Barons every first week of January to discuss the State of the Empire, which is announced publicly the last week of January by the Prime-Minister.

Mayors
Every barony has, besides the baron, also a mayor. Mayors are appointed by the Minister of National Affairs and are officially neutral. They are responsible to the State Assembly and report to the Imperial-Governor every week with the issues in their barony. Mayors are appointed for a period of 10 years and can be re-appointed afterwards.

State Assembly
Every department has it's own assembly. This assembly is far less important than the national Consulate, but can infuence the regional policy. The State Assemblies are elected every 2 years. These elections are not at the same time but in a period of six months. The size of the State Assembly varriates in every department. Every barony in the department represents 7 seats, no matter how large the population in the barony is. In stead of the multi-party system in the House of Consuls, the State Assemblies enforce a two-party system. The only two parties in a State Assembly are the Loyalists and the Turncoats. They are in every department secured with at least one 'free' seat, so every department has 2 extra seats in it's Assembly. The two parties are not really parties, they are more coalitions of the national parties. Parties which fight against the establishment like the Pragmatic Party of Independence, the New Republican Union and the Communist Worker Party campaign for the Turncoats to win the majority in State Assemblies. Parties like the Loyalist Party, Union of Social and Liberal Democrats and the Christian Democrats support the Loyalists. When the Turncoats win the majority in a State Assembly it is likely that the government will receive more drawback when executing policy in the department. The Loyalists as well as the Turncoats are, in every department lead by a Majority or Minority Whip, depends if the party has a majority or minority in the State Assembly. The Whip's job is to ensure the coalition of Turncoats or Loyalists vote in favour of their parties preference. There is also one National Whip for each group. The National Whip is very powerfull because he is the most powerfull figure in the regional politics and thus has a lot of leverage in negotiating with parties that supported the Loyalists or Turncoats in the election. The National Whip is elected every year by all the active members of the Loyalists/Turncoats. The Imperial-Governor is likely to actively support the Loyalists, since he is a personification of the establishment in the department. When a governor campaigns for the Turncoats he is called a Faithless Governor and he is likely to be dismissed by the Emperor, as he has shown he doesn't represent the policy of the government. In most of these circumstances it is likely that the governor will resign if he chooses to campaign for the Turncoats.

State Senate
Every department also has a State Senate. The State Senate is however more a symbolic organ, since the State Senate comprises of all the former Senators who served for the department. As soon as a Senator does not represent the department again in the Senate he is automatically apointed as State Senator by the Emperor himself. The State Senate has no real political position and can only advise the mayors or whips in the department. This never happens in theory unless their council is wanted by someone. The State Senate has no official plenary hall.

Crown Territory
Crown Territories are administrative divisons which fall under direct imperial controll. The Emperor has full authority over the territories and rules them without any influence of the Consulate. Crown Territories are low populated places which lack the development to be departments. A misunderstanding is that the teeritories are always lower populated than departments, for instance, the territory of Greenland has more citizens than the departments of Falkand and Dutch Atlantic, but is still a territory instead of a department.

Formation of Crown Territories
The four current territories were created by executive order of the Emperor after the Act of the Constitution was adapted. In the Constitution is clarified that Crown Territories can become departments if the Emperor proposes a so called Departmental Intergration Bill to the Senate. The Senate can accept or reject the proposal of the Emperor with a simple majority. If a majority is reached the Crown Territory nominated for department is transformed into a department within a year after the approval.

Departments can also be changed back into departments by executive order of the Emperor. As soon as the Emperor launched the executive order all branches of the department are immediatly frozen and the influence of the government is immediatly stoped. The Emperor receives full authority from the minute he executes the order. The Senate can, however, vote to reject the executive order after a period of three months after the order.

Administration of Crown Territories
In theory the Crown Territories are directly ruled by the Emperor, but the Emperor also appoints a Regent-General whose job is to implement the policy of the Emperor in the territory. The Regent-General is accompanied by some other regents, each taking responsibility of a certain portfolio, such as eduaction or healthcare. The regents and the Regent-General serves at the Emperor's wish and can be replaced any time by the Emperor.

The Crown Territories do not have a legislative branch, since bills are made and checked by the Emperor himself. The only influence of the people in the territory is by a People's Consultation which is held every 6 months in which citizens can express their ideas through a referendum. The People's Consulation is not binding and can be rejected by the Emperor.

Imperial City
An Imperial City is a city which falls under direct authority of the Emperor. It is not the same as a Crown Territory since the citizens of the Imperial City can vote in both the elections of the House as the Senate. They can even send three Senators instead of every department, which can only send one.

Formation of Imperial Cities
There is currently only one Imperial City, which is the capital city of Amsterdam. Imperial Cities were created by executive order of the Emperor after the Act of the Constitution was adapted. The Imperial City was made after the old Reichsstädte idea of the Holy Roman Empire, which were cities under direct controll of the Emperor to secure safety and order. A very important difference is that the Emperor, as commander in chief, is not allowed to enter the city with the Batavian Army without a ⅔ approval of the Senate.

The Emperor can form Imperial Cities with suggesting a proposal to the Senate which can be approved or disapproved with a simple majority. The Senate cannot take the innitative ti vote to adjourn an Imperial City themselves. They can however take initative to form another Imperial City without proposal from the Emperor.

Administration of Imperial Cities
The Emperor appoints a Chancellor to rule the city in his name, but is also actively engaged in the administration of the city. The Chancellor is sometimes reffered to as Imperial-Mayor and is supported by a group of Alderman, each with a different portfolio. The Alderman are chosen by the Chancellor as soon as he is appointed. The Chancellor serves at the Emperor's wish and can be dismissed any time.

The Imperial City doesn't have a legislative branch, but can vote in elections of the House, which give citizens the right to choose the course for the rest of the Empire. They can also send 3 Senators to the Senate which is more than a department can send.