NATION-STATES AND POLITICAL ORGANIZATION

Kent, unlike the other four founding members of the United Federation of Planets-and unlike all other members that have joined since-does not have a true planetary government. Most sovereignty remains with the planet's nation-states, which have powers roughly equal to the nation states on Earth in the late twentieth century. The primary reason why this structure continued to exist is that none of the nation states are very large. In fact, Kent has over five hundred nation states, and the largest of them, Bazhrus, has an area roughly equal to that of Poland on Earth. Bazhrus is also the most populous, with just under fourty million people. The average nation state has a population of around seven million, which implies that modern Kent has a population of about 3.7 billion. Fifty of the nation states are in fact city states, with an area that consists of little more than a single city. Throughout the history of Kent, there have been efforts to combine nation states into larger political units, but alliances and empires tended to fall apart once strong leaders left the scene. With many of the states having long histories, as there was no history of colonialism on Kent, there is a great deal of national pride in a state's inhabitants and little desire to join a larger group. Most Kentyans have historically viewed larger states as imperialistic and the result of conquest, ideas which are not too acceptable to most of them. They tend to believe that each ethnic and cultural group deserves its own state, and one cultural group should not be able to impose its ways on another by dominating a larger nation state.
        Although Kent does not have a true planetary government, it does have an organization called the Council of Ambassadors. Each of Kent's five hundred and twenty-six nation states appoints one official, called an ambassador (since Kent has no concept of embassies and ambassadors exchanged between nation states), and these ambassadors meet to discuss matters of planetary importance. Over time, the nation-states have conceded to this body control of planetary affairs. It is the Council of Ambassadors that deals with the Federation at large, and with issues that affect the entire planet and in fact the entire Alpha Centauri system. The Council of Ambassadors meets in a parliament-like setting, and before a session exists, they elect one of their own to be the Spokesman, essentially the most powerful individual on the planet. The Spokesman, elected for the year, is considered the planetary leader and the one who fills the role within the Federation. The Council of Ambassadors also appoints the Kentyan representative who sits in the Federation Council and other Federation organizations, usually appointing someone who was once an ambassador but who has left that role. Some groups on Kent have started to call for a more comprehensive and democratic planetary government, with taxation powers (now, the Council of Ambassadors is funded by nation-states). The supporters of this plan claim that a true planetary government would allow Kent to function more as a space-capable world, including building and maintaining its own fleet of starships. As it is, Kent does not have its own starships, as it either buys ships built at Earth or its officers serve on Starfleet ships or in planetary fleets maintained by other races.
        Most of Kent's nation states are not democratic. Most of them are kingdoms or empires, with an hereditary ruler who appoints someone from his immediate family to be the Ambassador. Other nations have a non-hereditary ruler, but that ruler picks his own successor, grooming him for part of his rule before letting him take over. Very few have any form of democratic government. Again, this is tradition on Kent, since in older times, before the rise of the nation-state, feudal lords held control over their lands.