Politics and Power

*Late Submission

Politics and Power has very interesting connections, and I'm making between three different things. Also, I'll attempt to answer these questions: What roles do politics play within your civilization? What roles does diplomacy play? How are power struggles represented in the game? First, let's look at the three connections.

1. Politics and power of modern day China
2. Politics and power in Civilization V with China
3. Comparing and contrasting the two using class lectures

Modern day China, also known as the People's Republic of China, is a single-party socialist state. State power is controlled by the Communist Party of PRoC and provincial/local authorities. The parts that make up the state's power include National People's Congress (NPC), President, and State Council.

These are classified as state organs instead of administrative post. A little bit of linguist analysis here says the difference between state organ and administration means they are trying to get close to a functionality of government, using words that connect each other rather than responsibilities. 

President is elected by the NPC. NPC members (2,987 total) are elected by provincial people's assemblies, who are elected by lower level assemblies, in a system of electorates. The State Council is nominated by the Premier and appointed by the President.

Very complicated system of politics; a system foreign to me. 


Politics within Civilization V thankfully are much simpler to understand (since they appeal to universals).

Civilization V starts by naming politics and power into Social Policies.

Within two of the social policies, Tradition and Liberty, there are five identifiable political policies. They are Aristocracy, Oligarchy, Legalism, Monarchy, and Republic.

Aristocracy - +15%  Production when building Wonders and +1  Happiness for every 10  Citizens in a City. 
Oligarchy - Garrisoned units cost no maintenance and cities with a garrison gain +50% Ranged Combat Strength.
Legalism - Provides a free culture building in your first 4 cities.
Monarchy - +1  Gold and -1  Unhappiness for every 2  Citizens in the  Capital.
Republic - +1  Production in every City and +5%  Production in cities when constructing Buildings.

Fun Fact: China used to practice Legalism during the Qin Dynasty (221-206 BC).

Picking one of these social policies grants bonuses in the game. Some of them require you to pick a certain social policy before you can advance to the next one such as Monarchy requiring Legalism.

If I compare both the game and modern day China, I can see some similarities, but mostly differences. Similarities can be things such as Legalism used to be a political policy in the Qin Dynasty. Also, the ruler (Wu Zetian) decides what kind of social policies the state will use. In this case, a single-party state, determines what kind of social policies they will chose as well.

Differences between the two is the way government is conducted. The officials are elected by provincial level electorates, not included within the game. There is no President (even when you ascend into the Modern Era), State Council, or National People's Congress. It would be very interesting if the political powers evolve as you progress technologically. When you reach the Renaissance Era, you can found the World Congress. In a sense, it works like United Nations in which people from other governments vote on resolutions, repelling or enacting them.

The roles politics play within my civilization is through city-states and other civilizations. When I come into contact with another civilization, we usually exchange embassies with each other to located each other on the map. Then we extensively trade our resources with something they may have (or provide a bonus for the "We Love the King Day") We can also trade with other city states and build stronger relationships (Friends and Allies). This can benefit the player because they will attack other civilizations if you declare war on them. They will also defend your civilization if you were declared war against. Sometimes they even supply you with additional units.

This leads into the next part, diplomacy.Diplomacy is very complicated and cumbersome. As someone in class mentioned, very difficult to achieve a victory with diplomacy alone. It consists of giving gold, luxury resources, and units away to city states and other civilizations.

This is a direct quote about diplomacy from Civilopedia:

"You can accomplish a lot through diplomacy. You can gain allies and isolate your enemies. You can create defensive and offensive pacts. You can increase your technology through cooperative research ventures. You can end wars that are going badly for you. You can bluff the credulous and bully the timid."

Power struggles within the game consists of domination based tactics. I can attack/declare war on other civilizations and control their territory and land. This will boost my luxury resources (which increase my happiness), but also increase unhappiness from population generated and razing cities during the process. City-states, to me, present no challenge. They are only beneficial when allied with them, but no threat. I build up faster armies than they can  generate. 

Overall, the progress of the game is going smooth. I have played four games so far (to also get the right recording) and only reached to the future era during one of my games. Hopefully with my new recording software, I will present a game that reaches future era.