THE 4 GOVERNMENT STRUCTURES - Worldbuilding Fantasy & Sci-Fi Governments

About the audio: I'M SORRY. I'm back at my apartment and there's a LOT of street traffic right outside the window. I can edit it out with my editing software, but that causes problems with my voice. It's a delicate balance that I have not yet mastered.

There are--broadly speaking--four different types of government structures:
The Center (a.k.a. the Palace)
The Nobility
The Forum
and the Clergy

And we're going to talk about all four of them, and more importantly, how you can worldbuild them into your science fiction or fantasy story. (That's right! Not EVERY fantasy story needs to be a monarchy!)

--

Related Videos/Playlists:

--

--

FOLLOW ME ON SOCIAL MEDIA:

[christianschwietzke]

Good point about renaming "The Palace" as "The Center". By the same reasoning, you could probably rename "The Nobility" to "The Elite" or maybe "The Few" - they could just as well be a corporate boards, guildmasters, a college of cardinals, senior military officers (as in Japan before and during WW2)... or really anything. Any group that somehow manages to monopolize (oligopolize?) power can fill that role.

[DogWalkerBill]

I read the Oxford history of WWI. At the end, the book discusses government systems (including resulting communism) before and after WWI.

Before WWI, most of Europe had a Monarchy, Aristocracy, Clergy & Military. There was sometimes, grudgingly, recognition for the Merchants/Industrialists (who were often the richest class in the country.)
Conservatives supported the Monarchy, Clergy & Military. (And sometimes Aristocracy. And sometimes the Merchants/Industrialists.)
Radicals wanted to do away with the Monarchy, Clergy & Aristocracy, the Merchants/Industrialists & even Military and install some sort of Egalitarian Utopia.
Liberals argued that some of the ideas of the Conservatives were good and some of the ideas of the Radicals were good. So let's adopt the good points of each. And can't we all just get along?

After WWI, in Europe, the Monarchy, Aristocracy & Clergy were replaced, or limited, by a Constitution.
Conservatives supported the Constitution, Clergy & Military & often the Merchants/Industrialists.
Radicals wanted to throw out the Constitution, Clergy, Military & Merchants/Industrialists and replace them with some sort of Egalitarian Utopia.
The Liberals argued that some of the ideas of the Conservatives were good and some of the ideas of the Radicals were good. So let's adopt the good points of each. And can't we all just get along?

These are generalities that may apply differently depending on country. (England & France were already constitutional republics before the War. But still had re-shuffling afterward. The German Empire, Austo-Hungarian Empire, Ottoman Empire & Russian Empires ceased to exist and were replaced by something new after WWI.)

The USA has followed the Constitutional system since we adopted a Constitution in 1776.

[jmvolyn]

I'm always fascinated with how democratic style governments keep the elite in power. Surely, in a true democracy the masses will out vote the elite. Restricting voting rights is one way to do it, but there are other creative means political systems can employ.

[JoeyPaulOnline]

Always interesting to hear about this kinda stuff, might have to check that book out!

[valtteripennanen]

God däem, you look different as I only know you from Cafae Latte series

[antoniamcgregor]

This is helpful I'm currently planning an urban fantasy dystopian novel which is set in England where I live in Manchester and this new organisation/ government has taken over the UK and they have banned religion so everything has been ripped away associated with religion, spirituality, beliefs etc and this is forbidden now.

What would your advice be on worldbuilding in dystopian fiction? This is my first time writing dystopia so I don't want to do a crappy society and basically screw it up I'd like to make it seem realistic and scary 😂

[emadSciFi]

How about worldbuilding and fantasy sf 'economics' too!!