Are we still going to get to hear about the Vasudan pilots trapped in Sol from the Lucifer mission and their fate/how they're doing? Sorry for pinging again, that's just something I've really looked forward to.
Anyways, here's what Lepanto said in a PM about the EA government:
I asked him if the EA had a parliamentary (UK/Canada) or republican/presidential (US) style of government and he responded:
"The EA's cabinet Ministers are the executive branch of government. They're more powerful than their equivalents in a RL parliamentary system, and serve for long tenures. They're supposed to serve as a long-range steering committee, but still answer to the unicameral legislature. The Minister-in-Chief, the Head of State, is more of a primus inter pares among his colleagues than a dictator, though. The EA constitution gives wide authority to the executive branch in general, but has significant checks on the power of any one individual, to keep the state safe from a single cult-of-personality leader or bureaucratic fiefdoms.
The Parliament is unicameral, elected by population. This structure deliberately favors Earth, with its 7+ billion population and therefore the most representatives. The legislature has authority over the budget, and power to remove any Minister through a supermajority vote.
In sum, the EA government is carefully engineered to keep an Earth-appointed executive in power, while keeping the other structures of a democratic government."
I then asked if this made the EA a combination of oligarchy and parliamentary democracy. He responded:
"Well, pretty much. The EA's not an out-and-out tyranny, but its leaders want to maintain strict control over their territories and over long-term planning. They A: want to prevent any future unrest in Sol, and B: implement coordinated long-term military and economic policies (like building the Icanus) to keep the EA defended against external threats, Shivan or otherwise."