Wizard politics

[Vivienne O'Regan]

No: HPFGUIDX 5455

Wed, 08 Nov 2000 09:43:10 -060  Penny Linsenmayer <pennylin at swbell.net>
wrote:

>>Neil Ward wrote:

>> I have some related HP questions now.  Did we ever decide whether the
>> Ministry of Magic is part of the Muggle government, part of an
>> independent Wizard government or representative of the whole Wizard
>> government?

>For the Wizarding World -- Govt FAQ, I concluded that most of our
>members believe that the Ministry is independent of the Muggle govt.
>Rita in particular makes good points that surely the sensitive
>knowledge about the existence of the wizarding world would not be 
>left to changing whim of partisan politics.  The only scenario under >which I could imagine that the Ministry is a Cabinet position or >otherwise part of the Muggle govt is if the Minister of Magic puts a
> memory charm on those in the know when there's a shift in power.

No need. Knowledge of the existence of the wizarding world would
be covered by the Official Secrets Act.

Within the British government there is the Civil Service which is
constant within the changes of political parties in power. Anyone
who has seen the BBC TV series 'Yes, Minister' will have a good 
idea of the set up.

Therefore, something as important as the relationship between the muggle
and wizarding world would unlikely to be dealt with by the 'Cabinet',
Prime Minister etc.  The very sensitivity of the relationship would
suggest either a royal appointment or approval at this sort of 
symbolic level. After all the nature of the monarchy is one of a 
symbolic sacred marriage between the land and the sovereign and a 
number of monarchs have been themselves interested in exploring the
magical world including forays into alchemy.

Or perhaps an historical appointment say in the time of Elizabeth I
(reputed to be the child of a witch) which with the increasing
separation between the muggle and wizarding world during the 
seventeenth century was honoured as an historical precedent which 
has self perpetuated over time becoming autonomous but still holding 
the royal charter.

>For that FAQ, I also did as detailed an analysis of the various
>components of the Ministry as we can based on our knowledge at this
>point.  I also included Lori's vision of the organization of the Int'l
>Federation of Wizards.  That FAQ is actually done at this point, unless
>recent discussions bring up new theories or points that should get
>added in.  <g>

>> Is there a political element to the Ministry of Magic reflecting the
>> Muggle parties or is it some sort of cross-party coalition related or
>> unrelated to Muggle politics?

>This I'm not sure about, and I don't think it's been raised before.  I
>hadn't seen anything about this while doing the FAQ.  I'm not even sure
>how the Minister of Magic is elected/appointed/chosen.

We haven't really been given many clues but it does seem to bear
more resemblance to the various government ministries in this country
which are run by the civil service and nominally headed by the appointed

Ministers, who seem to be rotated on a fairly regular basis.

>> I say "possibility" because I get the impression that the wizarding
>> world is completely apolitical - more like a department of civil
>>servants - and that there is no concept of party politics.

>Hermione does note that the house elves are "shockingly
>underrepresented" on  .. . . something that escapes me (one of the
>Committees relating to Magical Creatures I think).  The use of the word

>"underrepresented" might indicate that there's some form of
>representative govt in the wizarding world, although we've not seen
>much evidence of this other than that as far as I know.  
> Interesting thought to contemplate.

Interesting to see how this is developed - there is obviously some form
of consensus that governs the wizarding world and in a sense maybe
we are discovering it with Harry.


Vivienne