Questions about MoM Political and Legal Systems

[GulPlum]

No: HPFGUIDX 37029

"brenna_britton" <brenna_britton at h...> wrote:

Your questions have never been answered or even addressed in canon 
(or even, AFAIK, out of canon by JKR), so we're down to pure 
speculation...

> Is the MoM the overarching political authority in the British 
> wizarding world?

It would appear to be.

> If it is, then who appoints the Minister for Magic? Do the heads of 
> various departments vote for it? Who appoints the department heads? 
> Are there any wizarding elections?

I'd expect that there's some kind of electoral process (does thios 
mean that there are wizarding taxes as well?). Whether the whole 
community, or just the heads of department vote for the Minister is 
anyone's guess. My assumption is that the heads get promoted from 
within (presumably this would mean that with Crouch gone, Percy is 
now in charge of International Co-operation). 

> Does Fudge have dictatorial power? And would that mean that 
> Dumbledore is willing to lead an anti-establishment revolution if 
> Fudge refuses to recognize Voldemort's return?

I get the impression that a lot of the wizarding community share 
Fudge's ostrich-like propensities, and prefer to ignore rather than 
confront any problems which might appear. I don't expect Dumbledore  
to mount any kind of challenge to Fudge's political authority - for 
starters, it holds no interest for our dear headmaster. Dumbledore 
would obviously prefer to do what needs to be done in partnership 
with the Ministry, but is prepared to go it alone and deal with 
possible confrontations only if they arise.

> Is the MoM affiliated somehow with the Muggle government? 

That's the big question which has preoccupied my mind for a while.:-) 
Knowing how the UK government works in some detail (both technically 
and in practice), the text sends me two conflicting signals:

In usual (Muggle) British terminology, a Ministry is a sub-set of a 
Department of State, and not vice-versa as the MoM is. So, for 
instance, we have the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (run by 
a Secretary of State, commonly and slightly misleadingly called a 
Minister), which has several Ministries, including Sport and Arts. 
Ministries can be sub-divided into Divisions, each of which is 
usually run by a career Civil Servant with some kind of relevant  
expertise, rather than by a Member of Parliament. 

It should be noted that Departments are separated by spending powers, 
rather than function (for instance, the DCMS I used as an example has 
a lot of interaction for obvious reasons with the Department for 
Education and Skills).

The MoM could be a part of several Departments, but as it would 
appear the MoM is self-financing (and something the Muggle government 
doesn't want people to know about), it's probably not part of the 
general political system.

On the other hand, the usage (Ministry *OF* Magic - Muggle 
terminology would make it the Ministry *FOR* Magic) would indicate 
that the MoM has evolved separately from the rest of the political 
system, and as it's self-financing, there is no reason for it to have 
any formal ties with the government of the day. Of course, as the 
wizarding world has to co-exist in the same space as tghe rest of us, 
and some things require a certain degree of co-operation. For 
instance, hosting the Quidditch World Cup here would require co-
operation with several government departments - this is a 
teritorially tiny country and having several hundred thousand people 
in the same place would be impossible to organise on any level 
without being noticed. Also, National Heritage (which looks after non-
privately-owned historical monuments) would need to be aware of which 
seemingly ruined castles not to worry about because they're in use by 
the wizarding community.

> Or do they 
> only communicate on a need-to-know basis, as with Sirius? How many 
> Muggle officials know about the wizarding world, or are they all 
> subjected to Memory Charms? 

Depending on which of my contrasting options one wants to expect, the 
WW is known either only to the Prime Minister who might give orders 
to other Departments, or to the whole Cabinet. I wouldn't be 
surprised if while in office, all members of the Cabinet are made 
aware of the wizarding world's existence, but have memory charms put 
on them once they leave office.

> And need I ask how unethical Memory Charms are? (I honestly feel 
very 
> sorry for Mr Roberts, the campsite manager. Has anyone studied the 
> long-term medical effects of repeated Obliviation?) Is there an 
> ethics board of the MoM? 

A subject which has been raised here and in other HP discussions is 
about ethical behaviour among wizards and witches - Hogwarts doesn't 
appear to have anything on the curriculum about it. Of course, 
stepping outside the Potterverse for a moment, considering the books 
are marketed at kids, the whole notion would be an unnecessary 
encumbrance. The wizardng world is scary and wizards just have to 
deal with things as best they can.

> The Dementors aren't exactly representative 
> of a democratic and humane society
 There also seems to be a 
complete 
> lack of lawyers in the wizarding world, not to mention legal aid. 
> Poor Hagrid has to rely on a ( albeit very smart) 13-year old girl 
> for legal help with Buckbeak, and is then forced to plead his own 
> case.

Quite. As I said above, neither the individuals nor the system don't 
seem to be able to look beyond their immediate needs. 

> These are the questions that have been haunting my roommate, as 
best 
> as I can discern them from her anguished ranting. If anyone has any 
> answers, ideas, conspiracy theories, or more questions, I'd love to 
> hear them. Thanks a lot!