Wizard government (was wizards and the queen)

[queen_astrofiammante]

No: HPFGUIDX 83949

lola says:

> why then has the magical Prime Minister not been mentioned? And why 
does Fudge have the title Minister of Magic, which gives him power 
over all magical affairs?

Now Astrofiammante:

Something has struck me before about the system of government in the 
magical world, of which this thread reminded me. 

In the UK, and probably everywhere else with a similar system of 
government, for the protection of democracy and other essential 
stuff, government is supposed to be divided into three distinct 
branches:

Legislature (parliament; lawmakers)
Executive (government; prime minister, cabinet)
Judiciary (court system; judges)

Each of these three branches should act as a check and balance on the 
others - for example people have access to the courts to challenge 
laws they think unjust.

Without straying too far into politics, an issue people have with the 
present UK government (and probably the US one) is that it is 
upsetting this natural distinction and that the executive currently 
has too much influence over the legislature and the judiciary.

In the magical world, we've seen plenty about the executive - the 
Ministry of Magic is a big sprawling beast with practically unlimited 
influence. 

We've seen a little of the judiciary in the form of the Wizengamot. 
Doesn't it strike you how dominated it is by the executive? Amelia 
Bones is a 'good guy' in OotP, but she is an official. Fudge, 
Umbridge - officials. And this is nothing new - Barty Crouch, an 
official, was able to send Sirius Black to Azkaban without a trial.

And have we seen anything of the legislature? Could it be one of 
the 'grand council of wizard' bodies to which Dumbledore belongs? Or 
has anyone got any better suggestions? In any case, it hardly strikes 
me as a dominant feature of wizard government. Who is originating the 
laws? Fudge? In which case he's more or less a dictator, benevolent 
or otherwise.

So we have a system depicted where the executive - the Ministry of 
Magic - has none of the checks and balances operating on it that 
should be there, if we want to draw parallels with our own Muggle 
world.

And we've seen some of the problems this can cause - when the 
Ministry starts acting beyond its powers - Umbridge's behaviour at 
Hogwarts and by sending the Dementors to Little Whinging, Fudge's 
outrageous attempts to convict Harry wrongly of illegally using 
magic, the lack of a completely free press in the form of a Daily 
Prophet that can be unduly influenced by the Ministry.

To return to Lola's point at the top of this post, cabinet government 
is supposed to provide another set of checks and balances. The Prime 
Minister is merely 'first among equals' and decisions are collective.

If Fudge is operating in an ambiguous relationship to the 'Muggle 
cabinet', than that's another set of checks and balances on his 
behaviour gone. For goodness' sake, the man's more or less being 
invited to misbehave himself.

I think all this is just another of many examples of how wizarding 
society is badly out of kilter, and will need to be reformed before 
the end of the series - if another Evil Overlord isn't to happen by 
and upset everything all over again...

Astrofiammante

www.deadjournal.com/users/astrofiammante