Post by Tim on Jun 30, 2018 20:11:48 GMT -5
The World Assembly
I. An Overview
The World Assembly (WA) is the inter-regional governing body in NationStates (NS), similar to the United Nations in real life. All are welcome in the WA, but a single person can only have one nation in the WA at a time. Member nations of the WA are able to endorse other WA members; these endorsements serve a variety of functions which will be covered in Section II. Member nations can also participate in the two branches of the WA, the General Assembly (GA) and the Security Council (SC). Briefly, the GA deals with resolutions affecting the governing of all member nations, while SC resolutions, on the other hand, deal with Commendations, Condemnations, and Liberations.
II. Endorsements
Any WA nation can endorse any other WA nation that is in the same region, simply by clicking the "Endorse" button down near the bottom of their nation page. These endorsements serve three main functions: to allow you to make proposals in the WA, to determine how quickly your influence accumulates, and to determine the Delegate of a region.
First, endorsements allow you to make proposals in the WA. Once you have two endorsements, you can submit proposals; if your proposal receives enough approvals from Delegates around NS, it will go to vote in front of the entire World Assembly. It's important that when you have a proposal for the World Assembly, you first post it in the relevant section of the NS forums (GA or SC) so that you can receive comments and criticism before submitting; your proposal will have a much better chance that way. In Spiritus we also have an area where you can posts drafts to receive comments: the Drafting Workshop.
Second, endorsements determine how quickly your influence accumulates. Influence is something you gain the longer you are in a region; as long as you are in a region, you are gaining influence, World Assembly member or not. However, the more endorsements you have, the more quickly influence will accumulate. Influence makes it harder for a Delegate to eject or ban you from the region, essentially; it costs a Delegate some of their own influence whenever they eject or ban a nation from their region (but ejecting and banning nations costs no influence for Founders).
Finally, endorsements determine the Delegate of the region. This part is simple; the nation with the most endorsements becomes the Delegate. Every twelve hours, NS "updates" which takes a total of about an hour. In this update, each nation in each region and the regions themselves are updated; for the purposes of this guide, the important thing is that during the "update" is when the Delegate of a region is determined. All endorsements are counted at this time. In addition, when the Delegate votes in the World Assembly, their vote counts for the number of endorsements they have plus one.
III. The General Assembly and the Security Council
The GA considers proposals regarding the governing of member nations. General Assembly proposals that come to vote can deal with a wide variety of topics, from free trade to protecting the planet from alien invasion. All WA members are forced to comply with all GA resolutions; they even affect some of your regional statistics, which can be seen in the "Analysis" link on your nation page. There are various rules regarding what sorts of proposals can be submitted to the General Assembly; they can be read on the NS forums here.
SC proposals deal with international security through three types of resolutions: Commendations, Condemnations, and Liberations. Commendations and Condemnations are passed for individual nations or regions for prominent positive/negative actions, either in role-play on NS or in other areas. When passed, these give the nation or region a badge on their nation or region page that links back to the proposal. Liberations are something completely different; when passed, they remove the ability for a Delegate to impose a password on the target region. As with the GA, there are various rules governing SC proposals; they can be read here.
In Spiritus we have a section of the forums, the World Assembly Hall, where the GA and SC proposals currently at vote can be discussed and debated; you can also vote on the way that the Delegate will vote. It's a great way to get some experience in the WA, and we're all happy to help!
Written by The Salaxalans