Kalistan

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In upcoming elections, Kalistanis plan to vote... Institutionalist
Most voters are not interested in more democracy
Kaliburg, Grand Duchy of Ananto
October 20, 5729


Women interviewed in downtown Kaliburg say they feel represented by Party and Empress

Poll after poll taken across the Empire since August shows a noticeably average enthusiasm for the upcoming elections in January, despite the late entry of new, more democratic options. "The baseline for election enthusiasm is about 42%," said political scientist Mark Griffin, of Kalistan Imperial University in Kaliburg. "This year, we are interviewing people and about 43% of respondents say they intend to vote. This is strikingly normal, especially given the headlines about the entry of the New Democrat options on the ballot."

Griffin did note that voter enthusiasm itself was slightly higher in Suldanor and Odufaray, with an average of 46% and 45% respectively. "This shows that there is some effect with having options from the New Democrat Club on the ballot in those two duchies, but when you boil the numbers down, it is a wash, because there seems to be slightly elevated support for Orthodox or Nationalist candidates, which seems to be driving a lot of the increased sentiment."

It is hard to glean a projection for the January election from these polls. "We do know that all ballots have been approved by the Institutional Party already and will be ready for January's election, but any predictions that might suggest support for new options on the ballot are tempered with the fact that there a numerous options for each constituency, and the New Democrats are struggling to gain traction on name recognition. As the ballots only list names, you have to know that person x or y belongs to the New Democrat ticket if you really want to vote for them, and the clubs, while meeting the minimum, are still very small, and only represent a few thousand votes out of about 60 million."

Most active voters more strongly identify with what they call "Institutional values," that is strong support for Kalistan's institutions, and most especially the monarchy, peace, civil liberties, and heavy state control over the economy. "Voters appear to take an instrumentalist approach to government in Kalistan--As long as the state continues to provide a good, if not opulent, standard of living for most people, and make efforts to raise the standards of living for those who may fall behind, most people are fine with what the Government is doing. They say that would change if, for example, police presence that curtailed their liberty was increase, or there was rampant corruption in the Government, but for the most part, citizens are generally satisfied with how the Government is operating, and in general, prefer to leave government to elected Deputies, the Cabinet and the Empress while they live their lives."

Voters were asked in one poll to rank their values when it comes to political topics. 89% ranked "popular control over government" as dead last, with "Government protection of civil liberty" ranking near the top of a super majority, followed by "Quality of life" and "National Defense." "Democracy in Kalistan, such as it is conceived of in western nations and in Republics, is an entirely foreign concept for nearly all Kalistanis," said Griffin. "A lot of this is due to the pervasive state civics curriculum which is introduced in 1st Grade and continues through National Service. Kalistanis are not socialized to see themselves in government, but to leave that matter to specialists, the way most people do not see themselves as professional basketball players or brain surgeons. Most of those surveyed will argue with you that popular control over government is not only ill advised but dangerous, because they legitimately do not feel that their neighbor has their own best interests at heart, and feel that having a government that stands above the population is more likely to provide a truly neutral and disinterested judge to resolve disputes. In a sense then, Kalistan operates the way liberals claim their government would, leaving the people to live their own lives with minimal intrusion while promoting justice and fairness in all of the society from a neutral, disinterested standpoint."

This underwrites much of the support for the monarchy as well. "Most people say they are fine with the Empress living as she does, because they believe that she should be above the temptation to accept a bribe or serve any particular parochial interest. They are also completely fine with her wielding fiat authority, because Kalistanis believe that she is the only one who could possibly do so. Just like a ship requires a captain whose only job is to guide the ship to safe harbor, Kalistanis will argue that the Empress has one job: it is her job and hers alone, and nobody in this nation imagines that they could possibly live the sort of life they wish to live AND perform that job themselves."

Many people take the matter of support for the Monarchy personally. "Even when people might be upset with the choices made by the Empress, support remains almost universal for the monarchy," said Griffin. "This is because many see the Monarchy as a uniquely Kalistani institution: No other nation on the planet allows their Monarch blanket fiat authority. This makes Kalistan's monarchy unique, and people have come to feel an ownership and a sort of desire to protect the institution against, especially foreign criticism. Especially because audible domestic criticism does not really exist."

When foreign governments or citizens critique the monarchy, explains Griffin, "this engenders a very negative response amongst the people of Kalistan, who feel that an attack on the monarchy is an attack on the Nation, and hence, against themselves. Most people will seek a disproportionate response against criticism of the monarchy abroad, a position which reinforces their own support for the institution here at home. People treat support for the monarchy as a civic duty that is far more important to them than voting, and it is believed that in 97 out of 100 homes, there is a prominently displayed photo on the wall of the current Empress. People display pictures of the Empress the same way people in other nations display flags. Her image is one that inspires national pride."

Griffin says that he understands the attraction to popular self government in other nations. "They grow up believing that the individual is superior to the group, and so yes, it makes a lot of sense that they raise their population to believe that just anyone off the streets can be sent to the capital, and asked to make intelligent decisions for the good of the nation. We know, in this Nation that policy making is a skilled profession just like carpentry or jewelry making: Anyone can be taught to do it, but to be good at it they need to devote their lives to the activity. The absolute hackery that other nations allow to pass for governance is quite laughable to the Kalistani, who wisely choose to devote themselves to their own profession rather than imagine that they too should have the right to make decisions for others and can do so fairly. Most will proclaim that they do not have the mind or the temperament for governance."

The consequence remains broad and nominally enthusiastic support for Kalistan's current regime. Griffin says based on currently available polls, results from the upcoming elections will likely be markedly unremarkable. "According to the responses of voters in poll after poll," says Griffin, "this outcome is the one that represents the interests and demands of the vast majority of Kalistanis in all constituencies."

@TheRepublic