Alliance Congress

The Alliance Congress was given a much larger mandate than the House of Lords: create the peace. The main problem with the old House of Lords, Rhodes believed, was that it only responded reactively, in times of crisis, and it did not deliberately work towards promoting a positive state of affairs among the nations. Nonetheless, the growth of trade and relations among GACA member states, and the almost universal nature of GACA, had led to the House becoming the main forum for nations to address affairs of Webwide import. It was Rhodes’s desire to expand and deepen that forum.

One of the first main differences was that the Alliance Congress was meant to be in continuous session, always working. Rather than consisting of the heads of state of the member nations, the Alliance Congress consists of career diplomats. Another radical (and controversial) change was the introduction of the concept of proportional representation, granting larger, more powerful countries more votes than smaller countries; this was difficult to get through the House and a lesser leader than Rhodes probably would not have managed. (It helped that the formulas were carefully balanced to insure that the four Great Powers’ blocs would be very close to each other in size.) Rhodes also created the post of Sovereign Executive to oversee the Alliance Congress; after some being pressured by his own party not to run in 40 WR, he chose to pursue the post himself.

Alliance Congress Committees

Although many major decisions and discussions happen in the General Assembly, the Committees of the Congress are responsible for much of the legwork. New Committees can be created by a two-thirds vote, subject to the approval of the Steering Committee.

Steering Committee – the “leadership” committee of the Alliance Congress. Responsible for organizing the business of the Congress, including producing the floor agenda, assigning GACA funds (subject to a General Assembly vote), and assigning MACs to committees. The ten-member steering committee is elected by the General Assembly. No more than two MACs from the same nation or three from the same dimensions are allowed. The current Steering Committee is composed of a mix of delegates from Great Powers and some of the Congress’s more dynamic representatives from smaller nations such as Sakura Shiawese.
Grand Army Budget Oversight Committee – responsible for reviewing the Grand Army budget prepared by the Generalissimo; also responsible for maintaining general political oversight of the Grand Army. (and, in theory at least, The Celpo.
Web Health and Medicine Committee – organizes Web medical conferences and GACA-funded medical research and coordinates efforts to fight international health crises. The most recent health conference was held in Albrook on diseases believed to be magical in nature such as Tuvin's Syndrome.
Committee for the Promotion of Science – organizes Web science conferences and exchanges; formalized and standardized a system of weights and measures.
Interdimensional Trade Committee – deals with trade disputes, copyright law, and also maintains the price of the Geld Piece
Committee on International Law– Works to build (and enforce) a body of international law, proper following of the rules of warfare as enshrined by the Hosluftgrad Conventions.
Committee on Emergency Relief - Manages GACA’s Emergency Relief Fund once expenditures from the Fund have been authorized in the General Assembly. Responsible for working with the member state or states impacted by any disaster or emergency to implement relief efforts.
Social Welfare Committee – Committee with the high-minded goal of eradicating poverty, hunger, and illiteracy, and working toward the general elevation and improvement of the qualify of life of the Web’s people.

Major Decisions

The Alliance Congress’s first major decision was to slash the budget of the Grand Army by half. This radical decision was very popular with most of the countries and very unpopular with the officer corps of the Grand Army. The resulting savings went towards lessening the burden of subsidies on member states and funding various other GACA programs. Celiose Cole is now in the position to fight for funding almost every year; the Kriegsnavee and the Luftwaffe are hardest hit by the cuts. (Although The Celpo has had a small budget increase in that time.)

The Alliance Congress has also voted to use the Emergency Relief Fund to alleviate certain catastrophes. Although originally made specifically for natural disasters, the Congress has authorized spending to help Guardia recover from the Cleansing Wars, and also to help Medina recover from its various crises.

The Alliance Congress still falls pray to deadlock and politics as usual, however, spending over a year debating a new proposal over how nations should be admitted to GACA. (The Scandians started the argument to deny the Viper District the benefits of GACA access; by the end of the debate people just wanted it done and no one could remember Viper’s application.)

Members, Alliance Congress

Triangle

Scandian League

Abdul-Aziz Bonjar

Alliance Congress

Contents

Overview