Colonial Administrations

[Murph]

Colony Worlds, Traveller does not have a lot of them. But if Colony worlds were more prevalent what would be the type of administration? A British Empire system of administrators, District Officers, etc? An Imperial German system (which apparently was pretty well run with the occasional massacre), an American Style Proconsular system as in the Philippines and other colonies? Would there be an H. Beam Piper Colonial Office with a Colonial Constabulary? How would it be run?

IMTU I run a modified British/American System with H. Beam Piper overtones.

 

[mike wightman]

Well there is an Imperial Ministry of Colonisation mentioned in S3 Spinward Marches and there is the Forboldn project in A1 Kinunir.

Forboldn Project: The primary colonization project within the Regina subsector.
Originally conceived in 987 to utilize the resources of Forboldn (02081, the project
began its execution phase in 1089, shortly after the Fourth Frontier War. Large
numbers of colonists were recruited and shipped in cold sleep from the Imperial
core, with arrival times set from 1110 to 1120. Simultaneously, preparations on
Forboldn began, with detailed planetary surveys to pinpoint resources and initial
building projects to prepare industry and quarters for the arrival of colonists.
An interesting aspect of such colonization projects is the recruitment method
used to supply the personnel who will actually make the colony function. Since
virtually no amount of money will entice an individual to leave his home and
livelihood for the bleak desolation of a colony world, the Ministry of Colonization
has established several programs to produce colonists. Most obvious is the colonize
in lieu of prison term program. However, several other programs have also shown
signs of success. In the unemployment insurance program, high population worlds
have successfully used the colonization project as a means of reducing unemployment
over the long term. In a similar medical insurance program, indigents
unable to obtain medical treatment are provided with their needs in exchange for
signing on to a colony. The needs of a colony for skills are met through the
anagathics program; qualified (and aged) individuals can be provided with
anagathics to extend their life spans in return for their providing such skills as
administration, mechanical crafts, or medical expertise. Finally land grants to
retiring veterans has provided a cadre for the new colony's military and police
forces.

World 728-907, recently surveyed, is a large inhabitable world with no evidence
of higher animal life although extensive forestation and insect presence have been
noted. The Ministry of Colonisation has designated the world for seeding within
the next century, with a view to colonisation upon availability of personnel and
funds.

Egypt has been selected for a Ministry of Colonization training base.

Nexine is an underpopulated water world currently being used by the Ministry
of Conservation for reseeding efforts using biologically altered humans.

 

[Dragoner]

Mine are somewhere between Star Trek TOS, small town midwest USA, with a bit of Legacy of Heorot by Niven, and Pournelle.

 

[RogerD]

Depends on the world doing the colonization! If Earth colonized nearby worlds, the Balkanized "government" could give very different results for the Russian, American, British, European and Chinese colonies...

 

[Condottiere]

Depends on the, eh, type of, colonization, and the local conditions and opportunities.

Greek city state model seems the most benign: over population, identifying an unclaimed area that can support a city, sufficient support from the mother city to sustain the colony until it becomes viable.

 

[kilemall]

I am using an extrapolation of the current UN space treaty where no nation owns anything above earth atmosphere. Instead any colony ‘rents’ the planet or portion of similar to how the current Chinese government gets paid for land use today- this is how the Terran Confederation largely gets funded.

As such the renting nation administers their colony by national law but subject to overarching TC law re: don’t ruin the planet or don’t do outlawed things like slavery (loophole for indentured term only servitude). So a TC inspector may come by and insist on changes which may or may not happen depending on clout in the TC Assembly.

Navies are still national and put together NATO style for operations against pirates/rogue corps/cloud abominations/TC interdiction. The central service supporting inspectors is the scout service, in alignment with their planet survey/park ranger function. Hence the courier in scout/courier.

Earth is a special case, those are national territories but largely depopulated except for left behinds operating at an Amish level.

The scouts do constant surveys to make sure the tech stays low, and supports the Genetech banks’ operations cataloging and discovering new natural processes to monetize.

Smugglers are a constant problem- bringing in tech, taking out species samples, risk of the plague getting off Earth or contamination ruining the biosphere etc. Big part of why I have elaborate stealth rules.