Understanding political system: the basics for your fictional world
Whether you want to write a complex political plot or give your story a nice wholesome background, you need to know how politics work. Otherwise you'll make a real mess of your story, slotting together things that make no sense when combined.
Of course, sometimes things that make no sense exist, we see them right in front of us and want to ask ‘Sorry, what?’
But you should only try to create something contradicting if you are 100% certain in your understanding of the social systems. Otherwise it's better to start simple and then move towards more unusual options.
First thing you need to know: politics is always a system. Change one thing and others will change accordingly. It might take time, in some cases decades even, but in that regard politics is like a human body - everything is interconnected and interacts together.
Now, there are four big blocks political system is composed of:
We’ll go over them one by one.
Political organisation is the easiest to write part of the system. It includes all political institutions that exist in any society. This is the part you can see every day and research to make your story more believable. Of course, some things are more difficult to research than others. Like, you can easily find information on the elections in Switzerland. But finding a lot of material on the imperial court of the Sui dynasty would prove to be a challenge.
The central institution in the whole political organisation is a state. Other examples are: political parties, elections, local governments, non-profit organisations. You should ask yourself what could reasonably exist in the world you create and how it will fit in the state.
There are also institutions that are not political in nature but might be involved in politics in different circumstances. The prime example - army and church. These two are amongst the oldest and most influential social institutions, and while they are always related to politics in some way, they are rarely (nowadays at least) straight away political.
When you construct political institutions, it's best to find something at least resembling what you want to create and then tinker with it. Just remembered that every part of it exists for a reason, and that is not playing a role in your story.
Political relations are an often overlooked part (as in, we write it as we want but don't think it through). They include all permanent and temporary ties that exist between parts of the political system. And that's what is really important when you want to make politics a part of the plot. Because this part can also be called actions and interactions.
Government influences citizens? - That's political relations. People start a revolution? - Political interaction, too. A country sends envoys for negotiations? - That is one more example.
Actually, you can witness this part too, if you pay enough attention to trace the roles different actors play in this or that process. You just need to pay attention and actually trace the entire web of actions and reactions complete with all participants’ motivation for them. It's like orchestrating a complex chess party with numerous players where you have to predict all moves before the first rook makes a play.
When writing about political relations, you should remember about all sides of the action. Yes, sometimes one side acts and others are ignoring it or being passive, but they all have their own reasons for that. One-sided action will likely only result in Mary Sue or something like that.
Writing political norms can be tricky but it's also pretty easy if you know where to look. They often (but not always) are reflected by laws and international regulations. Yet, there's also a large part that exists in the grey zone of mortality. And, of course, there are rules of etiquette which everyone knows but they may not be formally registered anywhere.
Like, diplomatic etiquette. Everyone knows that a female doesn't show legs during an official visit to a Muslim country (like Saudi Arabia). Doing such a thing is a direct disrespect towards existent religious norms of the country and therefore a breach of an unwritten political protocol of respect towards the host’s traditions and beliefs.
Your characters can and will breach political norms, especially if you push politics in the centre of the conflict. But you should be aware of those norms because overstepping or outright breaking them tells a lot about your character.
Start with thinking up all norms that are relevant to your story, especially those that have some ties to your plot. A simple example - every monarchy ought to have throne succession rules, but you might not mention it at all or you might need to delve deep into it depending on what you plan to happen in your story.
Political culture is probably the most elusive and the most exiting to write part of the political system. But it is also the part that in some form exists in practically 90% of the stories (if not more). Political culture includes all beliefs, ideas, ideologies and views that are tied in one or another way to politics.
So, your character being prejudiced against a social group is a show of political culture. Your character supporting some ideology is a part of political culture. Your character simply having opinions on something that is related to politics is a part of political culture.
So, it's basically everywhere. But you don't have to give more depth or explain every little instance of political culture shown in your story. Especially if those are displays of dominant culture (for example, internalised homophobia in British society in the 80s). But you might need to show how a character becomes unlike others in some environment.
Also, remember that political culture is the most irrational part of the system. I mean, people believe in propaganda, and that is not rational. People believe in pseudo science if it corresponds with their ideals. So it doesn't have to be rational. It only needs to have some inner logic (may be not too great to withstand a thorough questioning).
In the end, you are the author and you know how it should be, but look at the story with a critical eye and tell yourself if you believe in it. For political parts to work as you want them to, you have to know what you're writing and why. Your understanding of what you're writing about will allow you to create interesting, life-like and non-cliche political elements.
You can leave a comment if you would like to read more on any particular piece. I would try to include it in some of my next posts. Take care and until the next time.
