General Structure of the UEG

[Tim Wing]

So, here is a question: What is the general structure of the UEG?

Of course, I know that the UEG is described as a "feudal" system, but what does that mean? Obviously, it is not a system of barons and landed gentry (with serfs and peasants) who owe elegance to a King. But it surely is similar in some ways to this...

Nor do I accept that the UEG is nothing more than a "sock puppet of the Southern Cross". This is dispelled by when Wyatt Moran orders Leonard to attack the Robotech Master more aggressively, and Leonard does so against his better judgement.

Nor do I think that the UEG's economic system is communist in nature. I do not know of any direct evidence that show the world of Southern Cross era Earth to be a command economy. And obviously there is money. In many episodes we see the main characters window shopping, and there are very obvious prices on the merchandise.

I submit the following assumptions:

The UEG is a generally federal system, made up of representatives from each member state.

The member states have control over how they elect or appoint representatives.

Not all member states are democratic... nor are all member states totalitarian.

Each member state owes the UEG tax money and manpower (for the UEDF), like in a traditional feudal system.

The "citizens" or "subjects" of each member state fall under the control of that state. They may not move to another member state, unless their own government allows it, making them in effect "serfs". And what state is going to allow people to move any way, when the most precious resource in post war Earth is "human resource"?

Lastly, what specifics about the UEG's structure can we glean from the original series and from the (canon) comics?

As you all can guess by now, I am working on an entry for Robotech Illustrated detailing the workings of the UEG.

[Seto Kaiba]

So, here is a question: What is the general structure of the UEG?

That's a very good question... about all we can say is that the pre-1st War United Earth Government looks to have been a literal evolution of the United Nations. (The logo shown for it in the Robotech comic "From the Stars" is just a United Nations emblem with the UN Spacy roundel from Macross over the map-of-Earth part.)

Post-war, it's never explained except as a puppet government to disguise the fact that Earth is now ruled by the military.

Of course, I know that the UEG is described as a "feudal" system, but what does that mean? Obviously, it is not a system of barons and landed gentry (with serfs and peasants) who owe elegance to a King. But it surely is similar in some ways to this...

My best guess, since it's never explained in-series, is that they mean that the military holds most of the actual governing power in exchange for it providing protection for the various cities.

Really, I'd ignore that whole bit though because it doesn't line up at all with what's in the show.

Nor do I accept that the UEG is nothing more than a "sock puppet of the Southern Cross". This is dispelled by when Wyatt Moran orders Leonard to attack the Robotech Master more aggressively, and Leonard does so against his better judgement.

Yet, it's the official line in both the series and the RPG that the United Earth Government is nothing but a puppet through which the military runs the planet. Leonard's interaction with Moran could easily be taken for him having to appease the man whose job it is, on a daily basis, to keep up the half-arsed masquerade that Earth ISN'T a military dictatorship.

Nor do I think that the UEG's economic system is communist in nature.

The military controls the means of production for technology and the distribution of food and other vital supplies explicitly for a good while... and that probably just goes "undercover" considering that Earth is basically still ruins in 2030. That's one right out of Soviet Russia's playbook.

The UEG is a generally federal system, made up of representatives from each member state.

This may have been the case before the Zentradi destroyed Earth surface... but there are no states after that point. The UEG is presented as being the sole higher government beyond civic administration in the aftermath of the first war. Your other assumptions WRT membership are probably right for the pre-war UEG.

(Admittedly this is also the case in Macross, when the Earth Unity Government was reestablished in the absence of the nations it originally represented... so we can't lay the blame for that one on HG.)

Each member state owes the UEG tax money and manpower (for the UEDF), like in a traditional feudal system.

There is no evidence to support the idea of conscription... the UEG seems to have a volunteer military in Robotech. (Though, it must be admitted, for the UEEF out in deep space, this is explicitly because there's nothing else to do... rather than because anyone has any great desire to serve.)

The "citizens" or "subjects" of each member state fall under the control of that state. They may not move to another member state, unless their own government allows it, making them in effect "serfs".

No states are ever mentioned... and we're told there are only a handful of cities. (Putting aside the RPG's deviations and past flirtation with the cliche of the Evil Soviets.)

[Tim Wing]

Post-war, it's never explained except as a puppet government to disguise the fact that Earth is now ruled by the military.

Or that the central government and the military are effectively the same thing. Just because the government officials don't wear uniforms doesn't mean they are not implicitly part of the overall military system.

My best guess, since it's never explained in-series, is that they mean that the military holds most of the actual governing power in exchange for it providing protection for the various cities.

Or the UEG maintains it's power by providing protection for the various cities by means of it's monopoly on force.

Really, I'd ignore that whole bit though because it doesn't line up at all with what's in the show.

Not so much ignore it, but take it with a grain of salt. Feudal could simply mean local authorities remain in power so long as they keep the UEG/military happy... pay taxes, provide recruits, etc... Recruits doesn't necessarily mean conscripts either. Though I will address this in a minute.

Yet, it's the official line in both the series and the RPG that the United Earth Government is nothing but a puppet through which the military runs the planet. Leonard's interaction with Moran could easily be taken for him having to appease the man whose job it is, on a daily basis, to keep up the half-arsed masquerade that Earth ISN'T a military dictatorship.

There would be no need to keep up the half-arsed masquerade if no one is really watching. Moran, to my eyes, seems to be totally in charge. And is he not military? He controls the military. His policy is dominated by the needs of the military... the military gets whatever it wants...

The military controls the means of production for technology and the distribution of food and other vital supplies explicitly for a good while... and that probably just goes "undercover" considering that Earth is basically still ruins in 2030. That's one right out of Soviet Russia's playbook.

Or the military-industrial complex controls the means of production. Its a system where you have a whole sector of the economy that serves only one client. The UEG sees to that. The military tells these companies what it wants them to make, and then tells them they can't sell it to any one else. Maybe some companies are privately held, maybe some are nationalized... at the end of the day, they all serve the same master.

Also, food rationing does not mean that the government owns the farms. There was plenty of rationing in the US during WWII.

I think the UEG presides over a "managed capitalist" system. One that alloys free enterprise, but with plenty of war-time restrictions.

This may have been the case before the Zentradi destroyed Earth surface... but there are no states after that point. The UEG is presented as being the sole higher government beyond civic administration in the aftermath of the first war. Your other assumptions WRT membership are probably right for the pre-war UEG.

At the very least, the United States seems to exist, post RoD. This is evidenced by the fact that the Destroids in New Detroit say US Army. It makes for a very small difference any way. If there is a national government with no real power, other than levying taxes to give to the UEG, or if the taxes are collected directly from the individual cities/population centers, what is the difference? It's just another level of bureaucracy. And who in government doesn't love bureaucracy?

There is no evidence to support the idea of conscription... the UEG seems to have a volunteer military in Robotech. (Though, it must be admitted, for the UEEF out in deep space, this is explicitly because there's nothing else to do... rather than because anyone has any great desire to serve.)

It could totally be all volunteer, even if each member state/region/city/whatever is required to provide so many recruits every fiscal year. Times are tough on Earth. The army is a good job. The individual states would likely spend most of the time deciding who gets the privilege of serving.

Or, playing devil's advocate, Bowie does not really strike me as wanting to be there. :/

No states are ever mentioned... and we're told there are only a handful of cities. (Putting aside the RPG's deviations and past flirtation with the cliche of the Evil Soviets.)

This could quickly degrade into the population argument again!

Nor are states ever said to not exist. Look, I'm not saying that "they must still exist"... I'm just saying that they may exist, even if only for the sake of subdividing the UEG into separate areas.

I'm putting together a list of cities that are mentioned by name or at least shown in the series... So far I have Granite City, New Portland, Stone City, New Macross (destroyed), New Detroit City (defended by the US Army), an un-named city, Monument City and Industrial Section of Sector One. That's eight just from the last few episodes of Macross... plus New York, New Denver, and a couple of others from MOSPEADA... That's a pretty reasonable number. I'm not really finished with this list yet...

Any way, I put precedence on what is "seen" over what is "said" in the original series.

[Seto Kaiba]

Or that the central government and the military are effectively the same thing. Just because the government officials don't wear uniforms doesn't mean they are not implicitly part of the overall military system.

That's a fair point.

There would be no need to keep up the half-arsed masquerade if no one is really watching. Moran, to my eyes, seems to be totally in charge. And is he not military? He controls the military. His policy is dominated by the needs of the military... the military gets whatever it wants...

Officially, Moran doesn't seem to control anything... all he actually says to Leonard is that he can't keep making excuses for him and needs him to take greater action. That's less a "do this, minion" and more "look, I can't keep the people quiet for you unless you're willing to make a show of taking action".

Or the military-industrial complex controls the means of production. Its a system where you have a whole sector of the economy that serves only one client. The UEG sees to that. The military tells these companies what it wants them to make, and then tells them they can't sell it to any one else. Maybe some companies are privately held, maybe some are nationalized... at the end of the day, they all serve the same master.

What companies? We see in the new comics that the UEDF/UEEF controls the development as well as the means of production. There might've been companies involved before things went to hell in the first war, but after that everything is being done by the military with soldier-scientists.

Also, food rationing does not mean that the government owns the farms. There was plenty of rationing in the US during WWII.

Considering character reactions to "government handouts"?

At the very least, the United States seems to exist, post RoD. This is evidenced by the fact that the Destroids in New Detroit say US Army.

No states mentioned... and, to be frank, the simplest explanation for that is that those destroids are ones salvaged from some US Army depot and nobody could be arsed to repaint them when basic necessities of survival like food and water were already scarce.

(In the original, the new capital of Earth was Macross City, Alaska... which is very much inside the turf of the former United States.)

Or, playing devil's advocate, Bowie does not really strike me as wanting to be there. :/

That seems to be more something he's doing to appease his surrogate father, General Emerson, than any actual desire to serve... an artifact of the original Southern Cross, where Bowie was his actual son, rather than just his ward.

This could quickly degrade into the population argument again!

It could, but all I'm doing is reiterating official information from Harmony Gold without injecting anything like an interpretation on top of it. No states are mentioned, and only a handful of cities exist, some are domed over to protect against radiation.

In light of that latter fact, I would hesitate to assume that settlements that existed during the latter parts of the Macross Saga still exist in the Masters Saga.

[Tim Wing]

Officially, Moran doesn't seem to control anything...

Yeah, but officially according to what source? I just want to be able to reference if that is the case...

No states mentioned... and, to be frank, the simplest explanation for that is that those destroids are ones salvaged from some US Army depot and nobody could be arsed to repaint them when basic necessities of survival like food and water were already scarce.

Heh. Yeah, I thought of that as well.... and that totally is a possibility. Or they and their pilots could have been the remnants of a US Army unit that was then acting as the protectors of new Detroit. Regardless, not enough info to say one way or the other.

That seems to be more something he's doing to appease his surrogate father, General Emerson, than any actual desire to serve... an artifact of the original Southern Cross, where Bowie was his actual son, rather than just his ward.

Yeah, that too.

In light of that latter fact, I would hesitate to assume that settlements that existed during the latter parts of the Macross Saga still exist in the Masters Saga.

I dunno... no reason whey they couldn't exist. We only see one domed city later on in the MOSPEADA part of Robotech... and a whole lot of cities that were un-domed.

---

But back to the question... what is the UEG structure? I'm thinking the cities/states/countries/ whatever send their reps to the UEG "General Assembly", some democratically elected, some appointed by the local dictator. Reps must then be ratified by a military tribunal (uniformed or un-uniformed... makes no difference), and then the assembly elects the Prime Minister.. once again subject to ratification by the tribunal.

This is totally conjectural. Obviously. But I think it fits with the over all theme of the series.

[Seto Kaiba]

Yeah, but officially according to what source? I just want to be able to reference if that is the case...

The source that's most blatant about saying the UEG of the Masters Saga is just a puppet government for the military is the RT2E Masters Saga source book, but Tommy has made a few statements to that effect in interviews, and I vaguely recall something having been said on Robotech.com (looking for it now, will post as soon as I find it).

I dunno... no reason whey they couldn't exist. We only see one domed city later on in the MOSPEADA part of Robotech... and a whole lot of cities that were un-domed.

Eh... IF the radiation mentioned at the start of the Masters Saga and in the Infopedia is a thing (and that's quite an "IF"), they may have abandoned the smaller townships in favor of large, domed-over cities which we're told exist. (This may, in part, be an internal consistency thing WRT No.79 "Frost Bite", which shows a domed-over city buried in snow.)

But back to the question... what is the UEG structure? I'm thinking the cities/states/countries/ whatever send their reps to the UEG "General Assembly", some democratically elected, some appointed by the local dictator.

In the absence of anything resembling a state or nation under the so-called United Earth Government that existed after the first war, what little is said in the series itself would seem to point to a smallish body of elected or appointed officials representing the few human settlements on Earth, led by a prime minister... who would likely be chosen from within whatever political party had majority control of government.

Of course, if the government is truly a sock puppet for the military... the elections may be rigged and the elected officials may have little or no connection to the constituencies they represent.

[Tim Wing]

I had a twenty four hour duty shift yesterday... passed the time by writing about the UEG.

First Draft:

The United Earth Government (UEG) was the world governing body that arose in the wake of the Zentraedi’s decimation of the Earth’s surface. Based somewhat on the structure of its predecessor, the United Nations of Earth Government (UN), the UEG governed most of the Earth’s population from 2012 till 2031. Unlike the UN, the UEG only had direct authority over (approximately) three quarters of the Earth’s surface. During the reconstruction era, many countries and city states chose to opt out of the UEG. Most notable of these countries was a coalition of the former Warsaw Pac countries, the Eastern Block of Soviet Independent States (EBSIS).

History

After the 1st Robotech War, approximately 70% of the Earth’s land surface had been wiped clean of any trace of man’s civilization. Immediately following defold operations, the intelligence officers of Dolza’s Grand Fleet started creating a target list of the Earth’s population centers. The list was based on a standard targeting algorithm for attacking a planetoid with a large population. By starting with the most densely populated regions and working downwards, and by adjusting for minimum overlap of effects by the fleet’s reflex cannons, the Grand Fleet was able to kill somewhere in the region of 99% of the Earth’s population.

With a surviving population of around one million survivors (estimates for the actual figure vary wildly, from a low of 70,000 to a high of 14 million) the Earth was very nearly plunged into a new dark age. The UN Spacy forces aboard the UES Macross (SDF-1) may very well be thanked for averting this catastrophe. These forces provided security in the short term for reconstruction efforts in North and South America, Europe and most of the Pacific Rim. Had it not been for their hard work, these regions may very well have slipped into total anarchy.

In January of 2012, the United Earth Government was formally established in New Macross City. In its original form, the UEG was made up of representatives sent by the surviving population centers of the planet. The First General Assembly, convened in March of 2012, was made up of representatives sent by a somewhat small fraction of the Earth’s surviving population. This was mostly North American and Western European representation, with smaller contingents from what was left of South America, the Soviet Union and Japan. No representatives from Africa or South-East Asia were present during the First General Assembly.

Before these representatives could take their seats at the General Assembly, they first had to pass review by the UN Spacy, as they were the ones hosting the new government. This amounted to a check to insure that the representatives were actually who they claimed to be, were duly appointed by their appropriate regional authority and had no history of human rights violations. This check was performed by a board selected by Admiral Henry Gloval.

From this beginning, the general structure of the UEG did arise. By 2014, the UEG had created a working Charter. This Charter was fully ratified by all member states and territories in 2017 at the Treaty Convention of the Southern Cross, in Australia. This charter granted full governing authority to the UEG over all countries, cities and territories organized underneath it for the specific purpose of:

- Taxation. The UEG was granted the authority to tax all member states. Taxes owed to the UEG were calculated yearly by assessing each member state’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP). A portion of this calculated GDP would then be owed the UEG by the member state.
- Reconstruction. The UEG was responsible for organizing all international reconstruction efforts. This included allocation of funds to poorer member states and territories from the overall tax base, setting up and regulating Natural Recovery Areas (NRAs) and improvement of infrastructure between the fare flung countries and city states.
- Repopulation. The UEG was given full control over re-cloning of Earth’s limited population. This was done so that the resulting clones could be distributed in such a way as to effect maximum genetic diversification of the Earth’s population. The UEG was also in charge of providing incentives for larger families.
- Defense. With the Treaty of the Southern Cross, all member states granted a monopoly on force to the UEG. All member state militaries were consolidated under the United Earth Defense Force (UEDF).
- Integration of Zentraedi. Continuing integration of Zentraedi was handled by the UEG, which included the authority to force member states to accept portions of the overall Zentraedi population. This was done so that the Zentraedi population could be spread out more evenly across the UEG, thus speeding up cultural assimilation.
- International trade. The UEG regulated all trade between member states and was the approval authority on tariffs for such trade.
- Resource allocation. All natural resources, unless specifically claimed by member states prior to the 2017 treaty, became the public property of the UEG. The UEG also had the authority to ration all food, water and energy in times of shortage.
- Colonization. The UEG was in charge of organizing all efforts at both local group and deep space colonization efforts.

All Member States and independent cities with the UEG Administrative Sectors retained the following sovereign rights:

- Local government. All member states had the right to choose whatever form of government they saw fit. A broad range of democracies, autocracies (dictatorships) and monarchies existed under the UEG.
- Election of UEG representatives. All member states had the right to set their own method of choosing their UEG representatives, whether it be by general election or appointment by the local government.
- Control of immigration. Each member state retained control over its own population. Individuals could not immigrate out of their home country without specific approval from the local authorities. Approval was rare of course, as human resources were the most precious of all in the post war world. This was done as a way to keep the Earth’s population from massing in just a few major mega-cities. The end result, however, was that the individual was effectively a serf: tied to the land in which he found himself and unable to leave.
- Tax collection. Each member state had the authority to levy and collect taxes however they saw fit. From this tax base, yearly UEG dues were paid.
- Allotment of manpower to the UEDF. In order to make sure the UEDF was a reflection of the people it protected, the UEG mandated that the uniformed service be made up of a representative proportion of the government’s member states. Service requirements included an understanding of the English language, since that was the official language of the UEDF. Additionally, all applicants had to meet certain mental, physical, psychological and educational requirements. Past that, each member state was free to choose how it met its quota. Meeting the quota was hardly a difficult task, as the military was pretty good option in the harsh conditions of post war Earth. As such, well over 90% of the UEDF was made up of volunteers. Only a very few member states, such as the Scandinavian countries, had to resort to a draft.

Structure

The UEG has been described by some historians as nothing more than a “sock-puppet” of the UEDF. While the UEDF certainly did have some major influence on the UEG, to say that it was a puppet government is over simplifying the. The UEDF had two major ways in which it influenced the government: the Global Military Police’s (GMP) role in conducting back ground checks and granting security clearances to all UEG candidates, and the UEDF Command Group’s right to veto any individual’s appointment to the Supreme Council by the General Assembly.

Any candidate wishing to run for election or seeking appointment to the General Assembly had to submit a complete GF46 (Government Form 46) to the GMP Directorate of Investigations no later than six months prior to the formation of the next General Assembly. The GF46 required discloser of previous residences, employers, personal contacts, etc. Officially, this would allow the GMP to investigate the candidate for criminal activity, contacts with foreign governments, drug and alcohol abuse, corruption, etc. This did allow the GMP to weed out any candidate that they determined to be hostile to the military, even if this was not the stated purpose of the background investigation. It is unknown, however, how often the GMP abused this power. Charges were brought against the GMP Directorate of Investigations to this effect, once in 2019 and again in 2027.

The real power of the UEDF was in their ability to veto any appointment to the Supreme Council. The Supreme Council was the executive branch of the UEG. As such, it set all foreign and interstellar policy. For this reason, it was determined by the framers of the UEG Charter (most of whom were former or current military officers) that the UEDF should at least have some say in who sent it into battle. While this sentiment seems absurd today, one has to remember that on post war Earth a great deal more trust was placed in the military than in people’s own elected, or in many cases unelected, leaders. In practice, the UEDF Command Group only vetoed three appointments throughout the history of the UEG. On the surface, this looks like remarkable restraint. In practice, however, all candidates for appointment to the Supreme Council were screened through the UEDF Command Group first, to avoid the embarrassment of a veto.
Once appointed to the Supreme Council by the General Assembly, the Senator was immune to any individual censor at the hands of the UEDF. The Prime Minister of the Supreme Council was the commander and chief of the UEDF and had full authority over the UEDF Command Group. If the UEDF Command Group decided that they no longer had faith in the Prime Minister or the Supreme Council in general, they could call for a vote of no-confidence in the General Assembly. If this vote was passed by a simple majority, the Supreme Council would be dissolved and a new one would be voted on. This power was never directly exercised by the UEDF, since it was easier to act through a friendly proxy in the General Assembly.

So, yes, the UEDF had a great deal of influence in the UEG. Certainly the military had far more influence than what would ever be deemed acceptable in a pre Robotech War Western Democracy. But to say that the UEDF controlled the UEG is a bit of a stretch. A more accurate portrayal would be to say that the UEG, the UEDF and the GMP each acted like separate branches of government, providing checks and balances on each other. When one branch of this “government” became to powerful, the other two could act against it, thus checking its authority. So, in effect, the military did not control the government… but nor did the government control the military.

Branches of Government

Supreme Council

The Supreme Council was the executive branch of the UEG. It was a (number? Need to check episode) member council, with each Senator elected for a term of four years by the General Assembly. No two Senators originating from the same member state could sit on the Supreme Council at the same time. The head of the Supreme Council, and the senior executive of the UEG, was the Prime Minister. The Prime Minister was elected by the Supreme Council. The Prime Minister acted as the Commander and Chief of the UEDF. The Supreme Council had no legislative authority, other than the ability to author legislation and veto any bill passed by the General Assembly. It had no ability to vote on any bill while it made its way through the General Assembly.

General Assembly

The General Assembly was the legislative branch of the UEG. Each Representative was either elected or appointed by their member state or administrative sector. No party affiliation was officially recognized by the UEG and there were no requirements for a ruling coalition. Legislation was floored, debated and voted upon by a simple majority. Any changes to the UEG Charter had to be passed by a two thirds super majority and then ratified by the member states.

International High Court

The International High Court was the UEG’s judicial branch. It acted as the highest court in the UEG. It mitigated disputes between member states, reviewed all laws to ensure they did not violate the UEG Charter and acted as an appeals court for member state judicial systems.

Councils

In addition to the three main branches of government, the UEG was made up of various councils that over saw specific functions of government. All councils were made up of appointees from the General Assembly. Among the major councils, the – most important were:

Defense Council

The Defense Council was a seven member board, headed by the UEDF Supreme Commander, that set funding, basing and policy within the UEDF. Though headed by the UEDF Supreme Commander, the other six members were appointed by the General Assembly. Like the Supreme Council, the UEDF Command Group retained veto power over the appointment of Defense Council members. The Defense Council also granted licenses to all non-state owned defense contractors.

Trusteeship Council

The UEG Trusteeship Council was established to help ensure that Territorial Sectors were administered in the best interests of their inhabitants and of international peace and security.

The Economic Council

The UEG Economic Council (EC) oversaw monetary policy, distribution of state controlled natural resources, administration of all state owned enterprises and oversaw international trade. The EC also oversaw the International Reconstruction Bank (IRB). The IRB was instrumental in the Earths reconstruction, as it was in charge of giving grants and low interest loans to developing sectors.
Other bodies within the UEG included the Department of Refugee Affairs (DRA), Department of Human Rights (DHR), Department of Trade and Development (DTD), Department of Environmental Restoration (DER), Department of Human Colonization (DOHCOL), Office of Drugs and Crime (ODC), UEG Re-Population Commission (URPC) and UEG Food Commission (UFC).

UEG Member States

Though some nations were able to reorganize and re-establish themselves as sovereign entities in the post Zentraedi Holocaust era (the United States, Brazil and the Scandinavian Countries most notably), most pre-war countries ceased to exist. In their place were collections of independent City States with no regional authority over them, other than that provided by the UEG. These city states were organized by the UEG into Administrative Sectors that often (but not always) mirrored former national boundaries. In addition to the Administrative Sectors were the un-organized Territorial Sectors. Territorial Sectors were usually wastelands with populations that were too small to effectively self-govern.

Member State

A UEG Member State was a fully functioning and self governing nation. These nations were usually the re-constituted descendents of pre-Robotech War nations. The existence of these nations were usually the exception and not the rule, as Earth’s population was too decimated to support much in the way of large national entities. Those nations did arise were able to vote for or choose their UEG Representatives, and had full territorial integrity. They were also responsible for much of their own city to city infrastructure a policing. The national government had the authority grant or deny immigration through its national borders, and could grant full freedom of movement within its borders, if it so desired.

Not every Member State fell into the category of multi-city territory. Some member states were nations in name only. Japan was one such example. Though it asserted sovereignty over all of its pre-war territory, in reality its entire (and substantial) population resided in Neo Tokyo. Some countries existed merely out of a sense of nationalism, not because of any significant population. The United Kingdom was one such example of this. Its population after the First Robotech War could be measured in the thousands. These few survivors, however, still insisted on retaining their national identity, even though the country was nothing more than nearly lifeless wasteland.

Administrative Sector

The majority of places on the UEG’s map were Administrative Sectors. These were areas with multiple self governing cities and municipalities, but no regional governments. Each city elected or appointed a representative (or representatives depending on the size of the city) to the UEG General Assembly and had the same powers of self governance afforded to a UEG Member State. Each city also had the authority to control immigration into and out of its municipal boundaries. The sector itself was administered by a UEG appointed Governor. The Governor had no direct power over the individual cites, but rather was in charge of regulating sector commerce and infrastructure.

Territorial Sector

A Territorial Sector was an area that had no significant population centers. Usually, these were vast wastelands left over from the Zentraedi bombardment. The populations of these sectors had no elected representation within the UEG. They did have the option of sending representatives to sit on the Trusteeship Council, though this right was rarely exercised due to the small populations involved. Most settlements within the Territorial Sectors amounted to nothing more than small villages dependant on UEG aid and bands of outlaws and nomads. Settlements within the Territorial Sectors did have the right to petition the UEG for representation once they reached a minimum population requirement, but since that requirement was a percentage of the UEG’s population and not a fixed number, none ever achieved this required metric. This was because the population in non-wasteland areas was increasing at a far faster rate than those within the desolation on the Territorial Sectors.

The UEG did provide these sectors with plenty of aid in the form of food and money for reconstruction. Additionally, the UEDF did its best to provide some semblance of law and order, though this was an uphill battle considering the vast distances and barren wildernesses involved.