Alliance Supranational Bodies

The Alliance of Free States started as nominally speaking, an alliance of anti-communist nations largely consisting of dictatorships and a handful of democracies of a generally authoritarian bent such as Siam, Germany, and the new Kalmar Union. In practice it was in many ways an extension of the British Empire, firmly under the control of the brutal autocrat John Fuller and his favored partner in crime; Philippe Petain. It was this very keen perception of the Alliance being a network of British vassals that many say ended up dooming it as commanders from other countries chafed under British domination and the Solar Empire of Japan stunned the world by deciding that it would rather have Communist neighbors who had made no major land grabs over recent years over European, and British in particular; world domination (though others would say that the Empire came to the conclusion that the Alliance would never give it more than scraps for joining them, and that it would not be able to triumph against a single united world bloc; red or blue), while colonial troops proved to be heavily unreliable due to mistreatment and discontentment under British suzerainty. When the second world war ended with Alliance forces having been chased across the border and only through a last desperate offensive prevented them from sweeping across Europe; the Alliance was at a crossroads. The Ultimatist model had not only failed to destroy Communism, it had lead to a bitter defeat and saw the war brought to their own soil.

Thornley decided to change this when he came into power. He expanded the wider powers of the Alliance; taking what were informal British powers over the Alliance and making them into formal powers for the Alliance's governing bodies, thus making a clear distinction between British authority and the wider Alliance's authority. This helped to increase the willingness to allow the Alliance to have more influence on national policies and decisions. He also changed the Alliance council into the Alliance Parliament, changing it into a (tightly managed) democratic institution instead of an appointed committee. He also separated the position of Lord High Protector of Britain (a position he gave to Duke Andrew Cavendish) from the position of Ultimate Executive of the Alliance, something he made sure he was selected as following Leese's assassination. He allowed for internal party elections with some other parties allowed into his parliament if they met stringent conditions for legalization; which of course essentially meant even the other parties ultimately served Thornley's needs.

The Parliament had a total of 250 members in the upper chamber; the Alliance Assembly, and 750 in the lower chamber; the Alliance Chamber of Commons. Careful gerrymandering ensured that Thornley's faction would remain in power, and the speakers of the Parliament were expected to judiciously use their powers to keep parliament in line. At the top would remain a council of ministers, twenty four people who would help make the most important decisions for the Alliance as a whole and serve as Rupert's cabinet, with the titles largely carried over from the Leese period.

The council would consist of the Ultimate Executive, the Captain Executive, the Executive of Science and Technology, the Executive of War, the Executive of Finance, the Executive of Armaments, the Executive of Education, the Executive of Foreign Affairs, the Executive of Internal Affairs, the Executive of Commerce, the Executive of Security, the Executive of Justice, the Executive of Communications, the Executive of the Press, the Executive of Agriculture, the Executive of European Affairs, the Executive of African Affairs, the Executive of Southern Asian affairs, the executive of Pacific Affairs, the Executive of New World Affairs, the Executive of Labor, the Executive of Aviation, the Executive of the Postal System, and the Executive of Infrastructure.

His first cabinet would consist of himself as Ultimate Executive, Bingham as Captain Executive, Lydia Winters as Executive of Science and Technology and Kelly Weaver as executive of the Press first and foremost. Meeting once every two months with the heads of government of the member nations and the colonies and holding a session of parliament at least once a month, the Council essentially functioned as an oligarchy with vast and far reaching powers over the Alliance as a whole. Rupert was able to build up his war machine for a second go at the Comintern.

In the wake of the coup against Thornley at the close of the third world war to make peace with the Comintern while the Alliance still had any diplomatic leverage on it as the Comintern counter offensives were really starting to roll into it. Following the treaty of Warsaw, the Alliance reformed into a true liberal democracy with the allowance of all political parties once again. By now, the Alliance had essentially become the government in Europe. This meant ever more importance was attached to actually making the parliament work, and Manning would spend much of his first year in office reforming the government.