Overall, how much executive power does the Imperator in the UEE actually possess? Since there's no Prime Citizen anymore and legislature is mostly in the hands of the Senate, what kind of power and influence does the Imperator actually have?
TL;DRThe Imperator sets the agenda and conversation for the next ten years and appoints key officials, but cannot enact laws alone because the Senate and systems must vote.
They're in a lot of ways setting the agenda for the UEE for the next 10 years. They can't enact laws on their own, but they drive the conversation and are representative of the people's will that way. If candidates come out saying, I want to shut down Synthworld, that becomes an important issue for the next 10 years. It's not a guarantee that will happen, because of a democratic system. All the senators have to come on board and vote, and all the systems have their say. But that becomes a major issue at that point.
Yeah, and they also have the ability to appoint people, like the appointment of the High Secretary. So the High Secretary will have a profound influence on what infrastructure projects get funded and what don't, that kind of thing. That's on the Imperator to pick someone who'll do a good job.
I was just going to say that they bring in their people. So as far as the legislative aspect of it, yes, the Senate handles it, but the person in charge of the Senate is picked by the Imperator.
I think a good example from the previous term of Imperator Costigan is the Human-Xi'an Trade Initiative, which really opened up how much Xi'an businesses were allowed into UEE space. And that was one of his pet projects, that he really wanted to push our current relationship with the Xi'an forward and open that up more. And so that was him driving that conversation, making the votes happen, and cheerleading that policy.