Robespierre for Officer [FA]
Posted: 01 Aug 2020, 03:58
Robespierre for Officer
August 2020 & Beyond!
Greetings, all!
Over the course of the past number of months I’ve thoroughly enjoyed being a part of this community. Since joining it in late April I’ve gotten to know a number of great people who are proud to call themselves Rejects and, while at first it was merely a matter of me having some free time on my hands and wanting to help out where I could, assist where I could, and make things better where I could; it's quickly become a lot more than that to me.
After experiencing the relaxed, laid back nature of the Rejected Realms, I too am proud to call myself a Reject and in my six year long career on-site I have yet to find a place as inclusive as this one. As such, it serves to reason that I'd now wish to become involved in a great capacity to help shape the future, so I was happy to accept my nomination.
With that being said, I've decided to declare my candidacy for Officer and, while I'm able to fulfill other portfolios, I've decided to make foreign affairs the focal point of my campaign. It's the area in which I believe myself to be the best fit for as I hope to serve alongside other invaluably talented Officers with different portfolios and because of that my plans for foreign affairs will encompass the entirety of this campaign.
Of course, if you're interested in seeing how I'd perform if given a different area to work with then we can absolutely discuss that also. Anyhow, so as to not waste any time, allow me to present my agenda and let's get into the thick of things!
Assignments Overhaul
If elected, then one of the tasks that I’d like to begin working on immediately would be to lessen the Foreign Office’s seeming over-reliance on a small group of senior personnel. I believe that this can best be accomplished by reducing the number of embassy assignments that some of our more experienced ambassadors have and by providing newer, more ambitious staffers with ample opportunities to become ambassadors.
My reasoning for this is as follows:
In the case of Bormiar and Fratt, both have three embassy assignments each and together they account for over 27% of the total number of embassy postings (rounded down) that the Rejected Realms maintains. Additionally. Jack also has two embassy postings of his own and, when combined with Bormiar and Fratt’s total, that raises the percentage of embassy assignments shared between just those three ambassadors to over 36% of all embassies.
In order to better optimize our ambassadorial listings and successfully complete an overhaul of the postings that staffers are assigned to, I’d like to actively pursue an idea that was suggested by Bormiar in his recent campaign for Delegate; and that would be to conduct a survey amongst foreign affairs staffers with the goal of figuring out which regions they’d most like to visit and interact with.
It’s important that we’re placing staffers in positions that they’ll be able to succeed in, and as part of that, we’ll first need to know where exactly those positions are. Should I be elected as an Officer and given a foreign affairs portfolio then I will commit myself to do just that and I will put out the aforementioned survey within the first week of my term and begin collecting responses. Staffers will be asked to rank the three regions that they most desire to visit in preferential order and after a sufficient amount of time has been given for staffers to participate in the survey I will then use my judgment to assign newly-minted ambassadors accordingly. Of course, there’s no guarantee that everyone will get the exact postings they indicated on the survey, but nonetheless I will do my best to place them in regions where there are advocated interests.
Ambassadorial Advisory
It goes without saying that we should always be encouraging interaction between our ambassadors and the communities of the regions that they’re assigned to, but I believe that with a more measured approach as to how we distribute embassy postings we can better organize our Foreign Office and sustain ambassador interest for longer periods of time - thus benefiting our foreign relations pedigree.
Moreover, during the course of the upcoming term, I’d also like to oversee the creation of an ambassadorial advisory board. The foremost purpose of this advisory board would be to work within the Foreign Office and to provide counsel to both the Delegate and the Officer of Foreign Affairs when necessary. Ambassadorial advisory (hereafter referred to as AA) would be a small collective in size and it would be comprised of experienced Rejects who’d be entrusted with providing input on the region’s foreign policy.
Members of this board would be longtime community members and they would act as a sort of “think tank” for the Foreign Office’s agenda. They would serve at the pleasure of the Delegate and/or the Officer of Foreign Affairs, and, as per regional law, they would be given no constitutional authority in setting forth policy for the Office. Even so, their thoughts would be consulted and strongly considered should the need ever arise and I think that having something like this in place could go a long way for supporting long-term regional interests.
I foresee this type of internal structure resembling the Senior Diplomats of the North Pacific as well as being able to guide newer Delegates and Officers through the international arena in future terms. It’s important that we build upon our region’s foreign affairs infrastructure with the aim of servicing future administrations, and by implementing an idea such as this we can better safeguard our region from possible unforeseen pitfalls and avoid taking a foreign affairs misstep in lieu of future Delegate and Officers who may be less diplomatically inclined or less knowledgeable on interregional relations.
(NOTE: I am aware that something similar to this presently exists in the status quo, however, this would formalize ambassadorial advisory as a concept in the region and would help to ensure that we are always making as informed decisions about foreign affairs choices as we can. Being proactive and being prepared is always the goal.)
A Calm & Collected Approach
Lastly, when considering who best to place confidence in as Officer of Foreign Affairs, it’s paramount that the general approach and outlook of a candidate is understood. With that in mind, my two key principles are to avoid being rash and to refrain from being reactionary. My campaign favours a more conservative approach to acting in the role and it also supports a focus that’s more set on improving the internal organization of the Office as opposed to making grand diplomatic proclamations and drawing up new treaties.
I’m a firm believer in working collaboratively with other government officials to achieve greater successes, and if elected as an Officer I’d very much be interested in working with the Culture Office as well as the World Assembly Affairs Office to facilitate growth - slowly but surely. That will require me to maintain very visible activity as well as remain hands-on to make certain that what needs to be done is done in a timely manner. I am prepared to devote my time and my effort to those things and hopefully, with your support, I’ll be able to realize the ideas I’ve presented in this campaign.
What that means to me is staying true to ourselves, maintaining a strong sense of who we are as a region (keeping our regional identity), and being level-headed in the decisions that we make. Communicating clearly and effectively, being friendly to allies and partners alike, and raising the bar for perfomance are all things that I'm keen on executing.
Should you have any questions or comments, feel free to post below in this thread with those inquiries and I’ll aim to provide you with a thoughtful response as soon as I am able. I'd love to hear everyone's feedback and participate in discussions about what I've presented herein, so don't hesistate to reach out to me.
Thank you, and I wish the best of luck to everyone running for this upcoming term!
~ Robes
August 2020 & Beyond!
Greetings, all!
Over the course of the past number of months I’ve thoroughly enjoyed being a part of this community. Since joining it in late April I’ve gotten to know a number of great people who are proud to call themselves Rejects and, while at first it was merely a matter of me having some free time on my hands and wanting to help out where I could, assist where I could, and make things better where I could; it's quickly become a lot more than that to me.
After experiencing the relaxed, laid back nature of the Rejected Realms, I too am proud to call myself a Reject and in my six year long career on-site I have yet to find a place as inclusive as this one. As such, it serves to reason that I'd now wish to become involved in a great capacity to help shape the future, so I was happy to accept my nomination.
With that being said, I've decided to declare my candidacy for Officer and, while I'm able to fulfill other portfolios, I've decided to make foreign affairs the focal point of my campaign. It's the area in which I believe myself to be the best fit for as I hope to serve alongside other invaluably talented Officers with different portfolios and because of that my plans for foreign affairs will encompass the entirety of this campaign.
Of course, if you're interested in seeing how I'd perform if given a different area to work with then we can absolutely discuss that also. Anyhow, so as to not waste any time, allow me to present my agenda and let's get into the thick of things!
Assignments Overhaul
If elected, then one of the tasks that I’d like to begin working on immediately would be to lessen the Foreign Office’s seeming over-reliance on a small group of senior personnel. I believe that this can best be accomplished by reducing the number of embassy assignments that some of our more experienced ambassadors have and by providing newer, more ambitious staffers with ample opportunities to become ambassadors.
My reasoning for this is as follows:
In the case of Bormiar and Fratt, both have three embassy assignments each and together they account for over 27% of the total number of embassy postings (rounded down) that the Rejected Realms maintains. Additionally. Jack also has two embassy postings of his own and, when combined with Bormiar and Fratt’s total, that raises the percentage of embassy assignments shared between just those three ambassadors to over 36% of all embassies.
In order to better optimize our ambassadorial listings and successfully complete an overhaul of the postings that staffers are assigned to, I’d like to actively pursue an idea that was suggested by Bormiar in his recent campaign for Delegate; and that would be to conduct a survey amongst foreign affairs staffers with the goal of figuring out which regions they’d most like to visit and interact with.
It’s important that we’re placing staffers in positions that they’ll be able to succeed in, and as part of that, we’ll first need to know where exactly those positions are. Should I be elected as an Officer and given a foreign affairs portfolio then I will commit myself to do just that and I will put out the aforementioned survey within the first week of my term and begin collecting responses. Staffers will be asked to rank the three regions that they most desire to visit in preferential order and after a sufficient amount of time has been given for staffers to participate in the survey I will then use my judgment to assign newly-minted ambassadors accordingly. Of course, there’s no guarantee that everyone will get the exact postings they indicated on the survey, but nonetheless I will do my best to place them in regions where there are advocated interests.
Ambassadorial Advisory
It goes without saying that we should always be encouraging interaction between our ambassadors and the communities of the regions that they’re assigned to, but I believe that with a more measured approach as to how we distribute embassy postings we can better organize our Foreign Office and sustain ambassador interest for longer periods of time - thus benefiting our foreign relations pedigree.
Moreover, during the course of the upcoming term, I’d also like to oversee the creation of an ambassadorial advisory board. The foremost purpose of this advisory board would be to work within the Foreign Office and to provide counsel to both the Delegate and the Officer of Foreign Affairs when necessary. Ambassadorial advisory (hereafter referred to as AA) would be a small collective in size and it would be comprised of experienced Rejects who’d be entrusted with providing input on the region’s foreign policy.
Members of this board would be longtime community members and they would act as a sort of “think tank” for the Foreign Office’s agenda. They would serve at the pleasure of the Delegate and/or the Officer of Foreign Affairs, and, as per regional law, they would be given no constitutional authority in setting forth policy for the Office. Even so, their thoughts would be consulted and strongly considered should the need ever arise and I think that having something like this in place could go a long way for supporting long-term regional interests.
I foresee this type of internal structure resembling the Senior Diplomats of the North Pacific as well as being able to guide newer Delegates and Officers through the international arena in future terms. It’s important that we build upon our region’s foreign affairs infrastructure with the aim of servicing future administrations, and by implementing an idea such as this we can better safeguard our region from possible unforeseen pitfalls and avoid taking a foreign affairs misstep in lieu of future Delegate and Officers who may be less diplomatically inclined or less knowledgeable on interregional relations.
(NOTE: I am aware that something similar to this presently exists in the status quo, however, this would formalize ambassadorial advisory as a concept in the region and would help to ensure that we are always making as informed decisions about foreign affairs choices as we can. Being proactive and being prepared is always the goal.)
A Calm & Collected Approach
Lastly, when considering who best to place confidence in as Officer of Foreign Affairs, it’s paramount that the general approach and outlook of a candidate is understood. With that in mind, my two key principles are to avoid being rash and to refrain from being reactionary. My campaign favours a more conservative approach to acting in the role and it also supports a focus that’s more set on improving the internal organization of the Office as opposed to making grand diplomatic proclamations and drawing up new treaties.
I’m a firm believer in working collaboratively with other government officials to achieve greater successes, and if elected as an Officer I’d very much be interested in working with the Culture Office as well as the World Assembly Affairs Office to facilitate growth - slowly but surely. That will require me to maintain very visible activity as well as remain hands-on to make certain that what needs to be done is done in a timely manner. I am prepared to devote my time and my effort to those things and hopefully, with your support, I’ll be able to realize the ideas I’ve presented in this campaign.
What that means to me is staying true to ourselves, maintaining a strong sense of who we are as a region (keeping our regional identity), and being level-headed in the decisions that we make. Communicating clearly and effectively, being friendly to allies and partners alike, and raising the bar for perfomance are all things that I'm keen on executing.
Should you have any questions or comments, feel free to post below in this thread with those inquiries and I’ll aim to provide you with a thoughtful response as soon as I am able. I'd love to hear everyone's feedback and participate in discussions about what I've presented herein, so don't hesistate to reach out to me.
Thank you, and I wish the best of luck to everyone running for this upcoming term!
~ Robes