United Nations of Kobol

The United States of Kobol Organization, also referred to by its acronym USKO, is an intergovernmental organization established to promote international cooperation and the rule of law on the planet of Kobol. It acts as the primary representative responsible for presenting a common face to other Eleutherian worlds for the purposes of intra-EU diplomacy, security, and trade.

Contrary to the terminology used by the Organization (such as "Government of Kobol"), the USKO is not a world government, but rather a forum for the sovereign States of Kobol to debate issues and determine collective courses of action &mdash;the Organization not a global government, but a facilitator for global governance, whereby the several sovereign States of Kobol fully retain all Sovereignty and all sovereign Powers inherent in their status as sovereign States.

Politics
The USKO's political system is based on three principal organs: the bicameral General Court (legislative), consisting of the mutlti-configurational Council and the Assembly; the Government of Kobol (executive), consisting of the President-General, the various USKO departments and agencies and the civil service; and the Court of Justice (judicial).

Legislature
The General Court of Kobol consists of two houses, equal partners in the legislative process: the Council which sits in different configurations depending on the issue at hand, and is composed of ? Councillors (one from each sovereign State, and are chosen by each sovereign State pursuant to the constitution and laws thereof); and the Assembly, which consists of ? delegates that are elected in and from each State under an open-list proportional representation system, with the delegation from each State reckoned according to their respective populations.

Council and the Assembly are equal partners in the legislative process — in all cases whatsoever, bills cannot be passed by the General Court without the consent of both chambers: when voting on legislation, a simple Majority of the whole Number of Members of the Assembly is necessary for passage in that House, and the approval of two-thirds of the State-Members of Council is necessary for passage in Council; and bills approved by both Houses cannot be enacted into law without the approval of the President-General. However, if the President-General disapproves of a bill, the legislation may be enacted into law over his objections if the bill is re-passed in each House by no less than two-thirds of the whole number of Members in the Assembly and no less than four-fifths of the State-Members of Council.

In addition to its role as a legislative upper house, Council is also charged with the maintaining international peace and security, whereby in addition to its legislative powers, Council is also vested with security-related executive powers, including the establishment of peacekeeping operations, the establishment and enforcement of international sanctions, and through the issuance of Security Directives the authorization of use of military force (AUMF) against a member State or States —and upon the request of the Legislature of a member State (or of its Executive when the Legislature cannot be convened) Council can authorize member States to send military or police assistance to aid the requesting State in putting down domestic violence (rebellion, major unrest, major civil disturbance, etc.) and restoring order, but only upon such request. Council's Security Directives are typically enforced by USKO peacekeepers which are funded as part of the USKO's general budget, or in special situations by the USKO's Global Defense Initiative (Kobol) (GDI is a multinational security force composed of various servicemembers of the militaries of the various member States volunteered by the respective Governments thereof for up to two consecutive years' service in GDI, and the forces so contributed by each State are biennially rotated with replacement forces therefrom; in addition, GDI is funded by its own budget, completely separate from the USKO's general budget).

Executive
The Government of Kobol is the executive body of the United States of Kobol Organization and is responsible for submitting to the General Court a budget, ensuring that the laws enacted by the General Court are faithfully executed by the member States and generally oversees the day-to-day running of the USKO. The government is lead by the President-General of the USKO who appoints, by and with the advice and consent of Council, the members of the the Executive (Cabinet} and such other officers as provided by ordinance (law) of the USKO. In addition, the President-General ensures that USKO ordinances and policies are duly and diligently carried out by those member States that are party to those ordinances or policies, or otherwise have given the USKO their written consent to be bound by those ordinances or policies. The President-General is appointed by the Assembly, by and with the Advice and Consent of Council, and serves a two-year term or until s/he loses the confidence of Council (whichever occurs soonest). As per convention, the positions and policies espoused by the Presidency-General of the day is generally reflective of those held by the Government of whatever State from which the President-General is chosen. Traditionally, the USKO Presidency-General operates within the framework of unity government and consensus governance. Possibly due, at least in part, to this long-standing tradition of an overall adherence to the unity and consensus models of governance, the planet has had a long history of stability since the founding of the USKO in YYYY; and overall, the USKO has been among the most stable governmental entities –planetary, supranational, national, regional, federal, state, local or otherwise– in the Eleutherian Union.

Judicial
Of the various judicial Courts of the USKO, the Court of Justice (KCJ) is the primary Court in the United States of Kobol Organization. The Court of Justice is a Court of Record, meaning that complete records of every proceeding, formal or otherwise, of the Court are kept and maintained for all time. The Kobol Records and Archives Agency, an agency of the Kobol Directorate-General for Administrative and Clerical Affairs, is the primary agency tasked with maintaining records of the Court, as well as the records of the other institutions of the USKO, and routinely works closely with the Office of Clerk of the Court of Justice in adding and maintaining the Court's archives. The main functions of the Court are to settle legal disputes between States submitted to it by the same and to provide non-binding advisory opinions on various legal questions submitted to it by duly authorized USKO institutions, including the USKO General Court. The KCJ has jurisdiction over two types of cases and controversies: the first being contentious issues between States in which the Court produces binding rulings between States that have either given their express consent to the Court to adjudicate the dispute at hand, or have otherwise expressly waived their sovereign immunity and have agreed to abide by and enforce the decision of the Court; and advisory opinions, which provide reasoned, but non-binding, decisions on properly submitted questions of international law, usually at the request of the USKO General Court. Advisory opinions do not have to concern particular cases or controversies between States, however they often do. In addition, while, where a State has not given express, written consent, that State cannot be sued or made a party to any case or controversy brought before the Court of Justice, nor, on the same terms be bound by any of its decisions, in practice most States either give their consent or waive their sovereign immunity and, in most instances, most States tend to abide by and enforce the decisions rendered by the Court.

In addition, the Court is required by the Fœderatio Carta (: "Federation Charter"), the constitution of the USKO, to take the member States' culture, traditions and values, history, constitution and laws, constitutional and political structure and organization, political and economic systems, internal situations, and priorities into account when rendering decisions. This concept is known as the margin of appreciation, a doctrine that originated in the United States in the 1650s and subsequently adopted by several jurisdictions elsewhere, and by the USKO in YYYY. The doctrine was developed in response to the wide variations in the United States between the various member States thereof on a wide range of issues, and it was intended that through this doctrine that the Federal Court of the United States (the final court of last resort in the USNA on matters of Federal law) would take into account the fact that the United States Constitution and Federal law would be interpreted differently in different member States. Under this doctrine, Federal Judges are required to take into account the cultural, historical, philosophical, constitutional, and legal differences between the Federal Court and the member State in question. The margin of appreciation doctrine is remotely similar to, but different from, subsidiarity.

Competence
The USKO is not Sovereign, only having competence over those Matters that have been expressly and intentionally delegated to it by the several member States. The USKO is the deliberate creation of the several sovereign States of Kobol, and as such its existence and power is wholly dependent solely on the continued pleasure of the several member States: the USKO ...

The USKO has competence over a small range of Matters, but may only exercise such competence by and with the Advice and Consent of the several member States. The competence of the USKO is limited to:
 * Facilitating a regular and orderly system of trade between member States, and facilitating the creation and ratification of Necessary and Proper Treaties to that end;
 * Regulating trade with other worlds, including imposing duties on articles of trade imported from and exported to other worlds;
 * Promoting a regular and orderly system of international relations, and facilitating the creation and ratification of Necessary and Proper Treaties to that end;
 * Ensuring international security, insofar as international war is concerned; but USKO has no Power as to civil wars or other such internal unrest;
 * On an ad hoc basis, arbitrating Disputes between States that have previously Consented to Arbitration;
 * Serving as a forum for debate on any issue, but shall have no Power beyond debate on those issues; and
 * TBD

The USKO's exercise of authority is restrained by the Necesary and Proper Clause of the Fœderatio Carta (: "Fœderation Charter" or "Confederation Charter") –the constitutive charter of the USKO– which confines the USKO to acting only when it is absolutely Necessary to carry out any of its enumerated Powers, provided that such action is Proper: This means that USKO action is not Necessary if such result may, in any way possible, be achieved in some other Manner or by some other Body; and not Proper if such action or policy may possibly be addressed at the member State level or lower &mdash;If the only Manner by which to achieve the desired result or results is by action of the USKO (e.g., is "Necessary"), and if such action cannot possibly be achieved with those results at the member State level or lower (e.g., is "Proper"), then and only then may the USKO act: Provided that such action is limited to the field of competence that has been by the member States vis-á-vis the Fœderation Charter expressly delegated to the USKO.