United Nations of Kobol

The United Nations of Kobol Organization (which also goes by the names of UNKO and [the] Organization) is an intergovernmental organization charged with the promotion of aiding States to collectively maintain international peace and security, promote international cooperation, and support the rule of law on the planet of Kobol. The Organization 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. UNKO is essentially a very, very loose foedus

Contrary to the terminology used by the Organization (such as "Government of Kobol"), the UNKO 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 is not a global government (it has no sovereignty or sovereign Powers of its own), but a facilitator for interstate governance on a global level, whereby the several sovereign States of Kobol fully retain all Sovereignty and all sovereign Powers inherent in their nature as sovereign States.

UNKO is limited to a mostly advisory role, and its express, stated purpose is to foster cooperation between existing States rather than to exert Authority over them.

At its founding, UNKO had NUM member States; there are now NUM. The headquarters of UNKO is in the Fœderal Capital Territory, and experiences extraterritoriality. Further main offices are situated in Angostura, D.B., Cairo, and Kyiv.

History
XXXX

Background and creation
XXXX

YYYY “Declaration of the united Nations of Kobol” by the Allies of World War II
XXXX

Founding the UNKO
XXXX

Cold War-era
XXXX

Post-Cold War-era
XXXX

Structure
The UNKO’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 UNKO departments and agencies and the civil service; and the Court of Justice (judicial).

Legislature: General Court
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 of them pursuant to the constitution and laws thereof); and the Assembly, which consists of ? delegates that are elected in and from each State according to the constitution and laws thereof, with the delegation apportioned to each State reckoned in a degressively-proportional manner 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 three-fifths 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 maintenance of 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. Council’s Security Directives are typically enforced by UNKO peacekeepers which are funded as part of the UNKO’s general budget, or in special situations by the UNKO’s Global Defense Initiative: 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 UNKO General Budget.

Executive: Government
The Government of Kobol is the executive body of the United Nations of Kobol Organization and is responsible for submitting to the General Court a budget, encouraging member States to faithfully enforce the ordinances passed by the General Court and generally oversees the day-to-day running of the UNKO. The government is led by the President-General of the UNKO 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 UNKO. In addition, the President-General ensures that UNKO ordinances and policies are duly and diligently carried out by those member States that are party to those ordinances or policies, or have otherwise have given the UNKO 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 UNKO 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 UNKO in YYYY; and overall, the UNKO has been among the most stable governmental entities –planetary, supranational, national, regional, federal, state, local or otherwise– in the Eleutherian Union.

Judicial: Court of Justice
Of the various judicial Courts of the UNKO, the Kobol Court of Justice (KCJ) is the primary Court in the United Nations of Kobol. 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 UNKO, and routinely works closely with the Office of Clerk of the Kobol 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 them and to provide non-binding advisory opinions on various legal questions submitted to it by duly authorized UNKO institutions, including the UNKO 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 UNKO 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 constitutive treaty of the UNKO) 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 of North Aegea in the 1620s and subsequently adopted by several jurisdictions elsewhere, and by the UNKO in YYYY. In the USNA, this doctrine was developed in response to the wide variations between the various USNA member States 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.

Objectives
XXXX

Peacekeeping and security
XXX

International and inter-planetary trade rules
XXXX

Other
XXXX

Competence
The UNKO is not Sovereign, only having competence over those Matters coming within those Classes of Subjects that have been expressly and intentionally delegated to it by the several member States. The UNKO 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 UNKO ...

The UNKO is delegated competence over a small, select range of Matters, but may only exercise such competence by and with the Advice and Consent of the United Nations of Kobol in General Court assembled (the several member States represented in the General Court). The competence of the UNKO is expressly limited to:
 * Acting to facilitate the member States to establish among themselves a regular and orderly system of trade; and to facilitate also the member States to, among themselves, make and ratify Necessary and Proper Treaties to that end;
 * Establishing a regular and well-ordered inter-planetary trade regime with other worlds, including imposing duties on articles of inter-planetary imports and exports;
 * Promoting a regular and orderly system of international relations, and facilitating the member States to, among themselves, make and ratify Necessary and Proper Treaties to that end;
 * Ensuring international security, insofar as international war is concerned (having absolutely no Power of any kind whatsoever 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 (having no Power of any kind whatsoever beyond debate); and
 * TBD

The UNKO’s exercise of authority is restrained by the Necessary and Proper Clause of the Fœderatio Carta (: "Fœderation Charter" or "Confederation Charter") –the constitutive treaty of the UNKO– which confines the UNKO 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 UNKO 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 in any way be possibly 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 UNKO (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 UNKO act: Provided that such action is confined solely to the UNKO's competence.

Opt-outs
XXXX

Funding
XXXX

Evaluation, awards, and criticism
XXXX