Government, Parties, and Politicians
The government is one of the most important facets of a nation, obviously- it is how it is run! Having good knowledge the nature of your government is key to having an interesting nation.
For starters: What system?
This is the most basic aspect. What system do you want to use? In my opinion, there are three main types of government that are relevant: Democracies, Centralized Dictatorships, and Decentralized Dictatorships.
Centralized Dictatorships are dictatorships in which the primary power is centered in the institutions of the state. That is, the state hold absolute power. These states can have a variety of styles- A pretend democracy like Russia, an actual kingdom like modern Saudi Arabia, and any other styling you can think of. In these systems, political dynamics aren’t so important, as there isn’t really any politics except to garner favor with the government, or to weasel yourself closer to the top. These governments are also very susceptible to decapitation: if you kill the government, there is a massive power vacuum to be filled. These systems are perhaps the simplest to write.
A Decentralized Dictatorship is slightly different. It is a dictatorship in which power resides between multiple factions. A modern example might be Iran, where the government is split between several institutions which all hold some sort of power. These factions can be anything, including oligarchs, provinces, religious sects, warlords and more. The main draw of these systems is the fraught dynamics between the various factions as they struggle for power. These systems are also less affected by decapitation, since the decapitation of one faction just leads the next strongest to gain power- though, if the internal politics are fraught enough, it could lead to civil war…
Democracies are (hopefully) most familiar to you. They are systems in which power is primarily supposed to be held in the people. Democracies, rather than factions, have parties, which have different interests. The primary division used in these is “Liberal vs Conservative,” but you can do more varied and dynamic parties as well, that don’t conform to the (somewhat arbitrary) Left vs Right scale. Democracies can have very interesting internal politics, and they don’t all need to be shining beacons. Many democracies in the real world are still legitimate democracies even though oligarchs or other powerful people have a disproportionate effect on the populace, usually through media control and bribery. Balancing democratic vs anti-democratic efforts can make for interesting tension in your nation.
As for the political leaders themselves: they are important, as they will be your primary characters. It is therefore important to make them nuanced- this doesn’t necissarily mean that if they’re evil they should be “justified,” but they have other humanizing aspects to their character that make them more interesting to interact with. Their personality also has a direct impact on the nation, so take that into consideration when you make them. Overall, for any political leader, you should aim to have an interesting, semi-realistic character that compliments the direction you want to take the story of your nation, elevating it beyond simple news posts.