Purple Hyacinth for Prime Minister!

[flowerpetal]

Purple Hyacinth for Prime Minister!

Introduction

Hi everyone, I’m Purple Hyacinth a.k.a Hya! I’ve been a citizen of TSP since I joined NS back in May 2022. In that time, I’ve held a number of roles in TSP government, including ministry staff, SPSF Tsunami Force member, Chair, Minister of Engagement, Minister of Media, and Coral Guard member. While you might not see me around in chats a lot, I have attended update pretty frequently recently, so I have been pretty active in NS.

I believe that my skills in coordination and leadership are well-suited to the role of Prime Minister. My main priorities are to help increase domestic activity and strengthen bonds with our allies.

Conflict of interest disclosure

I am currently a resident of Inferno Stellaria, a culture-focused region, and was the head of government up until a couple days ago when I resigned. I am also technically in their military, but the military has never done anything and if it were to, it would be limited to wargames. The region is pretty dead anyway so I don’t really anticipate any conflict. In the extremely unlikely event that something with Inferno Stellaria is in conflict with TSP, I would not hesitate to leave Inferno Stellaria.

In the past, I’ve also been involved in The Rejected Realms and had a very short stint in Entropy.

If you want lots of detail, you can also take a look at my list of nations and list of roles.

Plans for ministries (+OWL)

For the most part, I am happy to help each minister set and refine their own goals, and then help them reach it. However, I do have a general vision for each ministry.

On the domestic affairs side of things, I want more visible activity. With the Ministry of Culture, it should run more regular activities. I’m not necessarily looking for a return of weekly events, but it’s important that we have a couple things happening every week to bring people together. For the Ministry of Engagement, I would like to focus on some kind of outreach to new players to help them get involved in TSP. While maintaining infrastructure is nice, and I would support the work to do that, it’s meaningless if we aren’t getting people interested enough to use the infrastructure.

The SPSF has been doing well at regularly fielding updaters, bringing good numbers to liberations, and training new recruits who are interested. This should continue.

When it comes to foreign affairs, I would largely maintain the status quo. I believe we should continue military, cultural, and World Assembly cooperation with our allies. Also, on the administration side, we need to move our treaties over to the new forums.

I will support OWL in churning out votes and recommendations. As for the choice of the OWL Director for the next term, I will communicate with Anjo to get his thoughts. Anjo has been doing a wonderful job, and I would be happy to let him continue should there be no suitable replacement.

Visibility

I would like to increase the visibility of the Cabinet, especially its internal activities. While monthly FA reports and biweekly Delegate’s Briefings do a great job at explaining some of the big public things already happening in the region, my idea for an update would be geared towards Cabinet activities that are not as visible to the general public. SPSF reports do a great job of this, for example, as they highlight the effort of updaters that would otherwise go unseen by the general public. However, I think that domestic affairs ministries especially currently lack this kind of visibility. My plan for this is a quick weekly update summarizing activities within the Cabinet and Ministries, cross-posted to the forums, RMB, and Discord.

Also, as the Sunshine Act requires, I plan on a sunshine release for the February term.

Final comments

Thanks for reading my campaign! If you have any questions, I’m happy to answer them.

And, before you ask–the answer is pie.

[HumanSanity]

How will you address a situation with an uncooperative or non-communicating Minister?

A lot of the job of PM is about knowing when to step in to address a situation, where it is internal or external. How will you identify when to step in as Prime Minister and take leadership of the Cabinet’s activities?

@flowerpetal

Also, on the administration side, we need to move our treaties over to the new forums.

I’ll try to get this done before I leave office

[Pronoun]

@flowerpetal

SPSF reports do a great job of this, for example, as they highlight the effort of updaters that would otherwise go unseen by the general public. However, I think that domestic affairs ministries especially currently lack this kind of visibility. My plan for this is a quick weekly update summarizing activities within the Cabinet and Ministries, cross-posted to the forums, RMB, and Discord.

This sounds great in theory, but there’s a reason why SPSF reports go out monthly and not, say, weekly — activity can fluctuate from week to week, especially for ministries whose activities can depend on those of foreign actors. How would you try to ensure these updates actually have meaningful content to report and don’t just become a chore to release filler material each week?

[Legend]

@flowerpetal

While you might not see me around in chats a lot, I have attended update pretty frequently recently, so I have been pretty active in NS.

Do you believe that Malulhia has an edge over you in this election, due to the fact that they are seen around the RMB more, and thus known better by more people?

Please don’t take this the wrong way. We’re just supposed to ask questions, and this is the best I could come up with : p

[Webs]

Couple of quick questions!

1. Would the PM duties interfere at all with the heavy military presence you’ve established (or the other way around). In my experience (and I’m definitely a bad example), making consistent updates is already a time consuming affair, and with PM duties on top of that, would that ever affect your ability to perform your regional duties? I only ask this as someone who’s suffered from chronic NS-burnout, so I promise it isn’t a mean question!
2. HS raises a very solid point about management styles and keeping folks in line. Would you take a more soft or hardball approach when it comes to keeping the government in line?
3. On a similar note, how much of an influence would you plan on having in individual ministries? From my limited experience in OWL a whiiiile back, PMs can have very varying approaches when it comes to introducing new ideas, keeping gears turning, and generally working in individual ministries.

Thanks so much, good luck!

[flowerpetal]

@HumanSanity

How will you address a situation with an uncooperative or non-communicating Minister?

A lot of the job of PM is about knowing when to step in to address a situation, where it is internal or external. How will you identify when to step in as Prime Minister and take leadership of the Cabinet’s activities?

If there’s a minister who is not communicating and inactive, and I have tried multiple methods of communicating with them, I would probably wait for maybe two weeks before initiating a recall. In the meantime, I can take over any critical tasks or delegate that to a senior member of the Ministry.

If there’s a minister who is uncooperative, I would definitely put my foot down and clearly tell them what they can and cannot do. And if there’s an abuse of power gameside, I can revoke their RO. Should any abuses of power continue beyond my clear orders, or be particularly extreme, I would initiate a recall.

When it comes to stepping in as a leader, I can do so both proactively and reactively. A reactive response could be needed with an uncooperative or non-communicative Minister as discussed before. It could also be needed if the public perceives an action negatively, which could require me to address the public or change things up internally. On the foreign affairs side of things, there can obviously be problems with allies or non-allies alike, so if anything comes up with that and the MoFA is not responding, I will need to handle that.

On the more proactive side of things, I can step in to facilitate cooperation between Ministers and other parts of our government. I can also check in with Ministers regularly to help them reach their goals.

@Pronoun

@flowerpetal

SPSF reports do a great job of this, for example, as they highlight the effort of updaters that would otherwise go unseen by the general public. However, I think that domestic affairs ministries especially currently lack this kind of visibility. My plan for this is a quick weekly update summarizing activities within the Cabinet and Ministries, cross-posted to the forums, RMB, and Discord.

This sounds great in theory, but there’s a reason why SPSF reports go out monthly and not, say, weekly — activity can fluctuate from week to week, especially for ministries whose activities can depend on those of foreign actors. How would you try to ensure these updates actually have meaningful content to report and don’t just become a chore to release filler material each week?

For one, there is more likely to be activity within 5 ministries than just 1. However, it is true that not all weeks will have meaningful content. In that case, I wouldn’t mind releasing a report saying that there wasn’t all that much done that week–I think it’s still worth it for the visibility.

@Legend

Do you believe that Malulhia has an edge over you in this election, due to the fact that they are seen around the RMB more, and thus known better by more people?

I don’t believe that Maluhia has an advantage over me. While they may be active on the RMB more, lots of legislators do not really interact on the RMB so that wouldn’t make a difference to those legislators anyway. I also have faith that legislators are going to cast an informed vote based on our campaigns rather than who they might simply have chatted to more.

@Webs

Couple of quick questions!

1. Would the PM duties interfere at all with the heavy military presence you’ve established (or the other way around). In my experience (and I’m definitely a bad example), making consistent updates is already a time consuming affair, and with PM duties on top of that, would that ever affect your ability to perform your regional duties? I only ask this as someone who’s suffered from chronic NS-burnout, so I promise it isn’t a mean question!
2. HS raises a very solid point about management styles and keeping folks in line. Would you take a more soft or hardball approach when it comes to keeping the government in line?
3. On a similar note, how much of an influence would you plan on having in individual ministries? From my limited experience in OWL a whiiiile back, PMs can have very varying approaches when it comes to introducing new ideas, keeping gears turning, and generally working in individual ministries.

Thanks so much, good luck!

1. I appreciate your concern! I personally find attending update to be actually helpful in maintaining a routine and don’t consider it burdensome, so I would plan to continue. Should I run low on time or energy though, I would prioritize PM work over updating.

2. I would go with combination of the two. For example, if there’s an idea I disagree with but don’t find to be a serious problem, I don’t mind the ministers going ahead and trying it out. On the other hand, if I believe the idea crosses the line of what is acceptable, I will not hesitate to shut it down.

3. In general, I will voice most ideas that I have, but I won’t be insistent on ministers implementing them. I would rather try to help them accomplish their own goals. But, for the things I mentioned in my campaign, I would be willing to be a little pushy or personally step in and run them.

[Comfed]

@flowerpetal

For the Ministry of Engagement, I would like to focus on some kind of outreach to new players to help them get involved in TSP.

Personal outreach is a bit of a fad, to be honest - I’ve never seen anything to suggest that it’s any better than building up resources.

@flowerpetal

When it comes to foreign affairs, I would largely maintain the status quo. I believe we should continue military, cultural, and World Assembly cooperation with our allies. Also, on the administration side, we need to move our treaties over to the new forums.

What do you feel is the extent of your foreign affairs knowledge? How would you compensate for any gaps in that knowledge?

@flowerpetal

And, before you ask–the answer is pie.

nah

[Comfed]

Also - do you favour the replacement of cabinet elections with an appointed system?

[flowerpetal]

@Comfed

Personal outreach is a bit of a fad, to be honest - I’ve never seen anything to suggest that it’s any better than building up resources.

For one, I think our resources are basically complete–we have an large group of dispatches that are organized well and only need to be periodically updated. But I doubt many people are aware of this resource–that’s why we need to get the word out to new players that resources like our dispatches and opportunities like participating in regional government or roleplay exist in the first place.

@Comfed

What do you feel is the extent of your foreign affairs knowledge? How would you compensate for any gaps in that knowledge?

I have a basic understanding of current gameplay dynamics and treaty negotiations. I’m a frequent lurker of the gameplay forum and NSGP to stay up to date about current events. I think I lack some historical context as well as experience navigating this, having never been in any external-facing Cabinet position before. I plan to make up for any gaps in knowledge by studying previous foreign affairs actions and asking people experienced in foreign affairs for help.

@Comfed

Also - do you favour the replacement of cabinet elections with an appointed system?

I don’t think this is particularly relavant to the campaign since I don’t have the power to change it aas PM. This question would be better discussed in the Assembly or Great Council, where this kind of change could actually happen. That being said, I haven’t really thought about it enough to form a strong opinion either way.