Ender's Game Wiki
Register
Advertisement
SPOILER WARNING: First/Second Formic War, Ender Quintet, and Shadow Saga plot details follow.


The Hegemony was a global government formed in 87 BX.[1]

History[]

Creation[]

After the end of the First Formic War, the nations of Earth came together to establish a new world order to defend humanity against future attacks from the Formics. Along with the creation of the International Fleet and the offices of Polemarch and Strategos for the military, the Hegemony was formed to govern every country on Earth. Ukko Jukes was chosen as the first Hegemon, as he was a citizen of Luna and had no ties to any Earth nations.[1]

Second Formic War[]

Shortly following the end of the war, Jukes and the rest of the Hegemony conducted extensive research into discovering how the Formics communicated instantaneously over vast distances. Six months after the war, they invented a primitive form of the Ansible, which could send out instantaneous communications, but at a low bandwidth. Over time, they refined the Ansible, making it smaller, faster, and more stable. To distribute the devices with the other heads of the Fleet, they built Zipships that moved incredibly fast.[2]

Because it was considered essential that all human activities be centered on the war against the Formics, the Hegemony Council instituted strict population laws, allowing parents to only have two children or face exorbitant fees. A child born to a family with two children was called a Third. Failure to comply with the law resulted in fines or loss of property. However, some nations resisted, mainly in countries with large Catholic or Muslim populations.[2] Countries such as Poland had their governments forced to obey the Hegemony through military force or occupation, and had their passport power reduced..[3]

The Hegemony and the International Fleet also instituted the use of Common, a language based on American English with minor changes that would serve as the basic language shared between all members of the Fleet.[2]

By 84 BX Ukko was seen to have aged greatly from the stress of his position as Hegemon. In a vid, he announced that one of the eight Parallax Telescopes, Copernicus, was destroyed by a Formic fighter ahead of the main alien fleet. To assure the human race of the Fleet's strength, he informed them and showed a video of two International Fleet fighters tracking down and destroying the lone alien ship.[2]

Post-Third Invasion[]

Immediately following the annihilation of the Formics by Ender Wiggin, the Polemarch and several other rebels attempted to take control of the Hegemony and the International Fleet, initiated by the Second Warsaw Pact. After several days of fighting, the League War ended with the Locke Proposal. However, the Hegemony began rapidly losing power and money, and the then-current Hegemon resigned soon afterwards.[4] The Hegemony then created the Ministry of Colonization to begin the Dispersal Project, and appointed Hyrum Graff as Minister.[5]

Peter Wiggin, the architect of the Locke Proposal, was elected to become the Hegemon a few years later as a sort of joke, but he quickly began to strengthen the title with the help of Bean and several other Battle School graduates.[6]

After he vanquished Achilles de Flandres and the Wars on Earth had ended, Peter reformed the Hegemony into the Free People of Earth. At first, only weak and small countries joined, but soon enough the entire world (excluding the United States of America) became a part of the FPE. Peter made it a democratic system and sponsored the Dispersal Project. Peter tried to be sure that he would be the last Hegemon, with the title being abolished after his death in late 43 AX.[7] However, by 62 AX, Earth was ruled by an elected Congress, presided over by an elected Hegemon.[5]

Structure[]

The Hegemony consisted of an executive branch and a legislative branch. The executive branch consisted of the Hegemon and various ministries, headed by ministers, while the legislative branch consisted of the Congress and the Council. The Congress was composed of one representative per nation, while the Council was composed of representatives from each nation with a population greater than 100 million. At its creation, the Council had 19 seats. All representatives were appointed by national governments, and the Hegemon was elected by the Council. No member of the Congress or Council could be elected Hegemon.[8]

Legislation originated in the Council. Congress could veto a bill with a 55% vote for three months while the Council reconsidered. After the Council passed a bill three times, it could no longer be vetoed by Congress, but could be vetoed by the Hegemon. The Council could override the Hegemon's veto with a 60% vote. Additionally, the Hegemon could override a Congressional veto and put a bill into effect for one year, by which time Congress had to approve by a majority vote or the bill would be invalid.[8]

Known Hegemons[]

Trivia[]

  • Officially, a Hegemony minister was to be addressed as 'Your Excellency.'[5]
  • Acts of the Council were known as 'Consular'.[8]

References[]

Advertisement