I should really be writing my thesis. Anyway...

     I'd like to thank all of you for your input. It restores my faith in
the fact that anime fans are all in all smarter than the average Joe.

     I've always been fascinated by the structure of governance that
people try to portray in Science Fiction, especially since Science Fiction
tends to be a kind of "proving ground" for speculative ideological
structures, hence the reason I'm interested in a possible working
structure of the Jurai empire.

     Overanalysis? - Oh yeah. 

     An exercise in frustration? - No doubt. 

     A whole lotta fun? - You betcha! ^-^


 So here goes.

     I use the T.V. continuity because the entire last half of the series
deals with the political intrigue caused by the usurption of Kagato to the
throne and the ensuing turmoil. 

     Case in point - in the series Kagato was able to impersonate Lord
Yosho by showing to "the council" that he had access to the power of
Jurai, thus giving him for all intents and purposes, the "Divine right of
Kings." This in itself implies an imperial power structure still prone to
tyrantism since he was able to very easily able to take the throne along
wih two "black nights" of Jurai who knew of Kagato's true identity but
still served him as King. It would stand to reason that a least a few
other governers within this monarchy knew of Kagato's true identity and
helped in the usurpal of power, either out of ideological beliefs (for
example Kagato may have promised to expand the empire) or out of personal
gain, promotion or Lordship. 
     In addition, full access to the throne gave him considerable power as
outlined in the series itself. For example - he was able to charge his
immediate power rival, Princess Ayeka, with high treason, most likely with
contrived evidence with which he would most likely use to exile or put her
family to death. And even if her case went under judical review one must
keep in mind that within a basic Constitutional Monarchy the judiciary
itself is appointed by the king himself or in other cases, the ministers
who are appointed by the king. He also had access, and to some degreee,
control over the upper echelons of the Galaxy Police, which apparently is
not autonomous in the T.V. continuity, and was to institute a galaxy wide
hunt for Princess Ayeka using their resources as well as the resources of
the Jurai Military itself. 
     This is a frightening degree of power to be so easily had, for any
nation or empire. Yes - a monarchy may be highly responsive and adaptive
to changes or threats within it's sovereignty, but that has it's good and
bad points, especially when the royals in question are not so
altruistically motivated. Now would be a good time to point out as well
that even though Kagato was not meant for the throne, it's made very clear
the he was of royal blood, which implies that if the righful heir to the
throne of Jurai were a true tyrant, the empire would be ill-equipped to
handle it. Even within a "democratic" monarchy. 

     This brings us to the next topic which is the ideological working of
the empire. Some have you have pointed out, and rightfuly so, that
Democracy does not necessarily equate with Capitalism. One can even go so
far as to say that to run the two of them together causes a fundamental
dichotomy between them since Capitalism works within the best interests of
a minority while Democracy by it's definition should serve the majority. -
But that's anoher can of worms entirely that I'm not inclined to open
right now.
     Within the Tenchi series there seems to be a rich consumer based
society on a Galactic level. Free enterprise is alive and well as
evidenced by the fact that Tenchi and his crew were able to put up a
couple of small time businesses to help fund their trek across the stars.
In the series there are images of vacation resorts, shops, and even a
beauty pageant! In other words, conspicuous consumption is alive and well
in the galactic milieu! But at what expense? In some ways space would be
an ideal place for rampant capitalism. Unlimited resources as well as
sinks for pollution and waste. Unlimited room for expansion as well as
exploration.
     Yet someone pointed out earlier that the Juraian empire may have been
derived from a pirate guild that expanded it's operating territory and
eveuntually became it's own sovereignty, probably by instilling a sense of
divine right to the most powerful members within the guild, in this case I
surmise, the ancestors of the royal family. If that's truly the case then
it would have far reaching social implications in terms of the shape of
this "advanced" empire.
     To use our own history as a model, turn of the century empires like
Britain or Spain expanded their ground by conquering lesser developed
nations which happened to harbor valuable natural resources such as
spices, raw materials, or exotic goods. These empires would then turn
these "colonies" not only into producers of raw products but also
consumers of finished products which ironically enough, are usually made
from the raw materials produced by the colonies in the first place. A good
example of this would be the United States itself which during the
colonial period, was forced to buy cotton goods from Britain - the source
of the cotton itself being the New World colonies itself! And this is
without even mentioning the horrid history of human strife as a result of
empirical economic interests - British rule in India, slavery in the U.S.,
the Opium wars between China and Britain, and the the U.S. forays in the
Philippines and Guatemala. Is it possible that in the Juraian empires'
pursuit of galactic dominance it may have subjugated other races? Quite
possibly so. Mihoshi is obviously of different genetic stock compared with
the very human Jurai. Ryoko too is obviously inhuman or in this case,
superhuman (in the series she appears to be her own person rather than a
creation of Washu's as portrayed in the OAV's). Maybe their races' history
were among those colonized by the Jurai and later subjugated under
colonial/galactic citizenship. (oh no!)

     All right, you're probably thinking that I've gone to far. I probably
have.

     But wouldn't it be nice to think that an advanced society would be
able to maintain its status not by subjugation, economic, or militarist
means but by cooperation. 

     As far as the social welfare of it's people are concerned, it may be
possible that the Juraian empire has a kind of middle ground economic
structure, not exactly liberal capitalist or even socialist but somehow
planned around social welfare and controlled free enterprise. A good
example of this would be the Soviet Union under Lenin's New Economic
Policy (before the "civil" redistribution by Stalin) or present day
China's corporatization of state run enterprises but which strict
government guidance. No, I'm not a die hard Marxist, but in a system where
social welfare is considered prime by it's leaders, It would be
interesting to see what kind of system develops.

Well that's it for tonight. Whew, now for this thesis thingy...
Thanks for the input guys/girls!

        -"You're such a joker Ryoko! Of course the Jurai family is still
in place, we're everlasting!" 
          Princess Ayeka, Tenchi Muyo! T.V.