Outer Systems League

The Outer Systems League is an interstellar confederation of states with nominal control over the entirety of the Outer Systems and Lost Systems, and is part of the United Leagues of Earth. However, the Outer Systems League exists primarily on paper, commanding virtually no authority whatsoever, as its member states act entirely independently of one another and frequently disregard the League's Senate in Luax.   The Outer Systems League is organised as a representative democracy, with each member state sending a representative to its senate, and recieving votes based on its population of citizens and permanent residents. While this system generally works in other Leagues of the ULE, many of the Outer Systems' states dispute each other's population statistics, damaging the percieved legitimacy of the League's senate. For instance, the Avastus Directorate has granted numerous synthorgs citizenship and counts them as part of its population, but most states do not recognise synths as living beings. Similarly, population estimates for states like the Republic of Distira and the Confederation of Tinia are often dubious at best. Member states of the Outer Systems League regularly ignore rulings from the senate that they disapprove of, citing the unreliable voting method as pretext, but still try to promote compliance with legislation they agree with.   Another source of contention within the League is what exactly constitutes a member state. For instance the Congressional Republic of Orizont annexed the Republic of Ningxia following the Tavastian War, but the Federal Republic of Zeta Tucanae officially views the referrendum that preceded the annexation as illegitimate. Therefore, Zeta Tucanae still hosts a Ningxian government in exile, which it claims has the right to send representatives to the League senate, with voting power based on the current population of the Ningxia System. Orizont naturally rejects these claims, meaning the two foremost powers in the region are in dispute even over what the League is comprised of.   Another dispute involved the Galactic Technologies Consortium, Union of Interstellar Communes, and New Hainan Socialist State all viewing each other as illegitimate, and insisting that the others not be allowed to send representatives to the senate. Meanwhile, the People's Republic of Shamlan is near-universally seen as a rogue state, but frequently attempts to send representatives to the senate nonetheless. Distira and Tavastia currently lack central governments, so their involvement in the senate is in question, while the very state that hosts the senate, the Confederated Republics of Luax often has internal disputes involving who their representative should be.   All of these factors, among others, result in the Outer Systems League being seen as almost entirely illegitimate. Its legislation is only followed at the whims of member states, as it lacks any real power or authority. Despite this, influence over its senate has recently become an important symbolic objective for both Zeta Tucanae and Orizont in their ongoing cold war. Ever since the ULE gave Zeta Tucanae temporary authority over some aspects of the League during the Tavastian Emergency, the FRZT has generally viewed itself as the natural leader of the Outer Systems League. In contrast, Orizont has positioned itself as a protector of the Outer Systems since shortly after the end of the Antimatter Crisis, and its government also desires prominence within the League. Since the Outer Systems League can potentially provide a degree of legitimacy to the two powers' planned hegemonies, it remains a relevant institution in interstellar politics, despite its complete lack of power.