What kind government are the kerbals?

[Invalid]

Its obvious that the kerbals don't seem to care about money or the cost of lives...what kind of governments do that? Communist?

Edited June 7, 2013 by Invalid
Misspelled word

[Aetius194]

Its obvious that the kerbals don't seem to care about money or the cof lives...what kind on governments do that? Communist?

There an Empire with Emperor Kerman as the man in charge and he is so great that everyone has his surname.

[rodion_herrera]

Its obvious that the kerbals don't seem to care about money or the cost of lives...

Through out human history, there have been non-communist nations and governments who proclaim they are "for the free" or "democratic" yet essentially also don't care about money or the cost of life. I don't think communism is the sole "ism" that monopolizes that kind of attitude.

[tstehler1]

This, my friend, is a JEBOCRACY

[Pyre]

Anarcho-communism. Basically, they don't have a government, they are just a group of like-minded individuals who work together to build rockets and explore space for the sake of building rockets and exploring space. Because in the end, what else matters?

[razark]

Monarchy.

After free and fair elections, I counted the votes and discovered I had been elected their king.

[Camelotking524]

I don't believe they have a government, and are the children of Jool.

They were place on Kerbin and were left with the equipment to travel the solar system, until the time and designs are right for the children to battle the Kraken and free their mother(father?)

In the future, the children of Jool will create a "computer game" featuring little pink skinned creatures running a space program.

[NovaSilisko]

I think they'd be a sort of... really really inefficient bureaucratic hairball of a democracy, which funnels 90% of the planet's GDP into the space program (though they're still not too good at the whole space thing)

Also, their civilization hasn't really figured out the whole agriculture thing, so they mostly live off of eating leaves and grass and tree bark.

The sad thing is though, it took the placement of five monoliths to get them to this point.

[rodion_herrera]

...I think they'd be a sort of... really really inefficient bureaucratic hairball of a democracy...

One thing comes to mind...Vogons.

[Omicron314]

They appear to have a capitalist economy. There are tons of different providers for parts (Probodobodyne, Jeb's Junkyard, etc.) and at least one privately-owned pool company. So unless the absolutist Kerbal government is inept at gauging what what is good for their country (which, lets face it, they wouldn't), I would say capitalist is the most likely choice.

[Splode]

Dictatorship. The player is the dictator.

[rodion_herrera]

Dictatorship. The player is the dictator.

At the risk of someone mentioning Godwin's Law again, when I first saw the OP's post, the first person that came to mind was A. H. After all, they did fiddle with rockets, invested a LOT of their cash on research for that and jets, then as to lack of care for human life, you have the holocaust...heck the US and Russian space programs have had a lot of help from them.

[SkyRender]

When you get right down to it, Kerbals are basically the equivalent of little kids who have been given rocket parts to play with. Whatever government they might be said to have would be very basic as a result.

[rodion_herrera]

I just saw this, and now I'm think perhaps there was a grain of wisdom in the OP's initial statements re the Kerbals are communists...and YOU are Sergei Korolev...

What convinced me, was how KSP's rocket philosophy is also "build, fly, and improve", which was Korolev's philosophy.

[CalculusWarrior]

...The sad thing is though, it took the placement of five monoliths to get them to this point.

I imagine that like the Space Stage of Spore, where you drop monoliths to improve tribal species to spacefaring intelligence levels. Usually it takes only one, but evidently kerbals need a lot more

[Strategia]

They're a Cosmocracy. Whoever goes into space has all the power. Hence the unending line of eager Kerbonauts, even after you've blown up hundreds of them already.

[FlamedSteak]

I believe they are ruled by an alien overlord called Hugh Mann.

[Designer225]

I think the Kerbals ruled by an insufficient democratic government that is as similar as US's democratic government in the early 1800s, when they aren't prepared for War of 1812. And they have it for 5 centuries, at least.

[Ironwatsas]

Well, one would assume that there are multiple governments on Kerbin, since there are (or were?) atleast two Space Centers. I've always gotten the vibe that there were both Kapitalist and Kermmunist nations (an analog for the US/Soviet space race), probably a few other minor powers scattered about, and more than a few megacorporations pumping funding into the Space Program.

I would think that the program itself is some kind of multinational/multi-corporate co-operation, as the Kerbal Equivelient of the U.N. is dumping money and sacrificing their children into the space program partly out of Kethane Profiteering, partly to create a military force to Fight the Space Krakens, and partly as a sort of expensive analog to the Olympic Games and for their own amusement; but with Rockets.

Alternately; the KSP isn't funded by any government, is located in a banana republic that dosen't care what they do as long as they pay their rent, and they simply scavenge whatever money, rocket parts, and hobos kerbalnauts they can get their hands on, with a staff of yes-men who roll out whatever ludicrous death machines their flight engineers (YOU! The player!), and pretty much do whatever they think is an awesome idea at the time.

This is sort of corroborated by some of the rocket part descriptions in the VAB, which indicate that rocket parts are manufactured and sold commercially like bits of some kind of diabolical, gigantic erector set full of rocket fuel, to pretty much anyone who can afford them, and that their space programs are run for the kerbals own amusement as much as colonization or civic progress, as their culture has far, far different values than ours, and is decidedly less responsible with their technology...

[bonoginbomber]

Simply because is hasn't been mentioned, I'll vouch for Technocracy: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Technocracy

A government comprised of a council of the worlds leading scientists, engineers, and entrepreneurs organizing everything on a colossal scale to achieve the goal of sustaining the highest reasonable standard of living.

... or in this case sending rocket after rocket into space with the dreams of exploration and colonization.

Edited June 7, 2013 by bonoginbomber
Commas

[bsalis]

Maybe they have no government. No laws either.

They definitely do not have any Occupational Health and Safety regulations.

[Ruedii]

Hmm, they don't care about lives and like funneling tons of money to corporations that build rocket parts.

It sounds like Crony Capitalism to me.

As of political system. It could be anything, but it's just a puppet show as clearly companies like The Rockomax Conglomerate, Jebediah Kerman's Junkyard and Spaceship Parts Co., O.M.B. Demolition Enterprises, and C7 Aerospace Division seem to be running the government, with their campaign to promote recklessly fast space development in order to pocket lucrative government contracts.

[Kialar]

I think the developed a curiositocracy.

There are some devitatives of it.

1) The kerboblic curiositocracies, where everyone may be curious and kind of, erm, scientific. Kerboblicstic Gouvernements accept the existance of even and odd numbers.

2) The kermonistic curiositocracies, where everone MUST be curious. Science is not necessary. Kermonists denie the existance of odd numbers, because all numbers are equal.

3) The karnarchistic curiositocracies, where curiosity is by definition "being nosy beyond all reason". A typical karnarchist states, that there are only odd numbers, because even numbers may be constructed out of a set of odd numbers.

4) The kictatoric curiositocracies, where the most inquisitory kerbal is master of desaster, as long as it survives. Kictators don't need numbers. They need results.

I think that's is.

[ComradeGoat]

Anarcho-communism. Basically, they don't have a government, they are just a group of like-minded individuals who work together to build rockets and explore space for the sake of building rockets and exploring space. Because in the end, what else matters?

Yes, like in the Culture novels. A post scarcity, anarcho-communist state. Often think this is the nicest form of utopian government.

[AndrewBCrisp]

Hm. In all honesty, I doubt that the existence of a Kerbal space program with lots of willing volunteers and (seemingly) unlimited funds says anything about their government at all. What it does say is that, at this point in time, space exploration is a Priority for the Kerbals. We can safely rule out nationalistic competition or conflict, since there are no weapons in the official game (and no plans to introduce any). This leaves us to consider non-nationalistic reasons why the Kerbals would seek to conquer space. To quote Carl Sagan:

Since, in the long run, every planetary civilization will be endangered by impacts from space, every surviving civilization is obliged to become spacefaring--not because of exploratory or romantic zeal, but for the most practical reason imaginable: staying alive.

Sooner or later, even with no Space Race, no international conflict, no nationalistic posturing, the Kerbals will come to this realization. I doubt they'd throw everything they have into space exploration - though we get to play with almost unlimited funds, we really have no idea what percentage of the Kerbal Gross Domestic Product goes into space - but even a modest investment over the years can produce a program similar to what we're playing with. Any government and economy can do this, so long as they recognize the need.

And even if they don't, I expect even the most utopian Kerbal society will engage in space exploration to keep parts of its society busy. Scientists and engineers will have ideas they want to see developed, and every society will have its misfits, its people who just don't conform to the social standard. Space exploration is one way to keep such people busy, because the alternative is to let them become so disaffected with society as a whole that they would start plotting its downfall. Give the misfit and malcontents a constructive outlet for their energies, and the Kerbals gain new knowledge of the universe, an insurance policy against cosmic disasters and increased peace and stability at home.