State (UEE Political Entity)

A State is the primary political subdivision of the UEE. States are analogous to the nation-states of the 21st Century, which persisted as the subdivisions of the United Nations of Earth until its reorganisation into the United Planets of Earth. It was at this point that 'nations' were replaced. While equal to nations in size, importance and diversity, States within the UEE are non-sovereign political organizations.

States on Represented Worlds
Worlds have have achieved UEE Representation are divided up into at least two States, though there can be dozens of States per planet. Each State is presided over by a Governor who collective form the Governor's Council for the planet. Each state also has a parliament of exactly 100 Representatives, irrespective of the population of the planet: for example, Representatives on Terra often have a million constituents each, while small states on less populated planets like Cestulus might only have 1000 constituents per representative. Senators represent all of the States of the planet rather than being linked to individual States.

States on Unrepresented Worlds
States also exist on unrepresented worlds, usually centred around a large settlement, though do not have a rigid proscribed structure and can take a variety of local forms. Planets seeking Representation are obliged to adopt the same structure as Represented worlds in advance of application in order to become eligible: typically, the Governor's Council of a represented world will petition the Senate and choose the name for the newly recognised planet. Prior to this, the leader of a planet might also be called a Governor, or other titles such as President.

Powers
While all States must impose the Common Law, the governing bodies have significant powers to define other laws, either planet-wide through the Governor's Council or state-wide through acts of the Governor or Representatives.