Ministry of Culture
The Ministry of Culture was founded in TN 1575 to promote the Southern Republic's culture and identity. Its myriad responsibilities include the assimilation of all conquered city-states and ensuring that no foreign trends creep into the Republic's ideology. Many critics see the ministry as little more than the Southern Republic's bureau of propaganda. This view is partly correct. In its constant effort to uphold the state's image, the ministry offers to sponsor artists and entertainers willing to subject their creativity and talent to its guidelines. The ministry also believes that cultural superiority and athletic dominance go hand in hand. Consequently, all Republican professional athletes are at least partially subsidized, and the state has an extensive sports recruitment program designed to spot promising youngsters early on. Although government sponsorship for athletes is common on Terra Nova, few other leagues invest as much money into athleticism as the Republic. Many other methods of glorifying the Republic are supported by the ministry. Its employees distribute free posters of the Prime Minister, support weekly broadcasts of the national anthem Carmina Burana in its entirety, and sponsor ad campaigns that promote the Republic's successful job opportunity programs. In the process, the ministry spends millions of taxpayer dinars. Coupled with legendary administrative inefficiency, these programs make the ministry the second biggest spender of all government groups (After the Ministry of Defense).
While the ministry supposedly stands for all that is good in the Southern Republic, ironically, it is also a master of the league's infamous pastime of subterfuge. In order to promote one ideal, the ministry's propagandists must often subvert another. To help in this process, Minister of Culture Daniel Loucks and many other top bureaucrats keep a network of wellplaced "eyes and ears." They gather information and circulate dark, morally offensive rumors in the social circles of the league. This ability to create scandal is used to undermine enemies of the state or personal rivals - a few bribes to the appropriate persons and a leading social figure can lose his reputation overnight. Loucks is discreet about applying his power, however, because he knows there are those who could have him eliminated just as easily.
Minister Daniel Loucks was hired by the ministry as an artistic advisor, but used cunning to become the youngest member of the ministers Board of Directors before the end of TN 1922. He became associated with the deRouen administration during this period, and was given the minister's chair in TN 1925. Since then, he has joined the Prime Minister's private circle and instigated many propaganda campaigns on his behalf.
Structure
The Ministry of Culture is a gargantuan bureaucracy that few people in Port Oasis can successfully navigate. Minister Loucks' rise to power was based almost exclusively on an ability to manipulate and understand the ministry's ins and outs and he protects his position by keeping its organization opaque. The Ministry is theoretically controlled by a Board of Directors that includes the chairs of all the ministry's directorates. These directorates control activities within a supposedly clearly defined sphere and include the Entertainment Directorate, the Festival Directorate and the Music Directorate, among others. Loucks, however, has confused matters by creating many more directorates with overlapping authority as well as by assigning special project leaders to key issues who sit on the Board and have the authority to appropriate resources. This system creates so much overlap and confusion that only Loucks' personal approval allows a project to make it through the red tape and to the streets of the Republic or the floor of the Estates General. Loucks' management may eventually be his downfall, however, as many of his underlings are coming to resent his control
Public Agenda
The ministry's central agenda is dominated with persuading (by intimidation if necessary) the AST vassal leagues that it is in their best interest to bow before Republican will. Other short and long term goals include the dissemination of Republican culture across the Antarctic, increasing tourism, and spreading false rumors about enemies of the state, for example that the Northern Lights Confederacy is planning an assault through the auspices of the church or that the SPFI are minor nuisances who will be eradicated at the earliest opportunity. The ministy's overall direction is aimed at preserving the Southern Republican way of life, by assuring that Republicans feel good about their government. To this end, Louis Philippe deRouen has exercised tremendous influence over the ministry and its chairman.
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