The Statecraft Association

Statecraft Association
Organisation for micronationalists
Proposed logo at the time Statecraft fell into inactivity.
Platform	Skype
Official language	English
Membership	10 members
Leadership
General Council	Ives Blackwood Calden Releth Glastieven T Glastieven E Glastieven X
Establishment
– Foundation	15 June 2019

The Statecraft Association, abbreviated to Statecraft, was a failed micronational organisation founded by Ives Blackwood on 15 June 2019 and falling into inactivity a few weeks later. Statecraft had individual micronationalists—rather than states—as members and was intended to raise the standard of discourse in the community and provide a framework for advancing micronationalism as a hobby, an art and a science.

Statecraft was governed under an informal guidance document rather than a constitution or a charter. The main body of the organisation was a Collaborative Assembly, which the guidance document said was "not a legislative organ so much as a discussion and work group", and there was also an elected General Council which would have managed strategic direction and co-ordinated the activities of the organisation. The initial five members of General Council were Blackwood, who chaired the council, Calden Releth, and Glastievens E, T and X. Both the Collaborative Assembly and General Council were hosted on Skype, though the organisation was founded some six months after the community had otherwise stopped using that platform.

History

Background

By June 2019, Blackwood had good form for founding unsuccessful organisations, including the Progressive Micronational Forum (2016), the Micronational Economic Group (2016), the Micronational Association for Finance and Economics (2017), the Intermicronational Association (2017), and another Intermicronational Association (2018).

Some of the ideas that went on to characterise Statecraft were pre-empted by a document worked on by Blackwood, Anthony Clark and Ned Gunderson in December 2016 and March 2017, including avoiding using an acronym as the name, replacing a formal charter with an informal guidance document, and the idea of a Collaborative Assembly. That document also proposed the idea of allowing individuals as well as nations to join as members. Blackwood's second Intermicronational Association also provided inspiration for Statecraft, including the idea of having only individuals as members and building an organisation that existed outside micronational politics and diplomacy.

From 2009 to late 2017, micronational Skype rooms were the main forum for the MicroWiki community, including its various micronational organisations. From early 2018 onwards, the community started to move to Discord, with a particular watershed moment in September 2018 when MicroWiki@Discord was launched and the Skype rooms effectively abandoned by the start of 2019. Some members of the community—including Blackwood—believed that this change was a negative one and that the standard of discourse had been better when the community was using Skype.

Foundation

Blackwood recruited ten people to become members upon the organisation's foundation on 15 June: Blackwood, Zabëlle Skye, Cianan Clough, Neil Murphy, Calden Releth, Dante Molina and Glastievens E, T, X and Z; Smith, Murphy, Molina and Z did not have Skype and so effectively took no further part in the organisation.

Statecraft stayed active until 30 June.

Failure

The Collaborative Assembly was inactive until 17 July, when Clough started a Google Drive to co-ordinate future work on projects, and again until 18 August, when Blackwood suggested reviving the project and no-one responded. Blackwood again suggested a revival on 30 November and again received no response.

Organisation

Structure

The main body of the Statecraft Association was the Collaborative Assembly, which was intended to be a discussion and work group based on a loose principle of consensus, with votes only to be taken on formal matters. In the short lifetime of the project, the Collaborative Assembly effectively functioned as a planning chat for intended future projects. The guidance document also established the option to create sub-committees with their own Skype rooms, each led by a chair responsible for facilitating the committee's work and keeping it on task.

The other permanent body in Statecraft was General Council (GC), elected by the Collaborative Assembly and containing either five or ten members depending on the size of the organisation. GC had a chair who kept the group on task and was permitted to select other officers to assist her or him.

It was provided for in the guidance document that if Statecraft became large enough to merit it, the Collaborative Assembly could approve the corporation of autonomous organisations or committees, though that document noted that "what can be done by a Y.A.M.O. can just be done by a group of people within Statecraft". It was also stated that for something to become a Statecraft-endorsed standard, GC or the Collaborate Assembly should vote on it, with the Collaborative Assembly able to override GC on this.

Proposed projects

• Research, e.g. surveys of the community
• Community indexes
• Intellectual property guidelines
• Mediation council or informal equivalent to the GUM Supreme Court
• Consultancy services
• Legislation sharing and development
• Legal advice
• Policy recommendations
• Judicial treaties and recommendations
• Work on micropatriology and other abstract micronational ideas
• Organising summits
• Collaborative news source
• Awards, like the RadioMicro Awards
• Work on developing wiki articles
• Nomenclature standards
• Flag and coat of arms design assistance