Hi,
I'm bringing this up because...well it interested me. I was just wondering what people's opinion on the way the government of the Wizarding World is run.
It seems that the Head of State is the Minister for Magic, with various departments under his or her control. These are:

• The Department of Magical Law Enforcement - including the Auror Office, Improper Use of Magic Office, Wizengamot?, Magical Law Enforcement Squad, Misuse of Muggle Artefacts Office and later the Detection and Confiscation of Counterfeit Defensive Spells and Protective Objects Office
• The Department of Magical Accidents or Catastrophes - including the Accidental Magic Reversal Squad, Obliviator HQ and the Muggle-Worthy Excuse Committee
• Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures - including Beast, Being and Spirit Divisions as well as the Goblin and Centaur Liasion Offices.
• Department of International Magical Co-Operation - including International Magical Trading Standards Body, the International Magical Office of Law, and the British seats of the International Confederation of Wizards.
• Department of Magical Transportation - including Floo Network Authority, Broom Regulatory Control, Portkey Office and Apparition Test Centre.
• Department of Magical Games and Sports - British and Irish Quidditch League Headquarters, Official Gobstones Club, and the Ludicrous Patents Office.
• Department of Mysteries

The Ministry seems to be the largest employer of witches and wizards in the country. Thousands of people are employed there. It tends to be incredibly beaurocratic and prone to corruption. The post of Minister itself just seems to be another job to which someone can be appointed rather than an elected official.

Having said that the Ministry does relies heavily on public support.

I was just wondering what everyone thought about it. Here are a few questions to get us started.

Because the Head of State is not elected does this mean it is a dictatorship of some sort, and if not, is there a minimum or maximum term of office for a Minister of Magic?

The Wizengamot seems to be the only form of a judiciary, it cannot possibly be present at the passing of judgement at every criminal sentencing. Is a trial even a common occurence for criminals? And if so, do they have anything resembling a jury?

Because the Head of State is not elected does this mean it is a dictatorship of some sort, and if not, is there a minimum or maximum term of office for a Minister of Magic?

I don't think it's a dictatorship. Clearly the Ministry of Magic position is influenced by others. I think it takes a certain person to be able to handle the job and not succumb to outside influences, like Fudge. Lucious Malfoy, might as well have been Minister. It takes an intelligent, strong minded individual to stand up to others and do whats right, not what's being forced upon them.

I don't believe there is a set term for the Minister of Magic. I think that when one stands down or is thrown out of office is how it basically works. When the Minister of Magic steps down, he appoints his successor. And if thrown out, I think the next person depends on who's in a position of power.

For example, after fudge, Voldemort was acting as the minister through Pius Thicknesse by use of the Imperius Curse. After Voldy was defeated the job went to Shackelbolt, and rightfully so. Being head Auror, I think he was an excellent choice for minister.

The Wizengamot seems to be the only form of a judiciary, it cannot possibly be present at the passing of judgment at every criminal sentencing. Is a trial even a common occurrence for criminals? And if so, do they have anything resembling a jury?

The Wizengamot, as far as we know is the only judiciary branch the wizarding community has. Being that it's a world of magic, I can believe that the Wizenagmot could be present at every hearing, they do set the time and date.

But in the case of the mudbloods in Deathly Hallows, the Wizengamot wasn't present for the proceedings. I think because it wasn't a criminal trial, it was done by the evil Dolores Umbridge, a death eater and Hermione disguised as Mafalda Hopkirk, who works in the Improper Use of Magic Office, and served as the "court reporter" for the hearings on Mudbloods.

So with that said, if the trial being conducted is criminal, then yes, I do believe the Wizengamot would be present at every one. For a criminal...I do believe a trial is common if not mandatory.

As far as the jurors. Well, you would be looking them straight in the face. The Wizengamot is the judge, jury and executioner (so to speak).

Great questions by the way!!
Dawn

I do believe the Wizengamot would be present at every one

But during Harry's trial in OOTP Dumbledore is amazed to find him tried by the entire Wizengamot. And he should know, he used to be Chief Warlock.
Perhaps then, if a criminal is caught in wrongdoing they are simply convicted by representatives of the Dept. for Magical Law Enforcment...
We know for example that as head of the Misuse of Muggle Artefacts office that Mr Weasley has the power to impose warnings.

We have also seen that during the First War that numerous people were convicted without trials, among them Sirius Black.
I believe that Kinglsey and Hermione would have reformed the system after the Second War, so all hope is not lost.

Fudge said he was sacked as Minister but who would have a power beyond the minister? A board or committee?

I think the entire Wizengamot holds the trials for criminals. In the case of Harry in OOTP, Harry wasn't a criminal by any means. He was merely defending himself and Dudley. But, if you remember at the end of GoF, Harry says that Voldemort is back and Dumbledore believes him. And against ministry orders, Dumbledore decides to tell the entire school that Cedric was murdered by Voldemort.

Fudge, has been out of his mind worrying about Dumbledore going after his job. He slanders Harry and Dumbledore in the newspaper and publicly says they are liars. So when the opportunity to expel Harry presents itself, Fudge jumps at the chance.

The point is that, Fudge overreacted to Harry's situation. He wanted so badly to discredit him and Dumbledore that he hastily put the trial together and included the entire wizengamot. In hopes of getting rid of Harry and silencing Dumbledore once and for all.

I thought the Magical law enforcement is much like police. They find those who have broken the law and bring them in to be questioned and possibly charged. Then on to your trial.

Sirius didn't have a trial, I think because of the witnesses that were there and the state of mind the wizarding world was in. Voldemort was wreaking havoc, people were dying, everything was just chaos. If they had a trial for Sirius, like they should have, they might have found out that he was innocent in the first place. In my opinion the Magical Law Enforcement and the Wizengamot dropped the ball on that one.


Fudge said he was sacked as Minister but who would have a power beyond the minister? A board or committee?

I think it's the same group of Governor's that have the power to remove the headmaster of Hogwarts. There has to be an anonymous decision among the Governor's in order for action to be taken. I think there are 13 Governors.

Like in SS, how Lucious threatened the other Governor's to sign a petition to have Dumbledore removed from Hogwarts. I think it's the same group that can remove the Minister of Magic. I've found no facts on this...it's just my opinion.

Dawn

Fudge said he was sacked as Minister but who would have a power beyond the minister? A board or committee?

I think that maybe the wizarding world has some sort of democracy, and the people may have a vote on it if the problem becomes to big. The wizards and witches seem to have some say, if only a little bit, in what goes on, Fudge doesn't seem like a controlling dictator to me, more of a Prime Minister.
Since I'm talking about wizarding government, I'd have to say that Voldemort was an extreme dictator. Picture Hilter. There you go, you've got the picture.

Fudge said he was sacked as Minister but who would have a power beyond the minister? A board or committee?

I think there could be a board or committee with equal power as him like the United States government's checks and balances system which give our Judicial,Executive, and Legislative branches equal power. So say he isn't doing a good job their "Legislature" could vote and impeach him like the US's congress can do to our president.

In the wizarding world wouldn't this legislature be the board of governors? They seem to have a lot of power and it's the only group we know of, other than the wizengamot. I say, either the governors vote to have the minister of magic removed...or the wizengamot votes to have the minister removed.

These are the only two groups that we know of. It's seems logical that it would be one of the two.



I don't see Fudge as a dictator either. But, he is very controlling. He controlled the Daily Prophet and had them print awful things about Dumbledore and Harry. Anyone that had suspicions that Voldemort was back would be slandered by Fudge and who knows what else. Once it couldn't be denied that Voldemort was in fact back, someone made the right decision on sacking him. Whether it was the Wizengamot, the governors or someone else...who knows.

Dawn

The Board of Governors was a group, I believe, solely dedicated to watching over the actions of the Headmaster of Hogwarts. Every individual leader should have some sort of checks and balances, and that was the purpose of the Governors.

However, I believe the Wizengamot, should the topic be brought to a vote, could indeed sack the Minister if he was not performing to standards.

I believe that was the case with Fudge.

I've been thinking about that myself and I'm glad that there are other people as well who ponder on such matters. The position of Minister had been offered to Dumbledore and he refused it. Who made the offer? What shady committee is that that has such power and no other known activity? How far does its power stretch? And what about abroad? Does every country in the world have a wizarding world and government hidden within them? There’s mention of two other schools abroad in the goblet of fire, prison Nurmengard in the deathly Hallows which is apparently in another country (Bulgaria?) and of course Grindelwald who came from abroad and made friends with Dumbledore. Let’s not forget that Karkarof, the headmaster of the Bulgarian school, is a death eater and he was tried by the Wizengamot in London after Voldy had fallen. So my question is how far does the jurisdiction of the British Minister of Magic reach in the world? Are there consecutively other Ministers of Magic in other muggle countries or the wizarding community and state go over muggle frontiers? They keep mentioning “abroad” but where is it? And what about the war? What’s going on in the other areas while war rages apparently only in Britain? Do wizards from other countries take part and choose sides? We saw Ron impersonating a foreign wizard who doesn’t speak English when they were trying to break into Gringot’s so there are more out there. Where do they stand?
Lots of questions for a Christmas day.
Merry Christmas everyone!

I'm pretty sure since they're wizards, they don't have the same troubles we do. I think when their leader is terrible for long enough they just over throw him. I don't think they have the most stable government, but oh well. I don't have much interest in understanding the MoM. To me it kind of seems like it's just a bunch of powerful wizards who just do whatever they want.

I think the wizards have as many, if not more problems than our own government. Not only do they have to run an entire community but also they have to keep it secret! Imagine the United States or England trying to run their government and keep itself and their people undetected! It would be an astronomical task.

Remember, they have magic but so do their opponents. We think corruption is bad, imagine corruption with side of imperio and curses as well!

Rereading what I said earlier, I just wanted to make it clear that I didn't mean that I didn't think the MoM had fewer troubles than muggle governments. I just meant that they had different kinds of troubles.