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From a post I just made to the Bujold list. Tiny spoiler in naming Gregor's eventual wife, if you haven't read that far. More spoilers if you haven't read anything, of course.
Alternate title: "See the violence inherent in the system."
IIRC, at the height of Ezar's power he had a People's Party to contend with, who advocating abolishing the Vor class. I don't think we know how big they were, but it seems unlikely they would have politely vanished on their own for the past 35 years.
Presented with a petition for more democracy on Barrayar, what did Regent Aral do? What does Emperor Gregor do?
Faced with general strikes calling for more democracy, what do they do?
Could Cordelia stay married to a man who was having democracy activists jailed, or democratic riots suppressed without concessions? If so, what would that say about her, or do to her?
Are Barrayarans allowed to publicly advocate for democracy? To ask why Komarrans have more local self-determination than the Barrayarans who conquered them? How would being complicit in a censorship regime affect Cordelia?
If Laisa asks Gregor for Komarr to have more formal say in decisions affecting it, rather than being subject to the whims of the Emperor and Council of Counts, how does he answer his wife?
Given a petition for more democracy within his own County, for a local Duma and Charter of Rights, what does Count Aral do? What would the future Count Miles do? What would any other Count do?
If there hasn't been any democratic activism in the past 35 years, isn't that remarkably convenient, and unlikely compared to what we see on Earth today?
Enlightened despotism sounds great up to a point, but how enlightened is the despot when there's a challenge to his rule?
Alternate title: "See the violence inherent in the system."
IIRC, at the height of Ezar's power he had a People's Party to contend with, who advocating abolishing the Vor class. I don't think we know how big they were, but it seems unlikely they would have politely vanished on their own for the past 35 years.
Presented with a petition for more democracy on Barrayar, what did Regent Aral do? What does Emperor Gregor do?
Faced with general strikes calling for more democracy, what do they do?
Could Cordelia stay married to a man who was having democracy activists jailed, or democratic riots suppressed without concessions? If so, what would that say about her, or do to her?
Are Barrayarans allowed to publicly advocate for democracy? To ask why Komarrans have more local self-determination than the Barrayarans who conquered them? How would being complicit in a censorship regime affect Cordelia?
If Laisa asks Gregor for Komarr to have more formal say in decisions affecting it, rather than being subject to the whims of the Emperor and Council of Counts, how does he answer his wife?
Given a petition for more democracy within his own County, for a local Duma and Charter of Rights, what does Count Aral do? What would the future Count Miles do? What would any other Count do?
If there hasn't been any democratic activism in the past 35 years, isn't that remarkably convenient, and unlikely compared to what we see on Earth today?
Enlightened despotism sounds great up to a point, but how enlightened is the despot when there's a challenge to his rule?