Multi-Tiered Democratic Republic
The Earth Alliance as a whole is governed through a balance of power between a regionally elected representative body called the Senate, a President elected by the Alliance as a whole, and a Judicial Branch, appointed by the President and confirmed by the Senate. Both the Senate, and the President have offices in the Earth Alliance Capitol called Earthdome in Geneva, Switzerland, Earth.

The central body of the government is the EA Senate, a body of voting representatives from each colony and Earth government. The Vice President of the Earth Alliance the President of the EA Senate. The President and Vice President are chosen by popular election in which all Earth Alliance citizens vote. The EA President oversees the executive branch of the government and serves as the Commander-in-Chief of the military, and the head of state. The President also sets foreign policy, and is the chief ambassador to other worlds. The President's term of office is four years. The current President is Susanna Luchenko, who was elected to serve out the remainder of the term of President Morgan Clark then re-elected in 2262. President Clark committed suicide in 2261 at the close of the Earth Alliance Civil War, almost exactly three years after arranging the death of his predecessor, Luis Santiago, and taking power.

The third arm of the EA government is the Judicial arm. The Alliance arbitrates cases involving two or more member countries or crimes involving the death of an EA citizen. Ombudsmen, appointed by the higher courts, have jurisdiction districts. Above the Ombudsmen are appeals courts where lower courts decisions can be reviewed. Finally, there is Final Appeal, which may be heard by the Senate Appeal Board in serious cases.

Different planets and often different regions on a given planet are governed by semi-autonomous local governments which are usually some variation of Earth Alliance democracy. Some regions of Earth have three or four distinct levels of governments, each with a specific jurisdiction (city, province or region) or purpose.

From 2259 to 2261 Earth experienced a slide towards dictatorship starting with the assassination of President Luis Santiago on New Years Eve, 2258. Vice President Clark ascended to the Presidency and manipulated the events of those years to consolidate his hold on power. In 2260, the Orion VII and Proxima III colonies seceded from the Earth Alliance, protesting actions Clark took against the Mars Colony. EarthForce station Babylon 5 also seceded. The station's commander, Captain John J. Sheridan, led a successful campaign to topple the Clark Administration in the latter half of 2261. After the war, Sheridan resigned his EarthForce commission to help heal the division between those EarthForce personnel that fought against him and those that fought under his command.

The Earth Alliance has a tradition of allowing the individual to choose her or his way of life. Its citizens have the opportunity to enjoy a variety of academic, scientific, artistic, or political pursuits during the course of their lives. Human society is one of the few where a member of an alien race can attain a position of power and influence.

Earth boasts an unusually wide variety of religions, beliefs and ideologies that vary from region to region, colony to colony, and outpost to outpost. The result has been a very plastic society capable of accepting and integrating a wide range of beliefs and lifestyles. This ability to adapt and combine has given Humanity the uniquely ability to work with almost every other known race. This ability was crucial to Earth's dramatic economic expansion since going to the stars. It also contributed to Earth's success in the Dilgar War. John Sheridan built on that success when he put together a coalition of alien governments to fight in the Shadow War of 2260-61. This coalition of races came to his aid during our recent civil war, providing him with the resources necessary prosecute the war until EarthForce ships defected to his side in sufficient numbers. Sheridan's coalition also became the basis for the Interstellar Alliance and Sheridan's position as President of that Alliance.

The Earth Alliance originally gained jumpgate and faster than light communication technology from the Centauri Republic approximately 100 years ago. It has recently gained anti-gravity technology from the Minbari through the Interstellar Alliance.

The Earth-Minbari War brought home the need for advanced technology and Earthgov has aggressively sought it since. Special emphasis is put on military technology. In the hundred years since first contact with the Centauri, our ships have grown dramatically in their combat ability. During the Clark Administration, agents from an advanced alien race known only as "The Shadows" provided EarthForce some limited ability to hybridize Shadow organic technology with its normal technology and possibly other weapons advances as well. The result was the experimental Omega II-class Advanced Destroyers, which were used against (and destroyed by) Sheridan's forces during the Earth Alliance Civil War.

The mainstay of EarthForce is the Omega-Class Destroyers and the SA-31A "Thunderbolt" Star Fury. The older Hyperion-class Cruiser and Nova-class Dreadnought continue to operate the SA-23E "Aurora" Star Fury because their fighter bays could not upgrade to the newer Thunderbolt.

The two main branches of EarthForce are the Fleet and the Ground Forces under the command of the President of the Earth Alliance, supervised by the Senate Committee on Planetary Security with the counsel of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. All EarthForce officers use the same rank system regardless of the branch in which they serve.9

The recent civil war has badly polarized EarthForce. Many believed that it was their duty to serve the civilian government, not to act against it. Others believed they could not stand by while the Clark Administration transformed itself into a dictatorship. It is the policy of EarthForce to recognize the integrity of both viewpoints and encourage EarthForce personnel to do so as well.

Earth's first outsystem colony was the colony at Proxima III, established in 2164 and located in what was once called the Proxima Centauri system. Proxima has become one of the Alliance's leading industrial producers. Many of Earth's interstellar corporations have their main offices on Proxima, particularly those who have orbital construction facilities. The relatively empty orbital trajectories around Proxima drew most of this business very early on, and the companies that made this move proved very profitable over time.

One of the Alliance's more recent colonies is the Orion VII colony, a settlement located in the star system originally designated as Ross 614 B. This colony borders on Centauri space. Shortly after its founding in 2178 it became one of the key trade centers between the Alliance and the Centauri Republic.

The EA's newest colony is on Tau Ceti IV. Established in 2249, following the Minbari War, it is still a frontier world. Consisting of only one city of one dome and a couple of research outposts, it is a rough environment. It is near the borders of Centauri and Narn space, making it a trade center between the Alliance and those races.