Government in the Pokemon World

I brought this up over irc, and I guess I thought that I might get a few more interesting responses/discussion if I brought it to the forum. And it's not like we are overrun with pokemon-related topics here.

But yes.
Does the Pokemon world have a government? The only hinting at this I have noticed in the parts of the anime I've watched (pilot to somewhere at the beginning of advanced) is the inclusion of an active police force.
To have an effective police force, one needs a legal system.
Generally a legal system points to a government of some sort.

Zhorken presented an interesting theory related to the Pokemon League and if he doesn't feel like posting I'll go ahead and relay it into this thread


but yeah, discuss.

It wasn't really much of a theory; I just noted that the Pokémon league seems to regulate a lot of things related to Pokémon in the anime. I remember Jennies making arrests for violations of Pokémon league regulations, and there seem to be a lot more people involved in the anime's leagues* than in, say, the games', which pretty much just consist of the elite four. The league acts as some sort of body of law, even if it doesn't cover everything.

*assuming each region's isn't really connected to the other regions'

I'd always just assumed that the Pokémon Champion of the region was the prime minister or president of the region in question, themselves and the elite four making a cabinet of some kind. That way in the unlikely event that the country's ruler is say 10, then the remainder of the cabinet can vote either for or against the champion's next law or policy which they'd like to introduce.

However, there is always the possibility that if they're underage then the Elite Four take place as the main government system until the Champion either comes of age for that region, quite possibly an international law which is the same for all regions (thus making it difficult to change), or is defeated by another trainer who then becomes the champion and therefore the government head of that region.

After that there is of course the law enforcement, ie Officer Jenny and her gang of Jennys, who enforce the laws set down by the present Pokémon league.

I suppose the Elite Four are in charge of certain provinces in the league and probably take ideas to put forewards to the Pokémon Champion.

I thought for a long time that the League might have something to do with the government in the Pokemon world, but now I don't think that sounds very feasible; I always considered it to be more along the lines of a sports league, and it'd be pretty silly if the NFL or something were in charge of the government in real life (although admittedly Pokemon has a much much bigger role in pretty much everyone's life in the Pokemon world). I also don't really like the idea of anyone being able to rise to power just by having the strongest Pokemon. This is all just me though. :V

I guess it's possible that the League governs all things pertaining to Pokemon including things like abuse and theft, although I guess those things would have to be made illegal by the government to be grounds for arrest. I'm... really not sure where I'm going with this. Interesting topic, though. [lurks]

Has anyone in the anime ever gotten arrested or otherwise in legal trouble for an issue unrelated to Pokemon? I haven't seen a lot of the anime, but I don't recall anything.

Xikaze said:

Has anyone in the anime ever gotten arrested or otherwise in legal trouble for an issue unrelated to Pokemon? I haven't seen a lot of the anime, but I don't recall anything.

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Nothing comes to mind of anything completely unrelated to Pokemon being punished, but:

Jenny was after the Squirtle Squad, which didn't involve people doing things to Pokemon but rather Pokemon going around and causing trouble. I'd imagine she'd be after people too if they were doing the same things as the Squirtle Squad.

I remember a few instances of Team Rocket getting in trouble for running fake businesses and whatnot, but I think all of those were related to Pokemon.

In one episode Jenny arrests Ash's group for breaking into that fake breeder's shop. I don't remember if it was just because they were breaking in or because she thought they were trying to steal the Pokemon.

So, I went and got a fudgesicle, thought about this too much, and mostly only found more questions. But they're interesting questions!

First off, Science and technology there are far ahead of what we have in real life - being able to create things like Mewtwo, revive fossils, store and transport living things over a computer network. Hell, the Pokeball itself is pretty complex. How are those researchers getting the funding for this stuff?

There appear to be large corporations - see Devon, Silph Co. It seemed as though both of those companies were connected to a lot of scientific breakthroughs (i.e. the Silph Scope, all the balls that Devon designed). Are large corporations mostly responsible for giving researchers funding? Does the government contribute as well?

Since the Pokemon Centers provide service for free, that kind of hints at publicly-funded healthcare, but you don't really know anything about how healthcare for humans is handled. I guess it could be that the League funds the Pokemon Centers. Is the League funded by the government, for that matter? Of course, there's always the theory that the League is the government.

In my imagined Pokeworld:

--The Pokemon Master (or Mistress, if a girl is in charge) is the ruler over all regions with a league. (s/he does interact with Orre and Fiore, though) The Master/Mistress then has an inner circle of at least four attendants, who the E4 and Champion of each league report to. If the Master/Mistress is underage, the Champion/E4 serve as regents until the Master/Mistress is old enough to rule.

Hehe, Speakle, that was amazing X3

Spaekle Oddberry said:

Since the Pokemon Centers provide service for free, that kind of hints at publicly-funded healthcare, but you don't really know anything about how healthcare for humans is handled. I guess it could be that the League funds the Pokemon Centers. Is the League funded by the government, for that matter? Of course, there's always the theory that the League is the government.

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Correct me if I'm wrong; I haven't seen the episode in absolutely ages, but I'm fairly sure there was a human doctor, or at least, something to do with a hospital for people in the episode A Chansey Operation.
Plus, they're called Nurse Joy, rather than, say, Vetinary Assistant Joy, which also suggests that they have human-helping abilities, too.
Disregarding the all-purpose, 5-seconds-and-an-amusing-chime-later machine we see in-game, the Pokemon Centres in the anime have operation tables and other equipment one would expect to see in a human hospital, so it's not a stretch to imagine humans going to Pokemon Centres when they get ill, too.

I'm assuming that some kind of governmental funding would be needed, but it's also possible that there's a fee to pay to get (and, presumably, renew) your Trainer's Licence, and the money from that (which I'm guessing goes to the Pokemon League) goes towards the creation and maintainance of Pokemon Centres.

I think it's either a highly devolved government or a confederation of cities. Or, it's just a bunch of city-states that cooperate and share a common legal system and possibly police force.

I imagine they gather taxes, and pay into a common healthcare system.

Spaekle Oddberry said:

I thought for a long time that the League might have something to do with the government in the Pokemon world, but now I don't think that sounds very feasible; I always considered it to be more along the lines of a sports league, and it'd be pretty silly if the NFL or something were in charge of the government in real life (although admittedly Pokemon has a much much bigger role in pretty much everyone's life in the Pokemon world). I also don't really like the idea of anyone being able to rise to power just by having the strongest Pokemon. This is all just me though. :V

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Well, it makes sense. After all, if you controlled the most powerful of a species capable of wiping out whole cities, then you might as well be in charge

I think that there is a president/prime minister of each region independent of the Pokemon League, with the exception of Johto, as I think Johto's head of state would also be Kanto's, i.e. I don't see Johto as an autonomous state.

They also have schools, which generally need a government to run.

I think the Elite Four and the Champion are in charge of the region, and the Gym leaders are in charge ("mayors" if you will) of the towns (which are like states.) I suppose for Gymless towns the neighboring town governs it.

In Pastoria one of the people says that Wake will do Defog if they need it, that may hint at something.

In Fiore the Ranger base leaders cooperate to form a government.

I've never played XD so I don't know about Orre.

Zoltea suggested in this thread that it's actually the Pokemon Professors who dictate the government.

Theory #1: The Pokemon World is run by a Socialist government. Prices are set according to standards made by the state. Pokecenters are of a universal health care system, and the active police force is controlled by the state. Corporations like Silph Co. are mostly funded by the government, and new Pokemon research is also heavily funded this way. The Pokemon League is also run by the state, with trainer licenses being distributed much like how drivers licenses are. Gym leaders can make their own gym if they want, but it must be approved before becoming official (this is why the Saffron dojo isn't a real gym, but can still be run as one). Pokemon levels and amounts are maintained by the government, to ensure trainers a challenging but rewarding experience.

Theory #2: The Pokemon World is a Corpocracy, and there is no elected government. Silph Co. is a large monopoly controlling the development of the Pokeball, the Master Ball, and the like. The Pokemon League is run by a megacorporation that controls the production, handling, and distribution of trainer licenses, Pokemarts, Pokecenters, and the school system. They also enforce the rules with their own police force. Scientists and researchers are funded and controlled by companies, such as Silph Co. or the Pokemon League. Pokemon are run wild, but anti-corporate organizations like Team Rocket sometimes tamper with this.

Correct me if I'm wrong; I haven't seen the episode in absolutely ages, but I'm fairly sure there was a human doctor, or at least, something to do with a hospital for people in the episode A Chansey Operation.
Plus, they're called Nurse Joy, rather than, say, Vetinary Assistant Joy, which also suggests that they have human-helping abilities, too.
Disregarding the all-purpose, 5-seconds-and-an-amusing-chime-later machine we see in-game, the Pokemon Centres in the anime have operation tables and other equipment one would expect to see in a human hospital, so it's not a stretch to imagine humans going to Pokemon Centres when they get ill, too.

Click to expand...

He was a human doctor in a human hospital that the gang took Pikachu to because there wasn't a Pokecenter/The Pokecenter was out of buisness or something. He then was forced to care for a lot of other pokemon

So, in the anime at least there are ordinary hospitals, but considering that in the games people that are sick or ill with whatever are always just seen at home, its hard to tell

As for goverments, I've always figured that the Pokemon League is the goverment. The Elite Four and Gym Leaders are elected officials- The Gym Leaders are like mayors, and the Four are like multiple Presidents at once. They also serve league roles by battling trainers. The Pokemon League Champion I believe has little actual legal power, but is instead sent by the League to deal with any threats the police can't handle- Thus why Lance was helping to bust up Team Rocket at the Lake of Rage, why Steven was helping you fight Team Magma in the space place, and why Cynthia gave you a hand in the Torn World.

Each city is probably fairly autonomous, with perhaps an elected mayor. I'd say that "towns" would fall under the jurisdiction of the nearest "city" - so Pallet Town would belong to Viridian City etc.

The mayors have probably agreed on a set of laws in accordance with the League, especially relating to pokémon. We don't have much information on actual laws, since we only get shown things relating to pokémon. Plus, ten year olds probably aren't planning diamond heists, you know?

There's probably little in the way of organised government. The Pokémon Centres are probably funded by the League, which can potentially generate a fuckton of cash. I assume the PokéMarts are run as franchised businesses.