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Encyclopedia > Shadow government

A shadow government is a "government-in-waiting" that remains in waiting with the intent to take control of the government in response to some event.


In parliamentary governments, it is common for the opposition party to have a shadow government in which top leaders of the opposition are prepared to assume certain ministries should the opposition come to power.


It is also used as a somewhat pejorative term to denote a government that takes over in the event of a disaster. Guerrillas sometimes have equivalent structures to the present government in hopes that when the guerrilla-group overthrows the present government, the guerrilla-forces will more easily be able to transition from militarist to administrative capacity. Also, the term "shadow government" can be used loosely to refer to a guerrilla-force that controls and administers the majority of the physical area of a country, rendering the official national government significantly less able to administer its policies. Some consider the current strength of the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist) and the New People's Army to be to this degree. Look up guerrilla in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... Militarism is the ideology that military strength is the source of all security. ... Organisational use In some organisational analyses, administration can refer to the bureaucratic or operational performance of mundane office tasks, usually internally oriented. ... The Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist) or CPN(M) is a Maoist political party founded in 1994 and led by Pushpa Kamal Dahal, otherwise known as Prachanda. ... The New Peoples Army, or NPA, is a communist-based revolutionary group in the Philippines, formed in March 29, 1969. ...


In nations with less apparent strife, there are several safeguards in place in the event of a disaster strong enough to disrupt the functioning of the government. The United States has Continuity of Operations Plan, Continuity of Government and the presidential line of succession plans. The Stanley R. Mickelson Safeguard complex in Nekoma, North Dakota, with the separate long-range detection radar located further north at Concrete, North Dakota, was the only operational anti-ballistic missile system ever deployed by the United States. ... The U.S. Government has for some time had Continuity of Operations Plans (or Continuity of Government) plans. ... Continuity of government (COG) is the principle of establishing defined procedures that allow a government to continue its essential operations in case of a nuclear war or other catastrophic event. ... The presidential line of succession defines who may become or act as President of the United States upon the incapacity, death, resignation, or removal from office (by impeachment and subsequent removal) of a sitting President or a President-elect. ...


In the United Kingdom the Civil Contingencies Secretariat is responsible for planning for government continuity in the event of a catastrophe. None of these safeguards is itself a "shadow government", but they provide, at least in theory, a blueprint for what to do if the governmental structure collapses. Responsibility for emergency planning in the United Kingdom was transferred from the Home Office to the Cabinet Office in 2001. ...


In fictional works

The concept is popular in many books, movies, and other productions that focus on or use as thematic elements conspiracy theories and/or science fiction. Conspiracy-theorists define shadow government as a secret government within the government. This secret government is the "real" government that controls the known government's basic course. The members' identities and meeting-halls of the secret shadow government are known by only a select few. This secret government is often portrayed as corrupt and having connections to the CIA, Illuminati, and Freemasons. It usually knows about and handles weird situations that are kept secret, such as the New World Order, the Apocalypse, aliens, the Antichrist, demons, human body- or soul harvesting, missing persons, experiments on people, etc. The shadow government is often funded by money that has been purposely "misplaced" within the government's system, or concealed behind government-contract projects that are false fronts for other undertakings. A conspiracy theory attempts to explain the ultimate cause of an event (usually a political, social, or historical event) as a secret, and often deceptive, plot by a covert alliance of powerful people or organizations rather than as an overt activity or as natural occurrence. ... Science fiction is a form of speculative fiction principally dealing with the impact of imagined science and technology, or both, upon society and persons as individuals. ... The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) is an intelligence agency of the United States Government. ... The Illuminati is the name of many groups, modern and historical, real and fictitious, verified and alleged. ... American Square & Compasses Freemasonry is a worldwide fraternal organization. ... The term new world order has been used to refer to a new period of history evidencing a dramatic change in world political thought and the balance of power. ... Look up Apocalypse in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... The Arecibo Observatory in Puerto Rico, currently used by the SETI project in the search for extraterrestrial life Extraterrestrial life is life that may exist and originate outside the planet Earth, the only place in the universe currently known to support life. ... This article deals with the religious term. ... St. ... Missing statue in a park A missing person is someone who has disappeared for a long period of time, commonly with no known reason. ... Human experimentation involves medical experiments performed on human beings. ...


See also

The Shadow Cabinet (also called the Shadow Front Bench) is a senior group of opposition spokespeople in the Westminster system of government who together under the leadership of the Leader of the Opposition (or the leader of other smaller opposition parties) form an alternative cabinet to the governments, whose... Continuity of government (COG) is the principle of establishing defined procedures that allow a government to continue its essential operations in case of a nuclear war or other catastrophic event. ...

External links


  Results from FactBites:
 
Shadow government - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (390 words)
A shadow government is a "government-in-waiting" that remains in waiting with the intent to take control of the government in response to some event.
In parliamentary governments, it is common for the opposition party to have a shadow government in which top leaders of the opposition are prepared to assume certain ministries should the opposition come to power.
Also, the term "shadow government" can be used loosely to refer to a guerrilla-force that controls and administers the majority of the physical area of a country, rendering the official national government significantly less able to administer its policies.
shadow: Definition, Synonyms and Much More From Answers.com (2227 words)
A cross-section of a shadow (a silhouette) is displaced by the motion of an object in front of a point source of light.
The term shadow is also used with regard to other things than light, for example rain: a rain shadow is a dry area, which, with respect to the prevailing wind direction, is beyond a mountain range; it is dry because air masses lose part of their water when they move over these mountains.
Shadows, mainly in this genre, are said to be the departed souls of people that have had their lives tragically cut short or did not receive acceptance in heaven or hell.
  More results at FactBites »


 

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