Parliament of Doges

Gretarian government is known the Parliament of Doges. Unlike many other species who first formed large nation-states before uniting into a planetary government, the base unit of Gretarian government is the city-state. The Parliament is made up of representatives from individual cities (and other communities of interest). Once upon a time these were the supreme executives of each city (translated as 'doge'), though in modern times planetary government is a full time job requiring a dedicated representative separate from the city's executive. The name remains.

History
Due to their love of discussion, Gretarians have long favored participatory government where all residents can come together to hear speakers on important issues of the day before casting their ballot (or at least making their opinion known). In pre-modern times this meant citizens had to live within a day's walking distance of the center of government and hence most governments were confined to cities and towns rather than continent-spanning nations. As the Gretarians do not practice war, there was no security threat forcing these cities to combine into larger polities for survival.

Despite this, it was very common for Gretarian cities to produce a head executive through formal or informal practices. The Universal Translator translates this a “doge” rather than the more common word “mayor” in order add a connotation of wealth and power combined with executive power. One of the most serious social problems that the Gretarians have struggled with through their history is a tendency to allow oligarchic concentrations of wealth which then translated into political power through buying influence or simply buying votes directly.

As technology advanced, Gretarian cities naturally found more and more issues which required cross-city cooperation and consensus across a broad geographic area. As this could no longer be effectively managed by bilateral agreements between individual doges, one region of one continent formed the first[1] “Parliament of Doges” where leaders from many cities would formally meet together to discuss issues and vote on binding agreements. At first these meetings occurred only once per decade and were sharply limited in scope, but over the course of centuries and many reforms and revisions the Parliament expanded to become a true planetary government.

Structure
The Parliament is made up of many thousands of representatives of both geographically delineated communities of a certain size and (in modern times) interest groups that are connected by shared values rather shared geography. Unusually for a democratic system, a single Gretarians can have more than one representative representing different parts of their interests. In example, a Gretarian might have one “doge” for the city in which they physically live and another for a professional association to which they belong. Potential gaming of the system is averted by requiring extensive time commitments to justify votes for representatives not based on geographical residency.

There is no cap on number of members of the Parliament, and it has ballooned an immense size. This means that many senior positions that other governments would fill with civil servants are staffed with Parliament Members. However it also means that it's nearly impossible to get anything done via Parliament-wide discussions and members must effectively form in-Parliament political groups who then vote internally for representatives to carry their proxy vote.

Supreme executive authority rests with a three member council elected to fixed terms on a staggered schedule so that only one of the three is up for election at any given time. Membership in the Executive Council translates to something like “Best Doge”.

[1] Of course it was not the first by any means, merely the first with a clear historical link to the modern day Parliament.