There is a lot of talk in this project about Rosen History and the way governance in the country has evolved over time. However, the Commonwealth's governmental structure can be confusing - this note serves to rectify this issue.

The Executive Branch

The executive branch of the Rosen government is called the Secretariat. The secretariat is officially headed by the Secretary-General, who is the de jure head of government and state for the Commonwealth.
The Secretary-General leads the Secretariat-Directory, a council of senators who set policy for the departments they administer and represent the interests of those departments to the Secretary-General. When these senators are elected to the Directory, they give up their seats in the senate and special elections begin.
What must be made clear about the Directory, and the Secretary-General especially, is that the Secretary-General holds little personal power. Almost all political decisions are deliberated on and delivered collectively by the Directory, with the Secretary-General acting as the one responsible for executing the Directory's policies. In a sense, the Secretariat-Directory is the head of government, and the Secretary-General is the head of state.
To understand how the Directory really works, we need to look at the cabinet. The cabinet is composed of the Secretary-General, the Secretariat-Directory, and the undersecretaries for each federal department. This is a key feature of the Directory - though its members represent federal departments, they don't have a large role in running them. In reality, the secretaries on the Directory merely set vague policy and goals for their department, while their undersecretaries do actual in-depth, day-to-day work.
This ties into the Commonwealth's emphasis on meritocracy - undersecretaries are actually skilled and experienced in the field they oversee, while secretaries are politicians with a skillset centered on leadership and charisma, not technical know-how.

The Legislative Branch

The Rosen Commonwealth's legislature is the Senate. The Senate is composed of 138 senators, who are responsible for representing the populace's interests in the federal government. Senators can serve a maximum of six four-year terms.
Let it be known here that the Rosen Commonwealth is a non-partisan democracy. This means there are no political parties - candidates for elections are picked solely on their views and not a party platform. This helps consensus and effectively vaporizes political polarization (or at least organized political polarization) - a high priority for a country that's seen two civil wars.
The Rosen Commonwealth is composed of 23 Republics. Each republic sends three pairs, and each pair is composed of a male and a female senator^[1][2]. A delegation is expected to act as one; they usually vote together on legislative proposals; but this is not always the case. Sometimes a delegation can be split on an issue. This isn't illegal, per se, but it is uncommon.
The senate proposes and evaluates legislation, manages the economy, approves treaties and declarations of war, and elects the members of the Secretariat-Directory.
Senators also form committees to advise the federal departments on their policy. This means federal departments are basically answerable to three different authorities - senate committees, departmental secretaries and undersecretaries, and labor-focused departmental assemblies.

The Judicial Branch

The Rosen judicial branch is composed of two parallel bodies: the Supreme Judiciary and the Supreme Court of Appeals. The Supreme Judiciary evaluates all legislation passed by the senate and approved by the Directory and determines if it is constitutional. In addition, the Supreme Judiciary determines when law goes into effect (though usually they do not object to the timeframe recommended in the passed legislation).
Justices on the Supreme Judiciary are appointed by the senate and the Secretariat-Directory and are approved by enfranchised citizens. In practice, the senate, through the Judicial Affairs Committee, makes a list of candidates, hands it to the Directory to narrow it down, and then passes it back to the senate where they hold televised hearings^[3] where candidates are questioned to determine if they would be acceptable. Finally, a referendum goes out to all citizens, where they pick the justices they approve.
The Supreme Court of Appeals is similar to the Supreme Judiciary but holds different responsibilities. It judges high profile civil cases - usually between corporations or cases deemed very important by the Department of Justice.

Political Subdivisions

Labor and Workplace Democracy

As some kind of quasi-socialist state, labor politics are very influential in the Rosen Commonwealth. Especially in white-collar government jobs, it is practiced outside the confines of unions and instead used through constitutionally-mandated councils and assemblies that form a hierarchy.
At the bottom is worker councils: functioning like small trade unions, they are groups of workers who collaborate on their area of specialization. They elect a leader who represents them in Worker Assemblies.
Worker assemblies are administrative bodies who manage benefits and privileges like wages, hours, and other regulations. They are composed of one representative from every worker council in that section of the department.
Devolved departments are the republic-level divisions of the federal departments. They are more traditional in structure, with committees and an administrator and that sort of thing. Important figures within devolved departments are elected by the worker assemblies.