Purpose of the Thread
As I stated in the "Questions" thread, I'm looking for an org chart for the Ministry of Magic. At the suggestion of Sesc I've started this thread to help develop my own and solicit comments from the community about such a task.

The purpose of this thread is to discern, as canonically as possible, the hierarchy of the various departments, offices, and other subdivisions of the Ministry of Magic. My own personal org chart is going to be a gussied up Excel file (I couldn't find a cloud app equivalent that did precisely what I wanted; if you know of one then I'd love to hear about it), that I plan on eventually posting a link to when it gets closer to a finished version, however a simple hierarchical list will be maintained in this thread as well. Discussion is welcome, but I would prefer sources (from the Books or Pottermore primarily) to fanon. I would also like to avoid the problems that plague the Harry Potter wiki, so citations are a must.

I'm being a little pedantic here, but I want to make sure that everything I put into the org chart is as sourced as possible. I also want to keep this organized, so when discussing an organization you believe should be added to the org chart, this is the format I believe would work best (though I'm open to thoughts about various fields to be added or deleted):

Current Research

Organization: Ministry of Magic
Title of Leader: Minister of Magic
Parent Organization: (none or unknown/unclear)
Purpose: Among other things, maintaining the Statute of Secrecy.
Source(s):

Organization: Department of Magical Law Enforcement
Title of Leader: Head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement
Parent Organization: Ministry of Magic
Child Organization(s): Improper Use of Magic Office, Auror Office, Wizengamot Administration Services.
Purpose: A large bureaucratic organization concerned with the enforcement of magical laws
Source(s):

Organization: Improper Use of Magic Office
Title of Leader: Unknown/unclear
Parent Organization: Department of Magical Law Enforcement (see above)
Purpose: Enforcement of the Decree for the Reasonable Restriction of Underage Sorcery, 1875.
Source(s):

The above three entries can be collated into the barebones org chart below:

Ministry of Magic
Leader: Minister of Magic

• Department of Magical Law Enforcement
  Leader: Head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement
  
  • Improper Use of Magic Office
  • Auror Office
  • Wizengamot Administration Services

Concluding Thoughts

For conciseness I'll stop there. However, this shows what I believe to be the best methodology for creating this organizational chart. Obviously the current chart isn't exhaustive (it doesn't include, based on what I can remember from the top of my head for instance, the Department of Mysteries, the Department of Magical Games and Sport, or the Accidental Magic Reversal Squad) but I think it's at least a good start to get the ball rolling.

For the moment I'm not interested in who fills what roles in the Ministry of Magic (as individuals change positions over the course of the story), but a simple framework that can be applied to both canon and changes a given author might make in their own fanfiction universe. As we nail down the majority of the divisions and subdivisions of the Ministry I expect to produce as canon-compliant as possible org charts for obvious time periods (i.e. the Fudge Administration, ca. 1991; Scrimgeour Administration, '96-7; Kingsley Shacklebolt's epilogue administration, etc.), but for now I think that would unnecessarily distract from this thread's focus.

Furthermore, I think it would not be out of the question to debate reasonable inferences that could be supported by canon. So, for instance, the idea that Dolores Umbridge is the Senior Undersecretary to the Minister of Magic suggests other "junior" Undersecretary positions. It's not a canonical assertion, but it is a reasonable one given that terminology. For what I would consider an unreasonable inference, compare that to inventing a "Department of Magical Cores" out of whole cloth.

Anyway, I hope this thread isn't a completely horrible idea, and welcome any contributions people want to make. Thanks for reading and check back on the progress any time.

 

Cool thread, bro.

I know that the MoM is pretty much a separate government entity, but isn't the parent organization technically the British government? Opening chapter of HBP, IIRC. Sure, wizards are like, fuck muggles, we got our own problems, but Prime Minister>Minister for Magic, at least in theory, right?

I'm generalizing with the fuck muggles thing.

 

It's not particularly clear what the de jure relationship between the Ministry of Magic and the muggle government is in the text. So far as I can tell, the only duty the MoM owes to the PM is to notify the PM of "something really serious, something that's likely to affect the Muggles..." So, basically, anything likely to upend the Statute of Secrecy (i.e. Sirius Black's escape, Death Eaters at the Quidditch World Cup, the importation of magical creatures for the Triwizard Tournament, etc.).

I'm trying to find a source on it, but I seem to recall the Ministry having been a consequence of the International Statute of Secrecy and not an act of parliament, further supporting the idea that the MOM is independent of and parallel to the muggle government. However, I think without a solid statement either way, "unclear" is a pretty good default position.

 

This is pretty much entering the realm of speculation. However, have some thoughts:

- The MfM may or may not be a part of the British state. The HBP visit is unclear, because we don't know to what extent it was mandatory, and to what extent merely Ministry custom.

- If the Minister for Magic is subordinate to the Prime Minister, it will mean that they are, formally at least, a member of the Cabinet. The problem with this is that the MfM is not appointed by the Prime Minister, who controls the composition of the Cabinet, but rather directly elected in a separate election to Parliament. Further, the PM has no control over the MfM's actions, nor does the MfM participate in collective Cabinet responsibility.

- However, there does appear to be some kind of link between the PM and the MfM.

- It should be remembered that the executive government, while run by the Prime Minister in practice, is the government of the Crown. No powers are formally vested in the Prime Minister. He wields executive power from the Queen and legislative power via his majority in Parliament. The MfM can be part of the executive government, therefore, without being subordinate to the Prime Minister, if his executive power comes directly from the Queen, not the Prime Minister. The Cabinet and the Ministry of Magic would therefore be parallel British governments with responsibilities divided between them, with neither one superior to the other, but both subordinate to the Crown. If this is the case, it seems likely that the Minister for Magic would be a member of the Queen's Privy Council, as the Cabinet is.

- It is also possible, however, that the Ministry of Magic is empowered not by the Crown's executive prerogatives, but by the legislative supremacy of Parliament. Parliament could have passed secret legislation creating the Ministry of Magic and empowering it with significant authority to make secondary legislation on magical affairs. If this is the case, then the Minister for Magic is not subordinate to the PM, but would be, in theory, subject to the jurisdiction of the courts (as all secondary legislation is). The timing of the foundation of the Ministry of Magic (1707, according to Pottermore) makes it more likely that Parliament created it than the Crown, because this is post-civil war and therefore in the era after Parliament has established itself superior in authority to the Crown. However, it could be that the Wizards' Council was a part of the Crown and the Ministry of Magic continues with the same authority, simply having been renamed.

- But of course, its entirely possible, likely even, that wizards created both the Wizards' Council and the Ministry of Magic themselves, without any formal empowerment by Muggle authority.

While we're on the subject of Muggle comparisons, on the topic of Senior Under-Secretaries in the British governmental tradition:

- There are two types of Under-Secretary, both of which are very senior positions.

- A Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State is an elected Member of Parliament who is a part of the executive, working beneath the Secretary of State (i.e. the Cabinet Minister) responsible for that department of government. The role junior to them is a Parliamentary Private Secretary, also an elected MP.

- A Permanent Under-Secretary is an unelected civil servant who is the senior civil servant in charge of a particular department of government.

The difficulty with Umbridge is that it depends on the Ministry's nature. If the entire Ministry is to be taken as a single department, headed by a Cabinet Minister, then she would be the latter and theoretically in charge of the running of the whole Ministry of Magic, the most senior civil servant. The position of the Heads of Department is unclear; if they're civil servants, then Umbridge would be their boss.

On the other hand, if the Ministry is an analogue for an entire government, not a single department, then the Minister is the equivalent of the PM and the Heads the equivalent of Cabinet Ministers, elected with the MfM. Umbridge isn't assigned to a particular department, so cannot be the latter kind of Under-Secretary. She would therefore be the former, i.e. an elected member of Fudge's government, like the Heads, but subordinate to them (occupying the level immediately below them).

The problem with this is that the Ministry's elections seem to be essentially Presidential, not the election of a legislature or body. As far as we know, everyone except for the Minister is a civil servant.

 

Relevant quotes from the Ministers entry on Pottermore:

Emphasis mine

So basically, Muggle PMs don't have any authority on the MoM and no relationship to the Crown is mentioned at all.
The second quote says that the creation of the Ministry was a consequence of Statute of Secrecy, and infers about its original role.

Considering the org chart, the main sources of information about the Departments must be Harry's elevator trip in book 5 and maybe the trio's incursion in book 7. I don't have the English version to quote, but the Lexicon must have a pretty accurate list of the main Departments.

 

I'm not sure I agree with your interpretation about the Statute of Secrecy. The Statute contributed towards the need for a Ministry, but there's nothing to say that the Ministry is in any sense authorised/created by/empowered by the Statute.

Re: the Crown, I did say it was speculation. It's canon compatible, but there's nothing to support it.

 

Scrimgeour appointed Fudge as Advisor to the Minister for Magic. The function was basicaly to be the liaison between the Muggle and Magical world. Unknown if the post was continued post-DH.

Junior Assistant to the Minister for Magic, Percy Weasley (according to the wiki). Role seemed to be some sort of secretary aide. In OotP, Percy is presented as Court Scribe during the hearing, not sure if it's one of his duties as aide or if it was his role.

Department of Mysteries, actually Minister Lestrange tried to close it down in 1835-1841, but the Unspeakable ignored him [Pottermore, Atrium]. So it seems the Department is supposed to be under the Minister for Magic...but is actually largely independant.

 

Here's an interesting one:

Organization: Department of Magical Accidents and Catastrophes
Title of Leader: unknown/unclear, possibly Junior Minister*
Parent Organization: Ministry of Magic
Child Organization(s):
Purpose: Respond to magical catastrophes
Source(s):

*The use of the term 'Junior Minister' suggests to me a position of leadership in the department but perhaps not one of actually leading the department. I propose one of two possibilities: Cornelius Fudge (the speaker of the above passage) was, in 1981, either (1) junior to the Minister of Magic, thus making him a "Junior" Minister and leader of the Department of Magical Accidents and Catastrophes or (2) the subordinate of a "Senior" Minister that ran the department.