This is a canon question, or rather more of a discussion regarding the largest political body mentioned in HP - the Ministry of Magic.

Here are a few questions that have really been bothering me, and I'd really like to hear the opinions of DLP on this topic, particularly those who can dredge up some canon evidence for their discussions:

a.) Can Ministry members be held accountable for their actions? Canon suggests they can, but I'm curious about the degree of such accountability.

b.) We see a lot of the Daily Prophet in fiction, but what about international wizarding media? We didn't see any of them at the Triwizard Tournament, but I'm not about to assume that they aren't there. Do you think the Ministry even thought about how such outlets would have considered the smear campaign executed against Dumbledore in OOTP?

c.) On the topic of wizards and the world, why weren't there any foreign questions regarding Dumbledore's demotion from the International Confederation of Wizards? Who assumed the position while Dumbledore was gone? Is such an organization centered in Britain, or elsewhere?

d.) How do Ministry politicians (eg. non-public servants) take their office or run for Minister for Magic? Are there democratic elections in wizarding Britain? If so, how are they run? If not, how is the Minister for Magic chosen?

 

A) The only time I can recall hearing about any sort of disciplinary action taking place internally at the Ministry was in CoS, when Arthur underwent an "inquiry" after the flying car incident. No negative consequences were mentioned in regard to that, so we can assume that either it is very lax, or he was very innocent. Considering Umbridge stayed at the Ministry even after Fudge left, I'm inclined to believe that they do very little policing of their own ranks.

B) It seems to me that the British magical community is pretty much entirely cut off from the rest of the world. We don't hear anything about foreign exchange students (if such a program exists there), no international media, and, while offices such as the International Confederation of Wizards exist, Britain received no aid of any kind in dealing with the issue Voldemort presented in Deathly Hallows. Whether or not this issue arises due to it being the norm for all wizarding society worldwide, or just a side effect of Britain's fucked up policies is the question.

Considering that, I doubt very much that Fudge and the Prophet cared at all what the rest of the world thought about their smear campaign.

C) Well, honestly, I think this was just another one of Rowling's plotholes. Perhaps members of the ICW are appointed by the governing body of whatever member nation they're to represent, and the ascent to Chief Warlock or whatever he was there is handled internally to that organization? They're all members, but he was elevated to the highest position because of his abilities or some such. And we can't really know for sure that Fudge didn't get any questions.

To the second part, whichever OC you feel like empowering. The only member of that organization that we ever hear about is Dumbledore. We also hear that no one had replaced him in the Wizengamot at the time of Harry's trial (since Fudge was overseeing it in his place), so perhaps a similar situation arose in the ICW. We really have no idea what being an important member of the ICW entails.

D) I've honestly never put much thought into the election process in the HP universe. When Fudge was ousted, I got the impression that the Wizengamot appointed an official to replace Fudge from within the Ministry.

I don't see enough canon evidence to make any claim on this one, and I don't really have an opinion.

 

I think there's going to be little in the way of canon evidence either way, for the simple reason that JKR pulled most of the political stuff out of her ass in OotP, mostly as a way of pointing the reader's rage cannons at Umbridge and, to a lesser extent, continually upping the ante for Harry and/or Dumbledore.

I mean, even the first time I read OotP, I was like, "Come on, now that's just over-the-top." There's like this ham-fisted ratcheting-up of tension as Umbridge, this caricature of everything that's wrong when absolute power corrupts, keeps piling on the Educational Decrees, while Harry (and, Rowling hopes, the reader) seethes towards a breaking point and Dumbledore placidly accepts the escalating situation. It's really very sophomoric, to be honest, but I admit, I hated Umbridge just as much as everyone else, wanting her to be flayed by either Harry or Hermione, and happy as a lark when she's carted off to be gang-raped by the centaurs.

Rowling's world is very limited in scope, not only because we get Harry's perspective almost exclusively, but also because JKR isn't into world-building so much as wanting to tell a morality tale, for lack of a better term at the moment. She was more interested in showing the choices than giving relevant background info on the society's inner workings, so it's almost a blank slate for you to do with as you please.

I'd say the only canon evidence of elections is the sacking of Fudge post-OotP, and that seems to me to be more of a recall or no-confidence vote type thing. I'm no expert on the Parliamentary system in the UK, but I'd bet that was at least some inspiration for Rowling's Wizengamot and therefore her Minister for Magic. As for Dumbledore's being ousted from the ICW? Who the fuck knows...