The successor to the Heptarchy that was instituted to support the reign of Helios is a bi-cameral, parliamentary democracy. Under the rule of two popularly elected Presidents, of equal power but different jurisdiction, a cabinet of selected Ministers form the executive office. The legislature is formed of an elected upper and lower house of fifty and one-hundred-and-fifty members respectively. There is additionally a judicial chamber formed of the most senior magistrates of the Judicial College founded by Astarte shortly before she was deposed. These senior magistrates are accorded the traditional title of Archon.
Currently there are three political parties, with three more awaiting judicial review to ratify their constitutions. The Theban Democratic Party (TDP) is a liberal, interstellarist party in favour of relations with other worlds and generally supportive of the current presidency. The Theban Nationalist Party (TNP) are the least influential party overall, but have grass roots support; they are against allowing immigrants to set up homes in areas which might one day be needed by the Theban people and opposed to the influence of the Confederation. The Party for Theban Heritage (PTH) look back to a semi-mythical, indigenous Theban warrior-aristocracy for their inspiration, but their policies focus on values and morality. The three parties currently under review are the Academic Heritage Group (AHG), devoted to studying the relicts of Goa'uld technology, the Arcadian Federal League (AFL), who favour increased Confederate power and cooperation, and the Theban Expansionist Coalition (TEC), a party of explorers and colonialists pressing the current government to found Arcadian - and specifically Theban - colonies on other worlds through the Stargate.
The lower legislative house is the Chamber of Delegates. Local delegates are elected by and from the populations of the one-hundred-and-fifty administrative wards into which Thebes has been divided. In addition, each delegate belongs to a political party. Every vote for a delegate in the first-past-the-post ward elections is also converted into a party vote in the elections for the upper house, the Chamber of Deputies. Every 2% of the overall vote gives a party a seat in the upper house; it is for the party's governing body to select who takes the seat, based on their own party constitution. This system gives the more heavily populated urban wards a slightly greater influence in the upper house, but the more numerous rural wards an edge in the lower house.
The two Presidents with their ministerial staff are:
The are numerous 'lesser' ministries which have calved off from the primary offices as the Heptarchy evolves rapidly into a full-fledged bureaucracy. The Presidents are chosen by popular ballot in a national election. According to the Republican Constitution, the co-Presidents should not be members of any political party.
The current - and first ever - presidents are Zoë (Philoic) and Theos (Xenoic), the heroes of the revolution. In essence, the co-Presidential system was created in order that the people could keep their Pythoness and the second office is expected to fall by the wayside once the current holders step down or are elected out of office.
The Thebans are the beating heart and motivating influence of the Confederacy and as such the principle Confederate Council Building is located in the Pyramid of Helios, the centre of offworld trade and relations.
The ancient Spartian League is a loose-knit alliance of feuding city-states with closer ties to the fledgling Confederation than to each other. Their land was cleared of Goa'uld influence long ago, leaving them free to go about the business of feuding with their neighbours. The league consists of about a dozen city-states in an unstable equilibrium of border raids and formalised battles. Their primary industry is war and their fighting forces are vast. The Tok'ra have often tapped them as a resource for fighting the Goa'uld, for their hatred of the ancient enemy runs deep.
They are named for their greatest city and spiritual capital, Spartus Magna, which holds a place not dissimilar to that of Rome in mediaeval politics. Each city-state governs its own affairs, with the heads of the states acting as electors of the Spartian Triptych, the body of three who notionally control the League. The Triptych consists of the Basileus, supreme military leader, the Patriarchos, supreme spiritual leader, and the Megalemettoros, supreme authority on matters commercial.
The warlike Spartii provide the backbone of the Confederate Security Force. Consequently, the Security Council meets in Spartus Magna.
Newcomers to Arcadia, the Scavengers were the descendents of reformed inmates of the Asgard prison world, Niflheim. The SGC brought them to Arcadia, where the Thebans granted them settling rights on unoccupied land. There were some twelve-hundred of the original settlers, but their numbers have been bolstered by further refugees and a number of Spartian immigrants. They are divided into village-level tribes and governed by a loose-knit assembly, the Supreme Council of Incomers. An emergent state structure is developing from this tribal society under the guidance of the Council's leaders, Warden Turaca and Ward Master Setneb.
| Rank | USAF equivalent | Theban | Spartian | Scavenger |
| Regular soldier | Airman | Hoplite | Hoplite | Scavenger |
| Leading soldier | Corporal | Logas | Hippeus | Chosen (wo)man |
| Sergeant | Sergeant | Ektatos | Epilektos | Sergeant |
| Subaltern | Lieutenant | Dekarkos | Enoomotarches | Ward-keeper |
| Junior Officer | Captain | Dilochites | Taxiarches | Master*-at-arms |
| Company officer | Major | Eparchos | Epimeletes | Quartermaster |
| Senior officer | Colonel | Polemarchos | Hyperetes | Ward Master |
| Command officer | Brigadier-General | Strategos | Strategos | - |
| General | Major-General+ | Basilieus | Basileus | Warden |
* - Among the scavengers, 'master' is a title applied equally to either sex.
Theban
The army of the Theban Parliament is a new creation. Under Goa'uld authority, the Thebans were forbidden to raise any military force, and their army is inexperienced. Many of the Spartian hoplites who were employed as mercenaries after the fall of the Goa'uld have since taken Theban citizenship and form the core of the Theban officer class.
Spartian
The Spartian military is vast, but largely inexperienced in anything but the formal warfare of the league. A small number of veterans have battled the Goa'uld on other worlds. They are the only fighting force on Arcadia which forbids women to fight.
Epilektos - commands as many as fifty hoplites under the authority of an enoomotarches, or acts as an adjutant to a senior officer.
Scavenger
The military ranks of the Incomers reflect their origins as a guerrilla force, placing an emphasis on the importance of supply and logistics.