What if: US citizen runs foreign country

[Jaepheth]

Lets say there's a foreign democratic nation that does not have any constitutional restrictions on who can run for office. On a lark, you start an online campaign to be elected President of that nation. Instead of it being a total joke though, the campaign gains traction as a protest vote against the entrenched party politics the local population is so sick of, and you end up winning.

Would it be legal for a US citizen to be an official in a foreign government? (Anti-corruption laws come to mind) Or would it just be considered a job for a foreign corporation for legal/tax purposes?

Would you seek to benefit the United States in foreign policy particularly, or would your decisions be made with the benefit of your constituency considered foremost?


If you're not a US citizen, feel free to replace the US with your own nation in this scenario.

 

[sdifox]

Noob, you put up a puppet and get the puppet elected. That's been US MO for like 200 years.

 

[cbrunny]

Would it be legal for a US citizen to be an official in a foreign government? (Anti-corruption laws come to mind) Or would it just be considered a job for a foreign corporation for legal/tax purposes?

Legal relative to which country's laws? The country in which you were elected/hired? That's not possible if you were actually elected/hired. America's laws? Assuming it is illegal, how would the USA ever enforce that mechanism? If you lived in Frankistany, are you suggesting that America would request extradition for this which would somehow be granted and then you're, what, criminally charged? Are you thinking jail time or fines or what? I don't really understand this question.

Would you seek to benefit the United States in foreign policy particularly, or would your decisions be made with the benefit of your constituency considered foremost?

That depends. Am I an American Imperialist or do I believe in actual democracy?

 

[SlitheryDee]

Would you seek to benefit the United States in foreign policy particularly, or would your decisions be made with the benefit of your constituency considered foremost?

I dunno about the legal issues, but this is something I can answer. First and foremost I'm not on the side of any particular country. If I can be said to have a "side" it's purely my side, as in wherever I happen to be. I think if a foreign country elected me to an office then for all intents and purposes I would suddenly be one of them. I might use my US citizenship for whatever it was worth to get US support for my new country, but I wouldn't be doing anything expressly for the benefit of the US at the expense of my new country.