I'd like to complete the Civil War quest, but I would strongly prefer not to have Maven as Jarl of Riften (yes, I know she unofficially controls Riften anyway). Is there any way at all to fail the "Regain the Rift" part of the Civil War questline? By console command or small tweaks via the CK? (I'm not willing to go the massive overhaul mod route though). Thanks.

No way that I know of.

As for Maven, she's no worse than Laila, who's been too eager to be persuaded that abandoning the city, if it fell under a dragon attack, would be a good thing

In fact, I find Maven more likely to at least try to defend her assets -and the city in the process.

Play as a Stormcloak. Maven is still in charge of Riften in either scenario, but You do not need a shower after ending the Skooma Problem when Maven is not the actual Jarl.

Thanks for your replies.

Atkara, Laila is not a good Jarl by any stretch of the imagination, it's true. I personally prefer her to Maven though, in my mind her intentions are slightly better, even if they are largely ineffective.

Bradleyh, the ending of the skooma operation was one of the things I hated about Maven's rule (and one of the things that convinced me that Laila must surely be better on the throne than Maven). Now I just do it while Laila is still in charge. I've already started fighting on the Empire's side, so the Stormcloaks are now no longer an option.

As I see it, the root problem is that Maven is an Essential (unkillable) character. Worse, even if you use a console command to strip her of her Essential status, her demise creates a power vacuum. Like any other major political figure, there would be a line-of-succession as her heir steps up to replace her in her criminal, business, and political roles. I'm fairly certain that Bethesda never scripted for that succession. Therefore removing Maven would effectively "break" Riften.

Do that, and Markarth ends up with its very own corrupt family gaining control. Only instead of ruthlessly pragmatic, we get angrily obtuse, what with Thongvor being unable to differentiate between Imperial the race and Imperial the government when he goes off on Brother Verulus. And then there's that whole fact that his brother is just as crooked as the Black Briars... and with the pragmatic aspect of Maven replaced with vindictive pettiness in Thonar (and Thongvor too) at that.

No matter which way you look at it, both sides provide a mere formality to corrupt families that were already the de facto powers in a major hold capital. I actually appreciate Maven's cold pragmatism more than the Silver-blood Brothers' petulance.