Alessedora

The Commonwealth of Alessedora
Region: The Eurasian Republic Capital: Amaliembourg Motto: In Our Government We Trust, For the Good of Our People. Map: Basic Map of Alessedora Population: 314 million (21/09/07) Area: 1,273,790 Sq.Km Official Language(s): English Religions: None Official; banned by legislation Government Type: Parliamentary Republic UN Category: Left-Leaning College State (21/09/07) Currency: Essedene Leader: Aldric Reissler (President)

Alessedora (officially The Commonwealth of Alessedora, internally referred to as The Commonwealth at times) is a relatively young and growing country located within The Eurasian Republic. Having not formally established any ties with other countries in the world (let alone its own region), Alessedora can be considered politically isolated and thus has found few allies, a testament to the country's largely secretive and isolationist past. As a result, certain topics relating to Alessedora lack substantial information. The current government, however, seems keen to work on building strong relations, divulging accurate non-sensitive information and statistics to foreigners, and opening Alessedora's autarky economy to foreign investment and competition.

History

Federation

Though human existence in Alessedora can be traced to prehistoric ages, with small ruins and long-disused settlements dotted across the landscape and often the focus of archaeological expeditions, it was not until 1730 CE that Alessedora formed the modern, cohesive state it does today.

On the date of May 9th 1730 (known as "Federation day"), several small, weak states banded together to form Alessedora with the intent of forming a single strong country that would protect their lands and interests from outside interference. Each of these smaller states transformed into a province upon acceding to Alessedora, with Amaliembourg (previously a parliamentary city-state) the capital. It was in Amaliembourg where the parliamentary republic system and the Unifying Laws of the Commonwealth (a primitive constitution) were formed over a series of years leading up to Federation Day. The states retained many powers in relation to the federal government upon accession and as a result, Alessedora was initially a loose military confederation and customs union.

Minor Civil Wars and the Rise of a Strong Federal Government

The form of loose confederacy that was Alessedora worked wonderfully in terms of protecting its land and interests in relation to the outside world, but failed to address inter-provincial issues. Spats were frequently sparked between provinces that historically, as countries, ran high tensions. Since provinces were never required to forfeit arms to the federal government, it was not unusual for minor military confrontations. These confrontations, however, frequently robbed Alessedora of manpower, finances, and arms, much to the dismay of the federal government which needed these in order to assert itself on the international stage.

Eventually, the legislators and military top brass in Amaliembourg had had enough with the crippling effects of internal quarreling. On November 3 of 1824, during a time of relative internal peace, Alessedora's Members of Parliament signed into law the Unilateral Declaration of New Federal Intervention, which gave the federal government every right to intervene militarily in times of inter-provincial squabbling. As a result, Alessedora went through it's longest period of internal peace since federation up to that point. However, on January 19th 1831, a land dispute erupted in the country's far north. This confrontation quickly became bloody, and as a result the Unilateral Declaration of New Federal Intervention was invoked and Federal forces sprung into action. The two provinces involved, (the Weisswald and New Karelia) knowing they had know become enemies of each other and the Federal government, announced their immediate session, illegal under Alessedora's Unifying Laws of the Commonwealth. During the war, dubbed the "Federal Northern Intervention", the federal government seized the military assets of all other provinces, through legislation and military coercion, in order to prevent other inter-provincial confrontations from occurring and as a tactic for rapidly strengthening Alessedora's armed forces. The three sided war came to an end and a peace agreement was signed in June of 1834, after both the Weisswald and New Karelia suffered crippling military and economic losses, with the federal government as the effective victor.

This victory for the forces of unity and stability, as the federal government called it in a brief propaganda campaign following the war in order to undermine unrest, quickly evolved into a form of military semi-junta, with the ever-pervasive military forces exercising influence over members of parliament with the threat of a coup. During this period, the federal government (under military influence), forcibly seized provincial assets, including offices, schools, hospitals, and (when they became too rambunctious) provincial parliament buildings, effectively eliminating any organized legal resistance to federal rule.

It was in April of 1841 that the new Constitution of the Commonwealth was signed and ratified in Amaliembourg. This new article gave the federal government legal powers over almost every matter of the state, grossly centralizing the government, and leaving literally no powers to the provinces (which now existed only in name). This did not, however, mean citizens were any less free or well off. Elections still continued, but now on a more organized basis with no long gaps (a single term was now legally limited to 6 years, with federal elections happening at least once every 6 years), women were granted suffrage at the age of 21 in 1840 (however, it was always 18 for men, and not until 1988 was it dropped to 18 for women), and 11 years of compulsory education from the age of 3 was introduced in 1842 (later changed to 15 years - 2 kindergarten, 13 grades in 1916). A significant clause states that "all elected officials of any level of government must act in the best interest of the people", and though this was applauded for its consideration of the population, it was often abused later in Alessedora's history with what is termed as the paranoia regime.

The Paranoia Regime

Since the 1920s and 1930s, with the rise of many extremist regimes in other countries, Alessedora became increasingly fearful of the outside world and hugely restrictive on its own populace. Propaganda and social conditioning campaigns were often implemented. Isolationist and protectionist legislation was often signed into law, often without the population knowing so in later years. Throughout this era, the state became increasingly intrusive in everyday life, with bugs and surveillance routinely carried out against the population. The media was now tightly censored, elections were rigged and in many constituencies deemed most to be "at risk due to harmful influences" there was only one name on the ballot. During this period, failure to comply to the state's rules, laws, guidelines, and procedures often carried hefty fines, long prison sentences or, in some cases, even death for menial crimes such as defiling government property. Foreign relations were severed, for fear of other nations infiltrating or gathering information on Alessedora, and many embassies were closed as their staff were added to persona-non-grata lists.

The economy, however, flourished. State spending was at an all time high and restrictive trade rules that effectively forced foreign competition to leave proved to be a boon to local companies and firms. This ultimately resulted in autarky since it became impossible to legally import goods or resources unless your company was Alessedoran with foreign assets deemed valuable to Alessedora.

It was not until the late 1980s that stagnation and corruption became rampant, forcing a change before a revolution would.

Change, Progress, and Freedom

Risking a complete collapse, the Alessedoran government revoked many laws, decrees, and various emergency measures that strangled the population. Free and fair elections were reintroduced, requiring a voting education campaign in areas so used to only one name on the ballot. Much of the bureaucracy was purged and replaced, often with help from bureaucracy-savvy corporations in government sectors seen as most corrupted and stagnated.

With the Provincial Act of 1988, provinces and their inexperienced institutions were now granted powers over matters of education, health care, local transportation, and local policing in a modest effort at decentralize the government along with the reintroduction of provincial parliaments. Taxation (a key right for provincial freedom and decentralization of the government) remained the primary duty of the federal government, with provinces only allowed to levy sales taxes, fines for violating provincial laws, and gaining revenue from the sale of permits, leaving them reliant on Amaliembourg. Accountability of government was also restored during this period, with the Century Reform Act, which covered a wide variety of new government rules and guidelines, civil and political rights, and striking down old, ineffective, inhumane, or too abusive and authoritarian legislation.

With the UN categorizing Alessedora as an "Inoffensive Centrist Democracy", Alessedora has changed to a point where its people and society are free.

Government and Politics

The Government

The 1841 Constitution of the Commonwealth established Alessedora as a parliamentary republic with a bicameral parliament, consisting of a 500 member national Assembly and a 250 member Senate, an executive branch composed of a cabinet, headed by the Prime Minister, and a President. A separate judiciary monitors the activities of the President and Prime Minister through the Constitutional Council, basically ensuring any executive political actions are constitutional and that bills deemed unconstitutional are not signed into law. The President of the Commonwealth appoints the Prime Minister (who must be a member of parliament), who then selects the Cabinet from the National Assembly. The constitution also provides for "Provincial Councils" (one for each province) which elect the Governance Council (5 members from each province) that ensure the National Assembly and Senate do not overstep their bounds and interfere in provincial matters beyond a reasonable degree (veto power over specific bills).

Both houses of parliament, provincial councils, and the President are popularly and directly elected at least once every 6 years by citizens aged 18 and over. Proportional representation determines the seat allocations in both houses of parliament and it is not uncommon for coalitions to form in either house. Currently, there are no term restrictions.

As established by the 1730 Unifying Laws of the Commonwealth, Amaliembourg is the capital of Alessedora.

Political Parties

There are over 60 registered political parties in Alessedora, but at the moment 8 hold seats in parliament. Currently, the Alessedoran Freedom party, in coalition with the New Liberal party, and the Sensible Democratic party, hold the majority of seats in the National Assembly. The main opposition consists of the Conservative Right party in coalition with the Centrist Alliance. In the Senate, the Sensible Democratic party holds a majority. A breakdown of parties and seats is as follows:

Despite its relatively minimal presence in parliament, the New Liberal Party Forms part of the governing coalition because the Commonwealth's president is a member of the NLP.