Difference between revisions of "Pacitalia"

Revision as of 01:25, 25 February 2005

Pacitalia

Flag of Pacitalia
Motto: "We don't like you if you don't have money."
[[1]]
Region	The CDEA
Capital	Timiocato
Official Language(s)	English, Pacitalian (both official); Greek, Spanish, Romanian
Leader	Prime Minister Timothy Ell
Population	1.7 billion
Currency	Douro (1 douro = 100 fouta)
NS Sunset XML

Pacitalia, or the Capitalist Republic of Pacitalia, in its conventional long form, is a fictional republic housed in the game NationStates by Max Barry. Actually an existent country since November 21, 1503, Pacitalia has used this online strategy game for its home since May 2004. With a population of 1.7 billion residents and an approximate area of 2.5 million square kilometres, it is the largest and most powerful country (both militarily and economically) in the region The CDEA. The capital is Timiocato with a population of just over 23 million people.

History

The Beginning Years (1284-1503)

After five years of exploration, Italian explorer Romeo Patizzi claimed most of the Mayan lands for Italy in 1284. This included about twenty percent of present day Mexico, most of the eastern half of Pacitalia and most of the rest of the Central American countries down to Costa Rica, which had been back under native control since 950. However, Mayan repression against Italians trying to suppress their beliefs and culture and assimilate them forced the king of Italy to give back about sixty to sixty-five percent of these lands in 1323.

The first one hundred and fifty years went quite smoothly. Settlements began springing up (mostly on the Caribbean coastline) and populations in the TION or Terra di Italia al Occidenta Nueva, in English, New Western Italian Lands; skyrocketed to at least one hundred thousand citizens by 1480. However, only three to four thousand of them had actually made the 70-day trip by boat to the new found lands.

In the year 1492, Italian-born Christopher Columbus sailed west under the wishes of the king of Spain to try to find a commercial sailing route to India. He did not find India, but he did find the Caribbean islands, which he accidentally had mistaken for the country laden with spices. He claimed he had found the country and referred to the people he met as Indians. After further sailing he landed at present-day Athalone, a principal port on the Caribbean coast of Pacitalia. The Italians, who had heard of Columbus’ sailing under the Spanish flag instead of the flag of his home country, Italy, labelled Columbus as a traitor and greeted him by throwing rocks and branches at him. Fearing for his safety, he and his crew retreated to their ships and sailed north. They were met with similar resistance at other cities and towns they docked at.

Eventually, Columbus looked like he was giving up. However, what he did was send one of his ships back with a message – to send more troops from Spain to capture these lands and disarm the people. When the ship arrived back about two years later with thirty or more sailboats full of troops, the Italians were angry, but since they had no present army to defend themselves, their argument was hopeless. The Spanish quickly captured the lands and claimed them as a victory for Spain. For at least five years, Spain’s language and customs were continually forced upon unwilling citizens.

During the third year of Spanish occupation, an Italian ship captain and his crew of five set out for Italy, determined to get support from the Italian monarchy. When the king was told of the occurrences in his newly claimed land, he was taken aback. He immediately sent about seventy percent of his troops with the captain and five-man crew back to the TION.

When the Italian army and the crew returned back in 1499, the Spanish forces, now outnumbered five to one, folded like a cheap umbrella. Each soldier and high-ranking official was captured and executed in Athalone’s city square, to cheers and yells from the freed citizens. Columbus was sent back to Italy to stand trial for treason and for becoming a merciless traitor. He was killed by decapitation in Rome on February 3, 1500. Since Columbus was not a Spanish citizen, there was nothing the king of Spain could do about it; therefore he was forced to let the execution stand.

The Independence Age (1503-1754)

The king of Italy, hoping to ensure that such an event did not occur again, created the Pacitalia Act in September 1503. It stated that on November 1, 1503; the Italian democratic autonomy of Pacitalia was to become a country and gain selective independences from Italy. It also stated the leader would be a Prime Minister of any sex, however, the leader had to be Roman Catholic and of Italian descent. This has been changed, thanks to the All Creeds & Religions Act of 1823. Spain, after its crumbling defeat, decided not to venture near Pacitalia again. Instead, they began settling in the Caribbean in island countries such as Cuba and the Dominican Republic. They also settled in lands between the United States and Pacitalia, which is now present-day Mexico, to the northwest. After the 18th century began, the Spanish settled more frequently in South America and southern Central America.

In 1686, Spain granted Mexico full independence.

Mexico was slowly but surely eating up all the territories to the north and rapidly expanding into the present-day western United States. Pacitalians, fearing that the Mexican people would move south and try to take over Pacitalia, began guarding the makeshift border line. This angered the Mexicans greatly and they sent civilian guerrillas to try and take down the Pacitalian civil guards. This inciting incident, which happened on July 24, 1758, was known as the start of the Mexo-Pacitalian War.

The Mexo-Pacitalian War (1758-1760)

As soon as the Mexican guerrillas arrived, war didn't break out, but instead began shouting rude comments and insults at the waiting Pacitalian troops. The Pacitalians, led by General Paolo Labradorio, didn’t appreciate this and began to attack. For many months, fighting was centered near Mexico City, now Nortopalazzo, and nobody could be the wiser as to who was winning the war. However, the Pacitalians gained an enormous amount of ground in August 1759 at a battle southwest of Mexico City, about 20 km from the makeshift line, also known as the Line of Dissatisfaction. About half a million Mexicans were killed in the battle, and most of them within a twenty-minute time frame. The Pacitalians continued to gain more ground until the Mexicans surrendered at the last battle near Puerta Vallarta in September 1760. One month later, on October 30th, the Treaty of Monterrey (Il Monterio) was signed and it stated that the Mexicans, thanks to their defeat, would have to give up approximately seventy percent of their lands. This was a huge blow to the pride of the Mexican people, and after the U.S. forces defeated the Mexicans for control of most of the west coast (now the U.S. states of California and Oregon) in the early 1800s, Mexico’s total land area shrunk almost 90% from its original size. The border lines between Pacitalia and Mexico set up at this Treaty are the same as of this day.

The Post-War Period (1760-1850)

The Pacitalian government, under the advice of the Roman Catholic Church of Italy and the Monarchy of Italy, worked extremely hard to assimilate the ex-Mexicans into the Italian culture and language. Most people, now that they had no defence, went along with the assimilation. A select few, however, did not appreciate the Italians forcing the history and linguistics of Spain out the window. Many made secret mass emigrations back to the new, smaller Mexico; others stayed behind to wage terrorism campaigns on the government in Mandragora. Parliament members were killed, the Monarch’s representative was kidnapped and tortured with knives, and several government department buildings were quickly torched, or blown up with cannons. After about twenty more years of this terror, which grew to include the murder or kidnap of innocent children or citizens, and countless arsons involving Roman Catholic churches, the government summoned the army to take down the terrorists. One by one over a period of two years, every terrorist or suspected terrorist was picked off and shot in city squares to cheers and celebrations by the country’s citizens. “A scene reminiscent of the independence days when the people of our great country ridded itself of [Christopher] Columbus once and for all,” the great Pacitalian philosopher Amadeus stated after the end of the terrorism. It took a lot longer than expected for the Pacitalian citizens to recover. After almost thirty years, the country finally recovered, sailing partnerships with Iostata and the newly formed Republic of Guatemala to the south were reinstated and the citizens felt they were finally back on track. On December 14th, 1850; the Monarch’s representative declared the country stable again, and this announcement marked the end of the post-war period in Pacitalia. The Mexo-Pacitalian War is the only war to be fought within Pacitalia’s boundaries since Italian colonization.

The Land Recessions Years (1850-1859)

The next period was, of course, a short time frame, lasting only a decade. However, it was a period that saw plenty of changes in the land area of Pacitalia. In September 1850, Pacitalia reached an agreement with Decisive Action on the recession of land in present-day southern New Mexico, Texas and Louisiana. DA believed that the land truly belonged to them, because the majority of people living in the area were allegiant to them. The agreement was signed and on January 1st, 1851; Pacitalia handed over about 150,000 square kilometres of land. The boundaries drawn on that day are the same that are shared with Decisive Action today. Five years later, the newly-independent republic of Anubisyrria wanted to redraw the boundaries with their northern neighbour. It felt that a suitable point of division would be the Timiocato River, which formed the southern and south-eastern edges of Timiocato, the new capital. Another treaty was drawn up and on January 1st, 1857; Pacitalia receded about 50,000 more square kilometres of land to the two nations. There have been no more land recessions made by Pacitalia since that occurrence in 1857. The land recessions period lasted two more years because Pacitalia had received more offers from other nations who began to see the nation as a weak target to get land from, but Pacitalia continued to flatly refuse after the Anubisyrrian deal in 1857. These two treaties led to Pacitalia's current size of 2,476,466 sq. km.

Immigration Period (1876-1946)

During this time frame, which included the turn to the twentieth century, Pacitalia was seen as a safe haven and a land free of the ravages of wars. This was especially true during World War I (1914-18). Although immigration started to pick up in the 1860s, the level of new citizens arriving at eastern and western ports was tremendous, so tremendous that the port authorities and police couldn’t handle the influx. During the first forty years of the so-called “immigration period”, Pacitalia saw almost 40 million new residents flow through its seaport systems. This was just as many people as Pacitalia had at the 1859 census, just one year before the influx began. The most prevalent of expatriations were from Greece, Portugal, Italy, Cyprus, Austria and Germany. After the immigration period ended, Pacitalia saw 82 million new residents, bringing the population up to 121 million in 1945.

The Mid-Century Era (1946-1965)

The late 1940s and the 1950s were marked by solid growth in the economic and social sectors of Pacitalia. Most of the growth was centred in the southern cities, however the growth in the northern metropoli was sufficient enough to keep up. In 1945, Rabastano Pietro Grazzo of the Pacifist Party was elected Prime Minister of the republic and created the Economic Package reforms, which guaranteed, as he put it, "a car in every garage and two kilograms of meat a day on every kitchen table". Also included were make-work projects which smartly included the creation of new infrastructure with the introduction of almost ten million new jobs. The reforms boosted Pacitalia's GDP per capita from $19,874 in 1946 to $23,241 in 1948, and further to $28,706 in 1952.

Grazzo ended his tenure as national leader in late 1956 when he announced he would not seek a fourth term in the 1957 elections. Pacitalians chose their Senior Deputy Prime Minister, Grasiru Damescu, as their new leader and Pacitalia's second prime minister of Romanian blood. Damescu was on the right of the party, a bit further than Grazzo therefore he was slightly more capitalist and more inclined to favour business. He kept the Economic Package reforms until 1960, when he deemed them outdated. By that time, Pacitalia's household income averaged $32,200.

That same year, Damescu, along with his Finance Minister Renaldo Santotto, introduced what he called the Friendly Business Initiative. It lured businesses to Pacitalia from other nations with incentives, tax breaks, and other pro-business clauses. Some say this worked even better than Grazzo's reforms in the 1950s, and it did. Pacitalia's GDP skyrocketed almost $10 trillion in the eight years Damescu held office, and that boost meant the household average income was up to almost $35,000, classifying Pacitalia as an economic superpower.

Damescu turned 71 on 8 October 1964 and as a result, decided to call it quits. He, like his predecessor and former boss announced he would finish his second term and not run again. Unfortunately, the candidate running for PM in the Pacifist Party wasn't exactly the best choice. Party pundits wanted the finance minister, Santotto, to take the nomination but he refused. Instead, the environment minister Susana Patropestia was reluctantly appointed to the nomination. In the resulting elections, she lost to the Liberal Party candidate Jota "Jack" Rodriguez by almost 60 points. It was the worst defeat of a Pacifist candidate in the history of the party.

The Liberal Years (1965-1985)

Following the 1965 elections, Rodriguez immediately set out to end the pro-business reforms he said were "hurting the common people of Pacitalia". He argued that the reforms gave more money to the rich and middle class while taking so much away from the poor and creating a bigger divide between the well-off and the less-fortunate. As a result, he created the Even-Up Tax, which increased household income tax by 10%. That 10% was pointedly designated by Rodriguez for social welfare and equality programs. However, Rodriguez knew that Pacitalia would implode if he completely removed the pro-business reforms of the predecessive PM. Thus, he began to slowly replace Damescu's reforms with his own which put more regulation on corporate practices. Unfortunately, he could not continue on with his changes as he was diagnosed with severe melanoma just before the end of his first term. One fortunate thing is that another Liberal Prime Minister was elected by the people.

Rodriguez died in 1970. A year earlier, Roberto Castorini catapulted his way from mayor of Sambuca to Prime Minister of Pacitalia for the Liberals. He continued Rodriguez' slow but effective economic turnarounds, which despite dropping the household income by $2,000, still kept the economy stable and looking positive. Castorini finally scrapped the FBI in 1974 and replaced it with the Workers and Corporations Rights Act, which forced corporations to allow unions for their workers and guaranteed a minimum wage of six douros an hour. In return, workers were expected to do the duties corporations/management had assigned for them, and do their jobs well. This act had no effect on the economy, in fact, Pacitalia experienced only a slight economic upturn in 1975, with the GDP increasing a mere $20 billion and the household income rising only $500. Because of this, and Castorini's lack of other important or substantial legislation, he became known as the "Do-Nothing Leader", despite keeping the country stable, peaceful and still economically strong, something that really in essence defied the Liberal Party's anti-capitalist policies.

Most say that Castorini was lucky to get a second term in 1973, and they were probably right. He attempted to get the nomination for a third term in the 1977 elections. Unfortunately, starting in September 1976, he was soon embroiled in a bitter fight with his Junior Deputy Prime Minister, Athena Papistikas, for the Liberal's Prime Ministerial nomination. The Liberal board of directors wanted Papistikas to take their request and go for it, but Castorini did not allow it. He forced his way into the nomination ballot and for the first time in 122 years, there was a vote to decide who would get the nomination to run for Prime Minister under the Liberal banner. Papistikas took Castorini to the cleaners by a 72-17 margin, with 11% of party members abstaining.

Papistikas handily won the 1977 elections over the Conservatives and Pacifists, with a 52-28-20 (L-P-C) victory. Under the reign of Papistikas, the first stage of the Autostrada superhighway system was completed, which drastically reduced traffic jams and heavy volume by almost 50%. The second stage was completed in 1984, which further reduced those levels by another 25%. Papistikas was seen as a more centrist Liberal, so she was seen as more inclined to be respectful of corporate practices. Under her leadership, Pacitalia gained back the slight economic losses it endured under the previous two Liberal leaders, and then some. In fact, Pacitalia's household average income was up to $36,900 in 1985, the highest number ever.

The Not-So-Good Years (1985-1988)

The good times for Pacitalia lasted until the 1985 election. Liberal PM Athena Papistikas, the sole woman PM in Pacitalian history was voted out of office by a 43.2-42.8 margin (the Pacifists picking up a disastrous 14% of the vote), after the Liberal party held government for twenty years. Pacitalians were thankful of the Liberal and Pacifist governments of the past forty years for their hard work to bring Pacitalia to a status among the world greats, but they decided it was time for a change. So, the Conservative party gained 367 of the 590 seats, and party leader Giorgio Cassata was placed in the Prime Minister’s chair. Right off the bat, the majority-government Conservative party started increasing the military’s size and slashing budgets from necessary departments like health, education and transport. These actions caused a bust in the economy. Stock exchanges were having selling overdoses and people were quickly leaving Pacitalia’s dying economy. By 1987, over 20% of Pacitalians were unemployed and the economy was equal to that of the dismal post-war Soviet Union. Pacitalians were angry with what they called disgusting behaviour from the Conservative party. A poll was held in the fall of 1987 and over 95% of Pacitalians surveyed wanted an election called. Cassata knew his party’s number was up, but he wasn’t intent on leaving. Instead, he sat down with officials and tried to draft and pass legislation in Parliament that would literally dismantle any opposition to the Conservative party. Since the Liberal and Pacifist parties knew they were outnumbered in Parliament 367-220, not counting three independents; the only thing they could do was form a left-wing-centrist alliance and hope that at least eighty Conservative members of parliament chose to vote against the bill. It seemed hopeless, but the two opposition leaders of the Liberal and Pacifist (now the Capitalist party) parties, had a feeling it could work. Decision day for passing of the legislation was October 24, 1987. Parliament was seated and commenced, and the bill was defeated 412-178. Only 175 of the 367 Conservative MPPs, or 48% of the party, and the three independents, voted in favour of the bill. The rest voted with the left-wing-centrist alliance. PM Cassata was shocked and angry. He was told by one of his advisors earlier in the week that support for his bill inside the party was at 71%, a clear majority. Obviously, he was mislead; as that advisor, an MPP for Puerto Vallarta, in the north, voted against Cassata in Parliament.

Just twelve days later, Cassata was given a vote of non-confidence by ninety percent of Parliamentarians, and Conservative party members voted him out of the leader’s chair and thus the Prime Minister’s spot, during the party’s annual convention in Saronno. He was replaced by centre-right Conservativa MPP Daniel Cicerone, who immediately called an election for February 23, 1988.

Rebuilding the Nation (1988-1995)

After what the Conservativa party (farther right than the Republican Party in the United States) had done to the economy and well-being of Pacitalia's citizens, it was basically a nationwide dream to abandon and forget about the right-wing party altogether. Halfway through the campaign, support polls showed the Pacifista party leading with 49% support, but just by two percentage points, over the Liberale party, with 47%. The Conservativa party had only 4% support in total now, leaving them totally out of the race for government leadership. It was a guarantee that Pacitalians were switching from a right-wing government with a hint of fascism, to a government that was a long way to the left in the political spectrum. Just days before the election, Conservativa supporters bombed the “Prado”, or Pacitalian Parliament building. About forty percent of the 200-year-old building was destroyed, but luckily not a soul was injured or killed. A group calling itself Libertiae Santome, which in Pacitalian means ‘Freedom Fighters’, openly declared its responsibility. When asked to show its leader, they oddly obliged and recently-ousted Conservativa leader Giorgio Cassata stepped out onto a platform in Timiocato’s Central Forum with a smirk on his face. He was met with stones, sticks and boos from the crowd.

One day later, all members but the Conservatives in the House of Parliamentary Legislation voted to abolish the Conservativa Party. However, just two months later, the Party d'Italiano (with similar, almost exact, political beliefs) announced its formation and many of the now-independent MPPs made the jump to the new party. It announced it had no ties to the old Conservativa party despite its MPPs being of the old party and some of the upper echelons of the party being members of or leaders of the old party.

Back to the election campaign of 1988.

Two days before the election was the final debate. In it, Pacifist leader Francesco Santo Ragazzo (1934-1996) and Liberal leader Papistikas (1958- ) debated alongside extreme-left Nueva Revoluccione leader Lemvi Megescu. Megescu had been asked to fill the spot of Daniel Cicerone, whose Conservative party had been banned two days earlier by the House. The debate was now composed of two leftist candidates and a centrist. This outraged right-wing Pacitalians who felt that it was now impossible for even the smallest right-wing party to win anything because only left-wing points of view would be heard. However, it wasn't all that easy for the "left". Megescu was left to create an organized script of points for the debate in a short amount of time (basically 12 hours) or just wing it. He tried the second option, and it worked well enough for him to win the leftist Northwest Region in the elections. His party has not lost that region since then, and he is still the party leader. During the debate, Liberal leader Papistikas stumbled on many key points and speculation is that those problems cost her the election. It also cost her the leadership role, as she was removed from that position by the Liberale board of governors three months post-election. Prominent in the election was Pacifist leader Santo Ragazzo, who was clear and concise and support the coming together of all Pacitalians, no matter what. He also stated that he was the clear centre-right candidate in the nation, wanting to mix capitalism with socialism and help everyone get a fighting chance at a good salary and a good quality of life, meanwhile helping the economy.

The election day came and went and Santo Ragazzo barely got enough to majority-defeat the two leftist candidates. He picked up 51% of the popular vote, compared to 38% for Papistikas and 11% for Megescu. Santo Ragazzo won the West, Southwest, Central, Capital and Southeast regions, giving him 61 of 120 electoral votes. Coincidentally, 61 is the number of EVs needed to be Prime Minister. Obviously, the new PM was grateful to just sneak in, as he said, "I will work hard to make sure everyone in Pacitalia appreciates and supports the work the government does".

Santo Ragazzo soon renamed the party to the "Capitalist Party of Pacitalia", gaining support from others on the right who, before the ideologic and name changes did not feel the "Pacifista Party" was as centre-right as it sounded. During his tenure as PM, he strengthened the economy by lowering taxes and giving what were known as "Priority Boosts" to Pacitalian corporations to help them compete against international business selling similar products. However, he appealed to the slight-leftists by minutely raising taxes on the rich to help give some money back to those less-fortunate Pacitalians. Santo Ragazzo served two terms and in his seventh year -- third of his second term -- as Prime Minister, he announced his retirement due to failing health. He was replaced as leader of the party by Mandragora-Southeast MPP Timothy Ell in the 1995 Capitalist Party leadership convention. Santo Ragazzo served out his full term, as the Capitalist Party, Ell and the public wished him to do, then said his goodbyes to the political world and public life in August 12, 1996 at the new PM's inauguration ceremony. Ironically, he died two months later of a heart attack, the day before an election would have been forced.

The Ell Years (1996-present)

Many Capitalists were excited about the next election because it was highly known that Timothy Ell was a "true capitalist". He supported big business and did not like those who, as he said, "attacked" the government for free handouts. He called leftists "slacking pigs" and deeply offended the minority left by famously telling a Liberale MPP in a 1994 Parliament session, "even religion is more important than socialism". Many citizens were excited as well, because the majority of Pacitalians still clung, in various amounts and ways, to their Roman Catholic beliefs, and the majority of the nation held centre-right or rightist views. The Capitalist Party were sure that the people of the nation would agree with Ell's views and keep them in power for at least another term.

An election was held on August 10, 1996 (approximately two months before it was mandatory) to find a successor to retiring PM Santo Ragazzo. In it, Ell handily won, taking 54% of the PV, 72 of 120 EVs and 6 of 9 regions. Ell has been re-elected twice since then (three if you count the PM runoff election requested by Liberale challenger Aracio Partiva in the 2004 election after he declared the original PM results false).

Ell continued the capitalist traditions of the nation by again slightly lowering income taxes for all brackets. However, he removed the inheritance tax and furthered the cause of economic strength by backspacing former PM Santo Ragazzo's slight tax augmentation on the rich to help the poor. He also ridded the nation of free handouts, saying that "welfare will only be given to those who cannot help themselves". By that he meant people too sick to work or people unable to work because they had a physical or psychological impairment. 43% of the unemployed or homeless people in Pacitalia did not meet this criteria and are now slowly dying off, to the support and applause of over 1 billion Pacitalian citizens. In 2000, he reformed the Senatoro and CLP, dropping the seat count to 100 and 120, respectively.

Ell also improved the support of the defence department and its respective agencies, including a huge infusion of cash into the armed forces. Many agreed with the move, saying, like Ell did, "the military in Pacitalia was underappreciated". He also created the SAFD (Sniper Attack Force Delta), as a well-trained task force branch of the armed forces to help deal with varying degrees of domestic threats.

The nation's general economic strength has been improving steadily since the late 1980s, but even more so under Prime Minister Ell. Pacitalia is now one of the world's strongest countries and a member of the Forty Thousand Club - those nations having GDP per capitas of over $40,000.00 USD.

Pacitalia also continues to lead the way in innovations and technological advancements. It continues to play host to world-leading corporations such as technology developer Bluefox Studios, the Central/South American headquarters of beverage tycoon Coca-Cola, automobile manufacturers Peruzzi and Infiniti; and news and media conglomerate PNN. The country will play host to the International Conference on Renewable Energies in 2004, and the capital, Timiocato, is a candidate for the 2012 summer Olympic Games.

The Future

Prime Minister Ell has announced this term (2004-08) will be his last term in office as he wants to return to a private life he has not experienced since 1993. It is still a major possibility the Capitalists will remain in power as Ell's two deputy PMs, Nikos Karagounis and Paolo Orbitello, are other "true capitalists" and willing and capable to take the reins once Ell pulls away from the head of the table.

Geography and Climate

Pacitalia is located on the coasts of the Pacific and Atlantic south of the United States and north of Anubisyrria, with sizeable coastlines along the Caribbean Sea. Most of the terrain is flat and rolling from mountain to coast. Pacitalia's Sierra Mountains line vertically along the centre of the republic. The nation straddles the Tropic of Cancer giving it a very warm climate all year long. Some mountainous areas receive scarce amounts of snowfall and temperatures near 0*C (32F). The soil in Pacitalia is perfect for vegetation growth and thus for agriculture. Almost 12% of Pacitalia's land is permanently arable. The capital, Timiocato, sees a July high temperature of around 38-40*C (99-104F) and a January reading of around 21-23*C (70-76F). To the north, Nortopalazzo sees a July reading of 35-38*C (92-99F) and in January, sees around 18-21*C (64-70F). Rainfall in Pacitalia is moderate in most parts, arid regions receive less rain. The desert area along the U.S. border receives very little rain.

Economy

Pacitalia's economy is very strong (see Real-Time Pacitalian Economic Stats) and competes among the world's nations as one of the most powerful around. The douro is the national currency and usually exchanges for around $1.80 - $2.00 US. The nation's economy is based on technology, automobiles, synthetics, mining, fishing, agriculture, textiles and transportation. It is also a major exporter of sambuca and tequila. The average GDP per household is around $41,000 USD.

Trade is practiced with members of the CDEA and with SEATO. Pacitalia's primary trading partners are Anubisyrria, Holy Paradise and Roach-Busters.

Politics and Government

Pacitalia is fiercely democratic and has a bicameral constitutional republic. Citizens vote for their Member of Parliament, their senator and their Prime Minister. The two houses of Parliament are the Caza della Legislatorio Parlemento, or House of Parliamentary Legislation and the Senatoro, or Senate. The CLP and Senatoro are both elected, along with the PM, in the general vote. The CLP has 120 seats, one representing each of the 120 districts of the nation. Coincidentally, each district equals one electoral vote for Prime Minister. The Senatoro has 100 seats with each region getting between 10 and 12 senators. The Prime Minister is elected by the electoral college. A candidate needs 61 of the country's 120 electoral votes to become Prime Minister. What is different about the system of government in Pacitalia is that even if a party wins a majority of the regions, their leader may not necessarily be elected Prime Minister. The head of state is also the head of government, that person being the Prime Minister, currently Timothy Ell.

There are four major political parties in Pacitalia. They are the Capitalist Party (in power) led by Prime Minister Timothy Ell, the Liberal Party (opposition) led by Fernando Chiovitti, the Nueva Revoluccione Party (communist) led by Lemvi Megescu and the Party d'Italiano (religious-fascist) led by Roberta Santo Paraggia. Other fringe groups compete for votes in the elections but never come away with substantial or noticeable totals.

Currently, the Capitalist Party holds 66 of the 120 seats in the CLP, with the opposition Liberals holding 32. In the Senatoro, the Capitalists have 53 of 100 chairs; the Liberals have 40. Prime Minister Ell was last re-elected with 71 of 120 electoral votes.

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Pacitalian Coat of Arms

People, Population and Culture

Pacitalia has always been a conservative nation. The people's political natures have been slightly influenced by their religious beliefs. Almost all the people of the nation have some sort of tie to Christianity, just with different chapters of the faith. 73% of the people are Roman Catholic, another 18% declare themselves as Eastern Orthodox. Only 2% of the nation declares itself atheist or agnostic. Immigration is encouraged, though during some periods of time Pacitalia has had to restrict the number of applicants.

Most of the people are of Italian descent, but both Italian and English are the common and official languages of Pacitalia. Sizeable numbers of people speak Greek, Spanish and Romanian as well. Almost 95% of the people of the Republic have ancestry originating from southern and southeastern Europe.

International Relations

Pacitalia is a member of the Group of Four (soon to be the G-6), the Southeast Asia Treaty Organization, the Alliance of Christian Nations, The Empire of One, the Organization of Maritime Powers the Conservative Collective, the Capitalist Defence & Economic Alliances, the Pacific Pacts, and PACT (Pacitalian-Anubisyrrian Cooperation Treaty). Pacitalia is a pending member to the Woodstock Pact and the Union of World Powers. Pacitalia is not a member of the United Nations and does not condone or recognize the actions of that body.

Pacitalia's closest allies are Canada, Euroslavia, Hamptonshire, Roach-Busters, Sarzonia, Sora Lovers, Present Day Comatica, and to a slightly lesser extent, The Burnsian Desert and The Parthians.