Stephanie Coulson

Dr Stephanie Coulson, DL
3rd president of Amarenthe
Incumbent
In office 24th September, 2004 —
Political party	Amarenthian Democratic Socialists
Preceded by	Andrew G. McArthur
Born	13th September, 1969 Lanton, Sheffield, Amarenthe
Profession	Politician, university professor, environmental activist
Religion	Agnostic
Languages	Amarenthian English, Gaelic

Dr Stephanie Alana Coulson, PhD(EnvSc) doge laureatus, MA(PSci), MA(EngWL), born 13th September, 1969 in Lanton, Sheffield, Amarenthe, is the current president of Amarenthe. She is the third person and second democratic socialist to hold the position, succeeding an unpopular Marxist president, Andrew G. McArthur, on 24th September, 2004.

Early life, education and career

Coulson was born into a lower-middle-class family in the town of Lanton, about 40km north of the capital, Mynia. Her father was a teacher and a nationalist, advocating Amarenthian independence from Britain. He had instilled in her the value of learning from a very early time, as by the age of two, she had taught herself to read. Her mother worked as a teacher as well, but left the profession to raise Stephanie. The family moved to Mynia when she was 11 to allow her to study at better-quality schools while her father started a better job teaching at the University of Mynia, where pay was slightly better and helped compensate for the loss of maternal income.

She was never politically inclined in her youth, and only had an interest in the natural environment, until she realised that the reason for such bad living conditions and unsustainable farming techniques was an unstable and inefficient government. She began concentrating her extracurricular activities on learning more about environmental science and domestic politics and finished with top grades in primary school. At that time, none of Amarenthe's universities offered degrees that would hold reputation against other schools, or allow for more job choices, outside the country, so Coulson applied and earned entrance into Lord Byron's Preparatory School in Mynia for students aiming to go to university in Pacitalia. Setting political science and environmental science as her areas of concentration, Coulson excelled through the five-year program at the school, finishing with an average of 98 percent. This qualified her for entrance into her chosen faculties (which required 96.3 and 94 percent averages, respectively) at the University of Mandragora for the fall 1987 semester.

University education

Coulson was a full-time student at Pacitalia's top private university for a total of 12 consecutive years, first finishing her Master's in Political Science in April 1993, magna cum laude, with a successful defence of her thesis titled The Negative Effects of British Imperialism in Amarenthe. She continued with her study of environmental science; after earning her Master's in the former field she, two years later, earned a doctorate of philosophy. Also in the fall of 1993, Coulson began her study of international literature. She finished her third of three degrees in 1999 with a Master's in World Literature from Mandragora, and headed back to join her father at the University of Mynia as a professor of environmental studies.

Recognition of academic distinction

In recognition of her work as both a university professor on environmental science and a tireless researcher in the field, the Pacitalian Universities Guild, a group of 28 accredited tertiary educational institutions in the country, awarded her laureate status in 2001. This status as an eminent source of knowledge on environmental sciences gained her much acclaim within Amarenthe and allowed her to begin pursuing her next goal, to right the wrongs in her country and make it a better, more sustainable and more prosperous place to live. Coulson resigned as professor at the University of Mynia to run in the Amarenthian Democratic Socialist party's primary, where they would select a presidential candidate for the 2004 elections.

2004 presidential election

Andrew McArthur had defeated Conservative president Julian Rendon in the 2002 elections. After two years, his attempts at reforming the economy and social services of the country had been unsuccessful, either because they were being blocked by Conservatives, by Greens or by members of his own party. McArthur eventually turned to hardline communism as the solution to the country's problems, attempting to dissolve the House of Lords but his progress was blocked by not only the house itself but an angry public who knew communism would only serve to make things worse for Amarenthians. Increasing petitions to remove McArthur went from the hands of individuals to Lords, where a vote was held successfully removing McArthur as president and calling for an immediate presidential-only election.

Amarenthian Democratic Socialist presidential candidate primaries

Coulson entered the race for socialist presidential candidate in January 2004, advocating a Third Way style mix of social democracy and economic liberalism. Coulson was markedly more moderate than McArthur, but was not conservative - as neither that, nor McArthur's attempt at communism, had done anything for the country. She promised all the social help and reform as a "social base" and advocated a subsequent focus on economic growth to begin channeling prosperity to all Amarenthians. Two other candidates, Theodore Payne and Edward Browing, had already begun their campaigns to become the ADS' presidential candidate for September, but voters were put off by their advocacy of the status quo. Amarenthians wanted a change in leadership and ADS members realised that with either Payne or Browing at the helm, they would never hold the presidency.

Coulson was limited by her gender, as female politicians were still, strangely, few and far between in a tolerant society like Amarenthe. In fact, as late as 2004, there were absolutely no women in the positions of power in the country. If any female politician was to overcome this "glass ceiling" they would have to be extremely intelligent, strong and mature, and most admirers noted that Coulson possessed all three qualities. Coulson headed into the primary leading the polls and emerged as the Democratic Socialists' candidate for president.

The election campaign

Coulson continued to advocate her policy of "socialism first, capitalism next" in order to improve the quality of life of Amarenthians. She traveled to all the small towns and farming communities, everywhere in Amarenthe, towns just like her hometown of Lanton. She taught the townsfolk the basics of sustainable agriculture. Coulson was recognised by voters as reaching out to the people, who needed a strong government to help them where they could not help themselves.

Her Conservative challenger, Robert Blake, was repeatedly observed as "hellbent" on promoting an ideology of cultural assimilation of the minority Irish, fullblown economic liberalism and absolutely no need for social welfare as it would limit the government's budget. Coulson scored major points at a debate later in the campaign when she noted that fullblown capitalism would not do much for the poor, especially if they had no services provided to them. Where would they get healthcare? Where would they get an education? Blake's subsequent stumbling caused a schism in the polls; a neck-and-neck race turned into a twelve-point Coulson lead which she held through the last opinion poll.

Coulson beat Blake 69.1 percent to 30.9 percent on election day; obviously, by far, the largest margin in Amarenthian history.

As president

Domestic policy

The first solidly popular president in Amarenthe's history, Coulson is widely credited with successful market reform of the country's economy. Her presidency has marked by an odd mix of state capitalism, welfare socialism and economic liberalism, encouraging, with cautious control and supervision, the growth of industries and of the service sector, while developing and establishing a strong and diverse array of state and social services. Under the Coulson administration, Amarenthe has grown from an unconscionably impoverished state to a unified, strong country with a robust economy and a stable government that is just now beginning to concentrate on opening up to foreign interests.

Foreign policy

Coulson is the first president to avoid developing foreign relations with other countries. Her policy is not necessarily isolationist but rather a prioritisation of domestic affairs and improvement of Amarenthian quality of life. That has not stopped Coulson from continuing warm relations with neighbouring Pacitalia, which has provided financial aid to try and help Amarenthe emerge from its economic and social crises.

Future and legacy

Coulson's legacy as a competent president who brought prosperity and peace to a struggling country has likely already been cemented. She faces an election in two years, likely in the fall of 2008, but Amarenthian presidents do not have re-election limitations, meaning she can serve as many terms as she chooses, provided she is re-elected by the Amarenthian people.