The Freethinkers
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| Flag of The Freethinkers | |
| Motto: 'Our strength is our courage, our honour, our unity.' | |
| No Map Available Yet | |
| Region | Haven |
|---|---|
| Capital | Navarre |
| Official Language(s) | English |
| Leader | HM King George IV |
| Population | 3.3 Billion |
| Currency | Mintel = 100 Coppers |
| NS Sunset XML | |
Contents
Overview
The Sensible Commonwealth of The Freethinkers, or The Freethinker Commonwealth, is a western-style Federation of one central territory, 'Mainland' located in the Equatorial Atlantic Ocean, and two autonomous provinces, made up of 'Midland', in temperate Haven in the North Pacific, and the Fargon Archipelago in the far North Atlantic. The main inhabitants are Humans, but there is sizable minority of Vampires and the half-breed Ghouls. The Government is a democratic constitutional monarchy headed by the Sovereign member of the Royal Family, ruling over an elected unicameral legislature. The two provinces each has their own assemblies to rule on domestic matters and taxation. The Vampire population however, is autonomous and is ruled by the Council of Navarok, headed up by the reigning Lord of Navarok.
The Freethinker Commonwealth is a relatively powerful, historically democratic nation with a strong tradition of inclusion and tolerance for almost all species and races within and beyond its borders. Headed by a economically liberal, progressive government and protected by a military that, though relatively small, is one of the best equipped of its era. A strong maritime tradition, both civilian and Naval, runs through the nation and its past and culture, especially in the capital, Navarre, historically linked with the mass immigration of old and the multicutural make-up of Freethinker society today.
The Freethinker Commonwealth is an active member of the Organisation of Haven States, the Osaka Security Treaty, and the New Alliance Treaty Organization. It has forfeited UN membership over disagreements over economic soveriegnty, but nonetheless supports the ideals of the organisation and The Freethinker Commonwealth is an active supporter of Freedom and Civil Rights on the national and international stage.
Geography
People
Culture
Race
Religon
Government
The Government of The Freethinkers is a liberal, secular, democratic constitutional monarchy, headed by a Soveriegn Monarch as the ceremonial Head of State, with many of the executive powers entrusted to the current Prime Minister. The legislature is comprised of a unicameral, fully elected assembly collectively known as Parliament, with the party or coalition holding the most seats forming the actual government within the assembly. The smaller Vampire community has its own governing body ruling on matters of internal affairs, whilst the two extraterritorial provinces can boast their own assemblies (and heads of Government) which deal with all matters excluding foreign relations seperately from the Mainland assembly.
Head of State
Parliament
Ministries
Civil Service
The Courts
The Courts and the Judiciary are independent entirely of the excecutive and legislative branches of the Freethinker government, save that the prisons and courts are funded through federal taxation.
History
See Main Article: History of The Freethinkers
Economy
The Freethinker economy is run mostly by the private sector with the Government regulating and in certain circumstances supplying certain Public goods (such as Health and Education services) where it feels the free market alone fails to provide social optimality and universal coverage in the relevant area. Capitalist Free-market systems are the dominant and prefered economic form, and Free Enterprise and Entrepreneurship are encouraged to a large extent but in turn Companies and Corporations are expected to act with Social Responsibility as a gruiding principle with regards to their employees, resource consumption and the products they retail.
Currency
See Main Article: Mintel
The Freethinker Commonwealth maintains a floating exchange rate with other currencies and currently maintains a foreign exchange price of around US$2 with most other economies.
Central Bank, Monetary Policy and Macroeconomic Variables
The Freethinker Commonwealth utilises a highly independent central bank, known as the Freethinker Central Reserve, or FCR , to ensure economic stability and sustainable growth. The FCR was established in the late 1960's as a government answer to several periods of crippling inflation caused by election-time increases in Government spending (to provide short term boosts for economic and political gain). Designed to provide long term stability without the problems of election time economy boosts (and subsequent inflation), the continued successful operation of the FCR and the subsequent steady growth of the economy since its introduction has long been a strongpoint to the Freethinker Liberal Democrats economic credentials.
Instead of Government fiscal policy, the main control of the Freethinker economy is invested in the monetary policy of the FCR. Its capacity to set the interest rate and control the supply of money within the economy allows for more effective and stable control of the economy than government fiscal measures could hope to achieve. The Freethinker Treasury does, however, set the inflation rate target (currently at 2.5%) for the FCR to follow as a guide , and the FCR adjusts the interest rates and money supply (technically the same thing) to direct the economy towards this level (A low rate of positive inflation is generally seen as an indicator of steady economic growth).
The Government's Fiscal policy (Taxation and Spending) is, as under the economic guidelines of the current ruling Freethinker Liberal Democrats limited to providing a break-even zero net revenue loss over the course of a business cycle. This means that limited government spending deficits can only be allowed if directly funded by previous or future surplus from taxation revenue. The excellent economic performance of recent years has, however, ensured that current levels of surplus have far exceeded past expectations and provided the government with sufficient levels of revenue for new increases in the defence and foreign aid budgets without an increase in taxation. Because of this policy and the desire to maintain current economic growth, Tax levels, both direct and indirect, have remained reasonably constant over the last few decades at around 22-35%, based progressively on earnings.
Unemployment is generally seen as acceptable at levels of 5% or less, and the current trend tends towards a rate of 3-3.5% on a national average. Extremely high unemployment is seen as one of the few allowable circumstances that Government intervention is seen as being beneficial, and localised retraining and subsidy based investment has been practised to prevent economic recession in areas which are suffering in terms of significant job losses and other economic malaise.
Economic Overview By Sector
Primary Tier Economy
Agriculture in the Freethinker Mainland is limited to some minor irrigated regions and with some commercial level cattle farming in the more temperate areas. Efforts to increase production through large scale desert irrigation projects have met with some limited success, but nonetheless food output is still significantly below levels of national demand. Only in the Freethinker Haven Territories is there sufficient output to meet domestic requirements, due to the friendlier climate and lower population. Fishing is in a better condition, with large scale operations for harvesting both fresh- and salt-water stocks, but these are also threatened by both declining fish populations and falling public demand.
Mineral extraction is more common, and there are significant quantities of Iron ore, Ilmenite and Malachite deposits which are exploited for a variety of metals for both domestic use and foreign export. These operations are sufficient to meet local demand though other ores and materials have to be imported from abroad, notably precious metals and Uranium. There are significant new deposits being discovered in the Fargon Archipelago and the Freethinker Haven Territories, but these have so far been under-developed due to geographic factors and the lack of necessary infastructure in place.
Secondary Tier Economy
The manufacturing sector of the Freethinker economy is coming out of a major transformation from the old quantative-based to a new qualitive based sector.
