Difference between revisions of "The Resurgent Dream"

Revision as of 23:14, 29 March 2007

The Confederated Peoples of the Resurgent Dream is a democratic confederation covering most of Ambara and Vasconia as well as a number of islands in both the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. Sovereignty in the confederation is ultimately vested in the various Members although that sovereignty is represented internationally by the General Government. It was established in its current form in early 2007.

The Resurgent Dream also has a national currency, the dollar. The Adoki yen and the Danaan sterling also remain legal tender although no new notes are being printed and they will likely be phased out entirely within the next two to three years.

In most areas of public life, the Resurgent Dream is highly decentralized. The Confederal Government possesses only enumerated powers over the dollar, national defense, conflicts between Members and over laws regarding piracy and crimes considered to be matters of universal jurisdiction. However, national unity is better served by a number of constitutional prohibitions on the Members, requiring them to give full faith and credit to contracts and marriages arranged in other Members, forbidding interference with commerce between the Members or with freedom of movement within the confederation and preventing violations of the rights and immunities of Confederal citizens.

History

The Confederated Peoples of Resurgent Dream was originally ten separate nations. The modern Resurgent Dream is legally the successor state of only one of them, the Danaan High Kingdom of the Resurgent Dream. Between complete independence and formal confederation, the ten nations which were to combine to form the confederation went through several months as a supranational organization known as the Commonwealth of Peoples. The confederation is also legally the successor to this organization.

Danaan High Kingdom

The original Danaan High Kingdom consisted of the Kingdoms of Bilbtoria, Holista, Fireforge, Farinor, Wintermore and Shieldcrest and the Grand Duchy of Tarana. These kingdoms were loosely united under a High King since the beginning of European and Indian settlement. However, they were only brought together into a single nation in 1990 following a bloody civil war. In the aftermath of the war, the Danaan High Kingdom of the Resurgent Dream emerged as a federal constitutional monarchy and the individual kingdoms were reduced to principalities or, in the case of Shieldcrest, grand duchies. It was shortly thereafter that the Danaan High Kingdom began a period of rapid expansion, coming to include the Principalities of Alekthos, Amalad, Amory, Carasia, Corral, Kagerlund, Kar, Kadoki, Legon, Nerise, Pele, Sanero, Saraben, Selinia, Thorlund, Wyrnsk, Zeng and Zutern.

Commonwealth of Peoples

The Commonwealth of Peoples represented an expansion of the original Danaan High Kingdom, although the original Danaan High Kingdom remained one of the Commonwealth's Members. The Commonwealth was a supranational union of ten sovereign Members. The core of the Commonwealth was a mutual defense pact, a free trade zone, a free mobility zone and a common foreign policy. However, the Commonwealth's institutions did not have either the power or the practical ability to pursue the kind of integration the Commonwealth sought, integration that could only exist under a single, general government. This led to a great deal of friction between the Commonwealth's leaders and the leaders of the Members. Many sought to simply abandon the Commonwealth, others to restrict its scope and still others to transform it into a real government, a task at which they suceeded.

The Commonwealth's origins are varied. Marlund and Nabarro Abarca became Members because they achieved dynastic union with the Danaan High Kingdom. Gandara, Jagiella and Sahor were Danaan settlements which had been granted independence while choosing to retain the High King of the Resurgent Dream as their king. The other four Members, two republics and two monarchies held by dynasties different from the Danaan, simply joined voluntarily, agreeing only to accept the High King as the Head of the Commonwealth, a symbol of their free union.

Confederation

The Confederated Peoples of the Resurgent Dream was formed from the Commonwealth. In order to remove any confusion as to policy continuity caused by the confusing arrangements under the Commonwealth, the Confederation explicitly proclaimed itself to be a successor state to the original Danaan High Kingdom and the Commonwealth.

The first Constitution of the Confederated Peoples was written. The Congress of the Confederation received authority over foreign affairs, the common defense and international trade as well as certain enumerated domestic powers. Although the Confederal Government was given relatively little power, it established a single national government, transparent, responsible and able to deal with the world effectively. While the Members did not give much more substantive power to the Confederated Peoples than they had to the Commonwealth, they did clearly imbue the Confederated Peoples with the forms and symbols of a national polity, something the Commonwealth had been lacking. This allowed the Confederal Government to act with more credibility, clarity and transparency than the Commonwealth's complex institutions had been able to employ. It enabled the Confederated Peoples to regard itself and to be regarded by the world as a nation among nations.

Politics

The Confederated Peoples are governed by the Constitution agreed upon by the Commonwealth Interministerial Council in early 2007. The Constitution gives the Confederation a set of narrowly construed enumerated powers, establishes the rights and immunities of Confederal citizens, establishes certain obligations between the Members and leaves all powers not granted to the Confederation or forbidden to the Members to the Members, respectively, or to the people. The Constitution also allows the Members to delegate some of their powers to federal unions within the Confederation, a concession to the fact that the Sahori States, Lanerian States and Danaan Principalities were already members of federations when they initially joined the Confederation.

All powers given to the Confederation are vested in the Congress of the Confederation. Each Member has one vote in Congress and sends a delegation which can consist of any odd number of Represenatives between three and fifteen appointed by the Member legislature. If the Representatives within a delegation disagree, their Member's one vote is cast as the majority votes. The Congress can also delegate its authority to such bodies as it might choose. This is the source of power for the Confederal Government.

The Chief of State and Chief of Government of the Confederation is the President of the Confederated Peoples in Congress Assembled. The President can be elected and removed by a majority vote in Congress at any time.

Direct democracy

Confederal citizens are subject to at least three legal jurisdictions: Local, Member and Confederal. Many citizens are subject to more than one level of local jurisdiction and to the jurisdiction of unions within the confederation as well. Direct democracy does not take place on the confederal level or on the level of any of the unions within the conferation but it does have a limited place in many Member and local governments.

Forms of direct democracy used by the various Members include but are not limited to constitutional referrals (wherein the legislature proposes constitutional amendments to the people which pass if they receive a majority or supermajority of votes), statuatory referrals (similar to constitutional referrals but regarding ordinary legal statutes and almost always requiring only a simple majority to pass), constitutional amendment initiative (where a petition by a certain number of citizens for a constitutional amendment results in the proposed amendment being subjected to a popular referendum, the process taking somewhat different forms in the different Members where it is practiced), statute law initiative (like a constitutional amendment initiative but involving ordinary statutes which could, in theory, be repealed by the legislature through ordinary parliamentary processes), statute law referendum (wherein a petition by a certain number of citizens to repeal a legislative statute results in the referendum being submitted to the general electorate and the statute is repealed if a majority or supermajority votes for this outcome) and the recall (wherein citizens can recall elected officials through a constitutional process).

Almost all municipalities in the Confederated Peoples have strong elements of direct democracy in their structure. Many of them require popular referendums and even supermajorities in order to pass certain kinds of ordinances. Many also allow citizens to directly communicate with elected officials without a prior appointment through holding open meetings to determine local policies.

International institutions in the Resurgent Dream

The Resurgent Dream is not a member of the United Nations. It withdrew shortly after making its debut on the world stage in protest of the UN resolution forcing all UN members to legalize gay marriage. Ironically, after great controversy surrounding the relationship of Queen Elayne ni Fiona of Farinor with a Countess Catherine ni Fiona, the Resurgent Dream legalized same-sex partnerships less than two months after withdrawing from the UN so as to avoid being forced to do so. Despite all this, the Resurgent Dream has not rejoined the UN and no major political party advocates doing so.

The Confederal Alliance of Red Cross, Red Crescent and Red Shield of David Societies is a member in good standing of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies. A number of recent international humanitarian efforts have been spearheaded by the various humanitiarian societies which recently came together to form the Confederal Alliance.

Energy politics

Energy politics at the Confederal level focus on proposed constitutional amendments to give the Confederal Government control over all matters relating to nuclear materials. Because most Members make little to no use of nuclear power and oppose nuclear power plants as threats to the environment and public safety, such an amendment would likely lead to a gradual phase-out of nuclear power in the Confederated Peoples and would almost certainly lead to a moratorium on new nuclear power plants. However, some of the Lanerian States, Adoki, Kadoki and Selinia make extensive use of nuclear power and public opinion in those Members is strongly favorable to nuclear power as an energy source.

Members

The Confederated Peoples of the Resurgent Dream consists of 129 Confederal Members. The free union of these Members is what constitutes the Confederation. At least in theory, the Members are free to secede, although only through a relatively difficult constitutional process.

The populations of the Members vary between 212,390 (Great Plains Territory) and 1,635,000,000 (Nabarro Abarca).

Geography

The Resurgent Dream's geography is both a blessing and a curse. The nation possesses an extremely large total land area suitable for its population. Correspondingly, the Resurgent Dream is not prone to the intense population pressures which most nations face in the modern world's climate of rapid population growth. Perhaps for this reason, there is no notable movement within the Resurgent Dream either for militaristic expansion or for extraterrestrial settlements, excepting the City of Selinia on Luna. However, the Resurgent Dream's territory is spread out across the face of a very densely populated Earth, including a number of relatively small, geographically isolated island Members. Because of this, even a purely defensive military strategy requires the same sort of investment which more geographically compact nations only require for the projection of force externally. The wide dispersion of territory also increases costs for business, commerce, travel and the post.

The Resurgent Dream is located in the Western Atlantic, a region containing two continents and countless islands spanning half of the Atlantic Ocean and extending, despite the name, into parts of the Pacific. The core of the Resurgent Dreams territory is located on the continents of Ambara and Vasconia and in the Islands of Mists. The Resurgent Dream also possesses many islands in the Atlantic, the Pacific and the Artic Oceans. It contains territory in all four of the Earth's hemispheres. The Resurgent Dream possesses no colonies, unincorporated territories or non-self-governing territories. All territories the Resurgent Dream possesses are integral parts of the nation.

Climate and topography vary widely through the Resurgent Dream. The Resurgent Dream ranges from artic to tropical climates and contains both high mountains and broad plains. In many ways, the nation reflects the climactic diversity of the world in which it is situated, serving as a microcosm of the larger biosphere.

Economy

If considered as a single unit, the Commonwealth has a gross domestic product of $180,040,524,610,990.63 and a per capita domestic product of $37,831.59. The unemployment rate is 2.95%. It exports $18,702,739,792,662.50 outside the Commonwealth each year and imports $21,802,403,353,828.13, giving it a trade deficit of $3,099,663,561,165.63.

Economic development is by no means evenly spread over the various Commonwealth member states. Laneria, Gandara, Sahor and the Resurgent Dream are very developed and have a high standard of living. Adoki, Jagiella, Nabarro Abarca and Finara are moderately developed with a somewhat lower standard of living. Marlund and Hipolis remain undeveloped and suffer from severe economic problems although these problems are greatly ameliorated in Hipolis by the natural abundance of the land and sea.

Demographics

The Commonwealth of Peoples is a densely populated, culturally and ethnically diverse union of ten member states. The populations of these member states speak over 100 different languages, belong to over 100 different definable ethnic groups and follow a wide variety of different religious traditions. The current population of the Commonwealth is 5.109 billion. The population is rising steadily.

Religion

The Confederated Peoples has no Confederal state religion although many of the individual Members have established churches. In all cases, the establishment of a church must be done without infringing upon the religious liberties of those who choose to adhere to a different faith.

The Confederated Peoples is predominantly Christian although large minorities are Hindu, Jewish, Confucian, Shinto and Muslim. The Christian population is divided more or less evently between Catholics and Protestants and also includes Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox and Mormon minorities.

Religious devotion is more prevalent in the Confederated Peoples than in most industrialized democracies although not by an especially great margin. 81% describe themselves as believing in a higher power. 75% believe in God. 66% profess a historical religion. 51% personally belong to a church, mosque, synagogue or comparable body. 45% attend religious services weekly or near weekly. 38% consider themselves to be observent.

Culture

The Confederated Peoples brings together many distinct cultural traditions. Cultures are, in part, brought together by a conscious promotion of multiculturalism by government at all levels. However, the natural cultural blending which results from an increasingly integrated population has much more of an effect.

The Confederal people shares an interest in sports and many sports competitions are organized on a Confederal basis. Although the first competition has not yet taken place, the Confederal National Games are scheduled to begin occurring once every four years. In the games, the greatest athletes of the Confederated Peoples will participate in all the usual athletic events as well as a few largely unique to the nations.

Academics are another area of major cultural significance. Tertiary educational institutions get students from throughout the Confederated Peoples and the world from a diverse range of backgrounds. Confederal conferences are also common in academics on a wide variety of subjects. Colleges and universities in the more developed Members sometimes offer scholarships to students from historically undeveloped Members as does the University of the Confederation. Much of this interaction is organized through the Union of Confederal Universities.

Professional associations and trade unions are also coming to be organized on a Confederal basis. The first meeting of the Confederal Association of Trade and Industrial Unions and Professional Associations took place in January.

The Confederated Peoples largely has a common contemporary literature, especially so far as works written in English are concerned. Numerous Confederal prizes are given for literature and most the Confederal best-seller lists tend not to vary from Member to Member and largely English-speaking Members view the Confederated Peoples as having a relatively united literary culture.