Latest revision as of 15:51, 29 October 2007

Modern Xanthal is a flourishing democratic nation and home to a multitude of political organizations. To have a basic understanding of modern Xanthalian politics it is important to understand the main political parties operating in the country.

Party representation in State legislatures

Xanthalian Socialist Republic of Mirfak

Grand Xanthalian Protectorate of Shinra

Xanthalian Concord of Than

Free Xanthalian Territory of Trasnia

Party descriptions

Communist Party

Mirfakan name: Peputąlos δolimąl

• Overview: Defined by Marxist ideology, the CP advocates the ultimate abolition of organized government and transition of society to communities governed and sustained by mutual respect and cooperation. It appeals to idealist liberal thinkers, especially in Mirfak, where growing dissatisfaction with the government’s social authoritarianism has fostered a resurgence of Marxist thought among intellectuals who reason it might be time for their socialist society to make the transition to a communist one.
• Economic policy: The CP is a traditional left-wing organization, believing in economic equality maintained by the people rather than enforced by the state. Its members insist that, with the proper social groundwork, almost all sentient peoples can live and work together to promote the common good.
• Political policy: The CP sees government as a vehicle to bring a society to communism: once its people are ready, the government’s function is complete. In the communist system, the people maintain order in their communities by enlightened consensus. In a sense, the CP works toward pure democracy, guided by its own ideology, of course.
• Social policy: The CP promotes a social awareness of community responsibility and recognition of the common interest and each individual’s self-interest as one and the same. The pillars of the communist social order are peace, cooperation, community, and environment.
• History: The Communist Party has a long history in Xanthal, but as recently as the dissolution of the Socialist Republic it was not a significant force in politics. Its traditional base of support in modern Xanthal is in Trasnia, where it has attracted idealistic libertarian voters and consistently held several seats in the Conclave, but was never viewed by the general population as functionally viable. The CP found its true calling during the period of widespread political reorganization surrounding Xanthal’s transition to a federal system, casting itself as the champion of progressive reform in Mirfak.

Democratic Capitalist Party

Mirfakan name: Peputąlos Varąleutkos Ląnyuerəgąl

• Overview: The DCP is a politically conservative right-wing group whose primary goal is the promotion of free markets and the limitation of government power. The party finds much of its support in professionals frustrated with their tax burden and middle-class voters unhappy with the current administration.
• Economic policy: The DCP is the most right-wing of Xanthal’s major parties, promoting free market capitalism and wide-scale privatization, letting the invisible hand of the market guide the economy. Most members agree that there should be no trade barriers between the Federated States, but there is contention, particularly in the Mirfakan chapter, about whether to regulate trade with other countries.
• Political policy: The DCP is a steadfast supporter of procedural democracy. It tends to focus on the big picture, which can often leave individuals, especially poor individuals, feeling unappreciated. The DCP sees people as equal to their worth to society more than equal to one another, which makes them rather realist in a political sense.
• Social policy: The DCP has no real social agenda because its members feel that it is the responsibility of individuals to make themselves as successful to the best of their ability. Most members of the DCP agree that restriction of personal freedoms is basically counterproductive to society and promote a laissez-faire style of meritocracy. However, they are not beyond restricting civil freedoms to promote the capitalist market.
• History: The Democratic Capitalist Party has its origin in Trasnia, where it was the dominant party for many years following the collapse of that country’s autocratic pirate regime in 148. A similar political group of the same name existed in Mirfak after 300, but after the union the Trasnian party quickly absorbed the much smaller Mirfakan Democratic Capitalist Party’s membership and became the modern DCP in 317.

Domestic Defense Party

Mirfakan name: Peputąlos Bugą Bəsfrąl

• Overview: As can be inferred from its name, the DDP’s primary agenda is the promotion of national defense. Perhaps as a natural condition of this goal, the party tends towards social authoritarianism. Although economic issues are not its primary concern, it has a reputation of competence in the area. Though DDP members seem somewhat prone to corruption, the party redeems itself by addressing those issues thoroughly and in a public manner.
• Economic policy: National economic independence is a high priority of the DDP, especially reducing Xanthal’s food imports. There is a general trend in the DDP favoring increased spending and standards in the military and policing sectors, but other budget issues are more contentious. Its members also differ on government economic controls, though on average they tend slightly to the left.
• Political policy: As an advocacy group for a largely federal institution, the DDP supports a strong central government and unity among the states. It supports, within reason, any action its members believe work to the end of improved national security. A majority of the DDP is moderately authoritarian and tends to favor the allocation of power to a few rather than many, making it one of the more unified parties in Xanthalian politics.
• Social policy: DDP members are almost all social conservatives and favor a strong federal response to issues that affect multiple states. The DDP opposes many privacy laws and frequently supports regulating personal activity to prevent social problems.
• History: The Domestic Defense Party has its origins in the 170s, when the National Defense Party was organized by a breakaway faction of the Xanthalian Republican Party. After the fall of Old Xanthal, the National Defense Party became a dominant political force on Məgukugą, spreading to Wąkemişu after the royal family was abolished in 301. During the Age of Disunion, a similar party formed in Mirfak in 295 under the name Domestic Defense Party. Shortly after the formation of New Xanthal in 315, the National Defense Party and Domestic Defense Party merged to form the modern DDP, which remained little changed after the federation of the Xanthalian territories in 335.

Internationale

Mirfakan name: Ĭntrnăşonąl

• Overview: As a popular moderate alternative to the XSP, the Internationale combines a libertarian spirit with leftist economics and liberal politics.
• Economic policy: The Internationale supports economic internationalism, specialization, and interdependency of nations. The party supports a strong private sector of small business and corporate enterprise alike, though it often favors small, community employers in principle. The Internationale supports sensible public services and regulation to protect workers and the environment, but its primary economic goal is to enable workers to stand up for themselves through widespread membership in powerful, member-controlled unions backed by the government. Although the party’s core values are in line with regulated market capitalism, chapters of the Internationale in Mirfak and parts of Than ostensibly support some form of socialism to increase their viability in those politically conservative areas.
• Political policy: The Internationale balances its efforts between national and international concerns. Nationally it fiercely protects civil liberties and favors improving public services and protecting the integrity of the government by staving off corruption through legal action. On the international scale, facilitating dialogue and peaceful cooperation between states is a strong party focus. Though the Internationale will deal with any government if it is prudent to do so, the party strongly favors democracy as a superior political system.
• Social policy: The Internationale stresses the importance of diversity in society. Its members are almost universally moderate libertarians. At the same time, the Internationale is an adamant supporter of social equality and a sense of universal solidarity between sentient beings. This concept of equality in individuality is a hallmark of Internationale ideology, and is the guiding force in its social policy. In Xanthal, the Internationale promotes federal unity while preserving state rights and individual freedom.
• History: The concept of the Internationale has existed in some form since at least Earth’s mid-nineteenth century, and over time became the left-wing response to the corruption and failure of communism. The modern party was founded in 186 as the Party Internationale in Trasnia after the abolition of piracy there, later emerging in Mirfak towards the end of the Age of Disunion. After the Xanthalian territories federated in 335, the party renamed itself simply “the Internationale.”

Libertarian Party

Mirfakan name: Peputąlos Lutrəgąl

• Overview: Favored by proponents of individual liberty, freedom of speech and expression, and smaller government everywhere, the LP combines democratic ideals with a widely appreciated philosophy that government ought to keep its eyes and hands off the private affairs of common citizens. In addition to its more idealistic supporters, the LP also tends to draw politically apathetic voters.
• Economic policy: The LP has no detailed economic policy. In general it adheres to a sensible mixed capitalism in voting, but its concern lies mostly in the political and social arenas.
• Political policy: The LP is a great supporter of inclusive democratic participation, but the top item on its political agenda is reducing the size and influence of government. The LP advocates leaving as much as possible to individual citizens, and sees government primarily as a check on the inordinate influence of business and the wealthy.
• Social policy: The LP charter states that individuals are the most important component of society, and this guides party policies. The LP’s unifying purpose is to guard against government and private intrusion into people’s personal affairs. It supports privacy laws, broad civil rights and political freedoms, and generally takes a moderate libertarian view of most civil issues.
• History: It is difficult to define the extended history of the Private Interest Party. Certainly, there have been many large political groups with moderate views centered on social libertarianism in Xanthalian history, especially during the ages of the Old Xanthalian Commonwealth and People’s Republic and throughout the history of Trasnia, but none of these groups can be traced directly to the LP. The immediate predecessor of the LP was the Private Interest Party, founded by middle-class Mirfakan citizens in 292 to oppose the Xanthalian Socialist Party, which was the only organized political party in Mirfak at the time. Initially weak, it quickly grew as a political force after Mirfak entered into the Socialist Republic. It was reorganized as the Libertarian Party after the Xanthalian territories were federated.

National Socialist Party

Mirfakan name: Peputąlos Varąputąlos Ląnbəsfrąl

• Overview: The staunchly authoritarian conservative NSP relies on a modest base of passionate supporters and runoff votes to claim most of its seats. The NSP is popular among hard-line Xanthalian nationalists and voters disillusioned with their State governments.
• Economic policy: The official NSP stand on the economy is strict Xanthalian Socialism, but some members, especially those that have been with the party since before the Federation, advocate state capitalism instead. They are united by a party platform calling for national economic independence under a strong central government.
• Political policy: As its name implies, the NSP is characterized more than anything by its extreme nationalism. The NSP supports a strong, centralized Xanthalian government with absolute power concentrated in a small group of leaders. The NSP preaches an ethnocentric foreign policy, seeking to absorb “Xanthalian” nations and avoid interaction with other nations except where it directly benefits Xanthal.
• Social policy: The NSP stresses the power of the state and the collective good over individual freedom. Virtually all of its members have societal beliefs that reflect varying degrees of authoritarian social conservatism, support a strong national culture, and disdain non-conformist elements. The NSP has no problem with widespread legislation of everyday life if it promotes social homogeneity and order.
• History: The NSP has its roots in the short reign of Mirfakan Ălfĭn Fkwĭl Ąląno, who used the phrase “Nationalist Collectivization” to describe his campaign of economic nationalization and ethnic cleansing in 291. Though Ąląno was quickly deposed by an international coalition, his surviving supporters carried on the ideology and founded the Nationalist Collectivization Party in early 293. The Nationalist Collectivization Party and a group with similar views based on Wąkemişu, the Hegemony Separatists, were the primary opposition to the establishment of a new Xanthalian nation. After the Treaty of Xanthal was approved, the Mirfakan party quickly adapted its views to support the “Xanthalian Nation,” betraying many of its traditional supporters but gaining a foothold as a legitimate party in the new Xanthalian government. After the Xanthalian territories were federated, the Nationalist Collectivization Party recast itself again, this time as the champion of the orthodox movement to restore the Old Xanthalian state across all the Xanthalian territories, renaming itself the National Socialist Party.

Virtue Party

Mirfakan name: Peputąlos Wĭlăl

• Overview: The VP’s appeal is not limited to the religious, but its leadership and officers are almost all religious, typically Muslims or Christians, and usually sociopolitical conservatives. As its name implies, the party is driven largely by concepts of virtue and values, the definitions of which are guided by religious texts such as the Koran and the Bible. Though it increases its popular appeal by moderating its religious leanings with healthy pragmatism, overall the VP is a distinctly authoritarian, right-wing party.
• Economic policy: Though the VP’s economic policy sometimes lacks coherence, in general its members favor a laissez-faire approach to the market. However, the VP will back public projects it determines are necessary to ensure the smooth operation of society. There is a strong emphasis on charity in the moral code of most VP members, which partially makes up for the party’s opposition to organized, government-enforced welfare.
• Political policy: The political aptitude of the VP is somewhat underwhelming: the party often finds its own rigid value standards to be a burden as it is frequently outmaneuvered by the political and populist machinations of the less ethically encumbered parties. The VP is perceived by many of the conservative religious as a righteous defender of their doctrine, and in them the party has a reliable base of support. Scandals are never uncommon enough in the VP, as they can easily compromise the party’s position on the moral high ground. As a result, when misconduct is uncovered, the VP is quick to eject the perpetrators from its ranks.
• Social policy: The VP consistently relies on moderate interpretations of religious texts to make its decisions on social issues, though most of its members will deviate from their prescripts if the situation demands it. Differences between the individual beliefs of members lead to a number of notable ideological divides within the party, but they are united by their faith and a general attitude of social conservatism.
• History: The VP is one of many morally motivated political groups in Xanthalian history, but it has the distinction of being one of the most prominent. Formed principally by Muslims living on Shinra in 335 after the end of the enforced secular order of the Socialist Republic, the VP was immediately popular with the planet’s many religious and social conservatives, quickly growing to major party status.

Xanthalian Socialist Party

Mirfakan name: Peputąlos Varąputąlosąl Zănŧąląl

• Overview: Frequently admired for its political grace but with little appeal outside strong left-wing communities, the XSP has consistently promoted the traditional Xanthalian style of socialism and social equality.
• Economic policy: The XSP’s priority is equal economic opportunity, and its members support a large public sector that provides most important goods and services to all citizens. The basic idea of Xanthalian Socialism is to start everyone at a minimum standard of living with public money, then allow them to purchase nonessential goods and services from a strictly regulated private sector as incentive to work for higher wages.
• Political policy: The XSP generally supports democratic republic, rule of the system so long as the people support it, but some in the party take a more defensive stance on preserving the authority of their ideology. Because it places so much emphasis on government, both economically and socially, it takes seriously the responsibility to assure that the government acts with integrity in the interest of its citizens and is ever vigilant against corruption.
• Social policy: To resist Trasnian pressure to reform the socialist Mirfakan economy, the XSP expanded its traditional social agenda substantially, becoming progressively more domineering in order to preserve its authority. The XSP is now known for a number of authoritarian policies, though overall it is fairly moderate on issues of social control.
• History: The history of the Xanthalian Socialist Party goes back to Old Xanthalian dictator Carol Olen, who coined the term “Xanthalian Socialism” in 44 to describe the moderate sociopolitical attitude and communist ideology of Xanthal, still operating under the original United Socialist States government at that time. In time, the term came to refer to that traditional Xanthalian system of government. Xanthalian Socialist Parties have existed almost perpetually in all the Xanthalian territories since that time, excepting the reign of Empress Fina 力量 in Xanthal, the Principality on Wąkemişu, and Fkwĭl Ąląno in Mirfak, during which the party was banned. The XSP of today is the product of an agreement between the Xanthalian Socialist Parties of Mirfak and Məgukugą, as well as a comparatively tiny Trasnian party, which merged to form the XSP in 318. Its base of support has shrunk substantially as its political and military compromises have divorced it from its orthodox members and its increased social authoritarianism has driven progressives out of the party.