Welcome Guest
[Log In]
[Register]
| Welcome to Alterra - More than a new region, a new world! You're currently viewing our forum as a guest. This means you can only post in the "Welcome to Alterra" forum, although you have read-only access to the entire board. If you join our community, you'll be receive full access and be able to use all member-only features. Registration is simple, fast, and completely free. Once you've registered, go to the New Members forum and apply for citizenship. You can also learn about our world there and in the Alterra links in the menu. You'll be granted full access as soon as you register. Join our community! If you're already a member please log in to your account to access all of our features: |
| The Second United Republic of Morolia Factbook; Work in Progress | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tweet Topic Started: Nov 6 2012, 04:49 AM (284 Views) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Morolia | Nov 6 2012, 04:49 AM Post #1 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
The Second United Republic of Morolia Factsheet Full/Official Name: The Second United Republic of Morolia Shortened Name: Morolia Demonym: Morolian Capital: Vertical City Population: 25 Million Currency: Morol (MOR) ( Languages: Navis (official), Esprit (secondary), <unnamed language> (traditional) Government: Unitary presidential republic Head of State: President Henry Nolan Overview: <To mix with some stuff describing natural features when geography has been locked down> The Morolians are a people who have enthusiastically embraced the Machine, the industrial revolution, the technological age, and the vision of the future that they imply. The politico-economic system of Morolia is a model of modern corporate capitalism, with those firms the government classifies as "very large" responsible for upwards of 60% of GDP and 40% of employment. Notable, however, is also the strong role of government in maintaining this system. Far from the miniscule, laissez-faire government often associated with corporate political interests, the government of Morolia is a medium-sized bureaucracy that makes active use of business regulations. Morolia's largest corporations are often heavily involved, through lobbyists, in the crafting of this legislation. Mainstream public opinion within the country is generally that this close relationship between government and big business is an argument against theories of conflict between public and private good and that it is a major reason for Morolia's burgeoning industrial economy. Alternatively, many foreign as well as dissenting domestic commentators argue that the large corporations are simply using the government and these regulations as a means of driving out smaller competitors who can't afford the cost of compliance and/or don't have the political connections to win exemptions. In either case, the economy is a curious hybrid of free and social market principles. Despite all of this, there is still a clear distinction between government and business. State-owned enterprises are greatly discouraged and the government sees it as its responsibility to ensure the successful functioning of the private sector economy. The government exists in a traditional three-branch structure with a powerful executive headed by a popularly elected President, a unicameral legislature elected in a party-list proportional representation system, and an independent judiciary. ------Some notes on culture I plan to use somewhere...------- As it did in many other countries, the Modernist movement became one of the dominant influences on the academic establishment of Morolia at the turn of the last century, during the time of the first republic. However, what is remarkable about the Morolian case is that Morolian Modernism managed to transcend its esoteric, academic roots and become a fixture of the common culture making Morolia to this day a recognizably Modernist society, long after the foreign schools of ivory tower Modernism faded away with all the philosophical and artistic fads that had come before them, leaving behind only echoes of their impact on the world outside the small island nation*. *At this time I'm considering taking plot Z56. **I'm not sure if all this Modernism stuff contradicts any established history; I'm importing some from OTL. |
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
![]() |
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Morolia | Dec 6 2012, 02:34 AM Post #2 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Government and Politics Morolia is a unitary state, vesting all powers in a single, central government. This government is divided into three branches wielding executive, legislative, and judicial powers. Executive The executive branch is lead by a President of the Republic who appoints the directors of the various executive directorates. The executive is usually considered the most powerful branch of the Morolian government as it is in the executive organizations that the actual functioning of the various government programs occurs, particularly in the regulatory agencies. The President is elected by a popular vote first-past-the-post election, where one candidate must receive at least 50% plus one vote, or else a runoff election is called between the two candidates with the most votes in the general election. This is not an infrequent occurrence, as the proportional representation system of the National Assembly encourages the growth of multiple political parties, all of whom tend to run presidential candidates. Traditionally, though, the less-favored of two candidates who have similar ideologies will concede before the general election and endorse their more popular counterpart. Presidents may serve for a maximum of two five-year fixed terms.
Legislative Morolia's unicameral National Assembly is composed of 250 members tasked with proposing an annual budget for presidential approval, writing and amending the nation's codes of criminal and civil law, and authorizing the administrative powers of the executive branch, though the Assembly does not directly control these administrative functions. For this reason, the Assembly is often called "the passive branch," as it is almost entirely dependent on the executive branch to carry out its will. The are a small number of investigative and oversight organizations that do report directly to the Assembly whose existence intended to provide an instrument for the Assemble to hold the executive accountable. In recent decades many commentators have begun to doubt the effectiveness of this system, thought there is some disagreement as to whether it is the result of an increase in legislative corruption, or the sheer size of the executive having grown beyond the Assembly's capacity to police. Members of the National Assembly are elected by closed party-list proportional representation, wherein citizens vote for one of several registered parties, and these parties are awarded seats in proportion to the number of votes they received. Before the election, each party publishes an ordered list of their candidates, and the individuals from these lists take office in descending order until all of their party's seats have been filled. Members serve for an unlimited number of five-year fixed terms. Once the members have all taken office, their first order of business is to elect one of their own to serve as Chairman of the National Assembly, who is responsible for presiding over the debates and enforcing the Assembly's internal rules. While the way a party votes for the Chairman's election may give a broad indicator of how they will vote during the rest of the term, formal coalitions are exceptionally rare because, unlike most other nations with party-list elections, the Morolian National Assembly doesn't staff the bureaucratic government, so with the largest party lacking a need for a consistent majority, the other parties generally prefer to keep their voting options open and simply ask for concessions to their views in exchange for their support of legislation. The current Chairman is Assemblyman Stephen Westing of the Industrial Party. The current party breakdown of the Assembly is as follows: ![]() See below for a description of the different parties. Judicial The High Court of Morolia is the final authority on all cases involving interpretation of the codes of civil and criminal law, the administrative rules published by the executive, and the Morolian Constitution. Common criminal cases generally do not reach the High Court unless there is a constitutional issue in question. Most of the lesser decisions are made by a series of ten district courts responsible for the major administrative divisions of the country, or are settled by the municipal courts in which the vast majority of cases originate. The High Court of Morolia is composed of a panel of three High Judges appointed by the President, subject to an initial approval by the National Assembly, and a re-approval by the same once every ten years.
Political Parties These are short descriptions of the registered political parties in Morolia. To qualify as "registered," a party must have its registration paperwork approved by the National Elections Commission including a minimum signature requirement (currently 7,000) which grants them registered status until the next election, after which the registration will expire if the party fails to win any seats. A losing party may apply to re-register after the election. Industrial Party Committe Chair: Stephen Westing Party code: IND Official color: Gray-Blue Approximate ideology: Neoliberalism, economic globalism, social libertarianism Details: The Industrial Party is often considered the main center-right force in Morolian politics, predominately aligned with the interests of Morolia's largest corporations. The Industrialists believe in peace through trade, focus on expanding Morolian business to foreign markets and reciprocal incentive for foreign investment through bilateral free trade deals and a zero-percent corporate income tax rate. They are backers of anti-monopoly legislation, but do not show the same vigor in opposing oligopolies, nor are they opposed to providing government subsidies for certain key industries. As a product of the Morolian business interest, the party is almost exclusively focused on economics, seeing this as the answer to both the desires of the wealthy and the plight of the poor, but having little interest in cultural and social issues. Their foreign policy focuses on the development of trade relations. They are often reluctant to commit military resources abroad, but will do so if Morolian trading interests are threatened. Liberal Party Committe Chair: Gary Stone Party code: LIB Official color: Yellow Approximate ideology: Social Liberalism Details: As the predominate center-left party, and in fact the only left-leaning party of note in the country, the Liberals are the voice of opposition to the majority of the business-minded populace. Most members of the Liberal Party still consider themselves capitalists, but express reservations about the right-leaning parties' enthusiastic embrace of the system. They do not believe that corporations need government assistance, whether through subsidies, tax breaks, or favorable legislation. The Liberal Party is supportive of the collective bargaining rights of trade unions, but the current party line is opposition to closed-shop unions. Some debate has emerged within the party over how best to reconcile these apparently contradictory policies. National Party for Economic Growth Committee Chair: Carrie Regent Party code: NEG Offcial color: Dark Blue Approximate ideology: Paleoconservatism, economic protectionism Details: Colloquially referred to as "NPEG" (pronounced 'EN-peg'), this party represents the right wing of mainstream Morolian politics. While they acknowledge the danger of tariff wars, they tend to favor higher tariffs than the Industrial Party to protect domestic small business. While NPEG generally views large corporations positively and does not seek to diminish the level of government favor it receives, the party also sees itself as the right-wing equivalent of the Liberals in their support of what they see as "the little guy." Pursuant to this view, NPEG supports many outreach programs to help start-ups through the administrative regulations that larger businesses deal with as a matter of course. Of all the parties, they are the most likely to support legislation that would be considered "socially conservative," but see this mostly as a law and order stance rather than a moralistic or traditionalist one, being that modern Morolian society has mostly turned its back on its old traditions. Progressive Conservative Party Committee Chair: Simon Abney Party code: PRO Official color: Violet Approximate ideology: Progressivism, neoconservatism Details: The Progressive Conservatives take their seats between the Industrialists and the Liberals, but this should not be taken to mean they're moderates. The "Pro-cons," as is their colloquial abbreviation, endorse the policies of progressivism, such as social programs targeted at the poorest citizens, opposition to monopolies and oligopolies, and State administration of the economy. However, they do all of this from a nationalist perspective, which was initially distrustful of conventional socialism's tendency toward internationalism. This, along with the general ideological drift of the electorate over time has lead them toward a more capitalistic conception of the economy within the progressive framework. Union-Labor Party Committee Chair: Chandler Edison Party code: ULP Official color: Pink Approximate ideology: Ordoliberalism, welfare capitalism Details: The Union-Labor Party is a splinter from the Liberals, and so support many of the same policies, but the ULP has drifted somewhat more left in the absence of the pragmatism of major party leadership. The defining issue of the ULP is total support of labor unions, including the right to form a closed shop, over which they split with the Liberals following the disastrous 1973 energy workers' strike that forced the Liberals to backtrack on their previous support of the unions. The more moderate and party-loyalist union leaders accepted the new paradigm and urged members to continue supporting the Liberals, and the hard-liners formed the new party in response. Green Party Committee Chair: Paul Cornell Party code: GRN Official Color: Green Approximate ideology: Social Democracy, environmentalism Details: The Green Party is traditionally considered further left than any of the parties above, though the ULP is slowly drifting in their direction, often at the cost of votes. The Greens' first concern is protection of the environment. They support other aspects of liberalized socialism, such as a much larger welfare state than any of the mainstream parties, but will always put environmental protection above trade union interests when the two are in conflict, making them both natural allies and natural enemies with the ULP. Revolutionary Left Movement Committee Chair: Eric Dyson Party Code: RLM Official Color: Red Approximate ideology: Communism Details: The current iteration of Morolia's token unapologetic leftist party. A small fraction of the Morolian electorate endorses some kind of purist socialism that spurns all liberal influences, but eternal infighting in this group causes their representative party to turn-over about once every election cycle. Frequently there is more than one party in this niche, and in such cases none of them has enough votes to win even one seat. Party for Electoral Reform Committee Chair: Chandra Hardwick Party Code: ERF Official Color: Gray Approximate ideology: Devolution, federalism, electoral reform Details: The Reformists have been a consistent presence in Morolian politics for 15 years now, and while sympathies for their cause have greatly increased among the electorate, they've never managed to hold more than two seats, as voters still favor their traditional parties more. According to the Reformists, the current electoral system gives too much power to party leaders, lacks any form of regional representation, and doesn't allow for a strong diversity of opinion among individual assemblymen. In the short term, they advocate requiring registered political parties to conduct primary elections before every general election, and in the long term would like to see the system replaced with a single transferable vote. Although the party leaders are mostly former members of right-leaning parties, the party itself does not espouse much of a position on issues other than electoral reform beyond general promises to accept the will of the people. For this reason, it has been difficult to classify on a traditional left-right scale. The National Assembly Parliamentarian Commission agreed after the Reformists' first electoral victory that the the lack of numerous distinct minor parties on the right as there are on the left, made the right extremity of the Assembly Chamber the most logical location for seating ideologically nonspecific minor parties and other single-issue parties. Edited by Morolia, Dec 9 2012, 05:53 AM.
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
![]() |
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 1 user reading this topic (1 Guest and 0 Anonymous) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| « Previous Topic · Library of Alterra · Next Topic » |
| Track Topic · E-mail Topic |
7:30 PM Jul 11
|
Hosted for free by ZetaBoards · Privacy Policy










7:30 PM Jul 11