Democratic Union of British States

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Democratic Union of British States
Demokrata Uniista de Britansk Staltanta (native name)
Micronation in the  United Kingdom
Member of the Edenic Compact

Preceded by:
Federal Republic of Whestcorea
Realms of Valdsland
Succeeded by:
Imperial Union of Edenia


Flag

Motto:
None

Anthem:
Here Comes the President (Never official)
Note: Briefly explicit


Location in Europe (circled)

Official languages
 - Primary

English, Democratic Union British

Capital cityNot yet chosen

Government
 - Lord President
 - Lord Vice President
 - Speaker of the House of Representatives
Representative democracy
Horatio Eden
Stephen Freayth
Horatio Eden

History
 - Declared independence
 - Joined Compact
 - Dissolved
 
22 December 2016

5 February 2017

3 December 2017

Population
 - Citizens
(2017 figures)
7

GDP (PPP)
 - Total
 - Per capita
2016 estimate
Intl$0
Intl$0

DresnerLinden
(2016)
 1
low

EPI
(2016)
 0.0
low

Matthew's Democracy Index
(2016)
 3.75
high

CurrencyNone established

Official metrics
 - Calendar
 - Measurement
 
Gregorian
Metric

Drives on theleft

Macronational locationUnited Kingdom

Websitehttp://dubstates.boards.net

The Democratic Union of British States was a member of the Edenic Compact and self-proclaimed sovereign state and federal republic in the United Kingdom. While the Democratic Union claimed sovereignty over the territory within the UK that it claimed, it was not recognized by either the United Nations or an already recognized macronational power during its brief tenure as a state, and as a result it was considered by most external observers outside of the MicroWiki sphere to be a micronation. It was succeeded on 3 December 2017 by the Imperial Union of Edenia, following the ratification of its constitution repealing the existence of the entire Compact.

The Democratic Union consisted of three states: the District of Britannia,[1] which occupied territory previously claimed by the defunct Federal Republic of Whestcorea following its effective dissolution (furthermore, the District takes its name from the former Whestcorean capital city), Latereslandia, which occupied the building adjacent to the said territory, and the field south-east of the City-District of Los Papangeles, controlled by the State of Lacusia.

The nation bordered the also defunct Free City-State of Edenopolis via the State of Lacusia to the north-west, as well as the Edenic Protectorate of Arura Novale to the south-east thereof.

Government statisticians did not formally measure the area of the nation in square metres, but they have confirmed that the nation was smaller than the smallest internationally recognized country, Vatican City. However, it did legislate on behalf of the entire Edenic Compact, including the territory of the Free City-State of Edenopolis, increasing its former territorial holdings somewhat.

Additionally, with only seven permanent citizens, it was mathematically one of the smallest micronations by population at the time of its dissolution.

The Federal Republic of Whestcorea claimed national sovereignty over the area now occupied by the Democratic Union in September 2015 with the passage of the Whestcorean Constitution; however, after the secession of the Whestcorean Sen8, the international chamber of the Whestcorean legislature and the subsequent splitting off from Whestcorea of the Realms of Valdsland, Whestcorea went effectively defunct; while still legally active, Valdsland was recognised internationally as its successor by the Grand Unified Micronational, effectively marking the death of the Federal Republic and the return of the territory to the United Kingdom. On a diplomatic visit to the former territory on 22 December 2016, the King of the Free City-State of Edenopolis, Horatio Eden, originally planned to claim the territory for the nation of Edenopolis; however, instead he signed into law the Constitution of the Democratic Union, creating an effectively Edenopolis-affiliated separate nation.

The Democratic Union formerly claimed a seat in the Quorum of Delegates of the Grand Unified Micronational, though the Eden administration formally withdrew from the organisation in November 2017.

The Democratic Union was comparatively economically undeveloped; while it had a currency, the British Crown, the government of the nation had no practical budget for its activities. With an effective GDP of zero, it was mathematically the world's smallest country by nominal gross domestic product. Its only industry to speak of was the media industry, the Daily Micronational having opened an office in the territory the Union occupied.

History

Pre-establishment

September 2015-June 2016: Whestcorean occupation

A map detailing the land claims of the former Federal Republic of Whestcorea[2]
The seal of the former Whestcorean Sen8

The now Democratic Unionist territory was originally claimed by the Federal Republic of Whestcorea, a micronation that claimed sovereignty over a large swathe of central England; the Federal Republic operated under a similar governmental system to that of the present-day Democratic Union, with a tripartite system of government split between executive, legislative and judicial branches.

The national legislature of the country, the Whestcorean Congress, fell into inactivity in the early months of 2016, causing chagrin among the members of the international body of the government known as the Whestcorean Sen8. The Sen8ors, under Sen8orial Mememaster-General James Frisch, the Sen8orial leader, and with the tacit approval of head of state Congressional Mememaster-General Horatio Eden, declared their disavowal of the Whestcorean Constitution, creating the newly independent Realms of Valdsland and electing Eden as its Lord Executor. The territory that the Democratic Union now controls, however, was not claimed by the Realms of Valdsland, and so remained nominally a part of the original Federal Republic while in practice being passed back to the United Kingdom, with which the territory remained until December 2016.

December 2016: Constitutional ratification

The Democratic Union came into being following the ratification of the Constitution of the Democratic Union on 22 December 2016. The Constitution was drafted during a diplomatic visit to the territory the Union occupied - territory formerly held by the Federal Republic of Whestcorea - by Edenopolitical King Horatio Eden. It was signed by him and agreed to by a constitutional convention (of which King Horatio was the only member), creating the various institutions of state and establishing a United States-style federal system of checks and balances; specifically, it created the National Constitutional Court, the final arbiter of the constitutional legality of laws passed by the government, the National Council, the federal legislature, and the office of the Lord President, the head of the executive branch.

January 2017: Edenic Compact

Following confusion over the governments of the Free City-State of Edenopolis and the Democratic Union being entirely identical, a Charter for the creation of an Edenic Compact - an organisation that can legislate on behalf of both countries, effectively creating a legislative union of the two - was ratified by both nations. It gives, vaguely, the King of the Free City-State of Edenopolis the position of monarch of the union, but does not set out what this position means; meanwhile, it provides to the House of Representatives of the Democratic Union the authority to legislate on behalf of all Compact countries, but only gives provision for the Democratic Union Constitution to be applied within Democratic Union holdings.

February 2017: First cabinet nominations

File photo for Henry Twain, first DU Secretary of State

On 17 February 2017, for the first time, Lord President Horatio Eden nominated and had confirmed officeholders for five of the six cabinet positions he had created through legislation (the position of Sentinel was appointed directly without necessitating a House of Representatives vote). The House of Representatives rejected his nominee for Secretary of Archival, Edwin Farrar; however, the process increased the citizen population of the Democratic Union significantly, from two members - Representative James Frisch and the Lord President - to seven, to account for the addition of five cabinet officials.

Eden's cabinet nominee for Secretary of State was, however, unable to receive a hearing on the day in question and so, in Representative Frisch's absence, the Lord President appointed as Speaker of the Britannian District Legislature Angela, Daedric Prince of Darkness as well as an Interim Representative in Anthony Clark, who had earlier that day been confirmed for Secretary of Justice. Both voted to amend the Constitution - via Article Five, which gives states the authority to amend the Constitution without National Council approval - to enable the Lord President to appoint additional Representatives to the National Council until the number reached five. Mr. Clark and Ava Neasa - earlier confirmed to the Department of Feudal Affairs - were appointed and subsequently voted to confirm Henry Twain, Eden's nominee for Secretary of State.

Patrick Renwick was later confirmed for Secretary of Archival, the House of Representatives voting to approve his nomination on 18 February 2017, while James Frisch, his Secretary of Cultural Affairs nominee, was confirmed the day after that. Frisch was also elected Speaker of the National Council's House of Representatives.

March 2017: Government by executive order, Latereslandia Constitutional error

On 1 March 2017, the State of Latereslandia formally ratified its state constitution, naming Horatio Eden President of Latereslandia, the head of the state's executive branch of government. The state constitution was, however, poorly conceived; it failed to include provisions for constitutional amendment, which had to be added by a subsequent bill passed by the Laterslandic Assembly. Additionally, the flag created by the Constitution was illegal under the Flag Act, failing to include the national flag in its canton. In response, a Second Flag Act was tabled to the National Council to remove this requirement.

Following the ratification of the Latereslandic Constitution, the next legislative instruments passed were executive orders, the House of Representatives unable to call a session after the 19th of February. These orders were relatively wide-reaching, creating the Democratic Union Code - a compendium of all legislation passed, akin to the legal code of the Universal Triumvirate - the Lord Presidential Statistics Commission for gathering statistics on government efficiency and legislative affairs, and the Territorial Acquisitions Commission (which subsequently acquired the territory of Lacusia without conferring state status, thus effectively going around the provisions of the Constitution on state addition).

Lacusia was later split in half by executive order, with the Territorial Acquisitions Commission ordered to pull back to halfway across the territory. The other half, no longer controlled or occupied by DU forces, became the Edenic Protectorate of Arura Novale, an independent nation-state.

On the 10th and 11 March, the House of Representatives voted to approve five bills from the Lord President's legislative agenda, including a treaty that would grant diplomatic recognition by the Union to the Essian Commonwealth. One of these bills, the Automatic Passage Act, enshrined the doctrine of assumed legislative consent into the legal lexicon of the country; if the House of Representatives fails to table a bill or provide a date for a hearing for a bill within one week, the bill passes irrespective of the House's actions and goes to the Lord President for signature or veto. Another, the Lacusia Act, conferred state status on the Lacusian Territory, turning it into the State of Lacusia.

On 14 March, a football team - Democrata-Nationol FC - was created by executive order. The team subsequently applied for membership of the Micronational Virtual Football Federation. Additionally on that day, the national language - a conlang called Democratic Union British - was formally adopted following the approval of the National Language Act.

July 2017: Inactivity following election

Horatio Eden nominally won the Lord Presidential election, being the only declared candidate and the incumbent, the law re-electing him automatically. No candidates were announced for the House of Representatives, reducing its size back to one - the Lord President himself - as it was at the beginning of the Democratic Union's existence. At this time, Constitutional provisions relating to membership of the House of Representatives were reset.

December 2017: Dissolution

Following months of government inactivity, Lord President and Speaker of the House of Representatives Horatio Eden promulgated the Constitution of the Imperial Union of Edenia, formally dissolving the Edenic Compact and the Democratic Union of British States, as well as all of the laws passed by the government thereof, rendering the territory of the former Compact to the new imperial state.

Demography and government size

The government estimated that the population size at the moment of the nation's dissolution was seven.

Administrative regions

A diagram of the Arura Novale/Lacusian Territory border

The nation wa a Union of three states: the District of Britannia, which was granted state status by the Constitution in 2016, the State of Latereslandia, created by the Latereslandia Act in 2017 and granted the building due "south" of the District, according to legislation (however, the legislation was incorrect: the house that Latereslandia claims was actually due east of the District of Britannia), and the State of Lacusia, due south-east of the City-District of Los Papangeles that borders the Edenic Protectorate of Arura Novale.

The District received state status in the Constitution, while Latereslandia and Lacusia joined the Union as full states after bills were passed making them so on 19 February and 11 March 2017, respectively.

Economy

The economy of the Democratic Union and the Compact by extension was the Department of Finance and the Treasury (legally abbreviated to either the "Department of the Treasury" or simply "the Treasury"). Additionally, there was a currency formally set out in legislation - the British Crown - as the currency of the Union, but because of the currency's lack of actual monetary value the country uses the British pound sterling as its de facto currency. There are no businesses in the Union that make profit, and, as a result, the GDP of the Union was zero.

The government had no formal budget for its activities.

The Union's lack of an economy was rooted in large part in its lack of industry, excepting in one key respect: its media industry.

Media

Journalism

The journalism industry was the only real industry in the Democratic Union, fronted in its entirety by the Daily Micronational, an international media conglomerate operated by the Lord President of the Union, Horatio Eden. It covers national and international news (and continues to do so following dissolution), and had branches in the Union, the Free City-State of Edenopolis, and the United States of Wings, but made no money in the Union's jurisdiction, and, as a result, contributed no tax money to the government nor any money to the Union economy.

Video game development

The Game Development Act conferred on a state corporation, Eden Studio, the responsibility to create games at the bequest of the National Council's Committees on Technology and on Public and Foreign Outreach. These games could be both "video and otherwise", though as of dissolution, Eden Studio did not produce anything.

Government and politics

The Democratic Union was a federation, a representative democracy and a constitutional republic. The powers of the various branches of the government, legislative, executive and judicial, were balanced by each other through the checks and balances defined by the DU Constitution, which served as the country's supreme legal document. The country ranked 3.75 on Matthew's Democracy Index, placing it as one of the more democratic nations in the MicroWiki community by contrast to its fellow Compact member, Edenopolis, governed by absolute monarchy.

In the Democratic Union's federalist system, citizens were nominally subject to two levels of government: federal and state. While the Constitution provided for the separation of powers between the federal government and the government of the states, the lack of a permanent population meant that, in practice, all legislative and executive matters were handled on a national level by the Lord President, the last of which was Horatio Eden, and the National Council, the federal legislature. In all cases as provided by the DU Constitution, legislative officials and the Lord President were elected for six-month terms by plurality vote - proportional representation did not exist as a legal concept within the Union's electoral system.

The federal government at large was composed of three branches:

Stephen Freayth, final Lord Vice President
  • Executive: The Executive branch was made up of the Lord President, their Lord Vice President, and the cabinet the Lord President appointed. The Constitution vested all executive authority in the office of the Lord President, though in practice the holder of the office had the right to delegate to cabinet ministers as regarded specific policy areas. The Lord President also had the constitutional authority to veto legislation that passed to his or her desk, though this veto could have been overridden if two-thirds of the legislature (once, under the Constitution, there were five members of the legislature) wished so to do.
  • Legislative: The Legislative branch was made up solely on a federal level of the National Council, a unicameral legislature made up of the single chamber known as the House of Representatives. It had the power to make federal law, declare war, approve treaties and additionally had the power to impeach the sitting Lord President (if two-thirds of the legislature agreed in a seven-member House of Representatives), though failure to hold hearings/votes on bills meant the Lord President could utilise the Automatic Passage Act to go around them.
  • Judicial: The Judicial branch was formed of, nominally, the entire court system within the Union. The National Constitutional Court was the supreme judicial body in the Union and the court of final appeal, though other courts existed, such as the Supreme Court in Latereslandia. Additionally, the National Constitutional Court had the unique power to interpret the laws passed by the National Council and the Lord President and strike them down, in whole or in part, if they were in contravention of the DU Constitution.

The House of Representatives had one voting member at the time of the nation's dissolution, with Horatio Eden serving as the third and final Speaker of the House. Members of the House sat for a six-month term, and, constitutionally, could serve a technically unlimited succession of terms, with the Constitution debarring the government from making laws to set term limits on executive and legislative officials. Following the ratification of the Charter of the Edenic Compact, the House of Representatives became the legislative body for both Compact countries, the Democratic Union and Edenopolis.

Unlike the position's counterpart in the United States of America, on which the position of Lord President was largely moulded, the vote for the Lord President was a direct one; the candidate that received a simple plurality of votes cast nationally wins the presidential election. In other words, there was no equivalent institution in the Democratic Union to the U.S.' Electoral College system.

Political divisions

The Democratic Union was a federal republic with two states, the District of Britannia and Latereslandia, as well as one territory, the Lacusian Territory. Constitutionally, Districts and states were the principal administrative divisions of the Union, they being the only divisions entitled to Council representation on the federal level. Unlike the American system of federalism, the states and districts did not have the constitutional authority to select the Lord President of the Union; the office of Lord President was one elected directly by a single national vote.

Under the Constitution, states of the Union are entitled to a number of representatives in the National Council proportional to the number of citizens resident in the state.

Federal-state relations

Under the terms of the DU Constitution, legislative and executive power was distributed between the states and the federal government. While the federal government had the authority to set a blanket system of government for all states within the nation's purview, the states themselves were authorised to legislate on their own behalf on matters not otherwise apportioned to the federal government by the Constitution.

However, the Constitution also granted the federal government the power to "make and enforce all laws which shall be necessary for the expedient government of the Union"[3] which in its vagueness left a lot of the federal government's authority up to interpretation.

Parties and elections

The logo of the Conservative and Democratic Party, or CDP; the CDP controlled the executive branch at the end of the nation's lifetime

In the DU there were three national political parties: the Conservative and Democratic Party, founded by Horatio Eden on 23 December 2016, following the passage of the Party Act through the House of Representatives, the Edge Party, founded by Stephen Freayth on 17 February 2017, on joining the cabinet as Treasury Secretary, and the Socialist-Green Party, formed by Ava Neasa upon his confirmation as Secretary of Feudal Affairs on the same day. The CDP held considerable sway in the House of Representatives as well as controlled the executive office of the Lord President, meaning that, by extension, they could easily appoint members to the National Constitutional Court that were friendly to CDP policy, effectively, though not entirely, giving them a monopoly on government affairs.

Under the Party Act, passed in December 2016 not long after the ratification of the Constitution, parties could be formed within the DU by any citizen without a criminal record that the Union government recognised. However, under the same Act, as the number of citizens increased, the number of members of the party required to remain an official political party increased in tandem. Under the Party Act:

  • When the number of citizens in the Union reached fifteen, parties would have to have a minimum of three members to form/remain in existence;
  • At thirty citizens, parties would have to have at least five members;
  • At forty-five citizens, parties would have to have at least seven members;
  • At sixty citizens, parties would have to have at least nine members.[4]

There were no further restrictions on party membership numbers after the population reached sixty.

Foreign affairs

The Constitution allotted the federal government the authority to pursue foreign affairs at its own discretion, which it did through the Department of State created by the Citizenship Act.[5] The government possessed diplomatic relations with two other states, the Principality of Beacon City and the Essian Commonwealth, as well as de facto recognition of the independence and sovereignty of the Edenic Protectorate of Arura Novale, though both agreements were repealed following the enactment of the Constitution of the Imperial Union of Edenia. Additionally, it was a member of the Edenic Compact, along with its fellow member states, the Free City-State of Edenopolis and the United Townships of the Compact. It was formerly represented in the Grand Unified Micronational before the Edenic Compact was withdrawn by the Eden administration.

The passage of the International Organisations Act gave authority to an "International Organisations Agency"[6] to investigate and advise the government on the utility of various organisations to the foreign policy of the administration as well as appoint delegates to said organisations with presidential confirmation. The International Organisations Agency was subsequently co-opted by the Government of the Edenic Compact - though this has had no administrative effect on account of the two Governments being effectively and legally identical.

Law and order

The Department of Justice, the final Justice Secretary of which was Anthony Clark, was responsible for national law enforcement. Due to a draught of population, all legal matters were handled by the Department of Justice, while it delegated the authority for actual law enforcement on the ground to the Central Investigation Bureau, pursuant to the Department of Justice Act passed on 2 January 2017.

Culture

Like the United States, the culture of the Democratic Union, particularly given its government style, placed heavy emphasis on the ideals of Jeffersonian democracy; specifically, the virtues of republicanism in terms of its opposition to monarchism and aristocratic government (despite the government's affiliation with the Free City-State of Edenopolis, an absolute monarchy), the separation of powers between the three branches of government, the right of the public to vote freely and general opposition to political corruption.

Language

The diversity of languages spoken. Orange were those able to speak both English and DU British; blue is English only

The Democratic Union had two formal languages: English, inherited given the nation's claimed secession from the United Kingdom, and Democratic Union British (Demokrata Uniista Britansk), a conlang developed by Lord President Horatio Eden.

The latter language was adopted following the passage of the National Languages Act, which additionally charged the Department of Culture with creating a dictionary of all DU British words with English translations.

Despite the name of the language, however, the Democratic Union was not the first nation to formally adopt it; the Edenic Protectorate of Arura Novale passed an Act of the Novalian Senate which formally adopted the language two days before the language was officially legislated into the Democratic Union's lexicon.

Development of the language continues; according to Department of Culture statistics, as of 15 March 2017, there are 579 words in the full DU British lexicon.[7]

Football team

The Democratic Union had a national football team - legally an agency of the Department of Culture, created by executive order, named Demokrata-Nationol FC (Democratic-National FC) - where the Lord President (the office, rather than any particular incumbent) served as Chairman. Specific development of the team has not taken place; the side was both empty and had no official logo or managerial staff.

It originally applied to join the Micronational Virtual Football Federation. The application was approved by the federation, but the National Council's House of Representatives stepped in to prevent the application from achieving legislative approval. It additionally repealed the Executive Order creating the football team.

Conworlding

The Conworlding Institute Act created a new state corporation, the Conworlding Institute. The Institute creates conworlds, focusing primarily on the operation of political entities created by such simulated worlds. The Institute was responsible for simulating both the internal countries not run by a member of the public and the physical attributes, such as weather, geographical events and the like that take place within the simulated worlds.

The only conworld created by the Institute, Gaia, was dissolved at the same time as the other governing institutions of the nation.

Flags

National

Current

The flag of the former Democratic Union

The final flag of the Democratic Union was a simpler flag than its predecessor; where the former flag replaced the red of the crosses with the red and white stripes of the American flag, the new flag merely replaced the left side of the flag adjacent to the central column of the English Cross of St. George on the flag of the United Kingdom with a blue rectangle defaced by a pair of white Edenic fleur-de-lis to represent the first two states of the Union.

Legally speaking, the national flag was the "legal symbol to represent the Democratic Union at home and abroad".[8]

Previous

The former flag of the Democratic Union

The flag of the Democratic Union was based in large part on the flags of the United Kingdom and the United States, borrowing key elements from both in its composition. Where it differs from these flags is primarily in terms of the colour scheme; while it retained the general shape of the elements of the national flag of the United Kingdom, the English Cross of St. George over a colour-inverted black Scottish cross in a blue rectangle counterchanged with the Irish Cross of St. Patrick.

The red of both the Cross of St. Patrick and the Cross of St. George were replaced with the red and white stripes of the American flag, to represent the movement from a constitutional monarchical system within the United Kingdom to a more federalist system a la the United States of America.

State

Latereslandia

Flag of the State of Latereslandia

The State of Latereslandia, in its constitution, adopted a flag bearing two red columns on either side with the white, Edenic fleur-de-lis in the centre bounded by a cross. Each arm of the cross subsequently splits into four smaller rounded rectangular columns, not dissimilar to the shape of hands.

This flag was illegal under federal law; all state flags were required by the Flag Act to bear the national flag in the canton. The Second Flag Act, passed on 10 March 2017, made the state flag legal.

District of Britannia

The District of Britannia never adopted a flag.

Lacusia

The State of Lacusia has no written constitution, nor any legislation implementing a flag; as such, this state also had no flag.

Government standards

A number of standards, created by executive order or adopted by the various departments of state, existed to represent the various arms of the executive branch of the federal government. They were all based on the same base: a navy blue flag bearing the fleur-de-lis of the Edenic royal family.

Feudalism

Bloodbane, the Lord Presidential sword

Despite the Democratic Union's commitment to Jeffersonian democracy and the rule of law, the passage of the Feudal Act set out groundwork for a potential future Government plan for a society divided upon feudal lines, a plan which was never fully realised. Repeated reference to "noble House" is made in the Act, and the legislation itself granted the Lord President the right to keep and bear a sword - Bloodbane - at all times at their discretion, particularly when transacting state business in public.

Swords

The National Swords Agency - or NSA - created by the Feudal Act regulated the licensing and distribution of swords through the Union and, by extension, the Edenic Compact.

References