History of Plushunia

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History

Early beginnings

The first attempts made by the incumbent President to organise a toy-based state were made in 2015 and 2017. The first version of Plushunia, created in 2015, was a federal state recognising toys as citizens, but the President did not suceed in organising a state, so this first incarnation of Plushunia remained largely dormant until 2017.

Foundation era/Early Hop era (20 October 2017 - 1 January 2018)

Iepuroi Hop, Prime Minister of Plushunia between October 2017 and June 2018, was the most influential politician in the early days of Plushunia

The current incarnation of Plushunia was created in October 2017 by incumbent President Cristi, this time as a plush-based unitary parliamentary democracy. On 20 October 2017 the President officialy created the nation, naming Iepuroi Hop as provisional Prime Minister of Plushunia. First, the country was to recognise only plush toys as citizens, but after some Lego and plastic toy infrastructure and buildings were introduced by the very active Provisional Government, Lego figurines and plastic toy figurines were also granted citizenship. A few days after the foundation the first Plushunian political parties were created (see the Government and Politics section) and the 2017 legislative elections were held. The center-right Democratic Convention coalition (made out of the National Front, the National Liberal Party, the Democratic Party, and the Christian Democratic Union ) led by Iepuroi Hop won 50% of the votes and was given aproval by the President to form a government led by Hop (the Parliament not existing yet at the time of the election), the Hop Cabinet having the aim of organizing the key state institutions including the Parliament. The Hop cabinet also acted as the legislative of the country until June 2018, when the Parliament was organised according to the results of the 2017 elections. The Hop Cabinet was sworn into office on 1 November 2017 and was very popular during the first months of its term, and it implemented several popular measures such as the building of several apartment buildings and the creation of the public transportation system in Pluseni.

Middle Hop era (1 January 2018 - 1 May 2018)

The Hop Cabinet's popularity declined during January, after it decided to adopt several authoritarian policies and implemented several failed economic policies that almost led to the country's dissolution. The incapacity of the Cabinet to organize the Parliament for almost 8 months after the election and its failure to manage the February Riots (which were organised by the National Conservative Alliance, that attempted to establish a federal government) also led to a continuous decrease in the popularity of the Hop Cabinet and of the Democratic Convention, the political alliance supporting the Cabinet. During the riots, the Hop Cabinet was forced to leave Pluşeni (the only teritory of the Bucharest Region at the time) and became a government-in-exile. Despite a predicted revival of Plushunia after the riots, in February and March 2018 the President mostly lost interest in Plushunia, which entered a period of dormancy and anarchy.

Re-foundation era/Late Hop era (1 May 2018 - 25 June 2018)

The Government only returned in May, at the request of the President, which became interested again in Plushunia, and order was re-established in the country after a conflict called the National Liberation War, during which the Government regained the Pluşeni area. Following the return of the legitimate government, the country went trough a period of reconstruction which lasted until June 2018, with the Government attempting to repair some of its economical and administrative mistakes. During May and June the influence of Iepuroi Hop over the nation's politics also declined, making way on the political stage for other politicians, many of which mostly unknown before. June 2018 also saw the organisation of the Plushunian Parliament (after months of disputes between the Liberals, the rest of the Democratic Convention, the Social Alliance and the federalist National Conservative Alliance) and the rise of the Social Alliance, widely considered as the only real alternative to the increasingly unpopular Democratic Convention, and the latter's loss of the political hegemony it had during the preceding eras. The Hop Cabinet was finaly dismissed on 25 June after the Liberals left the Democratic Convention and proposed a motion of no confidence which passed with 13 votes in support to 12 votes against.

Early Socialist era (25 June 2018 - 1 August 2018)

Ursu Polarescu, Prime Minister of Plushunia between 1 July 2018 and 1 April 2019, the most influential politcian of Plushunia during Socialist era

After the Hop Cabinet was dismissed 15 members of the Parliament resigned to force snap elections, which were organised on 26 June 2018. The parties from leftist Social Alliance won together 68% of the votes after the Democratic Party left the Democratic Convention and joined the Social Alliance together with the new Social Democracy Party. The alliance, made out of the Toys' Worker Party (PMJ), the Social Democratic Party (PSD), the Popular Revolutionary Front (FPR), the Democratic Party (PD) and the Social Democracy Party (PDS) managed to defeat the National Liberal Party and what remained of the Democratic Convention (the National Front, the Christian Democratic Union and the new National Christian Democratic Peasants' Party (PNȚCD) and proposed PMJ president Ursu Polarescu for the prime minister office, which was given confidence by the Parliament to form a Cabinet, which also passed the confidence vote. During the first weeks of the term of the Ursu Polarescu I cabinet the democracy started to make itself felt, with the Parliament elaborating the first formalised laws and starting to draft the first Constitution of Plushunia. On 15 July all parties in Plushunia opened simultaneously their Congresses, effectively paving the political road of Plushunia for the following months. On 27 July the Christian Democratic Union was absorbed by the National Christian Democratic Peasants' Party, and on 30 July the Democratic Party left the Social Alliance and formed the Alliance of the Liberals and Democrats (ALDe) together with the National Liberal party and the National Christian Democratic Peasants' Party, thus ending the Social Alliance's political hegemony over Plushunia. 30 July also saw the dissolution of the Democratic Convention, which remained with only one member (FN) after the departure of PNȚCD, and on 31 July 2018, after the Social Alliance lost its majority following the departure of the Democratic Party, the said party joining ALDe, Plushunia entered a political crisis caused by the 50/50 parliament deadlock between the government and the opposition.

Late Socialist era (1 August - 20 September 2018)

After the Socialsts lost their majority in the Parliament and political hegemony over Plushunia, the Polarescu I cabinet was restructured and became the Polarescu II cabinet, supported by a coalition between the Social Alliance and the National Front. Despite the Socialists now had a strong political rival (the Alliance of the Liberals and Democrats), they managed to win an important victory: the Vice Presidential election on 3 and 4 August, when Cățeluș Slobozeanu (Social Alliance candidate) won the first round with 38% and the second round with 51%, just four votes ahead of the runner-up Ghiță Purcel, becoming Plushunia's second Vice President. After the election though, the government entered a period of relative inactivity characterised by the absence of the President from Plushunia. The period of inactivity lasted just one week, after which the President returned from his vacation and started to collaborate with the Government in creating several laws. On 17 July the opposition leader Ghiță Purcel made a press statement in which he criticised the Government's apparent lack of activity (no law passed between 1 and 19 August), to which the Polarescu II cabinet responded by submitting several laws to the Parliament for adoption. In late August, the Social Alliance also decided to adopt a programme which aimed to put Plushunia "on the road to Socialism". However, the programme was poorly received by the middle class of Plushunia, who started large-scale protests in Plușeni. The state authorities and the security forces however decided to suppress the protests, while the angry protesters clashed with the security forces. Outnumbered, the security forces of Plushunia were defeated and switched sides, leading to the enrollment by the government of working-class Plushunians (supporters of the leftist Government) in militias which were used against the protesters to defend the Government. However, the militias were also defeated by the angry rioters, who used captured Security Force personnel and equipment to ensure their victory in Plușeni, forcing the Government to flee the city and move its headquarters in 1 Iunie, a settlement in the metropolitan area of the capital.

Plushunia during the Plushunian Civil War (September 2018 - December 2018)

Following their victory over the government forces, the rebels established the Plushunian National Republic in the controlled areas of Plușeni. The republic was governed by the Revolutionary Comitee, the only legislative, executive and judicial institution of the National Republic, which was only a provisional institution that was meant to administrate the Republic until the eventual victory or defeat of the revolutionaries. The Comitee ruled over Pluseni with an iron fist, often arresting and sometimes even alowing the angry rebel bands to brutalise Government sympathisers and partisans in an attempt to minimise opposition to revolutionary rule. However their rule over the territory was not easy, since they were continuously confronted by both the remaining Government forces and a number of pro-Government partisans and forces that remained behind the lines of the rebels. Those forces, loyal to the Government, still held areas of Plușeni during the revolution, making multiple attempts to break the rebel encirclement and sabotaging rebel activities. By October, the revolution has turned into a full-scale civil war, with daily bitter clashes between the two sides and with many political groups supporting either the rebels (ALDe, FN) or the Government (AS), and some regions even declaring independence (the Plușeni commune Baia, the Arges Region). Despite Pluseni was torn apart by the raging war, in other regions, like Ialomița, the war had little to no effect on the lives of the Plushunian citizens. However, the balance of power completely changed after the President allowed the Government to hire two platoons (~60 soldiers) of professionally trained, fully equiped infantry soldiers, forming the core of the Plushunian Army. The brand new army won many victories against the rebels, who proposed a ceasefire on 14 November, 2 months after the start of the war. A few weeks later, a treaty between the two parties mediated by the President and signed by the two belligerents, which later was expanded to include all four warring parties (the Government, the rebels, the Baia commune and the Arges region), treaty which kept the unity of Plushunia under Socialist rule (the pact stipulated that Prime Minister Polarescu, his cabinet and the parliament elected on 26 June 2018 were supposed to remain in power until 1 November 2019, with the October 2018 elections being canceled), however the Polarescu II cabinet would have to give more authonomy to the regions and make some political concessions to the right-wing rebels (like cancelling most of the "Plushunia's road to Socialism" programme) This treaty served as a de facto constitution to the new, more decentralised Plushunian State, and came to be known as the Quadripartite Pact.

Postwar era (December 2018 - March 2019)

The Pact brought political stabillity to Plushunia, yet it only aggravated the then-economic crisis (aggravation also caused by the lack of involvement made by the Polarescu II cabinet to improve the economic situation). However, the pact only lasted for five months, until, in March 2019, Iepuroi Hop started the "March coup" by discovering that it was unconstitutional and reported this to the President. After recieving those news, the head of state decided to declare the pact as unconstitutional and void, told the government to resign and called for immediate elections to decide the fate of Plushunia. Initially the Polarescu II Cabinet refused to resign, considering the President's decree to be an attempt to start a "reactionary coup", although after the Plushunian Army and the most of the Parliament decided to support the President, the government decided to resign. Following that, the leftist Social Alliance split into two parties following a dispute over the government programme the alliance will have should it win the snap elections: the Plushunian Socialist Party, supporter of far-left policies and of the "Plushunia's road to Socialism" programme, and the Social Democratic Party, a more moderate, center-left party, more open to colaboration with the center-right ALDe. Another important change was the reformation of the National Front, whose leaders, upset with the low electoral scores of the party in the last elections, decided to merge the party with the Revolutionary Movement Party, the political arm of the Revolutionary Movement, an organisation founded by some participants in the September Revolution to militate for the values of the said revolution. After the merger, the new party was named the Save Plushunia Union (USP) and rebranded itself as a modern, progressive party. This move was proved to be very succesful, since ALDe and USP formed a coalition which won the election, leading to the formation of a new right-wing cabinet led by Liberal leader Ghiță Purcel.

The Rise of the Right (1 April - 1 July 2019)

Ghiță Purcel, Prime Minister of Plushunia since 1 April 2019, the most influential politician of Plushunia during "the Rise of the Right" period

Despite the Liberal - USP victory at the elections, the Purcel I cabinet decided to act as a caretaker government, with no important reforms being made in the beginning. Some Socialist and Social Democrat leaders even accused Purcel that his cabinet did not bring the economical growth and encouragement of private enterprise it promised during the electoral campaign, with most of the Plushunian economy stil being represented by the state-owned sector, the same situation as in the Socialist times, and many state enterprises were even abandoned (like the Plushunian Vehicle Company) because the lack of demand, caused economical stagnation. However the Purcel cabinet improved the living conditions for many Plushunians after it almost completely redesigned and rebuilt Pluseni, the devastated capital of Plushunia, the new apartment blocks built by the Purcel cabinet being larger and less cramped than the old, Hop-era buildings. The Purcel cabinet also invested much more in scientific research and in education than the previous governments, with a lot of resources being invested in the Plushunian Academy of Sciences, a new institution created by the cabinet. Recently, a political scandal stemming from Iepuroi and Judy Hop's loss of parliamentary immunity following a vote in the Parliament (the two are being involved in the currently investigated "abusive expropriations" case, in which Iepuroi and Judy are accused of abuse of power, the loss of parliamentary immunity for the pair allows further investigation and ultimately trial by a criminal court) has caused a political crisis in Plushunia, with the pro-Hop faction of the USP separating from the rest of the party and leaving government (thus forming a new opposition political group named the National Front), split which led to the Purcel government becoming a minority cabinet. However the now-majoritary opposition was split between the leftist Plushunian Socialist Party and Social Democratic Party and the right-wing National Front, which completely refused any colaboration with the left. The crisis left Plushunia into an unstable situation, with a grand coalition government between the Liberals, USP and Social Democrats led by Purcel being formed (the Purcel II cabinet).

Present era

The new grand coalition government took office on 1 July, almost immediately starting work on important political and economic reforms. In the first weeks of July 2019, the Government concentrated itself on the external policy, by having Plushunia become a member of the Union Against Micronational War and of the Organisation of Active Micronations and opening diplomatic relations with several nations of the MicroWiki community. However, in late July, the Government also revealed several important projects, such as a new, more federal constitution of Plushunia and a "master plan" to combat the current economic crisis in Plushunia. Another great diplomatic achievement of the Purcel II Cabinet was the passing of a new Foreign Policy in the parliament, which also provides for the establishment of overseas territories of Plushunia.