Republic of Roseland
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Republic of Roseland | |
|---|---|
 Flag Flag | |
| Motto: ”By The People, For The People” | |
| Capital | Engels Island |
| Official languages | English (de facto, unofficial) |
| Demonym(s) | Roselandic |
| Government | unitary constitutional presidential republic |
• Premier | Byron Dewitt |
| Legislature | National Assembly |
| Establishment | 20 September 2015 |
| Population | |
• Census | 17 |
| Time zone | (PST) |
The Republic of Roseland, commonly referred to as Roseland, is a geographical entity which claims to be a sovereign state, but is generally classified as a micronation by external observers. Roseland is made up of one contingent piece of land, which is enclaved by the United States of America.
The first plans for Roseland’s creation were conceived by Sophia Albina in early 2014, after she and her brother Liam discovered micronationalism through an interview with President Kevin Baugh of the Republic of Molossia. 2014 saw the rise and fall of two nations ruled by the siblings, with the fall of the second nation discouraging Albina from further micronationalism for a substantial amount of time.
On 25 July 2015, the first Republic of Roseland was founded, with Albina serving as President. All citizens aged 13 or older were guaranteed a seat in the country’s Congress, based on the ideas of direct democracy. The independence of Roseland was considered a success, and the number of citizens grew slowly, but a lack of interest in the nation by its new population built on Albina’s fears of the Republic becoming inactive, and after several months, the Congress still had not held a single session. On top of this, Sophia cut all ties to micronational community in September, reportedly due to issues with her family and mental health. The operations of government had come to a complete standstill, and many citizens forgot about its existence all together. In an attempt to free the nation from the period of inactivity, the then President Albina seized control of the government and established a monarchy, declaring herself Queen of Roseland. There was no resistance to this change, and immediately, with the Queen’s guidance, laws were passed and Roseland’s culture was built. While not nearly as active as Sophia would have wished, the majority of citizens agreed that the nation had become more active than it ever was before, and that abandoning the old government was a crucial part of this development. The Queen’s reign brought about the creation of many national institutions including an army, an air force, and a national emergency response team. Along with these accomplishments, Roseland also established diplomatic relationships (both formal and informal) with several micronations, including Sandus, Uberstadt, Sirocco, and Paravia.
After a “golden age” of activity, the Kingdom of Roseland began to lapse back into inactivity, which caused unrest in the country. This unrest would eventually lead to the February Revolution, where the Kingdom of Roseland was dissolved and the Queen was forced to step down from her throne.
Following the Kingdom's dissolution, the People's Congress deliberated and planned a new form of government for Roseland. The new system would distance itself from the dictatorial and authoritarian nature of the nation's previous governments and establish a representative democracy, in which each province of Roseland would have two representatives from each province.
The appropriate elections were held, and the provisional government was abolished. Together, the newly elected Congress and Premier drafted and enacted the Constitution Act, which gave Roseland its first official and permanent democratic government in its history. Shortly after, due to a crisis involving the loss of the capital province of Roseland, the legislature was changed and renamed the National Assembly.
History
Early stages
The first plans for Roseland’s creation were conceived by Sophia Albina in early 2014, after she and her brother Liam discovered micronationalism upon listening to a radio interview featuring President Kevin Baugh of the Republic of Molossia. Upon the conclusion of the broadcast, Sophia casually mentioned the idea of founding a nation. Discussion between the siblings ensued regarding forms of government, with both of them proposing ideas for the theoretical nation. This discussion is generally considered the birth of Liam’s ideology, Studentism, that would later be renamed Liamism and serve as the platform for his party.
Very few of the ideas that this discussion produced were ever acted upon by either sibling, with only two nations ever coming into existence out of the talks. Both of these nations fell due to disagreements on politics and functions of the states, and eventually both Sophia and Liam lost interest in micronationalism.
Independence from the United States and inactivity
In June of 2015, Sophia once again became more interested in micronationalism, and began building a nation she called the “Republic of Rosegard”. Her brother Liam also claimed to run a nation known as the Union of Studentist’s Founders’ Republics. There were several attempts at diplomacy between the U.S.F.R and the then Rosegard, but all of these attempts were defeated by conflict between the leaders of the two countries.
By mid-June Sophia became a member of the MicroWiki forums and changed Rosegard’s name to the present-day name, Roseland. Preparing to declare Roseland’s independence, Sophia used connections on the forums, and ones she made in micronational Skype chat groups to ask questions and seek guidance for the drafting of a constitution and other documents. In the final days of June, and throughout mid-July, Albina created a flag, named the capital, created a news site, and assembled a plan for the young government. On 25 July 2015, Roseland officially declared independence from the United States of America, and published an article on the Roselandic Herald to reflect this. Sophia Albina became President of the Republic of the Republic, with a cat serving alongside her in the nation’s Congress. Citizens of Roseland, however, were generally apathetic to the nation’s independence, and there was very little feedback, positive or negative.
The population of Roseland grew slowly, but even the newest citizens showed very little interest in the new nation, and did not participate in the nation’s direct democracy which Albina had promoted. A drafting of the constitution was organized to take place, but despite Albina’s promotion of the meeting, no citizens attended it. Inactivity and stagnation eventually crippled the young government, and Albina lost motivation to try and recover her nation from its downward spiral.
Months went by, and Congress hadn’t convened even once. Sophia eventually, once more, lost interest in micronationalism, and cut her ties to the MicroWiki community due to both a lack of interest and mental health issues that had incapacitated her ability to manage the nation’s both domestic and foreign affairs. The Republic of Roseland’s activity came to a complete halt come the beginning of September, and many of the nation’s citizens forgot about the country’s existence entirely.
Kingdom of Roseland
Come mid-September, Sophia had returned to the MicroWiki community, deciding that Roseland’s current situation was not beyond repair. At the suggestion of fellow micronationalists, Albina began looking towards other forms of government that required less participation by the nation’s population to function properly. At first, she contemplated a simple dictatorship, where Roseland’s Congress would be abolished and the President of Roseland would be the sole source of legislative, executive, and judicial decisions within the nation. Later, however, Albina became interested in the idea of a monarchy. She contemplated both for a time before 20 October 2015, where she seized the government of Roseland and declared herself Queen of Roseland. Congress was dissolved without resistance from Roseland’s citizens, and the Kingdom of Roseland was officially founded.
Upon the new government’s foundation, laws were passed and citizens became more involved and interested, despite not being directly involved with the legislature or government. In fact, most of the citizens who had returned to Roseland viewed the nation’s revival was hugely positive, and were enthusiastic about the Monarch’s various reforms. Developments during this time included the creation of an air force, an army, and a response force for natural disasters. In the realm of foreign affairs, Roseland also established its first relations with Sandus,Uberstadt,Paravia, and Sirocco.
In the final weeks of the Kingdom of Roseland, the nation began to slip into inactivity, and individuals that the Queen had initially invited to help in the nation to form a future advisory body began rallying around a movement calling for the dismantling the nation’s monarchy and the establishment a socialist republic.
Unrest leading to the February Revolution
Groups of supporters of a new republic eventually came together to form the People’s Congress, which proclaimed to be the true voice of the Roselandic people. Crippling inactivity in the government gave this organization fertile ground to grow in, without any response or pushback from the government, and thus they continued to gain power among Roseland’s population. The Queen herself did not express any desire to suppress these individuals, even if she could, and even expressed sympathy for the desire for a free and socialist government.
Discontent with the old government finally came to a flashing point when the People’s Congress drafted a document declaring their Congress the rightful government of the nation, calling for the resignation of Queen Sophia I as well as the immediate dissolution of the Kingdom of Roseland.
On the night of 18 February 2016, Queen Sophia I signed the Declaration, agreeing to the demands of the People’s Congress. Later that night, the Kingdom of Roseland was declared dissolved, and the new Republic of Roseland was established.
Provisional government to present day
As promised in the declaration, the People’s Congress became the new provisional government for the young Republic of Roseland and took responsibility for the oversight and supervision of new elections for the Congress and Premiership. Citizens were told that any citizen over the age of 13 was eligible to run for a position in the government.
The first candidates announced were for the position of Premier, with the candidates being the former Queen and founder of Roseland, Sophia Albina, and her brother Liam Albina. With their announcements also came the announcements of the birth of the first two political parties in the nation’s history, the Socialist and Liamist parties, respectively. Despite the elections for Premier being decided to be the last one to be held in the country's election season, both candidates began campaigning, with the Socialist candidate announcing plans for a new agricultural sector, while the Liamist candidate talked among citizens for supporters of new right-wing politics in the nation.
On 15 March 2016, candidates for Representatives in the nation’s Congress were announced, with 4 seats up for grabs and seven citizens announcing their intentions to seek a position in the Congress. Valentia’s election was held first, then Engles Islands, and at 1:00 PM (PST) on 1 April 2016, the election for Premier took place. Sophia Albina of the Socialist Party (now People's Party) crushed her opponent Liam Albina with a 16-0 sweep, securing the first democratically elected government in Roseland’s history, and triggering the abolition of the provisional government.
One of Albina’s major points throughout her campaign was to create a strong central government through the ratification of a Constitution. Without one, she feared that Roseland would succumb again to the same ills of inactivity that it had in its early days.
A major push was put on Congress to convene to debate and draft this document, and on 26 May 2016, the Constitution Act 2016, which officially solidified the new government and constitutional laws, was signed by three out of four representatives in the Congress and the Premier, leading to its ratification.
Following the ratification of the Constitution Act, the new government has made many significant decisions, including the ratification of the Grand Unified Micronational and International Agricultural Development Pact charters.
On 26 June 2016, the Constitution Act of 2016 was suspended by Premier Albina due to chaos caused by the loss of Roseland’s capital and one province, and how this would effect the legislature. According to an announcement issued by the government, the problems are to be resolved by 2 July 2016, and new elections for the reformed legislature were to take place once the majority of Roseland’s population returned from vacation.
Government
Roseland is a unitary constitutional presidential republic . The foundations of the current government's system were established in the Constitution Act of 2016, which replaced the absolute monarchy that Roseland had been governed by for most of its history.
Under the laws of the Constitution Act, the government is divided into three separate branches :
- legislative: Roseland's National Assembly, composed of democratically elected representatives.
- judicial : Roseland's Ministry of Justice, led by the Attorney General
- executive : The Premier, democratically elected by the people of Roseland
Head of state
The head of state and government is the Premier, who is vested with the power to propose acts to the National Assembly, enact Acts passed by the legislature, veto Acts passed by the legislature, and appoint members of the Cabinet. The Premier is also entrusted with extensive powers over foreign affairs. The Premier serves a term of 1 year, and may run for re-election for two more terms.
Sophia Albina of the People’s Party and founder of Roseland is the first and current Premier of Roseland. She was elected into office on 2 April 2016, defeating her opponent and brother Liam Albina of the Liamist Party.
Legislative power
Legislative power in the Republic of Roseland is vested in the unicameral National Assembly of Roseland, made up of democratically elected individuals known as representatives. The sole constituency is a multi-member district, represented by 5 seats in the National Assembly.
Selection of Representatives is done by going from the candidate with the most amount of votes to the least, until all 5 seats are occupied. Ties are resolved by run off elections before the remainder of seats are allocated.
Administrative divisions
Politics
Political parties
Foreign relations
Adammia Treaty of Mutual Recognition
Kingdom of Überstadt
State of Sandus
Federal Commonwealth of Sirocco Mutual recognition
Matai Treaty of Mutual Recognition
Shorewell Treaty of Mutual Recognition
Former Relations
Bolivarian Republic of Shaoshan Treaty of Mutual Recognition
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