Politics in Themiclesia

For more information on Themiclesia's government, see Themiclesia#Government.

Themiclesia's political system is usually described as a modified Westminster system, with its executive authority responsible to the legislative in terms of appointment and appropriations.

Legality

Lacking a written constitution, much of Themiclesian politics is regulated by tradition and practice, including the political relationship between the public and the government, as well as the rights and duties of either party at the most abstract levels. Though Themiclesia's ancient codices were never formally abolished, provisions within it that are inimical to the accepted norm of modern government are simply overlooked, and proposals to enforce them, for whatever reason, face consolidated criticism as "inopportune" or "inappropriate".

There have previously been attempts to produce a written constitution, particularly during the reformist period in the 1840s; however, with the dissolution of that government, so did that proposal. Part of the lack of support for adopting a written constitution can be explained by an unwillingness to define the emperor's role in the modern state. At that time, the emperor, though having delegated most of his powers, still retained a stature of de jure supremacy, and any legislation touching upon him was culturally inappropriate and politically divisive. In an age when the enfranchised public had other deeper disagreements amongst them, the relatively benign issue of a written constitution was naturally delayed and eventually shelved.

Party Registration

In order to register a party, a petition to the Ministry of Left People must be signed by at least ten individuals who are qualified electors. After the Minister has given his preliminary assent, the Party must then register an address as its headquarters and call its first general meeting, to ratify the Party Articles, stipulating the main goals of the party and its internal structure and rules. Under the Party Articles, the founding members elect their first Director-general, who will represent the party to all external bodies from then forth. Having competed this process, the Director-general presents his Certificate of Election (a document endorsed by its founding members, certifying him as the Director-general) to the Minister of Left People, whereupon the Minister will formally promulgate the party's formation on the Capital Gazette, after which the party may begin political activities. For the most part, the processes involved provide no more scrutiny than for compliance to structural requirements.

Parties

Currently, Themiclesia's political scene is dominated by four major parties, frequently called the "Big 4" in foreign media. They are:—

• Liberal Party
• Progressive Conservative Party
• Social Democratic Party
• Green Party

These four parties filled the seats of Themiclesia's parliament to the exclusion of all other parties since 1953 and independents since 1977. Coalitions have been known to form between them, though alignment has shifted multiple times, even within a single calendar year.

Liberal Party

History

The Liberal Party, the first modern political party in Themiclesia, traces its ancestry to the general coalition of progressive-minded literati and officials that were most concentrated in the coastal areas, where they were subject to more foreign influence in ideology and sensitivity to international politics; in their rise to national prominence, they also acquired the support of other social groups, such as trading guilds and schools. One of the schools most closely associated with them, the Pondside School of Lim-trieh, is later to become the Lim-trieh University, the leading research university in Themiclesia for the rest of the 19th Century. Its present name, the Liberal Party, was not formally adopted until the 1870s, before which they were simply called the "Coast Party", indicating the source of their support.

Governance

The Liberal Party is led by a Director-general (理事長) and a Deputy Director-general (副理事長). If the Liberal Party is in government, it is customary not to appoint a Director, to defer to the incumbent Prime Minister as the leader of the Party. Under them, there are several (typically 7~9) Executive Directors and about 30 directors. The Director-general and Executive Directors are responsible for routine administration of the Party. These Directors are elected by members of the Parliamentary Party and Liberal Provincial Governors amongst themselves each year, typically during spring, though the date is fixed ad hoc. All directors are permitted to attend and vote on issues before the Plenary Sessions, occurring on average once every three months, during which matters such as party finance are discussed and decided upon. Directors also form committees, which oversee the operation of the Party's administrative departments, which is staffed by political analysts, accountants, and such other professionals that assist the Party's political activities. Executive Directors meet more frequently, perhaps once each month, though matters before them are conducted with little discretion, if an agreement has been made during the Plenary Session.

Foreign Policy

The Liberal Party maintains as its core foreign policy a non-nuclear, non-belligerent state and an emphasis on foreign trade and diplomacy to foster a peaceful environment. To this end, the Liberals are internationally active, as a party if not as a government, to bring disputing parties together and offer incentives towards negotiations that may lead to a peaceful resolution of an armed conflict or what may develop into an armed conflict. Various forms of relief, foreign investment programs, and technology-sharing platforms are part of the Liberal vision for a more peaceful future. In further pursuit of these goals, the Liberal Party has also supported Themiclesia's membership in a number of international organizations, whether governmental or non-governmental, such as the Septentrion League and the Central Hemithea Economic Alliance, officially stating that, "even between hostile states, common interests can be realized through economic co-operation and thereby more relaxed relations begun".

Domestic Policy

Domestically, the Liberal government aims to strike a balance between social and economic demands, as well as increasing the efficiency of the economy by reducing structural unemployment. The Liberals historically have initiated large number of public projects or supported their development by private enterprises to bolster employment, leading some to consider the Liberal Party an exemplar of Keynesian economics. However, the Liberal Party also staunchly supports the maintenance and augmentation of social programs, such as single-player healthcare and unemployment aid. Public and affordable housing are also on the Liberal government's current mandate. Historically, the Liberal Party has deeply opposed the spread of nationalist sentiment in Themiclesia, considering it dangerous to the political order of the country, on the grounds that loyalty to the "nation" would undermine confidence in the government by the enfranchised elite; however, after the expansion of the franchise in the 1930s, the Liberal Party has been more flexible in its rhetoric. Its inchoative involvement in the passage of the Civic Order Act of 1898, which prohibited nationalism and marxism in political speech, has been a source of criticism during the 1970s.

Progressive Conservative Party (PGP)

History

Beginning in the 1960s, amidst mounting international pressure to repeal a law forbidding nationalism and marxism, the Liberal Party, then in power, buckled under severe internal divisions and formally split in 1969. Those who were willing to concede the governmental power to regulate "political order" by means of forbidding certain ideologies remained in the Liberal Party, forming the Mainstream Faction (主流派), while those unwilling formed the Progressive Liberal Party in 1970, before when they were known as the Non-mainstream Faction (非主流派). At their formation, they were the third-largest party in parliament, after the 1972 general election, after the Liberals and Democrats. As part of a campaign to distance itself from this offshoot, the Liberal Party challenged the Progressive Liberal Party's ability to use the term "Liberal" in their official name; after some negotiations, the party's name was soon changed to its present one. As shocking as it may seem to change a party's name from "liberal" to "conservative", this abrupt change is the main cause why the terms "Liberal" and "Conservative" are almost synonymous when applied to domestic politics, while their conventional values are instead labelled as "modal" (常) and "alien" (異) in Themiclesia.

Foreign Policy

As a split from the Liberal Party, initally the PCP were adamant at maintaining the "old Liberal way" of dealing with foreign affairs mostly through diplomatic measures and avowedly disclaiming any use of force to defend the nation's interests. However, this policy was adopted in hope that more Liberal Party members would become disenchanted with its leadership at the time and join the PGP, where the maintenance of a similar policy would make it more palpable and less of a betrayal. Into the 1980s, when the Democrats came to power with a more populist platform, the PGP discarded their foreign policy reliance on the Liberals and spoke out in support of the more unconventional move of establishing closer relations with a country previously considered hostile.

Domestic Policy

The PCP, after the 2000s, have generally aligned themselves quite closely with the Liberal Party. Initially, this was also the case, though more as a part of their purport to represent the original Liberal ideals from which they claimed the Liberal Party to have deviated. To a greater extent than the modern Liberals, the PCP favours more nationalization and state oversight to pursue economies of scale and availability to the "less privileged" groups in Themiclesia. The Party also retains more overt overtones of state-driven economics and social organizations than the Liberals, which has, since the 1970s, abandoned the position that the government's inclusion in private enterprise and associations is always appropriate. In terms of cultural preservation, the PCP promotes Themiclesia culture by sponsoring poetic saloons and conferences, which were a staple in gentle diversion in the 19th Century; these activities had seen a nosedive in popularity after the 1950s, but are now being propped up as a cornerstone of tradition.

Social Democratic Party

History

The SDP was created by a merger of two parties, the Social Union and the Democratic Party, in 1956.

The Social Union originated as a union of workers that gradually obtained political prominence as the working class were enfranchised between the 1910s and 1950s. Initially functioning as an arm of the Liberals, who wished to retain its connection with the working public to ensure public content and to maintain a balance between economic and social development, the two have grown farther apart in the modern era, after a series of political disputes in the 1950s, in which the Liberal Party attempted to "remove the middleman" by establishing its voting base in the newly-enfranchised working class. As a result, they sought a coalition with what was deemed an unlikely partner—the Democratic Party—to maintain their political standing. The Democratic Party was established in the 1890s to do what their names suggested—promote democracy, or more specifically, expand the franchise. As much as the Social Union sought to represent workers' interests to the political leadership, the Democratic Party hoped to do the same for rural residents, who were largely left out of the industrial boom in the west during the 19th and early 20th Centuries. Yet as the inevitable adoption of universal franchise arrived in 1953, the Liberals had been prepared to undercut the Democratic Party by offering superior policy promises that the Democrats were in no position to offer, on the basis of their lukewarm support in underpopulated, rural areas. As the Liberals went on a spending spree in the 1950s, both to rebuild the country after the war and to firm up their support in the new electorate by creating new jobs, this forced the Social Union and Democratic Party, formerly political strangers, to embrace each other to remain politically relevant. After this dramatic shift to the left by the Liberals, the Social Democratic Party was now conspicuously to the right of the Liberals, and there they have remained to the present day.

Foreign Policy

The foreign policy of the SDP was enigmatic at first, as both parties were created to address domestic issues initially. After a brief period of confusion and ambiguity in the 1950s and 60s, the Social Democrats emerged in a new self in the 1970 general election (which they lost narrowly), advocating a highly unconventional move to seek reconciliation actively with the newly-communist powers of Maverica and Menghe. The SDP allegedly assumed this position to replicate what they have deemed the recipe of success of the Liberals, which is to remain politically close to the Organized States but provide an expansive welfare state at home to appeal to create a vast, pan-societal support base, which is what had permitted it to govern almost unopposed since the 1850s. Both the Social Union and the Democratic Party had previously focused on developing their support in only a select, disadvantaged population, a policy now recognized as erroneous.

Domestic Policy

The SDP promotes a more industrial-minded platform that places emphasis on the creation of opportunities by private enterprises. This is accomplished, in their design, by the reduction of taxation permitting more flexible and creative use of funds, a policy they claim that will benefit both worker and industry, since workers will also pay reduced taxes, allowing them to save a greater portion of their income and eventually invest it. The SDP remains supportive of unions and the welfare state that the Liberal Party has created, in its concept. In most concise terms, the SDP favours deregulation to a limited extent, but not the reduction of social services, as they are now an integral part of Themiclesian society, and their withdrawal will but certainly create overwhelming negative public reactions.

Green Party

The Green Party evolved from the Society for the Protection of the Wilderness, founded in 1930. It is not well-documented when this movement arrived in Themiclesia, but it has accrued a powerful following since the end of the PSW, advocating the protection of Themiclesia forests, wetlands, and other biomes they deemed threatened by human settlement and industrialization. To more extreme ends, they have also sought to prevent installation of mechanized irrigation in some locales, where their installation is expected to disturb local marine life.

Non-Parliamentary and Defunct Parties

Party	Years active	Seats	Platform
Party for the Protection of Bears and Deer	1829–80(?)	1 (1853)	Limiting bears and deer from hunting
Book Prosperity Party	1835–?	1 (1847)	Books should be free and government-printed
East Party	1857—88	—	Inland industry
Canals Party	1859–	1 (1861)	Development of canals
Democratic Party	1879–1953	1 (1903) 1 (1917) 2 (1922) 1 (1924) 3 (1929) 4 (1932) 4 (1935) 4 (1940) 6 (1944) 17 (1952)	Expansion of the franchise
Rural Party	1894–1930	—	Protection of rural society
Social Union	1901–53	12 (1951)	Workers' rights, union rights
Northeast Society	1913–	—	Economic development in the northeast
Nationalist Party	1925–32	—	Alignment with Menghe
Fascist Party of Themiclesia	1925–32	—	Alignment with Menghe, invasion of Maverica
Anti-Fascist Party of Themiclesia	1925–35	—
Communist Party of Themiclesia	1930–32	—	Marxism
Rhinoceros Party of Themiclesia	1953–	—	Make the next emperor a Columbian; birdbaths in every balcony; prohibition of green lawns to spite the Green Party; cat-hats for politicans; negative-price housing; promotion of very-small businesses (employing less than one person); all chairs to be made from sod; alchemy as the national sport; revert gravity; all driveways to be razed; all trains to run at least 5 minutes off schedule; all cars to change lanes at least once per block; books to be printed from bottom upwards; dismantle all border fortifications; 8-hour work week; free stays at Columbian hospitals
Marijuana Party	1958–	—	Legalization of cannabis
Pirate Party	1990–	—	Abolition of copyright
Hot Air Balloon Party	1994–	—	Promotion of hot air balloons as sole means of intercity transport
Society of Railway Enthusiasts	1995–	—	(not declared)
Party Party	2002–	—	Promotion of breakfast, lunch, and dinner parties
Party of Everything	2009–	—	Everything that every party has ever proposed
Republic of Gaming	2017–	—	Mandatory video game consoles at every domicile