Libertarian Party (Liberto-Ancapistan)

Libertarian Party Partiya Libertarî
Leader	Rouya Arjmand
Chairman	Lazar Mokri
Deputy Leader	Rasmus Thornes
Founded	5th August 1838
Split from	Liberal Party
Headquarters	9 Kaivan Street, Bakur Quarter, Liberty City
Youth wing	Young Libertarians
Santian wing	Libertarians of Santia
Overseas wing	Libertarians Abroad
Ideology	Classical liberalism Federalism Factions Delonism Libertarianism
Political position	Centre-right
Colors	Orange
House of Commons	141 / 500
Senate	43 / 110
Provincial Premiers	2 / 7

The Libertarian Party (Basaquese: Partiya Libertarî) is a centre-right political party in Liberto-Ancapistan. It is one of the two major parties of contemporary Liberto-Ancapistan along with Progress. The Libertarian Party is the oldest continuous political party in Liberto-Ancapistan, and governed the country between its formation in 1955 and 2000. There have been four Libertarian Chancellors.

The party was founded in 1838, having split from the Santian Liberal Party in order to pursue a Basaquastanian nationalist revolution in secret. This occurred in the form of the 1840 Summer Revolution, during which the party formed a provisional government and successfully established independence in Libertaria, among failures to expand the revolution further. The party would go on to govern Libertaria for all but 14 years of its existence, until the unification of Liberto-Ancapistan in 1955. During the following General Election, the Libertarian Party successfully established itself across the country under the leadership of former Libertarian Chancellor Alexandre Delon, who became the first Chancellor of Liberto-Ancapistan.

The party continued to be the main governing party of Liberto-Ancapistan until the 2000 General Election, when years of declining popularity and major scandals caused a near-electoral wipeout, with the Libertarians becoming the third-largest party for the first time. After significant reforms, the party reestablished popularity, and following the 2020 General Election has formed a two-party system with Progress.

The Libertarian Party has always adopted liberal economic policies favouring free market economics, though the extent to which market reforms have been pursued and their prominence within the Libertarian programme have varied over its existence. Additionally, since the formation of Liberto-Ancapistan in 1955 the party has favoured the retention of a federal government system. Following the 1978 ascension of Sherin Mezaros to party leader, the party re-adopted its opposition to paternalistic social policies, and has since supported liberal social policies including abortion rights, non-citizen sufferage and gender self-identification. The party has taken various policy approaches to the United Federation of Telrova (UFT), with both pro-UFT and UFT-sceptic factions. Broadly, the party leadership has supported UFT economic integration, but has opposed UFT political integration.

Name

The name of the Libertarian Party (Partiya Libertarî) is subject to significant misconceptions, because of its association with a wider political ideology of the same name, with which it shares several (but not all) viewpoints. The Party's name comes from the Province and historical region of Libertaria, and was originally adopted as a pejorative term for radical liberals supportive of Basaquastanian nationalism within the Santian Empire's Liberal Party, because most major figures originated in that region. The pejorative was adopted by the early liberal radicals themselves after they broke from the Liberal Party, in part because their planned revolution was to occur in Libertaria.

The etymology of Libertarian, in regards to the political ideology, has been disputed, with some ascribing it to emulators of the Libertarian Party and Republic of Libertaria. In Liberto-Ancapistan, the word 'libertarian' has never been used for ideological concepts not connected to the Libertarian Party, and so aspects of its platform not found in overseas 'libertarian' movements (such as public education and fiat currency) are referred to as 'libertarian'. The ideological base of the party, and similar groups, are popularly referred to as 'right-liberal', or simply 'liberal', while followers of the ideology referred to elsewhere as 'libertarianism' are usually identified as 'minarchists'.

History

Origins

The Libertarian Party originated as a grouping within the Santian Empire's Liberal Party during the early 1830s. This group was unified by several characteristics, including Basaquese nationalism, support for full adult sufferage, and radicalism. Most major figures of this group originated in southern Basaquastan, particularly Libertaria, giving the party its future name. Following the failed 1833 Green Revolution in Santia, which saw the Liberal Party's political hopes significantly curtailed by a mixture of compromise and suppression, the 'libertarian faction' became increasingly independent from its parent party, and increasingly revolutionary in its opposition to the Santian Empire. In 1838, this was fully realised as most radical leaders in southern Basaquastan left the Liberal Party, and began operating an independent underground movement; the Libertarian Party.

In 1840, the Libertarian Party (then ruled by a collective leadership committee) launched the Summer Revolution, and over the following four years it established control over the Libertaria region. At the same time, the party suffered a split when the leader of a small minarchistic faction known as the 'Ultra-Radicals', Sayab Etyio, left to pursue his own expedition into the Ancapistan region. By the end of the revolution, the boundaries in which 'Libertarianism' operated were established, and in the first free election in the new Republic of Libertaria in 1844, the Libertarian Party won every seat. Co-founder Qasim Kaivan was elected the first Chancellor of Libertaria.

Republic of Libertaria (1844 – 1955)

Over the next decades the Libertarian Party continued its hegemony, and as a result accomodated an increasingly large spread of ideas, though none strayed outside the Liberal tradition. This caused increasing political disunity in Libertaria, with even large Libertarian majorities rarely able to pass unified legislation. This was remedied in 1884 with the introduction of the party's current hierarchy and leader system, which triggered an exodus from the party by individuals ascribing to the increasingly influential ideas of social, or modern, liberalism. Still, the Libertarian Party continued to be dominant. This was radically changed by the 1901 Exber Rebellion, which saw increasing dissatisfaction with the Libertarian Party's opposition to significant government spending on security culminate in a brief war and the separation of the city of Exber from Libertaria. Following the war, the social liberal Liberty Action Party won the 1902 election, and ruled for six years. The reforms it instituted, such as the creation of a police service and public education, were adopted by the Libertarian Party after it was able to re-establish control.

In the 1930s and 1940s, the Libertarian Party's position once again came under threat with debates over Basaquastanian nationalism and opposition to Santian militarism, which increasingly split the party into more nationalistic, authoritarian 'defencists' and traditionally liberal 'pacifists'. As Santia continued to militarise and efforts to create a united Basaquastanian state in the rest of the region increased, however, the defencists began a politically painful advance to prominence, culminating in the 1944 formation of the Liberto-Ancapistanian Alliance and appointment of the hardline defecist outsider Alexandre Delon to the party leadership after Santia invaded northern Basaquastan in 1950.

Throughout the war, the Liberto-Ancapistanian Alliance expanded, and with it the Libertarian Party made connections with local parties in preparation for mergers. This never actually occurred, however, and during unification other Basaquastanian right-liberal parties were only informally absorbed into the Libertarian Party, rather than in any formal agreement. In 1955, the party won a resounding victory in the first Liberto-Ancapistanian general election, gaining a majority and having Alexandre Delon selected as the first Chancellor of the new country.

Political dominance (1955 – 2000)

Under Alexandre Delon, the Libertarian Party's policies shifted to be supportive of a more heavily regulated economy, paternalistic nationalism, and militarism, though civil protections which had long been part of the party programme were retained. Additionally, Delon's personal prominence as a war leader and skilled politician made his own power and personality increasingly decisive in the party, with him dictating much policy. Delon's control was further helped by the introduction of a mainstay of 20th century Libertarian politics, the funding presented by the industrialist Rand family in return for informal commitments to their projects and interests.

By the end of the 1960s, Delon had presided over an economic boom and increasingly globally prominent Liberto-Ancapistan, and was hugely influential over both the Libertarian Party and politics in general. This period abruptly ended with the 'Cross-Strait Affair' a political crisis which emerged in 1970 and continued into 1971 which regarded attempts by the now-economically destitute Santia requesting membership in Liberto-Ancapistan as a Province. Delon steadfastly refused despite the support of an overwhelming majority of Libertarian MPs and his own cabinet, resulting in him being reluctantly forced out of the Chancellorship in 1971, to be replaced by Sujitra Taksin.

Sujitra Taksin's Chancellorship did not significantly diverge from 'Delonism' in overall policy, but presided over the degradation of Libertarian power, with several coalition agreements being made with Liberty Action and the Far Coast Party after the Libertarians consistently failed to gain parliamentary majorities. However, the party continued in government, and Taksin's conciliatory political style allowed her Chancellorship to continue on despite significant internal confict. This changed after a series of political scandals in the late 1970s presented the conditions for a new, post-war faction of Libertarians to take power in a vote of no confidence, under the leadership of the 33 year-old Sherin Mezaros.

After becoming Chancellor in 1978, Mezaros pivoted the Libertarian Party decisively away from Delonism and towards a revival of traditional Libertarian policies, including deregulation, privatisation of industries, multiculturalist external policies, and non-interventionism. Under his leadership, the party began to regain parliamentary majorities, though less decisive than Delon. Mezaros' government became increasingly marketised, opening room for corruption; though there is no evidence that this permeated to the upper party leadership itself. The Rand family similarly became more influential, with Henry Rand being nominated for a safe parliamentary seat under Mezaros' supervision in 1984, and immediately being appointed Transport Secretary.

Mezaros' leadership had brought widespread political change to the party, but not his own security. Despite popularity with the pary membership, cabinet members found his leadership style to be difficult-to-work-with and highly centralised. After Mezaros failed to gain a majority for the first time in 1988, opponents seized the opportunity to elevate Henry Rand against him in a 1990 leadership contest, which was quickly won.

Under the leadership of Henry Rand, corporate influence and corruption in the Libertarian Party reached its peak, and his arrival proved to be unsuccessful in making significant electoral gains. Rand's Libertarian Party moved away from the brazen, ideological neoliberal economics of the Mezaros government, but continued to broadly carry his policies. Rand's government saw significant numbers of defections from the party in protest of corruption, and the rise of a network of 'principled independents' - right-wing MPs who stood independently and fought campaigns against the Libertarian Party on their lack of commitment to principles of fairness rather than policy differences. These 'principled independents' continued to become increasingly electorally successful through the mid-late 1990s.

Henry Rand's government was finally brought down in 1999, often referred to in the Libertarian Party as the 'disaster year'. A decade of corruption scandal, some implicating Henry Rand, emerged, along with 'moral scandals' regarding the personal conduct of senior leadership. The situation was made considerably more difficult by the coalescence of the 'principled independents' into a single political party, the Minarchist Coalition.

In the leadup to the 2000 election, Henry Rand became increasingly politically invisible, with accusations that he was 'abandoning the party to defeat'. This finally occurred in the election itself, which saw the Minarchist Coalition gain a large majority, the Libertarian Party left as a rump in only the safest constituencies in a distant third place, with 36 seats. Henry Rand suffered a narrow defeat in his own constituency, and resigned from politics the day after the election.

Political wilderness (2000 – 2014)

After the resignation of Henry Rand, the party elected former Environment Secretary Ilisabek Hamsho to the leadership. She elected to distinguish the party from the scandals of the Rand government primarily through stylistic and presentational changes, adopting a green-coloured party logo and attempting to rehabilitate the Libertarian Party's image by presenting it as a moderate alternative to the Minarchist Coalition. These changes faced significant backlash from the still-strong Senatorial and Provincial Libertarian Party, though they laid the groundwork for Libertarian campaigning for the next twenty years. Hamsho was notable as she was the first major christian politician in Liberto-Ancapistan, though christian-associated policies such as abortion restrictions were not represented in the Libertarian platform. In the 2002 election the Libertarian Party neither won nor lost seats, prompting Hamsho's resignation.

Hamsho was succeeded by the Mezaros-era backbencher Kamand Samangar, who abandoned the stylistic changes of the previous leadership in favour of a campaigning style broadly described as 'nostalgic', invoking the Chancellorship of Alexandre Delon. Notably, Samangar launched a widely-publicised anti-corruption campaign within the party, which saw the expulsion of several former Ministers and Henry Rand (who had continued to hold membership despite having retired from active politics.) This led to a broader stabilisation of the Libertarian position and leadership, with elections to the Assembly of Libertaria Province in 2003 retaining its Libertarian majority. Despite a campaign derided by political opponents as "slow" and "antique", Samangar oversaw significant gains for the party in the 2004 general election, leaving it only a short way behind second-place contender Liberty Action. This total increased in 2006, with the Libertarian Party once again becoming the second-largest; though still much smaller than the dominant Minarchist Coalition. After the 2008 general election saw only minor Libertarian gains, Samangar resigned as leader, though he claimed that his actions were part of a pre-planned retirement (by 2008, the politician was 74 years old).

Replacing Samangar was Nadia Shigan, who had been prominent in the Shadow Cabinets of both previous leaders. Shigan pursued a bold policy drawing upon aspects of Delonism, including social issues such as crime, and regulatory actions such as agriculture subsidies in an increasingly unstable economic environment. This saw early success in the 2010 general election, which saw the Libertarian Party increase its lead over Liberty Action and deprive the Minarchist Coalition of a majority for the first time. As a result, Shigan increased her distinct policy style, though this brought her into contract with more traditional members of the party, including the increasingly influential son of Henry Rand, Harrison Rand. During the 2012 election campaign, Shigan was strongly criticised for her suggestion that immigration controls be introduced in Liberto-Ancapistan, something that not even Delon had supported. After fierce media attacks, the 2012 election saw losses for the Libertarian Party, and Shigan resigned.

In a contentious and controversial leadership election, Harrison Rand was selected party leader with only 31% of the vote due to the large number of candidates and use of the first past the post (FPTP) electoral. He began abandoning Samangar's policies and elected to move towards more orthodox Libertarian policies. Rand's leadership was cut short sixteen months after his ascension to party leader when Henry Rand died, leading to him withdrawing from politics in order to take over leadership of RandCorp.

Resurgence (2014 – present)

WIP