Dahemia

This article is about the country. For other uses, see Dahemia (disambiguation).

"Dähmen" redirects here. For other uses, see Dähmen (disambiguation).

Free State of Dahemia Fräistaat Dämen (Dahemian) Freistaat Dähmen (Ruthish) État libre de Dahême (Hyacinthean)
Flag Coat of arms
Motto: Nec temere, nec timide (Hernician) "Neither rashly nor timidly"
Anthem: Dämeschhymn (Dahemian) "Dahemian Hymn"
Location of Dahemia (dark green) in Calesia (green & dark gray)
Capital and largest city	Gonece 47°46'N 08°44'E
Official languages	Dahemian
Administrative languages	Dahemian Ruthish Hyacinthean
Ethnic groups	61.9% Dahemians 38.1% others
Religion	55.8% Gregorianism 35.4% Presterist 10.5% Northern Cathedralist 9.5% other Gregorians 30.1% no religion 6.6% Tahir 0.7% others
Demonym(s)	Dahemian
Government	Federal parliamentary constitutional republic
• Minister-President	Ulrich Barschel
• Deputy Minister-President	Karl Egon Distille
• President of the Chamber of Deputies	Annaliese Straack-Zorn
Legislature	Chamber of Deputies
Formation
• Reidside Conference	5 April 1941
• Lonane Statute	20 February 1946
• Self-government (current constitution)	16 June 1957
• Founded the Calesian Community	1 September 1996
Area
• Total	2,599.3 km2 (1,003.6 sq mi)
• Water (%)	0.4%
Population
• December 2023 estimate	2,183,805
• 2021 census	2,066,579 (14th)
GDP (PPP)	2023 estimate
• Total	$153.6 billion (8th)
• Per capita	$70,354
GDP (nominal)	2023 estimate
• Total	$148.3 billion (8th)
• Per capita	$67,901
Gini (2021)	30.3 medium
HDI (2020)	0.929 very high
Currency	Dahemian livre, (D£, DAL)
Time zone	UTC+1
Date format	dd/mm/yyyy (CE)
Driving side	right
Calling code	+616
Internet TLD	.dh

Dahemia (/ˈtæˈhiːmiə/ dah-HEE-mee-ə; Dahemian: Dämen [ˈdæːmən]; Ruthish: Dähmen [ˈdɛːmən]; Hyacinthean: Dahême [dɑ̃.ɛːm]), officially the Free State of Dahemia, is a sovereign landlocked country in Central Calesia. It is bordered by Notnetherlands to the north, West Ruthen to the east, and Hyacinthe to the south and west. With an area of 2,599.3 km² (1,003.6 sq mi) and a population of 2,183,805 in 2023, Dahemia is Calesia's smallest and least populous country, but the single-most densely populated, with a density of 840/km² (2,175.9/sq mi). Gonece is its capital and largest city; other major cities include Greven, Cherms, Meinfeld, Karlsbad, Verniers, and Saldenbroich.

The term referring to the historical region of Dahemia has been in use for over a millenium, beginning with the conquests of the Hernician Empire in the first century BC. Part of the Ruthish Confederation, a distinct political entity comprising the region only arose in the mid-17th century with the Duchy and later in the 19th century with the Kingdom of Dahemia respectively, before being absorbed by the fledging Kingdom of Ruthen in 1864 amidst Ruthish unification. Its wealth of coal and iron ore deposits made it a central focal point of the Industrial Revolution.

Following the Great War in Calesia, it was occupied by Hyacinthean forces and became the United Congress-mandated Dahemian Protectorate in early 1946. After the 1957 Lonane Statute referendum and unsuccessful attempts made by Hyacinthe to annex Dahemia proper, it gained its independence as the Free State. Since, tensions between the Ruthish-speaking and Hyacinthean-speaking communities have persisted; the 1980s saw far-reaching state reforms and a political transition towards state federalism, but irredentist and nationalist movements (such as the Cislonanian Movement and the Fatherland Party) continue to be popular.

Dahemia is an federal constitutional republic headed by the Minister-President, currently Ulrich Barschel since 2021. It is a member state of the United Congress, the X Community and the X, and hosts the seats and headquarters of numerous intergovernmental organizations. As a developed country and mixed-market high-income economy, it ranks highly in human development, income equality, civil liberty, economic competitiveness, gender equality, and prosperity indexes, and has among the highest GDPs per capita (both nominally and by PPP) in Calesia; it was the first country to legalize same-sex marriage in 2000. Dahemian culture is largely shaped by Ruthish and Hyacinthean influences, but remains distinct because of its Presterist heritage, traditional cuisine, and customs. Home to three main linguistic communities, the country is officially trilingual, although Ruthish is the majority language and the lingua franca.

Etymology

Main article: Name of Dahemia

History

Main article: History of Dahemia

Middle Ages and Ruthish Confederation

Main articles: Catabole, Ninety Years' War, and Ruthish Confederation

Duchy of Dahemia (16X–1811)

Main article: Duchy of Dahemia

Kingdom of Dahemia and industrialization (1811–1862)

Main article: Kingdom of Dahemia

Ruthish rule (1862–1936)

See also: Ruthish Revolution and Kingdom of Ruthen

Great War and post-war period (1936–)

See also: Transmedan-occupied Dahemia and Dahemian Protectorate

TBD

Amidst the Hyacinthean Gonece offensive and shortly before the total collapse of the Ruthish regime, Gonece fell on 29 September 1940. On that same day, a provisional government under civil democrat Konrad Werzel and combinationalist Marie Dúrmond-Burg was swiftly set up and proclaimed Dahemia's unilateral secession and independence from Ruthen, with the approval of Hyacinthean X X.

The Reidside Conference on 5 April 1941 stipulated that Transmedan-occupied Dahemia was to be formally divided into military occupation zones; to administrate the entirety of the zones and therefore the country proper, as well as to regulate its strategically significant native coal and steel industries, the International Commission for Dahemia (ICD) was established. Dahemian public opposition to the post-war Calesian arrangement was immense, particularly in response to the forced cession of 65% of the former Kingdom of Dahemia's territory to Hyacinthe.

Initially, Transmedan plans to limit future Ruthish industrial potential were pursued in Dahemia as well: steel production had been reduced by about 0.98 million tons, limits were placed on permitted production levels, and about 101 manufacturing plants had been dismantled. However, Hyacinthean pressure and the lingering question of political control over Dahemia caused such plans to be scaled back tromendously. By 1955, slightly less than 6% of industrial capacity had been permanently removed in actuality.

Hyacinthean interest in Dahemia increased significantly once its political future was brought into question. On 1 December 1942, the Dahemian livre replaced the mark as legal tender in Dahemia and Hyacinthean military governor Benoît Moulin pushed for an economic and customs union with Hyacinthe soon thereafter, by March of 1943. Efforts to support irrendetism, ideological agreement, and pursue eventual unification led to the creation of the Hyacinthean democratic socialist Dahemian People's Party (DVP), of which its leader Ernst Schneider became the first freely elected mayor of Gonece on 26 April 1944.

Tensions rose with the Declaration of the Ruthish Republic amidst the 1944 Ruthish Crisis. The proper attempt at a takeover of the entirety of divided Gonece in August of 1945, which constituted a violation of the ICD Three Powers Agreement, rapidly culminated in the Dahemian Crisis; the tense one-week long stand-off caused relations between Hyacinthe and the northern Transmedan Powers in particular to cool dramatically. The simultaneous establishment of the People's Republic of Ruthen completed the division of Ruthen and initiated the Atomic Age.

The Transmedan Powers and later the United Congress played a pivotal role in the creation of post-war Dahemia. (Waldish foreign minister Åge Brovold signs the Lonane Statute per Resolution 79, 19 August 1945)

In pursuit of a mediating compromise for the Dahemian question, the United Congress Security Council denounced the hostilities and assumed control of Dahemia itself; Hyacinthe found itself increasingly politically isolated and relinquished military occupation of the country by 19 August 1945. On 20 February 1946, the Lonane Statute was enacted, the ICD was terminated, and the Dahemian Protectorate, an internationally controlled and UC mandated territory, was established. In 1951, the principal organs and headquarters of the United Congress relocated to Gonece permanently.

On 4 June 1957, a referendum on the status of the Lonane Statute turned out in overwhelming support of Dahemian independence; Ernst Schneider's speech in front of the Royal Palace on 2 June emphasizing Dahemia's right to national self-determination is regarded to have been a major contributing factor. On 16 June, the Basic Law was ratified by Linus Brühn, the first Minister-President from 1957 to 1965, and the United Congress officially ended mandateship status pursuant to Resolution 120. As previously agreed upon, the first legislative act was the implementation of perpetual statehood neutrality, modelled after post-war Falland.

Laurent Moser, elected third Minister-President of Dahemia from 1969 to 1973, later became the fourth Secretary-General of the United Congress from 1977 to 1989.

The rise of Hyacinthean nationalism has been accompanied by a corresponding institutional shift of power to the Ruthish, who constituted a 58% majority of the population in 1960. An official Hyacinthean translation of the constitution was only aceepted and provided in 1965. In 1983, Minister-President Walter Coemer implemented a series of state reforms to counter the growing linguistic disputes; the two Cultural Communities of Translonania and Cislonania were established, which simultaneously became Regions. The issue of each Region's political competencies and autonomy as well as the establishment of the Gonece Region in 1984 nearly led to the collapse of Coemer's government in January of 1985.

Dahemia joined the X in 1994 and became a signatory country of the X in 200X.

The hostilities between the communities reached a preliminary climax with the Cislonanian coal strike of 1987 and the splitting of the Presterist University of Verniers among linguistic divides in 1988. In the early 1990s, the prosecution of Stephan Metzger and the Daybesse affair adversely affected popular confidence in the Dahemian political and criminal justice systems under Yves De Blum; political change came with the election of Johannes Ehrenreich, the country's first Minister-President not belonging to the GVP or the AP in its history. In 1994, Dahemia gained membership in the X. It is also a member of the Calesian Free Trade Compact (CFTC), which it founded on 30 April 1999 by the Second Treaty of Cherms. While not part of the Nordbund, it participates in the Calesian single market, and it is a member of the Notdutch–Dahemian Economic Union (NDEU) formed by the Treaty of X on 4 December 1987.

The 1999 Six-Day War between the Ruthens sent shockwaves of shock and fear through neighboring Dahemia; fearing a geopolitical escalation of the volatile situation, Margarethe Dabas called for the United Congress to act. With the imposition of United Congress Resolution 1233, hostilities ceased and an armistice was negotiated. Dahemia was among the primary advocates for the creation of the Ruthish Demilitarized Zone and UCMAR, and for her efforts, Dabas was awarded the X Peace Prize in 2001.

Geography

Main article: Geography of Dahemia

General overview map of Dahemia, with towns and major natural features

Dahemia encompasses the low plainlands of the Lower Lonane region and the Dahemian Plateau uplands, and it borders Notnetherlands (72 km; 45 mi) to the north, West Ruthen (148 km; 92 mi) to the east, and Hyacinthe (161 km; 100 mi) to the east and south. The territorial extent of Dahemia covers an area of 2,599.3 km² (or 1,003.6 sq mi), 5.5% or 142.9 km² (55.2 sq mi) of which are areas of water; this makes Dahemia the smallest country by size in Calesia and the second-smallest country in the world. It lies between latitudes 47°02' and 48°20' N, and longitudes 8°11' and 9°53' E.

Its topographic outline is distinctive enough to be divided into three major regions—that of the Dahemian Lowland, the adjacent Lonaneland, and the Holnian Mountains sub-breline massif. The southern and eastern regions of Dahemia feature a patternless cluster of rugged highlands, predominantly formed through ancient volcanic processes caused by the creation of the Brelines. The Holnian Mountains in the western borderland of the country is its highest elevated area, with the Großer Kahlberg (at 1,720 meters or 5,640 feet) as its peak, while the Norder Forest and Cottar Hills in the north, the Freudenland and the Steigwald in the east, and the Fünferberge, Naltzel Hills, and Spärland in the south-west dot Dahemia. The northern areas are dominated by low-lying arable and lightly forested plains, forming the Dahemian Lowland that extends into the Dahemian Plateau and into the broader North Calesian Plain.

The country is traversed by multiple major rivers, the most important of which being the Lonane, the Lehr, the Nidda, and the Klar. The Lonane is by far the most significant Dahemian river, entering the country as the Middle Lonane at Badenheim and exiting the country as the widened Lower Lonane near Amselsbrock. The Dahemian Lake District (Seenplatte) is Calesia's largest artificial lake district, largely comprised of several decommissioned and repurposed lignite open-pit mines.

Environment

Main article: Environment of Dahemia

The Großer Kahlberg in the Hohnerngebirge is the highest peak in Dahemia (landscape view during winter).

Phytogeographically, Dahemia lies in the central Calesian stretch of the Circumboreal Region within the Boreal Kingdom and belongs to the ecoregions of Eastern Calesian broadleaf forests and Medan mixed forests. About a fifth of Dahemia's area (866.4 km², 334.5 sq mi) was covered in forests in 2017, which makes it one of the least forested countries in Calesia; 52% was devoted to agriculture, two-thirds of which used for pastures and greenlands, and the remainder for actual agricultural activities. Despite this, it has 3 natural reserves of particular importance, called Natural Monuments (Naturmonumente).

The flora of the country without human interaction is composed of deciduous forests of beeches and oaks and conifer forests of spruces and pines, excluding unfertile and arid areas such as mountain summits, heaths, and moorlands. Around 25,000 species of animals are identified and verified to live in Dahemia, which, compared other Calesian ecological areas, makes it a particularly less diverse region. Native wild mammals of Dahemia include deers such as the roe deer, wild boars, foxes, martens, and lynxes; birds of Dahemia are, for example, the osprey, white-tailed eagle, and the falcon. Beavers and otters are relatively rare inhabitants of rivers and lakes, albeit with a growing population.

Due to intensive industrial and agricultural activity, much of Dahemia's native biodiversity has suffered substantially. Dense and increasing human populations throughout history led to the devastation and extinction of various animals such as the wisent, native trout, brown bear, wolf, and moose. More than 97% of all original natural woods have been cut down between 1800 and 2000, and nitrogen pollution over the past fifty years has continued to grow despite governmental efforts to curb it.

Climate

Dahemia is situated entirely within the temperate climate zone of Calesia in the planet's westerlies zone, with a predominantly oceanic climate (Köppen: Cfb). The climate of Dahemia is also influenced by the X Stream, which is responsible for unusually high annual temperature averages at such a local latitude, supplying Dahemia and Calesia with primarily wet and mild oceanic air. The influence of the Medan Ocean decreases significantly when moving from east to west. Natural meteorological hazards of Dahemia include forest fires, windstorms (called Orkane) and thunderstorms, floodings, storm surges, and landslides.

Government and politics

Main article: Politics of Dahemia

See also: Minister-President of Dahemia and Chamber of Deputies (Dahemia)

Ulrich Barschel, Minister-President of Dahemia since 2021

Dahemia is a federal parliamentary representative democracy, as codified and set by its constitutional instrument, the Basic Law. Exercising the separation of powers, the country's political system is divided into the executive, legislative, and judiciary, each controlled by a separate institution.

Formally and de jure, the Minister-President is the head of the executive branch and, therefore, head of state, active commander-in-chief of the armed forces and the most influential single political figure in Dahemia. Being elected by popular vote for an unlimited number of non-consecutive four-year terms, the Minister-President almost always wields the confidence of parliament through a single-party majority or coalition government. Their government, the Cabinet, operates as a collegial body with collective responsibility under the scrutiny and oversight of the legislature. Currently, Ulrich Barschel holds that office since 2021, and has served a prior term from 2013 to 2017.

Legislative power is vested in the Chamber of Deputies, an unicameral parliament comprising 61 members. The Chamber is directly elected using the mixed-member proportional representation system from seven electoral constituencies, called Districts. Dahemia has compulsory voting and therefore consistently maintains some of the highest voter turnout rates in the world. While there is an electoral threshold of 3% for the allocation of seats, candidates may be elected to a seat directly in one of Dahemia's City Districts.

The national judiciary is embodied in the State Court, totalling seven judges, being the official source of law of the country, guarantor and protector of the constitution, and the only institution granted the right of judicial review. Courts of appeal include the Civil Justice Court, the Criminal Justice Court, and the Labor Court. As a result of the Lonane Statute, the country's code of law is largely shaped by the United Congress' Charter for the Rights of Man and Waldish codified law.

The Old Castle at the Kornmarkt, seat of the Chamber of Deputies

Schöneiche House in the Old Botanical Garden, seat of the Minister-President

The State Court Building at Judiciary Square in northern Gonece

Political culture

See also: Separatism in Dahemia and Dahemian Question

Essential concepts of the system, such as the federal structure, respect for human rights and the rule of law were officially added in 1959 and are protected by a status of perpetual validity. Direct democracy is supported through the availability of protests, referenda, a multi-party system and accountancy of the government, as well as guaranteed freedoms of expression, assembly, and universal suffrage beginning at age 18.

Its highly urbanized society maintains a tradition of social toleration and pillarisation, rooted in socio-political developments during the 19th century. Dahemia scores highly in indexes and measurements of civil liberties, democratic government, press and media freedom, internet freedom, and societal peacefulness. Unconditional rights to abortion and the protection of LGBT rights are enshrined in the Basic Law since 2001.

In Dahemia's political history, the Gregorian People's Party (GVP) and Workers' Party (AP) have been the dominant parties, with almost every Minister-President to date being a member of either party. However, smaller parties still retain significant power, most notably the Civil Democratic Party (ZDP), the Green Action, and the Pirates. More notably, parties representing the linguistic, cultural, and nationalist interests of the respective Ruthish and Hyacinthean communities continue to maintain popularity; among the most influential of these are the Fatherland Party (VP) and the Freedom and Prosperity Party (FWP). Almost every government was a coalition government, however, and many of the smaller parties oriented to the larger parties who maintain catch-all blocs in hopes of better negotiating a coalition government contract with another major party bloc.

Historical antagonism between the Ruthish-speaking and Hyacinthean-speaking communities have translated into the federalized structure of Dahemia. Minorities in areas belonging to one of the three respective regions of the country claim to be politically disenfranchised, adding a linguistic and cultural division to the traditional left–right divide in Dahemian politics. Particularly in the latter half of the 20th century, separatism and nationalist irredentism have become influential political streams; the Cislonanian Movement (partly represented by the FWP) propose the creation of an independent Cislonanian state, and the Wiederanschluss movement (principally headed by the VP) seeks a partition of Dahemia for an independent Translonania to unite with a reunified Ruthen. Complicating questions of partition have made such demands difficult to negotiate; according to 2021 polls, 29.9% of the population supports a partition of Dahemia in one way or another whereas 63.4% oppose it; 6.7% have no opinion.

Administrative divisions

Main article: Administrative divisions of Dahemia

See also: Gonece

Since the 1983 state reforms, Dahemia is a regionalized federation consisting of ten entities, called Municipalities (Gemeinden); it is the smallest federal country in the world by population size and area. Each of these are grouped into constitutionally defined language areas, called Regions (Regionen), that determine the official language in the respective Municipality and preserve the shared cultural heritage of its constituents; they are identical in territorial extent and representative competencies as the Cultural Communities.

Electoral entities called Districts (Bezirke) send representatives to the Chamber of Deputies, but their borders do not necessarily reflect those of the former two and they are usually classified as either Rural or City District (Landbezirke or Stadtbezirke), depending on demographic census data and population density. The Municipalities themselves are sub-divided into Boroughs, or Quarters (Viertel).

Municipality ID Capital Gonece Region Gonece 1 Gonece Cislonanian Region Cherms 2 Cherms Seenplatte 3 Moriege Habay–Southern Seenplatte 4 Habay Verniers 5 Verniers Fünferberge 6 Kaiserswinter Haguenau 7 Haguenau Translonanian Region Salm 8 Salm Lisdorf 9 Lisdorf Sankt Augustin–Mehren 10 Sankt Augustin Sölingen 11 Sölingen Greven 12 Greven Steigwald 13 Neuerburg Karlsbad 14 Karlsbad Lehrland 15 Meinfeld Freudenland 16 Freudenburg

Foreign relations

Main article: Foreign relations of Dahemia

The United Congress headquarters in Gonece's Zollhafen area, a global center of international diplomacy

One of the consequences of Dahemia's accession to independence by the Lonane Statute referendum in 1957 was the implementation of official neutrality and non-alignment for its foreign policy. As a result, the country came to play a significant role in international relations and mediating diplomacy during the Atomic Order; the decision to headquarter the newly established United Congress (UC) in Dahemia in 1951 was partially due to that arrangement.

In the latter half of the Atomic Age, Dahemia made considerable efforts to further global economic integration and Ruthish-Ruthish mediation. During the period of global détente in the 1980s and 1990s, Dahemia reconsidered its definition of non-alignment to pursue more proactive foreign policy and traditional involvement in peacebuilding, pursuing Calesian integration and membership in the X, which it gained in 1994. It is also a member of the Calesian Free Trade Compact (CFTC), which it joined in 1999. While not part of the Nordbund, it participates in the Calesian single market and has positioned itself against several guiding principles and goals of the Calesian member states of the Global Socialist League.

Dahemia is a member of the Notdutch–Dahemian Economic Union (NDEU), X. It hosts the offices of the United Congress Secretariat, Security Council, Congress, and the General Socio-Economic Council, the World Monetary Fund (WMF), the Central Commission for the Lonane (CCL), the International Human Rights Council (IHRC), the Calesian Court of Auditors (CCA), and the Calesian Aviation Safety Agency (CASA).

Military

Main article: Dahemian Armed Forces

A Dahemian soldier stands guard during the X mission in X in 2009.

The Dahemian Armed Forces are a primarily peacetime-oriented military force reporting to the Ministry of Defense and operating out of the Graf-Reinfels Casern in Saldenbroich. Since military service conscription was abolished in 2005, it is organized as a fully professional standing army under civilian control, with the Minister-President as commander-in-chief and the Chief of the General Staff as its highest-ranking operational command officer.

It is divided into two main service branches: the Army and the Air Force; being a landlocked country, Dahemia has no formal navy, but it employs armed patrol boats on its lakes and on the Lonane river. Defense spending comprised about 2.9% of the government's annual budget in 2022, making it one of the largest defense-budget-per-GDP ratios in the world. Among its arsenal, Dahemia maintains two C360-G Heracles military cargo planes, one wing of fighter aircraft, one wing of utility helicopters, and one mechanized infantry brigade.

Since the latter half of the Atomic Age, Dahemian defense policy has largely concentrated on the training and deployment of troops for peace support operations missions abroad. Due to its declared status of neutrality, it has a tradition of participating in United Congress-led peacekeeping, natural disaster relief and other humanitarian aid operations. Dahemian soldiers participated in UCOMCA in Nadauro (1987–1992), and X in X. As of 2021, 156 military personnel are deployed in East Ruthen and the Ruthish Demilitarized Zone for UCMAR and 30 troops deployed in X for X.

Notes

a.^ Dahemian: Fräistaat Dämen [ˈfʁɑɪʃtaːt ˈdæːmən]; Ruthish: Freistaat Dähmen [ˈfrɑɪʃtaːt ˈdɛːmən]; Hyacinthean: État libre de Dahême [eta libʁ də dɑ̃.ɛːm]