Megelan
League of Meᵹelan Lega di Meſiolano (Tuscan) | |
|---|---|
 Flag
 Coat of arms
| |
| Motto: "Merito et Tempore" (Latin) "On merit and with time" | |
Anthem: "Toccata" | |
| Capital | Vergate sul Membro |
| Largest | Alba |
| Official languages | Tuscan |
| Recognised national languages | Eastern Lombard Emilian Western Lombard |
| Recognised regional languages | Ladin Walser |
| Ethnic groups (2020) | 88.6% Meᵹelanese 11.4% Other |
| Religion (2020) | 88.6% Striaria 11.4% Other |
| Demonym(s) | Meᵹelanese |
| Government | Confederal direct democracy under a non-partisan consensus directorial republic |
• Consulate of the League | Directory of 10 people |
• Elder of the Credenza and Captain of the People | Davide Ruggiero |
| Legislature | Grand and General Council |
| Credenza | |
| Arengo | |
| Establishment | |
• Foundation date | 7 April 1167 |
• Joined the Common Sphere | 25 March 1957 |
| Area | |
• Total | 34,112.37 km2 (13,170.86 sq mi) |
• Water (%) | 4.2 |
| Population | |
• 2020 census | 4,237,301 |
• Density | 124.2/km2 (321.7/sq mi) |
| GDP (PPP) | 2020 estimate |
• Total | $262 billion |
• Per capita | $62,014 |
| GDP (nominal) | 2020 estimate |
• Total | $356 billion |
• Per capita | $84,140 |
| Gini (2020) | 28.7 low |
| HDI (2020) | 0.946 very high |
| Currency | Meᵹelanese scudo (▽) (SCU) |
| Time zone | UTC+1 (UTC) |
• Summer (DST) | UTC+2 (UTC) |
| Date format | dd.mm.yyyy (CE) |
| Driving side | left |
| Calling code | +37 |
| ISO 3166 code | ME |
| Internet TLD | .me |
Politics
The constitution of Meᵹelan is uncodified, and consists mostly of a collection of disparate written sources, including statutes, judge-made case law and international treaties, together with constitutional conventions.
Under it, the communes retain sovereignty over all governmental functions not specifically relinquished to the Grand and General Council, which is empowered to make war and peace, negotiate diplomatic and commercial agreements with foreign countries, and to resolve disputes between the communes.
There are three main governing bodies in Meᵹelan: the legislative Grand and General Council, the executive Consulate of the League, and the judicial Consulate of Justice.
Legislature
The Grand and General Council consists of 2 houses: the Credenza, or Grand Council, which has 20 representatives - 2 for each commune - and the Arengo, or General Council, which consists of 200 members who are elected under a system of proportional representation, depending on the population of each commune.
The most important task of the Credenza is to provide preliminary advice on the constitutional and legislative proposals to be placed before the Arengo; the Arengo, on the other hand, elects the executive and the judiciary, and votes on the issues put forward by the Credenza.
The Grand and General Council is presided over by the Elder of the Credenza and Captain of the People.
Executive
The role of collective head of state and of government of Meᵹelan is taken on by the Consulate of the League, a 10-member executive council; each Consul of the League heads one of the 10 ministries of the country.
The position of Elder of the Credenza and Captain of the People, or President, of Meᵹelan rotates among the ten Consuls of the League on a yearly basis. The President chairs the government and assumes representative functions, but is a primus inter pares with no additional powers, and remains the head of a ministry within the government.
Moreover, the Consuls of the League can not enact decrees or executive orders; they only enforce the law as written by the legislature and interpreted by the judiciary.
During the length of their office, the Consuls of the League write a Breve, or Brief - an archive and list of all the endeavours undertaken but not finished, to be read and taken into account by their successors in a given ministry.
As of 2020, the ministries are: Foreign and Political Affairs; Internal Affairs; Finance and Budget; Industry and Crafts; Territory and Environment; Tourism; Health and Social Security; Education and Culture; Labour and Cooperation; Justice and Government Relations.
Judiciary
The role of supreme court of Meᵹelan is taken on by the Consulate of Justice, a 10-member judicial council; the Consuls of Justice are the final arbiters on disputes in the field of civil law, the public arena, as well as in disputes between communes or between communes and the League.
The position of Podestà, or Chief Justice, of Meᵹelan rotates among the ten Consuls of Justice on a yearly basis; the Chief Justice chairs the supreme court, but is a primus inter pares with no additional powers.
Moreover, the Consuls of Justice are precluded from reviewing acts of the Grand and General Council, unless such review is specifically provided for by statute.
Electoral system
In a general election, all eligible citizens in each rural village and urban district elect an aspirant delegate to the Credenza and an aspirant delegate to the Arengo; in total, 6072 aspirant delegates representing 3036 districts and villages.
The final 20 delegates to the Credenza and the final 200 delegates to the Arengo are chosen through a procedure - restricted to the aspirant delegates - of alternated sortition and election: the initial pool of 6072 is halved through sortition; then, the resulting pool of 3036 is halved through election, and so on.
The Arengo then elects - by consensus and without reference to political parties - a directory of 10 Consuls of the League, to serve as the country's executive, and a directory of 10 Consuls of Justice, to serve as the country's judiciary.
The delegates so chosen are directly responsible to their constituents, are bound by their instructions, and may accordingly be dismissed from their post at any time or be voted out through a recall election. Each year, 1 Consul of the League out of 10, 1 Consul of Justice out of 10, 2 delegates of the Credenza out of 20 and 20 delegates of the Arengo out of 200 are replaced.
Said by-elections involving 10% of all delegates are routine; general elections, on the other hand, are held only in exceptional cases.
Members of the executive, legislature and judiciary only serve part-time; they receive regular payment, but at a much lower rate than a full-time professional politician. Moreover, they have to reside in and hold the citizenship of the quarter or district they represent in a given election.
Direct democracy
The delegates to the Grand and General Council are directly responsible to their constituents, are bound by their instructions, and may accordingly be dismissed from their post at any time or be voted out through a recall election: before the Arengo can approve or reject a constitutional or legislative proposal drafted by the Credenza, said proposal has to be approved or rejected by the constituents of each delegate; then, the delegates approve or reject the constitutional or legislative proposal, according to their constituents' vote on the subject.
If the constitutional or legislative proposal is approved, it then has to be approved by the rest of the country through a compulsory referendum; this form of direct democracy effectively grants the voting public a veto on laws adopted by the elected legislature.
The voting public also has the right to push for a citizen-initiated referendum, to propose - by petition - specific statutory measures or constitutional reforms to the government; if successful, such a proposition is then placed directly on the ballot to be subject to vote.
Moreover, the Arengo of each rural (county, civil parish, village) and urban (city, quarter, district) administrative division of each commune of the League is open to all eligible citizens, that decide on specific issues, elect delegates and representatives, and vote on local questions in the open air, through a public, non-secret ballot voting system operating by majority rule; voting is accomplished by those in favor of a motion raising their hands.
Communes
The League of Meᵹelan consists of 10 communes, that have a high degree of independence: each commune has its own constitution, and its own parliament, government, police and courts. The communes consist of cities, subdivided into quarters and districts, and counties, subdivided into civil parishes and villages; in total, there are 3036 districts and villages.
Meᵹelanese citizens are therefore subject to and can hold the citizenship of five legal jurisdictions: League, commune, city/county, civil parish/quarter and district/village.
| Colours | Code | Commune |
|---|---|---|
| AB | Alba | |
| AD | Abdua | |
| AR | Aria | |
| AT | Altilia | |
| BR | Barra | |
| CL | Coloniola | |
| CR | Carra | |
| MS | Mosa | |
| GD | Gradaro | |
| TC | Ticena |
Foreign relations
Meᵹelan joined the Common Sphere in 1957; at first a recipient of development assistance - at the time, it had been recovering from the devastating Civil War - Meᵹelan eventually backed and provided several ideas and policies to the regional organization.
Inside the Common Sphere, Meᵹelan is often seen as being part of a bloc also including Akashi and Gylias, founded on a cooperative, decentralized ethos; nonetheless, it has historically expressed opposition to certain aspects of the organization, and is opposed to the strengthening of the organization beyond its function as a hub for intergovernmental cooperation spurring mutual development.
Meᵹelan has been especially opposed to the idea of creating a Common Sphere Parliament out of fear it would give excessive influence to the most populous states in the Common Sphere at the expense of thinly populated states, such as the League.
Military
The communes that made up the League of Meᵹelan each have their own military; by law, they nonetheless have to put a contingent of 2% of the population of each commune at the League's disposition, and it is illegal for the individual communes to declare war or to sign capitulations or peace agreements.
Professional soldiers in Meᵹelan only constitute a small part of the military; the rest are conscripts or volunteers. Military training begins at school, and continues with drills and exercises for a few days and at fixed periods, throughout the life of every Meᵹelanese; each and every citizen has to serve for 40 days a year.
Meᵹelanese citizens serving with the colours are not estranged from their homes and usual occupations, military training being a part-time rather than a full-time endeavour; only professional soldiers and volunteers can be stationed outside of their place of residence. Citizens keep their own personal equipment, including all personally assigned weapons, at home.
Today, the Meᵹelanese military is a purely defensive organization, that has never declared war or used military force in international disputes ever since the end of the Great War; nonetheless, Meᵹelanese citizens tend to be statistically overrepresented as private military contractors, and Meᵹelan hosts the headquarters of several PMCs, a subject that has been the source of controversy.
The Meᵹelanese military is therefore a pyramid, made up - at the bottom - by a base of conscripted territorial militias that can be counted on for rapid mobilization, the cernide, and - at the top - a select group of professional and voluntary forces, with the élite Compagnia della Morte, or Company of Death, above all.
Service in the military - as a conscript, professional or volunteer - is the only way to earn the right to be elected and to vote in Meᵹelan, at least in theory; in practice, conscientious objectors and the disabled can access several other avenues to earn said right.
Culture
Meᵹelan's culture has been shaped by a multitude of regional customs and local centres of power and patronage - for centuries, a number of magnificent courts competed for attracting the best architects, artists and scholars, thus producing a great legacy of monuments, paintings, music and literature; even today, the League is home to many notable contributors to literature, art, architecture, music and sciences.
Outside Meᵹelan's cities, a traditional farmer and herder culture predominated and, to this day, small farms are omnipresent in many areas, both inside and outside the towns; as a result, folk art is kept alive in organisations all over the country.
Literature
The earliest literary works produced in the vernacular languages of Meᵹelan - rather than Latin - date back to the 13th century, and are either didactic or religious in nature.
This kind of literature got superseded, by the 17th century, by a kind of poetry - the bosinada - of a popular and coarse nature, written on loose sheets, told by storytellers, and characterized by the lack of a fixed or codified structure, but that was usually satirical in content - sometimes explicitly designed to hold someone up to ridicule, or to debunk certain social habits or circumstances.
The anti-Classicist bosinada could not have been born if not for the appearance, in the 16th century, of a group of artists, artisans, musicians and theater actors that deliberately adopted a bizarre language inspired by that of labourers, but full of references to subjects such as cabalistic and Orphic theology or natural magic.
The 17th century also saw the birth of Meᵹelanese theatre, with the country contributing greatly to the rise of the Commedia dell'Arte - an early form of professional theatre based on improvised performances based on sketches or scenarios, and featuring fixed social types and stock characters.
Literature and poetry continued to flourish in the 18th and 19th century, especially literature and poetry against the religious hypocrisy of the time, literature and poetry descriptive of lively popular personages, or that of a political nature; but it is Meᵹelanese theatre that had its golden age in the 19th century, with the birth of the first true celebrities and stars of the stage.
The late 19th century and the early 20th century were characterized by the rise of the Scapigliatura, an artistic movement that included poets, writers, musicians, painters and sculptors that aimed to erase any difference between art and life, living lives of anti-conformism and anarchist idealism.
The movement, that first developed through literary cenacles which met in taverns and cafes, eventually gained a politically active wing, the Scapigliatura Democratica, that was central to the development of both anarchism and socialism in the League.
The early 20th century also gave birth to another artistic and literary movement that eventually gained a politically active wing: the Futuristi, led by Enrico Grolli, emphasised speed, technology, youth, violence, and objects such as the car, the airplane, and the industrial city, and expressed a passionate loathing of everything old, especially political and artistic tradition.
Meᵹelanese literature has been typically characterized, regardless of the genre and throughout the centuries, by a frank and direct language, thought of - by its users - as being more sincere and expressive than the literary and classicist language of Cacerta.