States of Delkora

Delkoran States
Also known as: Delkorsk Stater (Delkoran)
Category	Federated state
Location	Kingdom of Delkora
Number	7 (as of 2019)
Populations	953,421 (Lebøvenland) - 28,805,912 (Cybria)
Government	State government
Subdivisions	County Municipality

The states of Delkora are the seven constituent states comprising the Kingdom of Delkora. As a result of Delkora's origins as a union of formerly independent fiefdoms, the Kingdom's states each maintain distinct regional cultures and identities that predate the Kingdom itself. Each is organized as a constitutional monarchy similar to the federal one.

History

At the conclusion of the Delkoran-Makedonian Wars, the territory of Delkora was divided among numerous jarls, military commanders who had led the campaigns against the Makedonian Empire. As the need for an administrative state emerged, the jarls began taking on a role more akin to heads of government, securing the peace in their respective territories and enforcing a body of customary law. By the 11th Century, the jarls had all adopted an explicitly royal status, with their thrones passing down to their descendants.

Much of the Delkoran Middle Ages and Early Modern period were characterized by a vacillation of power between the national monarch and the jarls, with the national monarch sometimes commanding significant power, and at other times relegated to an essentially ceremonial figurehead. In either case, the monarch's reign was inevitably contingent on having the support of the jarls, who frequently moved to oust unfavorable monarchs.

Following the constitutional convention that convened at the conclusion of the Delkoran Civil War, the states continued to function as essentially absolute monarchies even as democratic reforms were adopted at the federal level. This changed with the Jarls Amendment of 1885, which reduced the jarls to constitutional monarchs and shifted power to the state parliaments.

Throughout the late 19th and early 20th Centuries, severe economic disparities began to emerge between different states as the Sundering Sea states of Banderhus, Cybria, and Førelskov derived major benefits from booming trade, while the northern states of Vassengård and Norvia experienced high unemployment, neglected infrastructure, and severe population loss as people moved to the booming southern cities. Efforts were made under the New Kingdom program of the 1960's and 70's to remedy these disparities. Major programs included the Federal Equalization Fund Act of 1964, the establishment of the Office of Rural Development in 1965, and the expansion of highway and railroad construction projects sponsored by the Federal Public Works Commission beginning in the late 1960's. These programs helped reduce economic inequality between the states, but some disparities exist to the present.

Regionalism and, in some cases separatism, have been salient issues in recent decades. The state of Lebøvenland has long had a unique cultural identity as a result of its cultural ties to Syara and physical separation from the rest of the Kingdom. Lebøvenland separatism was a salient political issue at various times throughout the late 20th Century. The movement was never able to gain traction, however, due in part to internal divisions between those who wanted the state to secede from Delkora and become an independent country, and those, primarily within the island's large Syaran-Delkoran community, who favored a union with Syara.

Government

Each Delkoran state is governed by a directly-elected state parliament that has the authority to pass laws related to any of the powers granted to it by the federal constitution, as well as any not delegated exclusively to the federal government. All five state parliaments are elected using some variation of proportional representation, with elections occurring every four years, typically in years that do not coincide with federal elections. All five are unicameral.

After an election, parties attempt to form a government in a manner similar to the Federal Parliament. The resulting executive cabinet is led by a first minister who serves as head of government and is collectively responsible to the state parliament.

Each state has a constitutional court that is the ultimate authority on all questions involving the meaning of its constitution. State constitutional courts have the power of judicial review with respect to laws passed by their state and actions taken by their state government.

The jarls serve as mostly ceremonial heads of state, granting royal assent to state laws, presiding over the opening of parliament and other official events, dissolving parliament at the expiration of a term or the state government's loss of confidence, representing their state within the Kingdom and, with the consent of the federal government, foreign nations, and serving as commanders-in-chief of their respective states' Home Guard. Like the national monarch, they possess theoretically wide-ranging reserve powers that can be exercised in times of crisis. Under the Delkoran Constitution, the jarls are considered co-equal to the national monarch, meaning they are each at the apex of their own separate royal hierarchies that are independent from the federal one. Accordingly, they can issue peerages, establish orders of chivalry, and otherwise exercise their royal prerogative without input from the national monarch, and can also not be compelled to render an oath of loyalty to them.

Subdivisions

Each state is divided into counties, which consist of groups of municipalities. The entire territory of Delkora is divided into municipalities, with no unincorporated areas. As a result, some municipalities consist of only a few small towns and large stretches of uninhabited forests or grasslands.

The exact procedures by which counties and municipalities are formed and governed vary between states. In general, a county is governed by a county council consisting of anywhere between 5 and 30 members. The council proposes ordinances that then have to be approved by the county commission, usually a smaller body with anywhere between 3 and 10 members that serves as the executive branch of county government. Members of both are elected using proportional representation, with council members being elected as representatives of the county's constituent municipalities, while commissioners are elected at-large, representing the entire county.

Municipalities are typically governed collectively by a municipal council elected using proportional representation, with the council president serving as a ceremonial "mayor." The largest municipalities have a separately elected mayor. Large metropolitan areas often have the status of both a county and municipality, with the municipal council in these areas exercising the functions of both a county and municipal council.

As of 2019, there are 372 counties in Delkora and 4,658 municipalities.

List

Flag	State	Capital	Head of State	Head of Government	Legislature	Population	Chamber of Representatives Seats
	State of Banderhus	Falbaard	Jarl Toren IV	Asbjørn Bonde (Kon)	Banderhus Parliament	14,005,519	75
	State of Cybria	Eldenvard	Jarl Æsa VII	Astrid Marett (NL)	Cybrian Parliament	28,805,912	155
	State of Førelskov	Gothendral	Jarl Gustav III	Anjela Hansen (L)	Førelskov Assembly	23,782,252	128
	State of Lebøvenland	Raikonir	Jarl Henriette IV	Elin Albrechtsen (Kon)	Lebøvian House of Representatives	953,421	5
	Free City of Norenstal	-	-	Eva Dafengaard (NL)	Norenstal Assembly	8,528,475	46
	State of Norvia	Grafholmen	Jarl Brette VIII	Bárður Ólavsson (L)	Norvish House of Delegates	5,182,742	28
	State of Vassengård	Izenhoth	Jarl Harald III	Tobias Bidstrup (L)	Vassengård Parliament	11,785,621	63