User:Vjaarland/Sandbox5
| Mats I | |
|---|---|
 Posthumous portrait by Olof Dahlquist, 1917 | |
| Emperor of Keppland | |
| Reign | 11 February 1820 – 20 October 1852 |
| Predecessor | Monarchy established |
| Successor | Monarchy abolished |
| Born | Mats Rönnlund 19 June 1787 Åkapan, First Kepplandic Republic |
| Died | 23 September 1861 (aged 74) Vajki, Second Kepplandic Republic |
| Burial | 30 September 1861 |
| Consort | Anita Hellstedt |
| Issue | Gunnar, Crown Prince of Keppland Princess Caroline |
| House | Rönnlund |
Mats Rönnlund (19 June 1787 – 23 September 1861), later known as Mats I of Keppland, was a Kepplandic military officer, businessman, and statesman who ruled the Kepplandic Empire as Emperor from 1820 until 1852. One of the most significant and controversial figures in Kepplandic history, Mats is often referred to as the father of the modern Kepplandic state.
Mats was born to a wealthy family in the port city of Åkapan. He was commissioned as an artillery officer in the Kepplandic Army in 1807, leaving three years later to pursue a career in business. Mats moved to the capital city of Vajki, where he became a prominent member of the city's mercantile community. Dissatisfied with the instability and chaos of the First Kepplandic Republic, Mats leveraged his connections in the government, military, and business world to organize a coup d'état in 1820. Mats dissolved the republic upon seizing power and crowned himself Emperor, ruling as an absolute monarch. An ardent Euclophile, Mats sought to transform Keppland from an agrarian society into an industrial economy on par with the imperial powers of Euclea. He introduced liberal reforms to stabilize and modernize the country, abolishing slavery and inviting foreign investment from Euclea. By the 1830s, Keppland was among the wealthiest economies in Asteria Inferior.
During the 1840s, Mats adopted a more aggressive foreign policy in an effort to turn Keppland into the first Asterian great power. His military conquests led to the outbreak of the Great Equatorial War in 1848, raging for four years and killing more than one million people. At its height in 1850, the Kepplandic Empire controlled most of eastern Asteria Inferior. Mats's imperial ambitions came to an end in 1852, when the Equatorial Coalition captured Vajki after a six month long siege. The coalition dismantled the Kepplandic Empire and established a new republic, forcing Mats into exile. He spent the next fourteen years of his life in X, before he was permitted to return by the government of X. Mats lived the remainder of his life in Vajki, dying in 1861 at the age of 74.
Activationism
Activationism, also known as national activationism or Steenism, is a political ideology that developed in Keppland during the early 20th century. The ideology is broadly characterized by populist rhetoric, an expansive view of property rights, state support for churches and other traditional social institutions, and opposition to electoral democracy. Political scientists often describe activationism as a syncretic movement, and supporters of the ideology claim to reject conventional left- and right-wing politics.
The philisophical foundation of activationism is rooted in the enlightened absolutism of Mats I, who ruled Keppland as Emperor from 1840 to 1852. In the aftermath of the Great Collapse, Henrik Steen seized power in a military coup d'état and served as President until 1935. Steen was heavily influenced by Emperor Mats, whose reputation as a benevolent dictator had resulted in a wave of nostalgia for imperial Keppland during the early 20th century. Activationism was banned under the Kepplandic Council Republic, but reemerged as a major political movement after the X Revolution. In the 2010 elections, X of the National Activationist Party was elected as Keppland's first openly activationist president since 1935.
Activationism considers private property to be the ultimate expression of human liberty, and views the right to property as both a negative and positive right. As such, the state has a responsibility to not only defend the rights of the people from infringement, but to actively ensure equitable access to property ownership through non-invasive welfare programs and support for churches, charities, and other social institutions. Activationism also rejects liberal democracy, which it considers to be ineffective and easily manipulated by the malign influence of elites. Instead, activationists advocate for a strong and authoritative state apparatus that is compelled to act in the interests of the people by the threat of rebellion from an armed citizenry.
- Individualism
- Promotes a strong and authoritative state apparatus to maximize human liberty and defend the people against aggression and coercion
- Using the state to strengthen social institutions such as churches
- Freedom of choice for the individual to engage with society as much or as little as he chooses
- Safety net to ensure equitable access to property, and thus freedom
- Basically property ownership is the ultimate form of freedom
- Rejects liberal democracy as being inneffective and prone to corruption by elites and/or tyranny of the majority, instead supports a strong state which is compelled to act in the best interest of thr people out of fear of armed rebellion
- Differentiates between political and personal freedoms
- Futurism