Administrative divisions of Menghe

The Socialist Republic of Menghe is formally divided into five levels of administration, with greatly varying degrees of power over policy. Conventionally, these are known as the Regional, Provincial, Prefectural, County, and Village levels, though in formal terminology the terms "First-level division," "Second-level division," and so on are preferred, as there are multiple types of unit at each level. Because Menghe is a unitary state, local governments have relatively limited authority to write their own laws and manage their own bureaucracies, but the central government may give them considerable leeway over the implementation of broad policy initiatives.

The overall hierarchy of administrative divisions as it currently exists dates back to the Yi dynasty, though it has undergone some adaptation since then. Many provincial, prefectural, and county borders date to this era, at least in their approximate range and scope, and many areas are associated with specific local cultures and regional identities. Major changes included the formation of six Semi-Autonomous Provinces after the Menghean War of Liberation, the conversion of Villages and Towns to Communes under the DPRM (and their later reversion), and the creation and expansion of municipalities from 1990 onward.

History

For most of ancient history, Menghe was divided into warring states (國, guk), which used a variety of schemes for subdividing their realms. The most common division names in the historical record are ju (州), generally translated "province" or "prefecture," and gun (郡), originally indicating a commandery awarded to a duke or general. The State of Yang, which unified much of the Meng River Basin in the 3rd century BCE, was divided into a large number of ju and gun, with no administration below that level.

After defeating the State of Yang, administrators in the Meng dynasty streamlined the national system of administration. The country's initial territory was divided into nine ju (州), much larger than the original Yang ones and similar in function to small provinces. These, in turn, were divided into hyŏn (県), translated as counties or prefectures. Ju on the frontiers were later divided into gun (郡), particularly in new areas captured by Meng troops, and were run by military officials.

After Menghe's fragmentation into the Five States and Seven Fiefdoms, five of the Meng dynasty's largest Ju formed the basis for the largest warring states, known as ung (雄), while the smaller kingdoms (國, guk) at their fringes grew out of fragmented ju or large hyŏn. As in the earlier warring states period, lower administration again diverged between different polities over time, with frontier counties converted to gun (郡) as territory changed hands. The Jin dynasty, which emerged from the victorious state of Chikai, imposed a standard ju - gun hierarchy over the Meng majority areas of the country, with a separate scheme of leagues (盟, maeng) and banners (旗, gi) in nomadic areas.

Under the Kang and Sŭng dynasties, which followed the Jin incursion, Menghean administrators developed a standardized three-tier system to accommodate the growth of the administrative bureaucracy. Prefectures (州, ju) were grouped into circuits (道, do), and further subdivided into counties (県, hyŏn). Cities which were provincial or prefectural capitals were designated bu (府), indicating a seat of government.

The broad system of administrative divisions as it exists today was established under the Yi dynasty. At the highest level, the country was divided into Provinces (道, do), which were further divided into rural prefectures (県, hyŏn) and urban prefectures (府, bu). Both of these were subdivided into cities (市, si) and counties (郡, gun). As the Yi emperors expanded their control into the Central Hemithean Steppe, they created new provinces, which were divided into leagues (盟, maeng) and below that, banners (旗, gi), to govern the nomadic peoples there. This system was carried forward without changes into the Myŏn dynasty (1528-1866), and persisted into the Three States Period in Sinyi and Namyang.

The leaders of the Federative Republic of Menghe aimed to modernize and update Menghe's administrative system, starting with the hierarchy of administrative divisions. They abolished the old system of provinces and divided the country into five Federal Regions (聯邦區 / 연방구, yŏnbanggu) - Chŏllo, Donghae, Menggang, Dongbuk, and Sansŏ - and later added a sixth, Sŏnam, representing the recently annexed southwest. Federal regions were divided directly into prefectures, municipalities, and leagues, identical to the Yi-Myŏn nomenclature but skipping the old provincial level, and these were subdivided into cities (市, si) and counties (郡, gun). In an effort to further deepen the government's reach, a new level, the myŏn (面) was added beneath the city and county. In rural areas this corresponded to a township containing multiple towns, villages, and hamlets, while in urban areas it corresponded to a neighborhood or district. Owing to limited budgets and state capacity, staffing of myŏn-level offices remained minimal, particularly in poor interior areas.

After his military coup in 1928, General Kwon Chong-hoon switched from a federal system to a unitary one, reorganizing the Federal Regions into a set of twenty provinces (道, do) similar in scope to the current ones. He also converted Junggyŏng and Donggyŏng into jikhalbu, or directly-governed cities, which were not part of any particular province. Beneath the provincial level, the overall hierarchy remained unchanged, except that rural myŏn were better staffed and a separate category of towns (里, ri) were created to directly manage larger rural settlements. During the Menghean War of Liberation, the Republic of Menghe made no changes to the administrative hierarchy, though on the ground many hamlets in frontier regions were forcibly reorganized into fortified villages.

After the proclamation of the Democratic People's Republic of Menghe, the new Communist government opted for more wide-reaching changes. Donghae Province was divided into South and Central Donghae, and Girim Province renamed to North Donghae; Chŏllo Province was divided into North and South Chŏllo; and Sunju and Hwasŏng were separated from Gyŏngnam and South Chŏllo, respectively, to form two additional jikhalbu. In fulfillment of their wartime promise to the outlying minorities, the government of the DPRM also established six "Semi-Autonomous Provinces," each named after the local dominant ethnic group and given certain federal rights. During the DPRM's existence, two other changes were made to the local government structure. Municipalities (bu), which originally consisted of a single city (si) surrounded by several counties (gun), reorganized their built-up areas into a group of districts (區, gu), which were further subdivided into neighborhoods (洞, dong). This made larger metropolitan areas easier to manage; the original single-city system was not intended to support population centers with more than 500,000 people. The nexte change came in 1981, when Ryŏ Ho-jun replaced all rural myŏn with "People's Communes" (인민공사 / 人民公社, inmin gongsa). Service provision, land ownership, and economic policymaking were redistributed to this level, and in many cases small hamlets and villages were forcibly reorganized into central population areas surrounded by collective land.

The system of People's Communes lasted only seven years; the Interim Council for National Restoration abolished it in 1988, reverting to the previous system of myŏn and ri. During the agricultural reforms of the early 1990s, myŏn and ri boundaries were updated to fit the new placement of population centers after forced collectivization. Minor boundary changes would become more and more frequent from the 1990s through the 2010s, as rapid economic growth led to a surge in urbanization. Donggyŏng annexed large swaths of its three neighboring prefectures; Haeju, Anchŏn, and Chŏngdo did the same. As middle-tier cities grew, their governments petitioned the central leadership to convert their surrounding prefectures into municipalities, giving the city government more authority, more funding, and the right to form districts. Where "municpalization" was proposed, third-tier cities in the prefecture sometimes petitioned for the prefecture to be split, allowing them to retain autonomy or eventually grow into a municipality of their own. Likewise, myŏn with large population centers petitioned to be upgraded to ri, and large ri petitioned to be upgraded to cities. In all, the number of municipalities more than doubled under the leadership of Choe Sŭng-min, though as of 2019 non-municipal prefectures still cover the vast majority of the country's territory.

First-Level Divisions

At the highest level, Menghe is divided into eight greater administrative regions (大行政區 / 대행정구, Daehaengjŏnggu). These are groupings of two to five provinces, built around shared geography and economic structure. Unlike the Federal Regions of the early 20th century, which had extensive autonomy, these are "shadow units" with no formal government administration or legislative autonomy. In nearly all practical domains, authority flows directly from the central government directly to the provincial level.

Greater administrative regions mainly exist as statistical or departmental groupings for bureaucratic agencies. The Central Bank of Menghe, for example, maintains a separate branch for each region, and Menghean expressways use a numbering scheme based on the region containing most of their length. Originally, these regions coincided with the MoND's military districts, though as part of the 2005 Menghean military reforms the military districts were reorganized into Southwest, Northwest, South, and Center.

Second-Level Divisions

There are twenty-nine Second-Level Divisions in Menghe, consisting of four Directly Controlled Cities, nineteen Provinces, and six Semi-Autonomous Provinces. This tier is also known as the Province level. Setting aside the greater administrative regions, these are the highest level to have a fully fledged local government structure.

Directly Controlled City

There are four Directly Controlled Cities (직할부 / 直轄府, Jikhalbu) in Menghe: Donggyŏng, Junggyŏng, Hwasŏng, and Sunju. Organizationally, these bodies straddle the Provincial and Prefectural levels, functioning as special municipalities which are directly subordinate to the national government. This independence grants them greater autonomy in drafting legislation and setting policy. A Directly Controlled City is administered by a DCC Administrator (직할부 지사 / 直轄府知事, Jikhalbu-jisa), and can maintain a small elected assembly, an institution not present in other municipalities.

Status as a Directly Controlled City is awarded at the discretion of the national government, and is not strictly a function of population or economic output. During the Yi and Myŏn dynasties, Junggyŏng was treated as a special area because it was the Imperial capital, and the Greater Menghean Empire extended the same autonomy to Donggyŏng while retaining Junggyŏng's special status. Hwasŏng and Sunju were converted to Directly Controlled Cities in 1965 because they were the third and fourth largest cities in Menghe at the time, but since then, no additional DCCs have been created.

Since 2009, when it surpassed Hwasŏng in population, the metropolitan government of Haeju has periodically petitioned the Supreme Council to be upgraded to a Directly Controlled City. While the National Assembly did pass a series of bills permitting Haeju to annex neighboring counties from other prefectures, the Supreme Council has not submitted any legislation to separate Haeju from South Donghae province. Most opposition comes from other regions of South Donghae Province, as the removal of Hwasŏng would require the relocation of the entire provincial government and major adjustments to policy.

Province

Provinces (도 / 道, Do, also translated as "Circuit") are the most numerous subdivision in the country, with nineteen in all. A province is administered by a Governor (도지사 / 道知事, Dojisa, also translated as "Circuit Administrator") and also has an elected Provincial Assembly (도의회 / 道議會, Doyihoe) charged with drafting provincial legislation. Because Menghe is a unitary rather than a federal system, the Provincial Assembly must defer to the National Assembly any time two laws come into conflict, and the Constitutional Court can strike down any provincial laws which conflict with the Supreme Council's interpretation of the 1989 Constitution.

Provinces are subdivided into Prefectures and Municipalities. In contrast to Semi-Autonomous Provinces, they cannot contain Leagues (盟, maeng), nor can they contain subunits designated as autonomous for a particular ethnic group. All provinces must use Standard Menghean as the sole official language of schooling and administration.

Semi-Autonomous Province

Six provinces of Menghe carry the status of Semi-Autonomous Province (준자치도 / 準自治道, Jun-Jachido), sometimes abbreviated SAP. Each of the six Semi-Autonomous Provinces was established in 1965 with boundaries roughly corresponding to the distribution of a significant ethnic minority. In the southwest, there are SAPs for the Daryz, Lakkian, Kungnai, and Argentan people; in the northwest, there are SAPs for the Dzhung and Ketchvan populations. Like Provinces, these are administered by a Governor with the help of a directly-elected Provincial Assembly.

Compared with a standard province, Semi-Autonomous Provinces enjoy greater autonomy over selected areas of policymaking, particularly in the cultural realm. For example, each SAP can set its own regional language, which is taught in schools, displayed on road signs, and used in provincial government administration. Because the Lac, Daryz, and Argentan people mainly practice Shahidism, their SAPs also allow for a six-day workweek with Friday as the rest day, and treat major Shahidic religious holidays as public holidays.

Like Provinces, SAPs are mainly divided into Prefectures and Municipalities. The Daryz and Ketchvan SAPs represent an exception: in addition to these two types, they also contain a number of Leagues (맹 / 盟, Maeng). These are special units organized to support the migration of nomadic tribes.

List of Second-Level Divisions

Code (2009)	Name	Sinmun	Gomun	Area (km2)	Population (2015)	Population Density (per km2)	Capital
1	Donggyŏng Directly Controlled City	동경직할시	東京直轄市	1,864.90	17,286,133	9,269.20	Donggyŏng
2	Sunju Directly Controlled City	순주직할시	淳州直轄市	3,395.57	22,623,714	6,662.71	Sunju
3	Junggyŏng Directly Controlled City	중경직할시	中京直轄市	1,641.82	6,249,895	3,806.70	Junggyŏng
4	Chŏnghae Province	청해도	青海道	104,740.40	32,225,452	307.67	Chŏngdo
5	Goyang Province	고양도	高陽道	157,950.16	24,014,298	152.04	Jang'an
6	North Donghae Province	동해북도	東海北道	70,486.15	34,157,114	484.59	Anchŏn
7	South Donghae Province	동해남도	東海南道	62,836.78	45,188,285	719.14	Hyangchun
8	Ryonggyŏng Province	룡경도	龍境道	171,122.00	43,706,259	255.41	Daegok
9	Sinbukgang Province	신북강도	新北江道	32,649.75	7,174,932	219.75	Baekjin
10	Gilim Province	길림도	吉林道	171,457.83	16,097,904	93.89	Songrimsŏng
11	Taehwa Province	태화도	泰火道	153,882.94	17,679,595	114.89	Hwaju
12	Haenam Province	해남도	海南道	155,748.64	44,549,713	286.04	Hwasŏng
13	Sanchŏn Province	산천도	山川道	88,369.87	22,734,823	257.19	Chŏnjin
14	Sŏsamak Province	서사막도	西沙漠道	372,020.58	3,360,797	9.03	Suhait
15	Chikai Province	치카이도	N/A	117,986.87	9,150,286	77.55	Jinjŏng
16	Gangwŏn Province	강원도	江原道	158,062.10	13,702,801	86.69	Wŏnsan
17	East Chŏnro Province	천로동도	千鷺東道	197,726.89	38,869,260	196.58	Hamyang
18	West Chŏnro Province	천로서도	千鷺西道	252,093.38	50,927,448	202.02	Insŏng
19	Baeksan Province	백산도	白山道	105,785.19	2,196,945	20.77	Wŏnsŏ
20	Pyŏngsu Province	평수도	平肅道	74,180.23	4,450,981	60.00	Susŏng
21	Hwangjŏn Province	황전도	黄田道	88,172.98	17,851,509	202.46	Pyŏngan
22	Uzeristan Semi-Autonomous Province	우쩨리스탄준자치도	N/A	174,928.03	22,106,859	126.38	Kuşadası
23	Daristan Semi-Autonomous Province	다리스탄준자치도	N/A	156,905.37	8,692,124	55.40	Hasavyurt
24	Argentstan Semi-Autonomous Province	아르겐스탄준자치도	N/A	110,673.32	15,812,675	142.88	Szantiag
25	Siyadag Semi-Autonomous Province	시야닥준자치도	N/A	47,948.49	4,107,376	85.66	Kadirkent

Third-Level Divisions

Third-Level Divisions are the next level down in Provinces and Semi-Autonomous Provinces. Though sometimes collectively labeled Prefecture-level divisions, they actually come in three different types: Prefectures (현 / 県, hyŏn), Municipalities (부 / 府, bu), and Leagues (맹 / 盟, maeng). These types vary in their government organization and their degrees of autonomy. The smallest number of third-level divisions in a province is five, in the Ketchvan SAP; the largest is 31, in Unsan Province.

Prefecture

Prefectures (현 / 県, hyŏn) are the default subdivision of provinces. They are led by a Prefecture Administrator (현지사 / 県知事, hyŏnjisa). Compared with Municipalities, they are less centralized, and have less authority over policymaking. Prefectures are divided into Cities and Counties, but do not contain Districts.

Metropolitan City

Metropolitan Cities (도시 / 都市, Dosi, sometimes translated as “Major Cities” or “Prefecture-level Cities”) are major urban areas within a province, usually those with a population of over 1 million. They should not be confused with Directly Controlled Cities, which are otherwise identical but are independent at the provincial level. Metropolitan Cities may contain some suburbs or surrounding towns and villages, but do not extend far into rural areas, and are mainly organized to give a large city’s government further subdivisions and greater control over its own urban administration. Metropolitan Cities are mainly subdivided into Districts, but they may also include Counties on their periphery. As a rule, they do not include separate Cities as a subdivision; in cases where one City is merged with a Metropolitan City, it is generally broken up into smaller Districts.

Fourth-Level Divisions

County

Counties (군 / 郡, Gun) are the most common fourth-level division of Menghe. They are relatively rural or suburban, and generally have populations of under 200,000. The Gumun symbol originated in the First Warring States Period, and first referred to a Commandery at the periphery of a larger state. Counties are divided into a combination of Towns and Villages, and in rare cases include Gacha.

City

Cities (시 / 市, Si) also translated as “Minor Cities,” “County-Level Cities,” or “Non-Divided Cities,” are densely populated counties that consist of a minor urban area and its immediate suburbs. They should not be confused with Metropolitan Cities, which are a higher-level administrative division. Cities generally have populations of between 200,000 and one million, depending on the redesignation process. They are directly divided into Blocks (Myŏn), skipping the District level present in larger cities.

District

Districts (구 / 區, Gu) are subdivisions of a larger city. They are only present within Metropolitan Cities and Directly Controlled Cities. Menghean districts are similar to boroughs in other countries, and handle local administration of smaller areas of a city. Districts are divided into Blocks (Myŏn).

Fifth-Level Divisions

Block

Blocks (면 / 面, Myŏn), not to be confused with city blocks, are similar to formal neighborhoods or communities. Blocks may range from highly developed urban areas at the city center to less developed suburbs at the periphery. Suburban Blocks, even relatively rural ones, are tightly integrated into the District or City, whereas Towns and Villages enjoy a higher degree of autonomy. Blocks have only limited governing authority and are mostly responsible for providing local services.

Town

Towns (읍 / 邑, Ŭp) are a division of Counties and some Districts, and have greater autonomy than Blocks. Villages automatically acquire Town status when they reach a population of 20,000. Towns lack formal subdivisions, but may informally be divided into Neighborhoods (근린 / 近隣, “Gŭnrin”) in everyday speech, especially when describing different locations within a town.

Village

Villages (리 / 里, Ri or Li) are the smallest administrative division to have a separate local government. They are exclusively rural, consisting of small population centers combined with their surrounding land. Many were formed directly out of Communes dissolved by land reforms after 1987. In densely populated parts of the country, Villages may directly abut one another, while in the sparsely populated Northwest and Central Mountains a given village may be attached to a very large plot of unpopulated land.

Gacha

Gacha (가차) are a special subdivision unique to certain Counties in Sŏsamak province, and are applied to semi-nomadic communities near the border with Dzhungestan. Otherwise equivalent to Villages, their administrative duties are modified to adapt to the needs of nomadic groups, including those which regularly cross the border. As such, they tend to cover a much larger territory, and have different methods for assigning addresses and census locations.

Reclassification

Every year, the local Bureau of Demographics and Statistics in each administrative division assesses the population of each of its subdivisions, and makes recommendations about whether to modify any of them. This may include merging, dividing, reclassifying, or upgrading existing districts, or revising the boundaries between them. Local governments are not required to follow these recommendations, and may also revise boundaries for other reasons. Especially during the 1990s and 2000s, it was common for Prefecture governments to upgrade fast-growing County centers to City status in order to encourage and anticipate future growth, in some cases using this as an incentive for other towns to catch up.

Part of this flexibility stems from ambiguity in the way guidelines on upgrading are phrased. For example, central regulations on the population threshold to form a city (市) refer to the number of people in the “contiguous population center,” not in the county or any of its member towns. Thus, a city may be carved out of the corner of one county, plus elements of the neighboring counties, and its edges may be defined by existing town and village boundaries or drawn anew based on population distribution. Similar ambiguity applies when upgrading a City to a Metropolitan City (都市); demographers may include the populations of adjacent towns and villages in the total, and usually draw Metropolitan City boundaries around a larger area to leave room for further expansion and ease integration with suburbs. Even the simplest regulation, which automatically upgrades Villages to Towns when they surpass a population of 20,000, also allows County officials to merge several "adjacent and contiguous" villages into one town so that they meet the total. As a result, the reclassification of cities is often conducted on an ad-hoc basis, and may reflect the relative political influence of local administrative officials.

Regulations imposed in 2009 have sought to limit the speed of these changes, which were making it difficult to coordinate and redistribute local services. The new laws focused primarily on the merging of villages and Cities, and the formation of "shadow Cities" from non-contiguous groups of towns in a county. Notably, the regulations did not cover the "annexation" of neighboring counties by Metropolitan Cities, leaving additional room for the expansion of existing urban units.

Proposed revisions

Revised provincial map

In 2010, the NSCC debated a proposal by In Jae-sŭng, a prominent Menghean geographer, to increase the number of provinces to 44. This would be done by breaking up the largest and most populous provinces and reviving some former provincial units from the Myŏn, Ŭi, and Sŭng dynasties. Hwasŏng, Insŏng, Anchŏn, and Haeju would also be upgraded to the status of Directly Controlled City. As part of the same reform, the National Assembly would abolish the Prefecture as a unit of government through a constitutional amendment, allowing the smaller Provinces to directly administer Counties.

While the NSCC ultimately decided to retain the Province-Prefecture-County system, In Jae-sŭng's 44-province proposal would resurface again and again in the coming years, often with minor changes to the new provincial boundaries. Some smaller provinces have begun experimenting with direct administration, disbanding Prefectures to create a special category of Directly Administered Counties, but these remain the exception.

A particular source of debate around the proposal is that it would divide several provinces between their wealthier and poorer areas. In Jae-sŭng saw this as a benefit of the plan, as it would allow provincial governments to manage more economically homogeneous populations and give hinterland areas direct representation; he even proposed an accompanying system of province-to-province cash transfers, as part of a centrally coordinated effort to reduce regional inequality. Skeptics, however, contend that the plan would deny hinterland areas the benefits of provincial integration with better-developed areas. Some have also pointed out that a Province-County chain of command, while manageable in smaller coastal provinces with few counties and many cities, would be too burdensome in large rural provinces with dozens of counties.

Renaming of Argentstan

After suppressing the Innominadan Uprising, some Menghean policymakers expressed concern over the fact that with the approval of the Innominadan secession referendum, there would be an independent state of Argentstan on Menghe's southwestern border. The incoming Argentstani leadership has generally expressed strongly pro-Menghe views, as Menghe allowed the secession referendum to go forward and has worked hard to oppose violence against ethnic Argentans by Innominadan Creoles. Yet the new country, which already lays claim to a large swath of territory within the Maverican-backed People's Republic of Innominada, would share a name with a Menghean Semi-Autonomous Province containing an Argentan ethnic majority.

With little fanfare, on April 4th, 2018, the Menghean government formally changed the name of the Argentstan Semi-Autonomous Province to "Semi-Autonomous Province of Argentan People Living in Menghe" (Menghean: 멩국에서 아르겐탄 민족의 자치도, Menggugesŏ Arŭgentan Minjog-e Jachido). Signs, websites, and government letterhead will gradually be changed over the course of 2018 to use the new full name. Faced with the even wordier form, unofficial commentators began using the shorthand form "Arŭgentan Jachido," which gained additional legitimacy when repeated in state-owned media.

See also

• List of largest cities in Menghe