Megelan
Community of Liberty of Meᵹelan Comunità della Libertà di Meſiolano | |
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Flag
Coat of arms
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Motto: "Tiremm innanz" (Insubric) "We carry on" | |
Anthem: "La bella Gigogin" (Insubric) "Teresa the Beautiful"  | |
| File:MGLNMAP250.png Location of Meᵹelan (orange) in Tyran | |
| Capital | None (de jure) |
| Largest | Eridanium |
| Official languages | Tuscan |
| Recognised national languages | Insubric Orobic |
| Recognised regional languages | Alemannish Emilian Ladin |
| Ethnic groups (2019) | 86.2% Meᵹelaneſe 13.8% Other |
| Religion (2019) | 34.9% No religion or undeclared 32.1% Western esotericism 29.4% Modern paganism 3.6 Other |
| Demonym(s) | Meᵹelaneſe |
| Government | Confederation |
• Prior | Luisa Bianchi |
• Vice Prior | Giuseppina Gabrielli |
| Legislature | Grand Council of Meᵹelan |
| Council of Nine Hundred | |
| General Council | |
| Establishment | |
• Foundation date | 14 August 1447 |
• Current constitution | 15 september 1996 |
| Area | |
• Total | 34,112.37 km2 (13,170.86 sq mi) |
| Population | |
• 2019 estimate | 5,136,854 |
• Density | 150.5/km2 (389.8/sq mi) |
| GDP (PPP) | 2019 estimate |
• Total | $271 billion |
• Per capita | $52,862.5 |
| GDP (nominal) | 2019 estimate |
• Total | $304 billion |
• Per capita | $59,183.5 |
| Gini (2019) | 31.3 medium |
| HDI (2019) | 0.912 very high |
| Currency | scudo (Ƨ) (sCU) |
| Time zone | UTC+1 |
• Summer (DST) | UTC+2 |
| Date format | dd-mm-yyyy (aID) |
| Driving side | left |
| Calling code | +42 |
| Internet TLD | .meg |
Politics
The Meᵹelaneſe state is united not by a single pact, but by overlapping pacts and bilateral treaties between members; the parties generally agree to preserve the peace, aid in military endeavours and arbitrate disputes. These pacts and treaties are founded on the principle of subsidiarity, and each higher body only exists to fulfill those needs that cannot be sufficiently met by the lower body. This has resulted in a situation of de facto asymmetric federalism: the different constituent bodies of the Meᵹelaneſe state possess different powers, as detailed by each pact and treaty, and the division of powers between these bodies is not symmetric, although they have the same constitutional status.
Legislature
The Meᵹelaneſe regard elections as inherently aristocratic, since only those with money and status can win; to the Meᵹelaneſe, selection by lot is an essential feature of democracy, as are the principles of isonomia, the equal right of all citizens to exercise their political rights, and isegoria, the equal right of all citizens to be heard, speak and make proposals. For this reason, in the upper house of the country's legislature - the Council of Nine Hundred - the functions and powers of lawmaking are divided among multiple bodies whose members are selected by lot among interested people; through sortition, all citizens who wish have an equal chance and high likelihood of serving in public office.
The Agenda Sub-council of the Council of Nine Hundred is made up of 150 paid volunteers selected by lot; they serve 3-year terms, with one third of members replaced each year, but they are not allowed to serve consecutive terms. The Agenda Council creates and updates a list of issue areas; then, it decides which topics in each area need new laws written, or which existing laws need changing - but doesn’t draft bills or vote on them.
The Interest Panels of the Council of Nine Hundred are made up of 12 unpaid volunteers each; they only serve long enough to draft a bill, but can serve consecutive terms. There is one Interest Panel for each issue or topic highlighted by the Agenda Council, and their duty is to produce one draft bill for each of those issues and topics; the panels can either be formed by lot or be self organized: self-selection at the level of the Interest Panels allows experts who would be unelectable (due to their appearance, class, personality, or other traits) to contribute to governance.
The Review Panels of the Council of Nine Hundred are made up of a total of 150 paid individuals selected by lot out of all the country's adult citizens; those who accept to serve are then split according to issue areas; they serve 3-year terms, with one third of members replaced each year, but they are not allowed to serve consecutive terms. They don’t choose what issue area they will be assigned to, in order to avoid possible domination of the panels by special interests, and their duty is to review draft bills from Interest Panels, amend and combine bills, and produce final proposed bills that will go to a vote - but they don’t initiate bills or cast the final votes.
The Policy Juries of the Council of Nine Hundred are made up of a total of 400 paid individuals selected by lot out of all the country's adult citizens, to be as statistically representative of the whole people as possible; they are then split according to the number of bills. Jury service is nominally mandatory, though with reasonable hardship excuses. Each Policy Jury hears pro and con presentations about one bill, and makes the final decision, in a week or less - but the members don’t set agendas or write bills.
The Rules Sub-council of the Council of Nine Hundred is made up of 50 paid volunteers selected by lot out of all those who have previously served in the legislature; they serve 3-year terms, with one third of members replaced each year, but they are not allowed to serve consecutive terms. The Rules Sub-council handles work that is not part of making laws, but that is about the lawmaking process - for example, deciding the procedural and ethics rules to be used by the other bodies.
The Oversight Sub-council of the Council of Nine Hundred is made up of 20 paid volunteers selected by lot; they serve 3-year terms, with one third of members replaced each year, but they are not allowed to serve consecutive terms. This body handles oversight of the lawmaking process, including the work of support staff. It also evaluates implementation of laws by the executive.
The lower house of the country's legislature - the General Council - is instead an instrument of direct democracy: abrogative, confirmative and legislative referenda, petitions, popular initiatives and recall elections are all present in Meᵹelan; de jure, the General Council has no leader or fixed meeting place, and is made up of all Meᵹelaneſe citizens.
These legislative bodies are assisted by a permanent support staff for tasks such as researching issues, setting up testimony from experts and members of affected groups, documentation of deliberations and actions, and providing technical support for electronic communications.
Executive
The executive of Meᵹelan is founded on the principle of collegiality; there are two people in each position of the executive - dividing power and responsibilities among several people, both to prevent the rise of authoritarian personalities and to ensure more productive members of the executive.
The chief executive and their deputy - the Prior and the Vice Prior - are appointed by a Hiring Panel whose members are randomly selected from the citizenry; they serve as long as necessary to make a hiring decision, and then disband. If someone is chosen and they don't want to serve, they can opt out and be replaced by another randomly selected person. The chief executive is primarily an administrator and a policy advisor, not a policy maker; most policy decisions are made by the legislature instead.
The Prior then appoints Meᵹelan's department heads and their deputies, but these appointments require review and confirmation by other randomly selected, one-time Hiring Panels; while chief executives and department heads can be removed from office at any time, there are no term limits, and good executives can serve for decades.
In order to hold the executive accountable, a randomly selected Performance Review Panel periodically reviews the performance of the chief executive, and similar panels review the performance of each department head; if a Performance Review Panel initiates a firing procedure, a randomly selected Accountability Jury hears the arguments, weighs the evidence, and makes the final decision.
There are 11 government departments in Meᵹelan, and each one is headed by a minister and their deputy.
| Portfolio | Minister | Deputy |
|---|---|---|
| Chief Executive | File:MGLNBIA150.png
Prioress Luisa Bianchi |
Vice Prioress Giuseppina Gabrielli |
