Librira
 | This article is incomplete because it is pending further input from participants, or it is a work-in-progress by one author. Please comment on this article's talk page to share your input, comments and questions. Note: To contribute to this article, you may need to seek help from the author(s) of this page. |
People's United Republic of Librira "Народная Объединенная Республика Либрира" | |
|---|---|
 Flag
 coat of arms
| |
Motto: Свобода, справедливость, равенство | |
Anthem: Hymn of the factory guards | |
 Location of Librira in Corentia | |
| Capital | Libra |
| Largest | Nieper |
| Official languages | Libriran |
| Ethnic groups (2017) | 75% Libriran 10.5% Libriran Mix 5% Dasmarian 2.7% Smoyan 1% Mayonne .5% Aznazian .3% Rhodeve 5% Others |
| Demonym(s) | Libriran |
| Government | Semi-represenative Unitary Republic |
• Premier | Premier Ivan Gurov |
• Premierski | Premierski Vladimir Letski |
• Represenative of the People's Congression | Congressional Represenative Sonja Bitovya |
• Judge Premier | Olga Brozov |
| Legislature | People's Congression |
| Establishment | |
• Established | 14th of October, 1692CE |
• Revolution | 22nd of April 1894CE |
| Area | |
• Total | 1,412,670 km2 (545,430 sq mi) |
| Population | |
• 2016 census | 100,030,200 |
| GDP (nominal) | 2017 estimate |
• Total | L$1,352,824,644,219.75 |
• Per capita | L$13,524.16 |
| Gini (2017) | 25.7 low |
| HDI (2017) | 0.792 high |
| Currency | Libfray ($L) |
| Time zone | (UST -8) |
| Date format | mm-dd-yyyy |
| Driving side | the right |
| Calling code | +128 |
| Internet TLD | .Lr |
The People's United Republic of Librira(Libriran: "Народная Объединенная Республика Либрира") is a Democratic Syndicalist country in Northern Corentia on Sunalaya. It is inhabited by over 100 million Librirans. Originally established in the late 16th century as an enclave for Persecuted ethnic groups from Azovskaya. Early in its history, there was no effective central colonial government, and very little intervention. A kingdom was formed in the 1690s to rule over the burgeoning population. The Kingdom of Librira, ruled by the Anderiski family, remained until 1894. In 1894, due to corruption and poor management the monarchy was toppled in a revolution, and quasi civil war. This lead to the establishment of the current Libriran state. Afterwards, the new socialist state embarked on a rapid campaign of industrialization and liberalization compared to the monarchy, and the country flourished.
Before and after the 2nd global war, Librira established a strong naive arms industry, infrastructure and nuclear weapons, concurrently in the 1950s more hardline communist politicians began to get elected, fundamentally changing the structure of the country's socialism, and foreign policy. In this era, the 'Hard Era' the country mostly withdrew from the international sphere and took a mostly hostile attitude towards many nations. This era began to come to an end in the early 1990s, with more 'conservative' Syndicalist and Daskinist leaders being elected, this 'new generation' took a more traditional Political evolution approach, and began to re-open the country to the world. This was taken so far as a referendum in 2018 to syndicate state business.
Librira is a regional power, which although it generally stays neutral in international affairs, it will intervene, so that outside nations don't interfere in Corentia. Librira maintains friendly relations with many nations, including Smoya,Rezua, and Esotana. One exception is Engleberg which has refused to recognize Librira since the revolution of 1894, and still recognize the Kingdom, they also refer to Librira as 'Libraryland'. Librira is recognized throughout the world for its industrial capacity, neutral stance, and landscape.
Eytmology
The name of Librira was first recorded in the 1570s, on a series of pamphlets to draw colonists to the area. The exact origin is unknown, but is believed to be based off the english word "Liberty" or "Liberate" as in Azovskaya English was considered exotic, and the name is apt considering the colony's purposes to serve as a area free of persecution.
History
Pre-Colonial era
Prior to extensive colonization in Librira, the area which now constitutes the modern day state, was mostly controlled by an empire known as the 'Cordroban' Their empire featured extensive road systems, and large cities. However, in the 1400s this empire had suffered a massive and cataclysmic event which caused the downfall of the nation, and forced its surviving citizens of wander the countryside, salvaging what they could, and living a mostly nomadic lifestyle to cope. When settlers arrived they found these bands and their ruined cities, which has evidence of great conflagrations. the cause the the exact even which transpired is still unknown. As a result of the small number of natives left, and their own limited knowledge of what happened means, the modern historians can only guess many details on this former civilization and why it collapsed the way it did.
Early colonial era
the early 1500s saw the rekindling of an age old rivalry between the ethnic Azov Rus and the Fruhz. The Azov Rus, being in control of Azovskaya and the more populous ethnic group, had the upper hand. In 1528, the Tsar began a series of persecutions within their nation against the Fruhz. These persecutions were varied depending on the time and area of the country, but typically involved burning of Fruhz villages, arrests of notable Fruhz, public floggings and executions of dissenters, and other various punishments. There was a few exceptions, most notably the Gorokov family, who had served as Generals under the Azovskayan king, despite their Fruhz background. In 1556 Vitaly Gorokov, was awarded capital and support to establish a colony in the new world, as a reward for both his and his family's service. Vitaly then gathered support among the Fruhz communities and established a colony in what is now Librira, primarily as a enclave for Fruhz though officially anyone was allowed to come. Tens, if not hundreds of thousands of Fruhz, other Azovskayan groups, and others from other areas migrated to the colony, which bloomed rather quickly.
The original towns of the colony, maintained a sort of executive council that could make decisions for the colony as a whole, but generally individual settlements were allowed to make their own laws, institutions, etc. This loose confederation persisted until 1692, when they were brought under he control of the Anderiski family, who sought to form a kingdom of their own, the Kingdom of Librira.
Kingdom of Librira(1692-1894)
Although officially established in 1692, it was not until 1697 the Kingdom of Librira made it known that they were independent Azovskaya initially threatened the new kingdom, however unable to support troops for any length of time so far away Azovskaya had to let the matter drop. This gave the Kingdom of Librira free reign. The first monarch King Vladimir I Anderiski was a skilled diplomat, and was able to integrate many of the town council, promising many of the leaders noble titles in exchange for their loyalty; for those who did not join, the Anderiski family, thanks to their wealth, were able to assemble and army an crush any resistance. At the time however, Librira only included what is currently the northern section of the country, to the Libra river.
This continued until the 1730s, at this point, the monarch Vladimir II Anderiski, son of Vladimir I, looked to the south, to the 'frontier' his father had spent much of his reign, developing Librira into a modern country, Vladimir II however, wanted to expand his kingdom. Between 1732 and 1770 Vladimir II ordered several expeditions to the southern part of the country, as well as colonists. Some resistance was encountered by a group of steppes natives, however the army was dispatched and the natives slaughtered en masse, as the Libriran Royal Army possessed modern firearms, and the spear armed natives were no match. by the turn of the century Librira was its current size and shape, thanks to Vladimir II and the efforts of his son Pavel I.
Vladimir III Anderiski who reigned from 1799 to 1824 went back to the first libriran monarch and went to great lengths to develop Librira, expanding the Navy yards at Faruva, and Harbraskaya, as well as to build extensive road system in the south. His most notable contribution however, was his attempts to modernize the Libriran navy, which prior to this had numerous issues with piracy and mutinies. Vladimir III sought to change this by loosening many of the restrictions of enlisted sailors, as well as improving pay and benefits. The result of these reforms would mainly be reaped by his son Vladimir IV Anderiski who continued these reforms as well as deploying new 'shell guns' on navy ships, which gave them a massive advanage over pirate vessels which were still fitted with smoothbore solid shot cannon. With this Piracy was eliminated once and for all from the shores of Librira. As a result Trade in Librira flourished with the risk of pirates gone.
Vladimir V Anderiski also sometimes called the 'gilded' king reigned from 1824 - 1870. In this era, the economy of librira boomed, and early industrialization began to took hold. The first rail lines of Librira were established at this time, with a line running from Libra to Akron for passenger services in the 1850s. New armories and state industries were established in this period, and the Army's command structure was modernized based on the pattern of Vestimarian armies. Librira also began integrating the first ironclad and monitors into its navy. In General this period was one of great growth, both in the economy and standard of living of the people, and in science and other technologies. However as Vladimir V aged, his court began to take advantage of him, which laid the ground work for the revolution
The Last monarch Vladimir VI Anderiski was a puppet king. Controlled and Influenced by a council of nobles, corruption, nepotism, and incompetence, flourish and ruled the nation. The economy went into a depression in the mid 1870s, partially due to a poor grain harvst, but also to policies of Vladimir VI. this poor harvest, combined with a slumping economy caused the Famine of 1874 and eventually spiraled into he Great Famine of 1877. Resulting in hundreds of thousands of people starving, while the monarchy and nobles hoarded grain for their own stores, speculating on the price of grain in the country. This economic downturn continued into the 1880s, with the government, continuing to institute policies that did nothing or worsened the situation. Another famine occured in the 1880s, the Famine of 1889 resulting in more dead. by 1890 unrest was beginning to build, already in the 1880s and 1870s there had been bread riots. Now these riots grew both in number and in breadth, they began to call for abdication, reform, etc. In this crisis, the Libriran socialists and Syndicalists grew immensely, going from 200,000 members in 1870, to over 4 million by 1890. The SSL began to call for general strikes, which occured in 1891 and the Great strike of 1893 both of these were broken up in particularly brutal campaigns by the Libriran Royal Army, and served as the motivation for the Revolution of 1894.
Revolution of 1894
After the Great Strike of 1893 the Libriran royal Army began to occupy factories that produced military equipment. However, on April 22nd, 1894, factory workers in Akron, encouraged by their union leaders, who were SSL members, barricaded themselves inside the factory and fought the platoon of Army troops. This tactic spread throughout the city, with some factories joining together to form, Factory Guards Brigades. By April 23rd the cities garrison, the 18th Division of Rifles. News of this uprising spread via an underground newspaper network, and soon similiar demonstrations were held across the country.
Initially the Royal Army attempted to lay siege to the cities that had been taken by the revolutionaries, however, the act of seizing grain and livestock soon attracted the ire, of local farmers. by mid-May of 1894 the Royal Army had lost most of the country side and several major cities, Akron, Harbraskaya, and Murkova. In addition in Harbraskaya, they had lost some of their newest and largest ships to mass-mutinies by Socialist crew members. However, early on the revolution lack central leadership, and in June and July, the Royal Army was able to make some gains near Libra, which they managed to secure, and enforce a curfew by effectively occupying the city. By late July the Socialists began to better organize forming state communes which was controlled by a 'Red-Union Council' in Akron. The Red-Union Council, began to organize the various Factory guards brigades into larger, and more cohesive units. In the south a federation was formed under the Democracy Coalition which sought to simply defend itself rather than go on the offensive.
By September the tide began to turn in Favor of the Socialists. The Battle of Aker Bay which resulted in a Red-Union victory and the destruction of the Royal navy gave control of the seas to the Red-Union, and cut off the Royals from overseas aid. In November The Red-Union managed to break the Royals front line in the Battle of Nevra Field and moved on to Libra, the Capital of the Kingdom. This culminated in the Battle of Libra in December, which was an embarrassing showing for the Royal Army. However by the time the city was captured it was revealed the Royal Family and several nobles managed to escape. The Red-Union tried them in absentia, and exiled them officially from Librira. The Revolution ended in Febuary 1895 with the Surrender of the last Royal Garrison and Roansk.
Despite the destruction of the Royal Army, navy and the flight of the Royal family, there was still an issue, in that there was now two factions controlling the country; The Red-Union council controlled the the northern part of the country. while the Democracy coalition controlled the southern half. Eager to prevent further fighting and casualties. The Red-Union council offered a compromise to the Democracy coalition. Both sides would unite and not fight, and would work together to form a new government. This would lead to the Writing of the People's Charter and the Formation of the People's United Republic of Librira
People's United Republic
Starting in 1895 with the Adoption of the People's Charter, which laid the foundation of the modern Libriran state; The Central government embarked on a great campaign to rebuild Librira to not just what it was before revolution, but beyond. this program included careful management of grain supplies by Gregory Boranin, who went to great pains to prevent potential famines, by transporting grain and distributing it throughout the country on repaired railways, and convoys of wagons. The government also syndicated all the former state companies, turning them into worker owned co-operatives. Also in 1895 was the first Elections, they saw Dimitryi Goskanov elected to the Premiership, and Pavel Maranski to Premierski.
By 1903 The Libriran economy had recovered to pre-revolutionary levels, and was on track to surpass the previous high point set in 1868 this was achieved in 1915 in the midst of the first global war. Librira did not participate in the first global war, but instead used it as an opportunity to further strengthen the Libriran economy. During the war Libriran industry produced various goods, and the Government built even more factories to increase Librira's industrial capacity. At the end of the war however, the demand for Libriran exports dropped and the economy slumped heavily in the post war years resulting in the Long Pause. The Government attempted to cope with large road building and railway projects, marketed to the public as the Great Recovery, however, austerity measures limited the scale of these projects through the country. The economy began to recover in the mid 1920s, and was back to former levels in 1930. In 1932 the Government started the State Armaments Program of 1932, aimed at overhauling the airforce and navy. This included the building of new Battleships and Aircraft, including the country's first Air craft carrier, which was launched in 1937.
--2nd global war history will WIP--
Librira emerged from the 2nd global war scarred, but victorious. Due to some of the failings of the then current Daskinist government, In the Congressional elections of 1950 hard-line communists from SSL and other Citizens organizations, swept the election gaining a majority in the People's Congression and in the Elections of 1955 a similarly hard-line Premier and Premierski were elected; Vitaly Mikoyan as Premier, and Iosef Tovaranov as Premierski. The new government set to work turning Librira into 'the People's Fortress' investing into the military and defense infrastructure heavily, to prevent the losses of the war again. Ideologically the government also bought out several, syndicates to establish the Libriran State Factory system and built a new economic system, based around state governance of key industries, and control over many aspects.
This however posed its own challenges in the post war world, as the embers cooled, and a new Cold war, enveloped the world. --cold war history WIP--
In the 1980s the governments heavy emphasis on military spending was begining to take its toll, in 1986 nearly 45% of the budget when to defense spending the highest in Libriran history, and infrastructure and other services were suffering. Additionally a new, younger generation of Librirans were willing to trust the Daskinists and syndicalists again. In the Congressional Elections of 1990 and Elections of 1995 Sydicalists and Daskinists regained control, and surged in popularity STS went from 4 million members in 1985 to 20 million by 1996. The new, more syndicalist and moderate government slowly began to shift the communist policies, first lowering defense spending to ~20% of the budget, and investing in public services. The height of this was the Syndication of state industries, carried out in May of 2017 via a Referendum. The most recent elections in 2015 brought the newest Premier to office, Ivan Gurov, with the Previous Premier Vladimir Letski as his Premierski. They will both remain until the Election of 2015
Politics
Governance
As stipulated in the People's Charter the central government of Librira has two branches First is The People's Judiciary, and second is the People's Congression.
The People's Judiciary acts a legal authority. I judges the legality of legislation, referendum, and other legal cases that concern the nation as a whole. It consists of a panel of 14 judges, headed by a 'judge premier', who is elected by is compatriots for a total of 15 judges. It is considered a huge honor to be a judge, the post is kept until death or willful retirement, no government official can force a judges retirement. the number of Judges is set and cannot be changed. Judges are chosen whenever a spot opens up, potentials are selected by the Congression, and then confirmed by referendum, only the best lawyers/lower level judges are chosen by the Congression. During the referendum there is no campaigning, what is only allowed is their case record, and a short composite profile of them made by the Judiciary's. The Judciary is not allowed to judge on cases not brought before it, it must be petitioned for a hearing/judgement, correspondingly it limits itself to hearing cases that only affect the nation as a whole, typically leaving state level courts to settle most dispute. Overall It's duty is to ensure all political practices are in keeping with the People's charter, the guiding document of the Libriran government.
The People's Congression acts as a Legislative body of the national government. It is presided by the Premier, who oversees the Congression, acts as a foreign reprsenative, Commands the Military (symbolically) and can put forward legislation. there is also the Premierski, or vice-Premier, who assists the Premier in this role, and is his potential replacement in case of emergency/assassination. the Premier and premierski though sitting members of the Congression, is elected separately by popular vote. Additionally there is the Congressional Representative, who is a Congression member that is elected by his comrades to lead the Congression in debates and voting, in essence he is a Moderator, the job holds little real power, but the Congressional Representative is often a respected member of the group, and is considered a Liason to the Premier.
The People's Congression is currently made up of 205 members including the Premier and Premierski. the size can be changed every 5 years by referendum. It has only been changed once, in 1955 from 252 to the current 205. The Premier has a term of 10 years and can serve as many terms as they like. Congressional members have terms of 5 years, but are limited to a single term, unless if no one else chooses to run for the position. All members of the Congression can be outed before the end of their term by referendum. Congressional members are outed based on the results of a state wide referendum from the state they represent, whereas the Premier is based on a nation-wide referendum. Because there is an almost constant change in the people of the Congression, there is no real political parties in Librira. However there is 'Citizen's Organizations' that effectively lobby people on certain viewpoints (through education and such) and as a result their Congressional members. Congressional members are allowed to be members of such 'Citizens Organizations' but must disclose such memberships as part of them running for the office. There is hundreds of these organisations across the country, some have members nation wide, most are on smaller scales.
The People's Congression only has 4 Scheduled meetings per year (first day of each season), but can be called for a meeting in the event of a emergency, and can meet further to debate certain legislature. Legislature generally is only brought forward at one of these 4 meetings, but urgency can cause this to change. the only person that can suggest legislation is the Premier, Premierski or a 'quorum' of 10 or more Congression members. during voting the Premier and premierski don't vote, in order to pass legislation must have a 51% majority. All legislation can be challenged either by the People's Judiciary or via a 'People's Plea' which is a petition (requiring a very large number of supporters) that calls for a nationwide referendum to decide the law. The Congression passes very little in the way of new laws, partly because of the possibility of having it repealed via referendum, however as once said by Vladimir Letski (former Libriran Premier) "An inactive Central government is a sign of a very active and efficient state/local government".
Another duty of the Congression is to approve budgets. All budgets are created by the Libriran State Central Budgetary Committee(LSCBC), and then forwarded to the Congression. The Congression generally doesn't decided individual dollar amounts, but instead requests additional funding for certain initiatives or the defunding of others. For Departmental oversight the Congression has the SOAP - State Oversight and Advisory Panel. This panel is made up of 25 Congressional members and 5 'private representatives' which are typically citizens involved in the industry/thing that the department oversees. Overall the People's Congression could be called a hybrid between an executive/legislative branch, because of the Premier's executive authority. The Congression is tasked to creating laws that benefit/protect the people of Librira, while maintaining their freedoms, and respecting the People's Charter.
There are no political parties in the traditional sense in Librira, Instead there are Citizens Organizations, which were formed out of the many compromises during the formation of the country, these organizations are not allowed to 'sponsor' candidates, nor are they allowed to donate money to their respective campaigns. However, each organization generally revolves around a particular political view, and essentially lobbies for policies that they are amenable to. There is no restriction of membership, by law, so one can be a member to as many organizations as they wish. there is also non-political organizations
Foreign Relations
Librira maintains friendly relations with nearly all nations on Sunalaya. Including trade deals, defensive alliances, and other treaties. Librira is, represented internationally by the Premierski, and the Department of Foreign Relations and Trade. Librira has particularly close relations with Smoya, Rezua, Layfet, Kiez and Esotana. Librira remains un-recognized by Engleberg.
Librira, is not a member of the USA, but does cooperate internationally with nations around the world, in peace keeping, humanitarian aid, etc. The most recent was part of a 3 nation coalition against Zilverenberg.
Librira also has a joint currency with layfet called the Libfray, which was adopted in 2018. It also has a treaty with Smoya over the use of shared waterways called TRUST-W.
Armed Forces
Librira posses one of the largest armed forces in Corentia. It consists of 3 branches, the People's Army of Workers and Peasants, the Libriran Navy and the Military Air Service. There is a national conscription program that mandates all citizens upon turning 20 must spend 4-12 months in the military. Conscripts typically preform maintenance or guard duties. though the majority of troops in the military are conscripts, Librira maintains a well trained and equipped professional force, that staffs most of the combat formations. The Army is the largest branch and has a largest helicopter and tank force. the Navy is smaller, and although it has several cruisers and other ships, most of the fleet in aging at this point, with the majority of capital ships being around 30 years old. The Airforce is small but an elite and well-equipped branch, with many modern fighters and bombers.
Librira also has a strategic Nuclear force, estimated to have around 150 offensive warheads, with the capability to deliver via Silo based Missiles, Ballistic Missile submarines, and Long range Bombers. Librira has an Anti-Ballistic Missile Defense system, based around the Osiris ABMR and specialized interceptor batteries.
Librira's Military budget is 25% of the government budget, at about 74.665 billion Libfray (106 billion NSD). The government has announced no plans of changing this number in the near future. The military is supplied by the Libriran arms industry, which can produce virtually all military goods, one exception is in advanced GFCS and avionics which typically need to be imported. This weakness has attempted to be addressed by the government, but the quality of Libriran avionics is currently unsuited for 5th generation aircraft, thus resulting in the Air forces newest aircraft, the Vi-100 to have only 60% of its components from Librira, with the rest being imported, the lowest since the birth of the Libriran aviation industry.
Political Divisions
In Addition to the Central Government there is also the 18 states of Librira; These states can set their own laws, and have their own governments, but they are limited in what the can do by the People's Charter, and to an extent the Central Government.
