Juumanistra
08-10-2005, 05:12
Feel free to skip to the bottom if you so desire, but I thought it would be a good idea to include the major information that has previously been released over the past year or so about Juumanistra as a primer for any and all questions.
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A verbose summation of the Juumanistran Congress, from The Almanac of Juumanistran Politics, 2004 Edition:
The Congress
The Juumanistran legislative branch is a bicameral institution, composed of the House of Representatives and Assembly of Chancellors, with powers and structures modeled on the original U.S. Congress prior to the Seventeenth Amendment.
House of Representatives
The House of Representatives is the larger of the two houses of the Congress, analogous to the American institution of the same name. Seats are appropriated on the basis of population within each governate, with new seats being created biannually in order to keep the ratio of constituents to roughly 300,000 to every one Representative(relative to a ratio of 700,000:1 in the United States), with elections biannually as well. The House operates on a six weeks in-session, three weeks out schedule, with strict attendance and travel policies in place during in-session periods in order to minimize abuse of public funds and ensure the work of the people, as well as minimize electioneering on the public tab. The House is presided over by the Speaker of the House, who is tasked with the scheduling and conducting of business within the House in an efficient and non-partisan way and, thus, is usually selected on the basis of merit instead of seniority or patronage, with legislative initiative and voting discipline falling to the various factional leaders and party whips.
House of Chancellors
The House is the smaller of the two houses in the Congress, akin to the American Senate, though with several noticeable changes. Seats are apportioned on an equal basis, with three seats to a governate and 75 governates in total. Senators are elected to six-year terms by their governate legislatures, with a third of the body being up for election every two years. The body handles, in addition to general legislation, confirmation of judges and ratification of treaties, little different from the American Senate. The major structural differences between the Senate and the Assembly lies in its ability to amend its own rules, which is somewhat as broad-based, a differently structured filibuster, and the inclusion in the Constitution of decreasing cloture vote limits. The Assembly remains in session year-round and headed by the Speaker of the Assembly, whose mission is the same as his House counterpart.
Office of the Prime Minister
The post of Prime Minister is a somewhat of an anomaly within the Juumanistran body politic. The Constitution called for a post of Prime Minister as head of the Congress and to “ensure the swift and smooth execution of the People’s will”, though it and the Founders were vague on what, exactly, that meant. The Prime Minister’s post has, since, evolved into a coordinating office in-order to ensure rapid conference on legislation and solving quarrels, as well as being the Congress’s point man with regards to the executive. The Prime Minister is usually of the President’s party or coalition, in order to best facilitate its role as chief coordinator with the President.
Breakdown of the Current Congress
House of Representatives -- 8,800 seats
Christian Democratic Union – 4,129 seats
Good Governance Party – 3,883 seats
New Conservative Alliance – 173 seats
Brotherhood and Family Party – 116 seats
Juumusistra – 81 seats
Juumanistran Workers’ Party – 67 seats
Hibikinoan National Alliance – 58 seats
Peace and Justice Party – 51 seats
Democratic Union of Moeginopia – 49 seats
New Progressives’ Union – 48 seats
Patriotic Alliance of Kiramekistan – 46 seats
National Front for the Liberation of Kiramekistan – 43 seats
National Peoples’ Party – 31 seats
Freedom and Honor Party – 18 seats
New World Order – 7 seats
House of Chancellors -- 225 seats
Christian Democratic Union – 106 seats
New Conservative Alliance – 49 seats
Good Governance Party – 26 seats
Juumusistra – 24 seats
Brotherhood and Family Party – 7 seats
Hibikinoan National Alliance – 6 seats
Patriotic Alliance of Kiramekistan – 3 seats
Juumanistran Workers’ Party – 1 seat
Freedom and Honor Party – 1 seat
Peace and Justice Party – 1 seat
New Progressive Union – 1 seat
The Parties of Juumanistra
Christian Democratic Union
The Christian Democrats are, without question, the biggest force in Juumanistran politics. The Christian Democrats like to see themselves as Juumanistran society’s best writ politically large. They’re very much the party of muscle, both in foreign policy and at home. To this effect, the CDU has spearheaded the rebuilding and modernization of Juumanistra’s military and education system, as well as helping Juumanistra’s fledgling space program back on track and in the black. All of this, however, has come at a price that the Juumanistran tax regime could barely meet and, at times, could not. One of the CDU’s major problem in recent years has been finding funds for its programs, given that its coalition would implode if it attempting to raise the VAT or reintroduce national sales or income taxes and that most industrial subsidies are off-limits. Whilst the CDU has attempted to stay agnostic on social issues beyond those tied to national security, its national platform tilts towards paternalism and social conservatism on issues such as abortion and state recognition of homosexuality.
Good Governance Party
One would think that the GGP would be the left-of-center opposition to the CDU’s right-of-center coalition. One would think. The Good Governance Party is Juumanistra’s mainstream left-of-center party, though it would be much more in-line with middle-of-the-road or even right-leaning centrist parties in foreign states. The Good Governance Party finds itself in agreement with the Christian Democrats in regards to the need for a strong and robust military and foreign policy, the importance of low taxes to Juumanistra’s economic success, and that economic prosperity is by far the best cure for Juumanistra’s ethnic quarrels. That, however, is where the understandings end. If CDU were the party for social conservatives, then the GGP would be the party for libertarians; more individual liberty is always the answer, at least for the GGP. To that end, the GGP has devoted most its energies to streamlining the government and getting it out of the people’s lives as much as possible. Whilst the victories have been few and far between, they have been enough to keep the GGP the second biggest party in the House of Representatives, though equal successes have alluded them in the House of Chancellors as the GGP has not been able to achieve much penetration of state politics in the central regions of the country and finds itself in a bloody war for votes in the Juumusi areas of the southwest of the country.
New Conservative Alliance
The New Conservative Alliance arose out of the ashes of the old Freedom & Family Coalition that dominated Juumanistran politics before it imploded twenty years ago. The NCA is a home for those who don’t accept the CDU’s libertine policy positions with regards to education and homosexuality, as well as those who find their policies on free trade and abortion before the eighth week to be too liberal, making the NCA home of the country’s paleoconservatives and its loonier Right. The NCA has become a major power in the House of Chancellors, however, due to its strength within the Juumanistran heartlands from Carthage and Gastonmachi to Astranaar and Hikarimichi, much to the consternation of the CDU, which sees the NCA as the lunatic fringe personified. Much strife has characterized the relations between the CDU and NCA of late, as the NCA was squeezed out the ruling coalition and replaced with the Brotherhood and Family Party.
Brotherhood and Family Party
The Brotherhood and Family Party was originally founded as a single-issue party, centered on abortion, but has since spread and become a viable force on both the local and national stages. The B&FP has become the home of those in the CDU coalition who believe in an absolute culture of life; the anti-death penalty crowd and foreign policy doves dominate the B&FP, making it quite the unorthodox right-of-center party. The B&FP actually has a better working relationship with the CDU than the NCA, though, meaning that while it is smaller the B&FP constitutes a bigger player in the Congress.
Juumusistra
Old Juumusi for “the nation of Juumus”, Juumusistra is the single largest ethnic party within the Congress. Juumusistra has found its way into the ruling CDU coalition through its generally right-of-center positions on national security and economic policy and its devotion to Juumanistran federalism. The party, however, has succeeded in transcending being “just” an ethnic party and today has elected men and women in as far away places as Sanumi and Wellington by offering a more populist message than that of the CDU, which has caused interparty flare-ups within the coalition over trade policy and issues pertaining to federal government involvement in education.
Juumanistran Worker’s Party
The biggest Juumanistran party that is truly left-of-center by international standards, the Juumanistran Worker’s Party has made itself the party of the industrial laborer and finds itself home to the five biggest unions in Juumanistra. The JWP has made itself the catch-all for those seeking progressive economic policy; the reinstatement of the minimum wage and tariffs, as well as more numerous and more vigorous prosecution of white-collar crime have been the rallying point the JWP. The party finds itself struck by a kind of schizophrenia, however, as it tends to trend overwhelmingly conservative on social issues, meaning that building up any kind of wider progressive constituency beyond factory hands and their families has proven almost impossible.
Hibikinoan National Alliance
The Hibikinoan National Alliance is, in many ways, like Juumusistra. It is an old ethnic party that has found a niche for itself in the modern world by appealing to national security hawks and those with mixed-bag views on social issues, though it tacks ever-so-slightly left-of-center on them. The HNA continues to draw its strength from the Hibikinoan southeast of the country, in the Six Rivers area, and Syracusian plains. The party’s efforts within the last few years at integration and expansion of the base has led to the expulsion from Congress of both the ethnonationalist Hibikinoan Power Party and separatist Hibikinoan Sovereignty Front, much to the relief of both the CDU and GGP.
Peace and Justice Party
Home to many of the nation’s disenchanted progressives, liberals, and leftists-in-general, the Peace and Justice Party considers itself as the one true voice of the Left in the country, though it has fought a series of protracted shouting matches with both the fringier parts of the Good Governance Party, as well as the New Progressive Union and National Peoples’ Party over whether or not that label is really true. Of the three major parties of the Left, the PJP is certainly the most strident, a somewhat virulent Marxist-Leninist arrangement that calls for the nationalization of the “means of production” and the “liberation” of Kiramekistani territory occupied after the Fourth Juuma-Kiramekistani War. The PJP continues to be constrained on the national stage due to a small constituency and near-constant ideological skirmishes with the NPU and NPP.
Democratic Union of Moeginopia
One of the country’s larger separatist entities, the Democratic Union of Moeginopia been historically known for its near-constant agitation for the independence of a Moeginopian state centered around the Hafford-Kruis Corridor, though of late the party has been moving away from its traditional stance towards an acceptance of federalism, which has resulted in a broadening of its appeal and its elevation to the Congress. Its center-left platform has yet to really catch on in either the Chosan or Hafford governates, however, and the party’s national outlook looks grim with its inability to elect Chancellors or Representatives beyond its stronghold in the Hafford-Kruis area.
New Progressives’ Union
Growing out of the disintegration of the old Socialist Party, the New Progressives’ Union was a late-bloomer relative to both the National Peoples’ Party and Peace and Justice Party. The NPU has attempted to position itself as the party of the Third Way popularized by Tony Blair and Bill Clinton, of a private economy providing prosperity and a somewhat generous welfare state for the masses. The NPU has achieved margin successes thus far and has a much higher favorable rating amongst the public than the piss-and-vinegar PJP, but it faces many of the same problems as the PJP and NPP with regards to constituency issues, as well as complications due to its fairly mild-mannered temperament when much of its left-of-center constituency are passionate and quite hardcore about their beliefs.
Freedom and Honor Party
The nucleus of what was once the Freedom and Family Coalition, it is a shell of its former self and now one of the country’s two main far right parties. By most international standards the FHP would be branded as fascist, as is rather unrepentant in its calls for forced expulsion or purging of foreign elements from the country and national culture, though given the nation’s multiethnic composition, most of party’s rage is vented at unassimilated Kiramekistanis and ethnic nationalist groups. The party’s platform nationalist-populist flavored, calling for bans on the outsourcing of all jobs, erecting high trade barriers, and clamping down on the borders, with a strong corporatist agenda seeking to create a Juumanistran equivalent to the Japanese zaibatsu or Korean chaibon.
Patriotic Alliance of Kiramekistan
A regional party dedicated to achieving autonomy for the territory that was annexed after the Fourth Juuma-Kiramekistani War and, it is hoped, for the wider Kiramekistani living in Juumanistra through peaceful means. The party is, in and of itself, somewhat unremarkable in its platform in that it is not all the different in terms of ideas from those offered by the PJP and NPP. PAK’s largest claim to fame is its offering a viable alternative to the National Front for the Liberation of Kiramekistan and enduring almost unheard of brutality and burdens placed upon it by the NFLK and KLA in its electoral districts.
National Front for the Liberation of Kiramekistan
Widely recognized as the most dangerous political organization in the country, the National Front for the Liberation of Kiramekistan is the country’s most colorful political entity as well. Five of its chairmen, seven Representatives, a Chancellor, sixty governate legislators, and well over a thousand party employees have, in the past decade, been imprisoned or deported over the past twenty years for treason, sedition, or aiding and abetting terrorism, almost always in connection to the Kiramekistan Liberation Army, the paramilitary group that wages on again, off again war against the Juumanistran government and the “imperialist running dogs” who participate in the government of the four governates that encompass the occupied territories. The party itself has been banned three times over its ties to the KLA and other terrorist groups within the territories and abroad. In fact, the Front itself doesn’t really participate in the government, it by-and-large absorbs protest votes from the Kiramekistani governates and its Congressional delegation largely only gets involved in issues pertaining to Kiramekistan or its interests.
National Peoples’ Party
The core of the old Socialist Party, the NPP still resonates greatly within the national consciousness. It was, in the aftermath of the fall of both the Socialist Party and Freedom and Family Coalition, the inheritor of most of the former’s political machinery and, indeed, kept the name Socialist Party for a good decade before it was forced to acknowledge that the jig was up and that it would never really be what it once was. The NPP is also the biggest of the country’s left-wing parties, though its membership is dispersed and it has a very difficult time mustering it against local CDU, GGP, or ethnic party candidates. Its platform consists largely of the implementation of a European-inspired welfare state and tightening up environmental and labor regulations.
New World Order
By far the most radical party in Juumanistra, the New World Order are a party of anarchocapitalists who seek to bring forth their namesake through the aggressive toppling of all organized forms of governance. Dubbed the No Party, the NWO dissents with almost every piece of legislation before the Congress, given that it usually is an affront to the Order’s stated mission and, by anarchocapitalist standards, an expansion of the power and scope of government. It has long remained the oddball of Juumanistran politics, especially given that its Congressional delegation usually wears their tinfoil hats when in chambers.
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And a collaborative report from the HIA and Department of the Treasury with regards to the Juumanistran economy:
][1 = US$1.97
Each resource is to be read as:
Commodity: Domestic Production as Percentage of National Demand / Market Share of Resource in Category / Net Surplus or Deficit
Agriculture
Percentage of GDP: 1.5%
Estimated Value of Agricultural Products: ][1,980,000,000,000
Percentage of Workforce: 0.3%
Cereals: 212% / 17% / 112%
Fruits: 37% / 1% / 64%
Vegetables: 135% / 15% / 35%
Tubers & Roots: 40% / 1% / 60%
Dairy: 151% / 15% / 51%
Beef: 236% / 24% / 136%
Pork: 144% / 9% / 44%
Poultry: 126% / 13% / 26%
Fish & Seafood: 88% / 5% / 12%
Juumanistran agriculture is dominated by large agribusiness firms operating in a market largely free of government intervention and subsidies, creating a sector that is incredibly vibrant and resilient largely at the expense of small farmers and crop diversity. Wheat and cattle are the favored commodities of farmers given the vast expanses of the Juumanistran interior and its mild climate, though the raising of pigs and chickens is also popular. In the long run, lack of crop diversity and potential overgrazing pose threats to food security as does increased subsidization of agriculture abroad.
*The vegetable output rating takes into account corn production, which accounts for 70% of vegetable production and of which 90% goes into animal feed.
**Agricultural GDP output does not factor in biofuel feedstocks.
Natural and Industrial Resources
Percentage of GDP: 7%
Estimated Value of Natural and Industrial Resources: ][5,330,000,000,000
Percentage of Workforce: 7.7%
Biofuels: 101% / 22% / 1%
Timber: 113% / 1% / 13%
Steel:115% / 12% / 15%
Precious and Rare Metals(gold, silver, platinum, etc.): 104% / 7% / 4%
Industrial Metals(tungsten, titanium, iron, etc.):138% / 13% / 38%
Radioactive Metals(uranium, plutonium, etc.): 108% / 8% / 8%
Coal: 103% / 1% / 3%
Oil: 153% / 2% / 53%
Electricity: 151% / 17% / 51%
Water: 132% / 15% / 32%
Juumanistra is well endowed nation, particularly in the heavy industrial metals and water, as well as in the production of industrial alloys and electricity. Resource extraction and production industries and services exist in a highly competitive market with minimal government regulation and taxation, meaning that the harvesting of limited resources such as timber, gold, and coal is at or near capacity despite growing demand. The economy has largely transitioned from a fossil fuel based economy to a biofuel economy, predicated on ethanol and biodiesel.
Manufacturing
Percentage of GDP: 16%
Estimated Value of Manufacturing Products: ][12,180,000,000,000
Percentage of Workforce: 16%
Aircraft: 141% / 11% / 41%
Automobiles: 135% / 16% / 35%
Consumer Electronics: 52% / 5% / -48%
Computers: 143% / 19% / 43%
Small Appliances: 36% / 1% / 64%
Home Appliances: 21% / 2% / 79%
Chemicals: 129% / 12% / 29%
Polymers: 145% / 17% / 45%
Pharmaceuticals: 131% / 12% / 31%
Processed Food: 40% / 3% / 60%
Textiles: 26% / 2% / -74%
Decades of no tariffs, low taxes, and a messianic devotion to the maximization of scarce resources have produced a robust and competitive manufacturing sector that is on the cutting edge of technology and a major world producer of cars, computers, aircraft, chemicals, and plastics, though it has come at the expense of massive imports of lower-end products as the making of clothing, toasters, and DVD players have been sent abroad, though most analysts do not see this as a problem as Juumanistran firms own the vast number of overseas production operations and Juumanistra retains all of the tools essential to produce the same goods if it were forced to.
Services
Percentage of GDP: 74.5%
Estimated Value of Service Sector Products: ][56,720,000,000,000
Percentage of Workforce: 76%
Financial Services: 117% / 12% / 17%
Telecommunications: 128% / 17% / 28%
Research & Development: 134% / 26% / 34%
Advertising: 98% / 4% / -2%
Retail: 108% / 10% / 8%
Construction: 101% / 7% / 1%
Consulting: 137% / 24% / 37%
A strong emphasis on education and well designed tax regime have turned Juumanistra into an intellectual property powerhouse and center of research and development. Its economy’s harnessing of the computer has also made it a major distributor of phone, cable, satellite, and internet services, as well as a major provider of financial services and all forms of consulting. There has been some worry of late over the concept that “Made in Juumanistra” isn’t as prevalent as it used to be, but the issue has not resonated with either the nation’s economists nor the Congress.
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What I am hoping to garner is feedback on the two "definitive" works that flesh Juumanistra out, mainly how its democratically elected government functions and a rough outline of its civil economy. Additionally, I am hoping to generate some questions about the parties discussed in the Congressional section, be they currently residing in power or out of it and, should I do an election RP in the same vein as Azazia's, if there would be any reader interest.
Beyond that, I'm capable of fielding questions about almost anything: specifics of stuff discussed above, information about government, culture, geography, history, the military...ask, and ye shall, receive. Quite literally, in fact.
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A verbose summation of the Juumanistran Congress, from The Almanac of Juumanistran Politics, 2004 Edition:
The Congress
The Juumanistran legislative branch is a bicameral institution, composed of the House of Representatives and Assembly of Chancellors, with powers and structures modeled on the original U.S. Congress prior to the Seventeenth Amendment.
House of Representatives
The House of Representatives is the larger of the two houses of the Congress, analogous to the American institution of the same name. Seats are appropriated on the basis of population within each governate, with new seats being created biannually in order to keep the ratio of constituents to roughly 300,000 to every one Representative(relative to a ratio of 700,000:1 in the United States), with elections biannually as well. The House operates on a six weeks in-session, three weeks out schedule, with strict attendance and travel policies in place during in-session periods in order to minimize abuse of public funds and ensure the work of the people, as well as minimize electioneering on the public tab. The House is presided over by the Speaker of the House, who is tasked with the scheduling and conducting of business within the House in an efficient and non-partisan way and, thus, is usually selected on the basis of merit instead of seniority or patronage, with legislative initiative and voting discipline falling to the various factional leaders and party whips.
House of Chancellors
The House is the smaller of the two houses in the Congress, akin to the American Senate, though with several noticeable changes. Seats are apportioned on an equal basis, with three seats to a governate and 75 governates in total. Senators are elected to six-year terms by their governate legislatures, with a third of the body being up for election every two years. The body handles, in addition to general legislation, confirmation of judges and ratification of treaties, little different from the American Senate. The major structural differences between the Senate and the Assembly lies in its ability to amend its own rules, which is somewhat as broad-based, a differently structured filibuster, and the inclusion in the Constitution of decreasing cloture vote limits. The Assembly remains in session year-round and headed by the Speaker of the Assembly, whose mission is the same as his House counterpart.
Office of the Prime Minister
The post of Prime Minister is a somewhat of an anomaly within the Juumanistran body politic. The Constitution called for a post of Prime Minister as head of the Congress and to “ensure the swift and smooth execution of the People’s will”, though it and the Founders were vague on what, exactly, that meant. The Prime Minister’s post has, since, evolved into a coordinating office in-order to ensure rapid conference on legislation and solving quarrels, as well as being the Congress’s point man with regards to the executive. The Prime Minister is usually of the President’s party or coalition, in order to best facilitate its role as chief coordinator with the President.
Breakdown of the Current Congress
House of Representatives -- 8,800 seats
Christian Democratic Union – 4,129 seats
Good Governance Party – 3,883 seats
New Conservative Alliance – 173 seats
Brotherhood and Family Party – 116 seats
Juumusistra – 81 seats
Juumanistran Workers’ Party – 67 seats
Hibikinoan National Alliance – 58 seats
Peace and Justice Party – 51 seats
Democratic Union of Moeginopia – 49 seats
New Progressives’ Union – 48 seats
Patriotic Alliance of Kiramekistan – 46 seats
National Front for the Liberation of Kiramekistan – 43 seats
National Peoples’ Party – 31 seats
Freedom and Honor Party – 18 seats
New World Order – 7 seats
House of Chancellors -- 225 seats
Christian Democratic Union – 106 seats
New Conservative Alliance – 49 seats
Good Governance Party – 26 seats
Juumusistra – 24 seats
Brotherhood and Family Party – 7 seats
Hibikinoan National Alliance – 6 seats
Patriotic Alliance of Kiramekistan – 3 seats
Juumanistran Workers’ Party – 1 seat
Freedom and Honor Party – 1 seat
Peace and Justice Party – 1 seat
New Progressive Union – 1 seat
The Parties of Juumanistra
Christian Democratic Union
The Christian Democrats are, without question, the biggest force in Juumanistran politics. The Christian Democrats like to see themselves as Juumanistran society’s best writ politically large. They’re very much the party of muscle, both in foreign policy and at home. To this effect, the CDU has spearheaded the rebuilding and modernization of Juumanistra’s military and education system, as well as helping Juumanistra’s fledgling space program back on track and in the black. All of this, however, has come at a price that the Juumanistran tax regime could barely meet and, at times, could not. One of the CDU’s major problem in recent years has been finding funds for its programs, given that its coalition would implode if it attempting to raise the VAT or reintroduce national sales or income taxes and that most industrial subsidies are off-limits. Whilst the CDU has attempted to stay agnostic on social issues beyond those tied to national security, its national platform tilts towards paternalism and social conservatism on issues such as abortion and state recognition of homosexuality.
Good Governance Party
One would think that the GGP would be the left-of-center opposition to the CDU’s right-of-center coalition. One would think. The Good Governance Party is Juumanistra’s mainstream left-of-center party, though it would be much more in-line with middle-of-the-road or even right-leaning centrist parties in foreign states. The Good Governance Party finds itself in agreement with the Christian Democrats in regards to the need for a strong and robust military and foreign policy, the importance of low taxes to Juumanistra’s economic success, and that economic prosperity is by far the best cure for Juumanistra’s ethnic quarrels. That, however, is where the understandings end. If CDU were the party for social conservatives, then the GGP would be the party for libertarians; more individual liberty is always the answer, at least for the GGP. To that end, the GGP has devoted most its energies to streamlining the government and getting it out of the people’s lives as much as possible. Whilst the victories have been few and far between, they have been enough to keep the GGP the second biggest party in the House of Representatives, though equal successes have alluded them in the House of Chancellors as the GGP has not been able to achieve much penetration of state politics in the central regions of the country and finds itself in a bloody war for votes in the Juumusi areas of the southwest of the country.
New Conservative Alliance
The New Conservative Alliance arose out of the ashes of the old Freedom & Family Coalition that dominated Juumanistran politics before it imploded twenty years ago. The NCA is a home for those who don’t accept the CDU’s libertine policy positions with regards to education and homosexuality, as well as those who find their policies on free trade and abortion before the eighth week to be too liberal, making the NCA home of the country’s paleoconservatives and its loonier Right. The NCA has become a major power in the House of Chancellors, however, due to its strength within the Juumanistran heartlands from Carthage and Gastonmachi to Astranaar and Hikarimichi, much to the consternation of the CDU, which sees the NCA as the lunatic fringe personified. Much strife has characterized the relations between the CDU and NCA of late, as the NCA was squeezed out the ruling coalition and replaced with the Brotherhood and Family Party.
Brotherhood and Family Party
The Brotherhood and Family Party was originally founded as a single-issue party, centered on abortion, but has since spread and become a viable force on both the local and national stages. The B&FP has become the home of those in the CDU coalition who believe in an absolute culture of life; the anti-death penalty crowd and foreign policy doves dominate the B&FP, making it quite the unorthodox right-of-center party. The B&FP actually has a better working relationship with the CDU than the NCA, though, meaning that while it is smaller the B&FP constitutes a bigger player in the Congress.
Juumusistra
Old Juumusi for “the nation of Juumus”, Juumusistra is the single largest ethnic party within the Congress. Juumusistra has found its way into the ruling CDU coalition through its generally right-of-center positions on national security and economic policy and its devotion to Juumanistran federalism. The party, however, has succeeded in transcending being “just” an ethnic party and today has elected men and women in as far away places as Sanumi and Wellington by offering a more populist message than that of the CDU, which has caused interparty flare-ups within the coalition over trade policy and issues pertaining to federal government involvement in education.
Juumanistran Worker’s Party
The biggest Juumanistran party that is truly left-of-center by international standards, the Juumanistran Worker’s Party has made itself the party of the industrial laborer and finds itself home to the five biggest unions in Juumanistra. The JWP has made itself the catch-all for those seeking progressive economic policy; the reinstatement of the minimum wage and tariffs, as well as more numerous and more vigorous prosecution of white-collar crime have been the rallying point the JWP. The party finds itself struck by a kind of schizophrenia, however, as it tends to trend overwhelmingly conservative on social issues, meaning that building up any kind of wider progressive constituency beyond factory hands and their families has proven almost impossible.
Hibikinoan National Alliance
The Hibikinoan National Alliance is, in many ways, like Juumusistra. It is an old ethnic party that has found a niche for itself in the modern world by appealing to national security hawks and those with mixed-bag views on social issues, though it tacks ever-so-slightly left-of-center on them. The HNA continues to draw its strength from the Hibikinoan southeast of the country, in the Six Rivers area, and Syracusian plains. The party’s efforts within the last few years at integration and expansion of the base has led to the expulsion from Congress of both the ethnonationalist Hibikinoan Power Party and separatist Hibikinoan Sovereignty Front, much to the relief of both the CDU and GGP.
Peace and Justice Party
Home to many of the nation’s disenchanted progressives, liberals, and leftists-in-general, the Peace and Justice Party considers itself as the one true voice of the Left in the country, though it has fought a series of protracted shouting matches with both the fringier parts of the Good Governance Party, as well as the New Progressive Union and National Peoples’ Party over whether or not that label is really true. Of the three major parties of the Left, the PJP is certainly the most strident, a somewhat virulent Marxist-Leninist arrangement that calls for the nationalization of the “means of production” and the “liberation” of Kiramekistani territory occupied after the Fourth Juuma-Kiramekistani War. The PJP continues to be constrained on the national stage due to a small constituency and near-constant ideological skirmishes with the NPU and NPP.
Democratic Union of Moeginopia
One of the country’s larger separatist entities, the Democratic Union of Moeginopia been historically known for its near-constant agitation for the independence of a Moeginopian state centered around the Hafford-Kruis Corridor, though of late the party has been moving away from its traditional stance towards an acceptance of federalism, which has resulted in a broadening of its appeal and its elevation to the Congress. Its center-left platform has yet to really catch on in either the Chosan or Hafford governates, however, and the party’s national outlook looks grim with its inability to elect Chancellors or Representatives beyond its stronghold in the Hafford-Kruis area.
New Progressives’ Union
Growing out of the disintegration of the old Socialist Party, the New Progressives’ Union was a late-bloomer relative to both the National Peoples’ Party and Peace and Justice Party. The NPU has attempted to position itself as the party of the Third Way popularized by Tony Blair and Bill Clinton, of a private economy providing prosperity and a somewhat generous welfare state for the masses. The NPU has achieved margin successes thus far and has a much higher favorable rating amongst the public than the piss-and-vinegar PJP, but it faces many of the same problems as the PJP and NPP with regards to constituency issues, as well as complications due to its fairly mild-mannered temperament when much of its left-of-center constituency are passionate and quite hardcore about their beliefs.
Freedom and Honor Party
The nucleus of what was once the Freedom and Family Coalition, it is a shell of its former self and now one of the country’s two main far right parties. By most international standards the FHP would be branded as fascist, as is rather unrepentant in its calls for forced expulsion or purging of foreign elements from the country and national culture, though given the nation’s multiethnic composition, most of party’s rage is vented at unassimilated Kiramekistanis and ethnic nationalist groups. The party’s platform nationalist-populist flavored, calling for bans on the outsourcing of all jobs, erecting high trade barriers, and clamping down on the borders, with a strong corporatist agenda seeking to create a Juumanistran equivalent to the Japanese zaibatsu or Korean chaibon.
Patriotic Alliance of Kiramekistan
A regional party dedicated to achieving autonomy for the territory that was annexed after the Fourth Juuma-Kiramekistani War and, it is hoped, for the wider Kiramekistani living in Juumanistra through peaceful means. The party is, in and of itself, somewhat unremarkable in its platform in that it is not all the different in terms of ideas from those offered by the PJP and NPP. PAK’s largest claim to fame is its offering a viable alternative to the National Front for the Liberation of Kiramekistan and enduring almost unheard of brutality and burdens placed upon it by the NFLK and KLA in its electoral districts.
National Front for the Liberation of Kiramekistan
Widely recognized as the most dangerous political organization in the country, the National Front for the Liberation of Kiramekistan is the country’s most colorful political entity as well. Five of its chairmen, seven Representatives, a Chancellor, sixty governate legislators, and well over a thousand party employees have, in the past decade, been imprisoned or deported over the past twenty years for treason, sedition, or aiding and abetting terrorism, almost always in connection to the Kiramekistan Liberation Army, the paramilitary group that wages on again, off again war against the Juumanistran government and the “imperialist running dogs” who participate in the government of the four governates that encompass the occupied territories. The party itself has been banned three times over its ties to the KLA and other terrorist groups within the territories and abroad. In fact, the Front itself doesn’t really participate in the government, it by-and-large absorbs protest votes from the Kiramekistani governates and its Congressional delegation largely only gets involved in issues pertaining to Kiramekistan or its interests.
National Peoples’ Party
The core of the old Socialist Party, the NPP still resonates greatly within the national consciousness. It was, in the aftermath of the fall of both the Socialist Party and Freedom and Family Coalition, the inheritor of most of the former’s political machinery and, indeed, kept the name Socialist Party for a good decade before it was forced to acknowledge that the jig was up and that it would never really be what it once was. The NPP is also the biggest of the country’s left-wing parties, though its membership is dispersed and it has a very difficult time mustering it against local CDU, GGP, or ethnic party candidates. Its platform consists largely of the implementation of a European-inspired welfare state and tightening up environmental and labor regulations.
New World Order
By far the most radical party in Juumanistra, the New World Order are a party of anarchocapitalists who seek to bring forth their namesake through the aggressive toppling of all organized forms of governance. Dubbed the No Party, the NWO dissents with almost every piece of legislation before the Congress, given that it usually is an affront to the Order’s stated mission and, by anarchocapitalist standards, an expansion of the power and scope of government. It has long remained the oddball of Juumanistran politics, especially given that its Congressional delegation usually wears their tinfoil hats when in chambers.
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And a collaborative report from the HIA and Department of the Treasury with regards to the Juumanistran economy:
][1 = US$1.97
Each resource is to be read as:
Commodity: Domestic Production as Percentage of National Demand / Market Share of Resource in Category / Net Surplus or Deficit
Agriculture
Percentage of GDP: 1.5%
Estimated Value of Agricultural Products: ][1,980,000,000,000
Percentage of Workforce: 0.3%
Cereals: 212% / 17% / 112%
Fruits: 37% / 1% / 64%
Vegetables: 135% / 15% / 35%
Tubers & Roots: 40% / 1% / 60%
Dairy: 151% / 15% / 51%
Beef: 236% / 24% / 136%
Pork: 144% / 9% / 44%
Poultry: 126% / 13% / 26%
Fish & Seafood: 88% / 5% / 12%
Juumanistran agriculture is dominated by large agribusiness firms operating in a market largely free of government intervention and subsidies, creating a sector that is incredibly vibrant and resilient largely at the expense of small farmers and crop diversity. Wheat and cattle are the favored commodities of farmers given the vast expanses of the Juumanistran interior and its mild climate, though the raising of pigs and chickens is also popular. In the long run, lack of crop diversity and potential overgrazing pose threats to food security as does increased subsidization of agriculture abroad.
*The vegetable output rating takes into account corn production, which accounts for 70% of vegetable production and of which 90% goes into animal feed.
**Agricultural GDP output does not factor in biofuel feedstocks.
Natural and Industrial Resources
Percentage of GDP: 7%
Estimated Value of Natural and Industrial Resources: ][5,330,000,000,000
Percentage of Workforce: 7.7%
Biofuels: 101% / 22% / 1%
Timber: 113% / 1% / 13%
Steel:115% / 12% / 15%
Precious and Rare Metals(gold, silver, platinum, etc.): 104% / 7% / 4%
Industrial Metals(tungsten, titanium, iron, etc.):138% / 13% / 38%
Radioactive Metals(uranium, plutonium, etc.): 108% / 8% / 8%
Coal: 103% / 1% / 3%
Oil: 153% / 2% / 53%
Electricity: 151% / 17% / 51%
Water: 132% / 15% / 32%
Juumanistra is well endowed nation, particularly in the heavy industrial metals and water, as well as in the production of industrial alloys and electricity. Resource extraction and production industries and services exist in a highly competitive market with minimal government regulation and taxation, meaning that the harvesting of limited resources such as timber, gold, and coal is at or near capacity despite growing demand. The economy has largely transitioned from a fossil fuel based economy to a biofuel economy, predicated on ethanol and biodiesel.
Manufacturing
Percentage of GDP: 16%
Estimated Value of Manufacturing Products: ][12,180,000,000,000
Percentage of Workforce: 16%
Aircraft: 141% / 11% / 41%
Automobiles: 135% / 16% / 35%
Consumer Electronics: 52% / 5% / -48%
Computers: 143% / 19% / 43%
Small Appliances: 36% / 1% / 64%
Home Appliances: 21% / 2% / 79%
Chemicals: 129% / 12% / 29%
Polymers: 145% / 17% / 45%
Pharmaceuticals: 131% / 12% / 31%
Processed Food: 40% / 3% / 60%
Textiles: 26% / 2% / -74%
Decades of no tariffs, low taxes, and a messianic devotion to the maximization of scarce resources have produced a robust and competitive manufacturing sector that is on the cutting edge of technology and a major world producer of cars, computers, aircraft, chemicals, and plastics, though it has come at the expense of massive imports of lower-end products as the making of clothing, toasters, and DVD players have been sent abroad, though most analysts do not see this as a problem as Juumanistran firms own the vast number of overseas production operations and Juumanistra retains all of the tools essential to produce the same goods if it were forced to.
Services
Percentage of GDP: 74.5%
Estimated Value of Service Sector Products: ][56,720,000,000,000
Percentage of Workforce: 76%
Financial Services: 117% / 12% / 17%
Telecommunications: 128% / 17% / 28%
Research & Development: 134% / 26% / 34%
Advertising: 98% / 4% / -2%
Retail: 108% / 10% / 8%
Construction: 101% / 7% / 1%
Consulting: 137% / 24% / 37%
A strong emphasis on education and well designed tax regime have turned Juumanistra into an intellectual property powerhouse and center of research and development. Its economy’s harnessing of the computer has also made it a major distributor of phone, cable, satellite, and internet services, as well as a major provider of financial services and all forms of consulting. There has been some worry of late over the concept that “Made in Juumanistra” isn’t as prevalent as it used to be, but the issue has not resonated with either the nation’s economists nor the Congress.
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What I am hoping to garner is feedback on the two "definitive" works that flesh Juumanistra out, mainly how its democratically elected government functions and a rough outline of its civil economy. Additionally, I am hoping to generate some questions about the parties discussed in the Congressional section, be they currently residing in power or out of it and, should I do an election RP in the same vein as Azazia's, if there would be any reader interest.
Beyond that, I'm capable of fielding questions about almost anything: specifics of stuff discussed above, information about government, culture, geography, history, the military...ask, and ye shall, receive. Quite literally, in fact.