NationStates Jolt Archive


Tartarystan World Factbook

Tartarystan
03-08-2007, 18:34
Tartarystan World Factbook

Motto: "Deus vult!"
Capital: Tataria Magna
Emperor: Sibeoci Sereri
Imperial Chancellor: Tulisen Cirgote
Government Type: Constitutional monarchy/Elective Monarchy
National Animal: Horse
Internet TLD: .tar
Major Cities: Tataria Magna (Imperial capital), Sanjiazi (Tungustan's capital), Altaysky (Altaystan's capital)
National Animal: Horse
National Religion: The Church of Tartarystan
Official Languages: Tungusic and Turkish languages
Natural Disasters: Earthquakes, blizzards
Ethnic Groups: 65.3% Turkic, 32.7% Tungusic, 2% Semitic
Major Religions: 97.2% Christian, .9% Jewish, .8% Muslim, 1.1% nonreligious
National Holiday: Easter, Christmas, Independence day, Good Friday, Holy Thursday, Holy Saturday, Corpus Christi, Pentecost, etc.

History of Tartarystan
Tartarystan, or The Most Serene and Holy Altaic Empire of Tartarystan, is a constitutional elective monarchy nestled in the great tracts of land that are similar to what we call northern and central Asia or the territory generally described as Tartary (Siberia, Turkestan, Mongolia, Manchuria, etc). It is an island nation/continent.

Tartarystan was formed when the Kingdom of Altaystan and the Kingdom of Tungustan agreed to a state union. Altaystan was a Turkic city that proclaimed itself a Kingdom after it colonized/conquered the surrounding oriental land. Tungustan was the same, except it was Tungusic. They nominated a Turko-Tungusic emperor to head the new state union.

More recently, Sibeoci Sereri was shoved into the throne after a coup known as the Tartar Civil war, by Alute Sereri, his sister, who left him the only surviving possible successor. The new Sibeoci-headed government passed great deals of recent legislation known as the "Sibeoci Decrees".

What has been named "Altaic" high class dominated this society. Tatarystan was a primarily militarist and agrarian nations with the aristocracy and extremely prolific military drawing its members from Altaic high class. The Asian population was effectively synonymous with the peasantry.

The political system was dominated by the ever present official system titled "Uksura faššar seme hūwajaha", which roughly translated into "breaking the races apart into many pieces". Often shortened to Uksura, it was a system of racial segegration and what many contest, racial discrimination that separated Altaic high society from Asian society in all aspects of life. Often compared to Apartheid, the comparison was not necessarily correct simply because Uksura was meant to do far more. The Uksura system was highly criticized internationally for the way it highly curtailed the rights of the Asian citizens by revoking the right to own property, bear arms, freedom of speech, ability to form organizations and unions, equality before the law, right to privacy, right to a fair trial, ability to vote, right to emigrate, and ability to partake in education. The last Uksura law was a law banning Oriental subjects from having more than one child in contrast to Altaic families which usually have six to twelve children which.

Tartarystan was torn apart by the "Great Rebellion of Tartarystan". After the rebellion, Uksura no longer existed simply because Tartarystan had become an racially homogeneous state. Its minorities were mostly eliminated, both violently and peacefully. Huge hordes were killed in the crossfires when the government broke down, and the rest emigrated. After the rebellion, Tartarystan quickly modernized into a nationstate. A multi-ethnic empire turned into a homogeneous nationstate in a dramatic transformation over several years. Tartarystan has become an industrial powerhouse with highly urbanized, efficient, and modern planned cities with efficient commerce, industry, and agriculture in its countryside. After the Great Rebellion, a new drafted constitution once again changed Tartarystan, including the name, changing it from The Most Serene and Holy Tartar Empire of the Two Nations to the present name.

Culture of Tartarystan
Tartarystan today, is almost completely Turkic or Tungusic.

Tartarystan shows great tolerance toward its Muslim and Jewish minorities. Although minor incentives to convert have slowly decreased the number of Muslims and Jews over time, the Muslim and Jewish population has generally stabilized. The indigenous Jewish community has disappeared but in a very rare instance of immigration, the government allowed a group of Jewish and Muslim refugees to settle in the nation creating a small minority. Both Jewish and Muslim Semites (Jews and Arabs) are highly integrated in Tartar society and are a distinct but appreciated minority group. Interestingly enough, despite both groups fled from their homelands where they were massacring each other, they seem to highly cooperate with each other in Tartarystan, and are very similar groups to the point where they are classified as one group, Semites.

Almost all Christians (and almost all people) in Altaic society are members of the Church of Tartarystan. The Church of Tartarystan is a theologically Unitarian Christian church and is generally associated very closely with Imperial authority. In contrast to many other Unitarian churches, the Church of Tartarystan is extremely focused on religion (Christianity) and does not accept non-religious members and non-Christian members as it officially defines itself as a Christian church. Tartarystan is a very religious and some even say, fanatical and zealous nation. Separation of church and state currently does not exist and the influence of religion in everyday life can be seen, though the church does not often directly interfere in life. However, church charities are commonplace with many religious schools across the nation. The state pays the salary of the clergy. Major differences of the Church of Tartarystan from other religious movements include the belief that Jesus, while free from sin, was still subject to every form of temptation that humans face, including fear, doubt, depression, reluctance, and lust. By facing and conquering all of man's weaknesses, the Tartar Church that Christ became the perfect model for their lives because he sacrificed not only on the cross, but throughout his life. According to them, he struggled to do God's will, without ever giving in to the temptations of the flesh. The Tartar Church embraces Arianism by rejecting the Holy Trinity as well as embracing the concept of universal salvation and Socinianism. The Tartar church also puts great emphasis on charity, welfare, and altruism, and its close relation with the government as well as the devoutness of the population ensures the maintenance of the welfare state. Despite being a state religion, the Church of Tartarystan is actually a fairly liberal church.

Politics of Tartarystan
Tartarystan proclaims itself both a constitutional monarchy and liberal democracy. Universal suffrage is available for all citizens over the age of twenty-one. These citizens elect assemblymen and assemblywomen to the National Assembly of Most Serene and Holy Altaic Empire of Tartarystan (usually shortened to National Assembly, or Imperial Assembly, but National Assembly is more common) which functions a unicameral legislative branch of the nation. Another strong branch of government is the Imperial Chancellor. The Imperial Chancellor needs two of the three: A plurality of the popular vote, approval from the National Assembly, and/or Imperial approval from the Emperor. The current Imperial Chancellor, Tulisen Cirgote, was approved by a plurality in a referendum and a close vote of approval from the National Assembly, making it unnecessary for him to seek Imperial approval. The current Emperor has been extremely reclusive and is rarely seen. The foremost political power and de facto leader of the nation is the Imperial Chancellor, Tulisen Cirgote.

Tartarystan has strict standards of human rights. The constitution of Tartarystan guarantees security of life and property, sanctity and security of private life, the security of personal freedom, right to protest against tyranny, freedom of expression, freedom of association, protection from arbitrary imprisonment, the rights to basic necessities of life, equality before law, The right to participate in the affairs of the state, the right to bear arms, and many more to all of its citizens though it is noticeable to know that the government occasionally revokes citizenship from former citizens as a precursor to persecution. Though this is rare, the government reserves the right to do so.

Accordant to the Tartar Constitution, the Tartar monarch, as head of state, is the theoretical source of all executive and legislative power. However, since the introduction of parliamentary sovereignty, a de facto separation of powers has been in effect.

The monarch retains the ability to deny giving a bill imperial assent as well as choosing and dismissing the Imperial Chancellor, although in modern times this becomes increasingly more unlikely, as it would cause a constitutional crisis. The last monarch to do this, Empress Ulnagate, was forced to abdicate immediately after attempting to do so and executed by orders of the Imperial Chancellor. All imperial powers called Imperial Prerogative, such as patronage to appoint ministers and the ability to declare war and make peace, are exercised by the Imperial Chancellor and the Cabinet, with the formal consent of the Empress (or on rare occasions, Emperor).

Today, the monarch has an essentially ceremonial role restricted in exercise of power by convention and public opinion. However the monarch does continue to exercise three essential rights: the right to be consulted, the right to advise and the right to warn, but even these are never exercised. Some have noticed the shift of powers from the monarch toward the Imperial Chancellor, who has effectively usurped all monarchical power.

The Tartar executive consists of a number of government departments known as Ministries. These departments are led by a cabinet member and known as Minister for the relevant department or portfolio. In theory all Ministers are equal and may not command or be commanded by a fellow minister. Constitutional practice does however dictate, that the Imperial Chancellor is primus inter pares, first among equals. Unlike many other countries, Tartarystan has no tradition of employing junior Ministers.

A Ministry is the secretariat to the Minister. Its functions comprises overall planning, development and strategic guidance on the entire area of responsibility of the Minister. The Ministers' decisions are carried out by the permanent and politically neutral civil service within the Ministry. Unlike some democracies, senior civil servants remain in post upon a change of Government. The head of the ministry civil servants is the Permanent Secretary. The majority of civil servants in fact work in executive agencies which are separate operational organizations reporting to the Minister.

Also the Minister has his own private secretariat as well as communications personnel. Unlike normal civil servants, the communication staff is partisan and do not remain in their posts upon changes of Government.

With the implementation of the first constitution, Tartarystan was given a bicameral parliament, known as the National Assembly, consisting of the House of Commons and House of Lords. However, great resentment rose toward both because they were dominated by the aristocracy. After the Royalist victory in the Tartar Civil War, the House of Lords was abolished and the House of Commons was simply renamed the National Assembly. In addition, the monopoly of the aristocracy on the National Assembly was abolished.

The National Assembly is composed of 1000 seats. All 100 seats are contested in elections held at least every four years (sometimes two, three, one, or etc.) and in the present National Assembly, all seats were taken up by members belonging to a political party. All parties receiving more than 5% of the votes are represented in the National Assembly.

Unlike some other states, Tartarystan does not use a first-past-the-post voting system based on constituencies. Instead a system of constituency based proportional representation as well as a system of allotment is indirectly proscribed in the constitution, ensuring a balanced distribution of the 1000 seats. 750 members are elected by proportional majority in constituencies while the remaining 250 seats are allotted in proportion to the total number of votes a party or list receives. All parties and lists receiving more than 5% of the total vote are guaranteed parliamentary representation. The participation of the electorate in general elections normally lies above 85%.

Under the Tartar constitution, no government may exist with a majority against it, as opposed to the more common rule of government needing a majority for it. It is because of this rule, Tartarystan often sees minority governments or Imperial Chancellors with a minority of support, as is in the case of Tulisen Cirgote.

Historically, Matrilineal primogeniture was practiced. Tartarystan is an elective monarchy where both the National Assembly, population (via popular vote), and Imperial Chancellor votes for a monarch out of a list of those with the capability to succeed the throne. Rather than Agnatic primogeniture, they practice elective primogeniture. Until recently, males (generally unrepresented in government, the military, and several other occupations), were not allowed to succeed the throne. Recently, the constitution was revised via a pragmatic sanction by the National Assembly to allow males to succeed the throne if there were eligible female candidates. Thus, Sibeoci Sereri was confirmed by both the National Assembly, the Imperial Chancellor, but not by voting electorate. However, a monarch needs only two out of three to succeed the throne, and Sibeoci Sereri did so. He was coronated as the first Holy Altaic Emperor (in contrast to Empress). In history, there has only been one male Emperor, no male Imperial Chancellors, and the National Assembly is more than seventy percent female.

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Imperial Chancellor Tulisen Cirgote (left) and Emperor Sibeoci Sereri (right)

Political Parties of Tartarystan
Tartarystan has a multiparty system with currently five parties represented in parliament. The largest political parties in the National Assembly, and the only ones with representation, are the Christian Democrats, Free Democrats, Liberal Democrats, Social Democrats, and National Democrats. There are many other parties, but they only operate on the local level.

The Social Democratic Party of Tartarystan is the largest party in the Tartarystan with representation in the National Assembly.. In the last elections, it garnered 36.8% of the votes as well as 342 seats in the National Assembly. The Social Democratic Party holds an overwhelming plurality in the National Assembly and holds a general ability to push the vast majority of its legislation through. As of so far, not a single Social Democratic bill supported by the Social Democrats has failed yet, but this is often because they do not like to pass bills with slim margins and often seek consensus from many parties. In fact, every single bill so far in this term, has been passed with a super majority. Unsurprisingly, the Social Democrats believe in Social Democracy. The Imperial Chancellor, Tulisen Cirgote, is from the Social Democratic Party of Tartarystan.

The Christian Democratic Party of Tartarystan is the second largest party in Tartarystan with representation in the National Assembly.. In the last elections, it garnered 23.1% of the vote and 245 seats in the National Assembly. Though not as dominant, the Christian Democratic Party of Tartarystan sides with the Social Democratic Party of Tartarystan. Unsurprisingly, they believe in Christian Democracy. However, they break with foreign Christian Democratic parties by their firm rejection of laicite. It was a Christian Democrat-authored bill, overwhelmingly passed in National Assembly, that amended the constitution to constitutionally disallow the separation of state and religion. The Christian Democrats often side with the Social Democrats on many bills, both because of their strong support of the welfare state.

The Free Democratic Party of Tartarystan is the third largest party in Tartarystan with representation in the National Assembly. In the last elections, it garnered 16.3% of the vote and 162 seats in the National Assembly. The Free Democrats have been called liberal, conservative liberal, and classical liberal. They generally do not believe they adhere to Liberalism. They stress an extensive reform of the Tartar welfare state, along classical liberal lines, including lower taxes and less government interference in corporate and individual responsibility. The FDP generally is highly supportive of the market economy, far above the extent of all three other parties. However, many of its policies acknowledge that certain aims can not be reached by market mechanisms alone and would not be seen as free-market policies in, so the LDP supports a minimum standard of welfare protections for all and strong anti-trust policies, for example. It is often seen as the party of "better-earning people" such as business executives and the such.

The Liberal Democratic Party of Tartarystan is the fourth largest party in Tartarystan with representation in the National Assembly. In the last elections, it garnered 13.1% of the vote and 137 seats in the National Assembly. The Liberal Democratic Party is a conservative-liberal party, that though sides with the FDP on many issues, remains a distinct party. The party states that its ideology is a mix of liberalism and conservatism. (The term liberalism is used to denote free-market libertarianism or classical liberalism.) The party emphasizes personal freedom, free markets, privatisation and reduction of the public-sector growth rate, while still supporting most of the social benefits introduced since the 1930s. The party emphasises issues such as actions against crime, lower taxes, a strong defence and quality in the education system. The party emphasizes personal freedom, free markets, privatisation and reduction of the public-sector growth rate, while still supporting most of the social benefits introduced by past governments. The party emphasises issues such as actions against crime, lower taxes, a strong defence and quality in the education system.

The National Democratic Party of Tartarystan is the fifth largest party in Tartarystan with representation in the National Assembly. In the last elections, it garnered 10.7% of the vote and 114 seats in the National Assembly. The philosophy of the NDP differs from the ideologies of international Communism and liberalism in that it acknowledges people as unequal products of their societies and environments, largely governed by the "laws of Nature." Although the NDP is sometimes referred to as far right, in terms of economics, the NDP actually represents a position in favour of social security for Tartars and control against plutocracy. It has many similarities with socialism in its economic program, although it does not touch upon private property. However, the primary feature of the NDP is its strong and vibrant nationalism. Ironically, the NDP draws strong support from the Semitic (both Jewish and Arab) minorities in Tartarystan. It emphasizes law and order, especially laws aimed at controlling migration and promoting national cohesion. Nearly two-thirds of the party's supporters approve of the capitalist system and hold favourable views on the privatisation of state industries, but it often supports many of the basic welfare programs in Tartarystan. The National Democratic Party has embarked on an ambitious political line to the party, combining the pillars of conservative ideology like security, family values and patriotism with a progressive approach in other areas such as social justice and crime.

Geography of Tartarystan
Tartarystan is one of two nations on the continent of Tartarystan. Tartarystan the continent is an extremely large but isolated island continent comparable to Australia in that sense. However, it has a vastly different climate. Its climate takes more after the Taiga and Steppes of Siberia and Manchuria, with a tiny bit of tundra in the North. It possess extensive resources such as coal, oil, iron, rare minerals, timber, and natural gas. Nickel, gold, lead, molybdenum, diamonds, silver, zinc, precious gems, and many others are easily found in Tartarystan. However, it is sorely lacking in fertile soil with most of Tartarystan being extremely soil poor. Tartarystan is extremely dependent on fishing to provide itself with food. Tartarystan is also highly dependent on a strip of very fertile land just above the urban Southern coast. Though just a very small strip, this strip is extremely fertile and combined with ultra high-yield farming, gives enough food combined with massive fishing to feed Tartarystan. There is an almost inexhaustible supply of timber and fish in Tartarystan. Fish is the staple food of the vast majority of citizens in Tartarystan. The southern, south-eastern, and south-western coasts are lined with what will become cities. The almost uninhabitable north is dominated by heavy industry and resource exploitation. Warm water ports are only found on the southmost region of Phayul. Tartarystan is almost impossible to attack from the sea, but it goes both ways, and Tartarystan does not possess a blue-water navy.

Economy of Tartarystan
The economy of Tartarystan is based off of the concept of Flexicurity. Flexicurity is a welfare state model with a pro-active labour market policy. The model is a combination of easy hiring and firing (flexibility for employers) and high benefits for the unemployed (security for the employees).

The term refers to the successful combination of both labour market flexibility in a dynamic economy as well security for workers. Flexicurity demonstrates that flexibility and security in the labour market need not be contradictory, but can in fact be mutually supportive. The Government of Tartarystan views flexicurity as entailing a “golden triangle” with a “three-sided mix of (1) flexibility in the labour market combined with (2) social security and (3) an active labour market policy with rights and obligations for the unemployed”

The concept is firmly rooted in Tartarystan, where laws were revised that settled the freedom of trade union association as well as the managerial prerogative to manage and divide the work including the right to hire and dismiss the labour force at any time necessary. “It is thus important to understand that the Tartar model of labour market regulation, including the right to form associations, is based on these voluntaristic principles and that legislation or interference of the state is kept on a minimum. The right of association and the recognition of labour market associations are based on the mutual recognition of conflicting interests.” The Tartar agreements amongst employers, workers and the state are supported by an intricate system that allows for an active response from the state, which supports the ‘activation’ of workers.

The economy of Tartarystan is highly industrialized with the exception of a small strip of land which utilizes extremely high-yield farming to give off large food yields. This is not enough, so Tartarystan must also fish seventy-two million tonnes of fish every year from its a sea, a sustainable amount due to their geographical position, and also import grain. Tartarystan has huge resources of precious minerals and utilizes them very effectively for its heavy industry. Tartarystan is an industrial powerhouse but has also been home to a growing sector in high-technology manufacturing.

Military of Tartarystan
Tartarystan has a large, modern, efficient, and professional army. The Most Serene and Holy Altaic Empire of Tartarystan does not maintain an independent and separate air force. The Imperial Tartar Army and the Imperial Tartar Navy are the two major branches of the military of Tartarystan. Tartarystan has large reserves of bombers, fighter planes, and soldiers but a smaller green-water navy. Tartarystan has often been called a fortress island because it it essentially is. The coastlines are heavily defended and all Altaic military strategy is based on prevention of invasions. As a result, the military of Tartarystan does not have the logistical or power projection to launch invasions of other nations...yet. The number of personnel in all of Tartarystan is a bit smaller than one would expect from a nation of their size, but it has proven adequate in defence simply because of how difficult it is to enter Tartarystan. Tartarystan is mountainous, extremely cold, and aside from a few harbours, ringed by cliffs. The north side is completely frozen over yearly due to its proximity to the arctic and tundra climate. The only part of Tartarystan that does not freeze over during the summer is the southern coast. Tartar military strategy is based on utilizing these defensive structures to their advantage, leading to a large amount of defences everywhere on the coast and inside the rest of the country. The military is also known for a disproportionate amount of Semites (Jews and Arabs) who remain very active in the military.

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The Imperial Tartar Army

Social Services of Tartarystan
Tartarystan is indisputably a welfare state based off of the Scandinavian welfare model, especially that of Denmark, but is also different in many ways, creating a unique Tartar welfare model. Tartars are proud of their highly developed welfare safety net, which ensures that all Tartars receive free health care and need not fear real poverty.

Tartarystan has a two-tier universal public health insurance system. Though there are no state-owned hospitals excluding military hospitals, the government of Tartarystan provides all residents with health insurance cards, which entitles the bearer to receive free medical care for almost all procedures. Health institutions are either private and non-profit or private and for profit. Most all doctors are in private practice as entrepreneurs and they bill the medicare system for their fees. The system is known as a "public system" due to its public financing, but is not a nationalized system; most services are provided by private enterprises, such as clinics or doctors who are paid a fee-per-visit. Tartars have free choice of doctors and can change doctors at any time they wish. A tiny number of hospitals operate outside of the government and usually provide slightly more luxurious treatment, but are usually very expensive and available only to the very affluent. However, despite that, all Tartars do have access to healthcare, though a tiny bit of them slightly better healthcare.

Though Tartarystan is ringed with heavy industry, extensive safety regulations make industrial accidents extremely rare. Business regulations are very relaxed, the vast majority being safety or worker's rights regulations. Tartarystan has a very vibrant market economy. Labour unions are usually fairly active in Tartarystan and conflict between unions and companies are rather rare even though labour is so highly unionised in Tartarystan.

Unemployment benefits are extremely generous, but an unemployed person is required to constantly seek employment or further education in order to receive full benefits.

Tartarystan has an education system very similar to its healthcare system. The government provides vouchers for all of its citizens so that they may decide to go to any school they wish. These vouchers are valid at the vast majority of schools in Tartarystan. There are an extremely small number of fantastically expensive schools, mostly for the wealthy, that are outside of the voucher system, but they are statistically negligible. The overwhelming majority of Tartars use their vouchers to attend school.

Tartarystan has a vast public transportation system. The majority of Tartars do not own cars. Though it is public transportation, the vast majority of it is privately-owned. The system is modern and efficient, serving a vastly growing population. In Tartarystan, railways are a major means of passenger transportation, especially for mass and high-speed transport between major cities and for commuter transport in metropolitan areas. Many Tartar Railway companies, once state-owned, covers almost all of Tartarystan There also are railway services operated by private rail companies, the government, and companies funded by both government and private companies. Tartar trains are also famous for always being on time. Railroads are almost all electrified, and bullet trains are the favoured mode of transportation. The government reserves the right to veto airplane and train fares they believe are impermissibly high, but it hasn't been done so yet.

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A Tartar Train