Hamilay
17-10-2007, 09:48
http://i41.photobucket.com/albums/e267/Flaw3dLegacy/AEFNnormal.gif
Alliance of Economically Free Nations
In recent times, the Federal Republic of Hamilay has noted tension caused by aggression and expansionism in the name of capitalism and communism alike has begun to rear its ugly head throughout the world. Reaction to this has been seen in the revitalisation of the Anti-Communist Treaty Organization in the form of the Anti-Communist Initiative for Defence. However, whilst Hamilay understands the motives behind alliances such as these, it is our opinion that they have an unfortunate side-effect of maligning the ideal of capitalism by allowing admittance to all manner of rogue states and dictatorships, which is why our ACTO/ACID membership has not been renewed. Capitalism and the free market are means, not an end; a means towards both greater prosperity and freedom itself for all.
Therefore, in the interests of defending the interests of democratic and capitalist nations throughout the world, the Alliance of Economically Free Nations is proposed. The Alliance of Economically Free Nations (AEFN) is intended to provide a counterbalance to communist and/or socialist blocs such as the Global Union of Socialist Nations. Whilst we have no objection to these organizations in principle, in practice the Federal Republic feels that the presence of multiple organizations dedicated to advancing the cause of world socialism serves to upset the balance of international power. It is unfortunate that the only counterpoints to these alliances specifically for advancing the cause of capitalism around the world happen to be aggressive and somewhat overzealous.
The Alliance of Economically Free Nations intends to provide a more moderate alternative for capitalist nations around the world. AEFN is dedicated to the protection of the free market and its ideals within its member states and the support of free-market states, movements or political organizations throughout the world by peaceful means. AEFN also supports free trade and the provision of economic aid to its members in need.
Contract of the Alliance of Economically Free Nations
Article 1.
Organization
(i) The structure of the Alliance of Economically Free Nations will involve nations being sorted into the following categories; Leading Members, Full Members and Partial Members. Leading Members are the highest rank of the AEFN, of which the Federal Republic of Hamilay is a permanent Leading Member, as the founder. If a decision is deemed to affect all members to a great deal, and it is not legally bound to be decided one way or another due to this contract, it will be placed before Full Members in addition to Leading Members for a vote. If a Leading Member or Members wish to open voting on a particular topic to the Full Members, this will immediately be done regardless of objections of the other Leading Members. If there are no significant objections to the admittance of a nation to the AEFN, they will immediately be given Full Member status. If there are reasonable objections to a nation’s membership, although not significant enough to deny membership outright, they will be allotted Partial Member status. If any of the principles of the AEFN charter are violated, they will be immediately expelled. Nations who do not fulfil certain requirements for membership outlined in Articles 2 and 3, but who still seek admittance to the AEFN, will be given Partial Member status if they agree to meet these requirements, and moved to Full Member status once these requirements are deemed to be met by Leading Members. There is also a fourth category, Observer category. This is used to define nations who are not currently interested in becoming an AEFN member, but who wish to observe the workings of the alliance in the interests of any or all of passive support for the alliance, keeping watch over the workings of the alliance to avoid corruption, or international cooperation.
(ii) The Leading Members undertake decisions involving admittance of nations to the alliance, alliance-wide military and economic commitments, alterations to the AEFN contract and the movement of nations between different categories in alliance structure. Leading Members are however bound to respect and consider the opinions of all alliance members.
Article 2.
Disciplinary Action
i) A violation of articles 3, 4 and 7 of the AEFN charter by a Full Member will see the member nation in question will be immediately demoted to Partial Member status. They will be given an ultimatum to reinstate said rights as rapidly as possible, with a deadline which will be set depending on the existence and nature of any extraordinary circumstances which led to the violation of said rights. If these rights are not reinstated within the deadline they will immediately be expelled. If rights are reinstated, the alliance will decide as a whole whether to reinstate their previous rank or have them remain at Partial Member status if concerns are grave enough.
ii) A violation of other aspects of the charter, or an action not in the charter but deemed of sufficient seriousness, will be put before AEFN Leading Members for consideration of whether disciplinary action should be undertaken as detailed in part (i) of this Article.
iii) Leading Members are exempt from the consequences of Article (i). If a Leading Member is found to violate these rights, the Leading Members will decide whether to demote the Member in question to Partial Status, Full Status or take no formal disciplinary action. This will be decided by a majority vote of the Leading Members. However, if any Leading Member votes towards for a demotion to Partial Member status when a lesser punishment is advocated by the majority, the vote will be placed before the Alliance’s Full Members.
Article 3.
Economic Freedom
The AEFN’s primary goal is the protection of capitalism and the free market. Member nations must therefore have these policies active to a reasonable extent in their nations. From here on in this contract, capitalism shall be defined as the following.
‘Private ownership of means of production, where investment, income and pricing, production and distribution of goods and services are determined through a free market economy, where a free market economy involves these pricings of goods and services being determined by mutual consent of consumer and producer.’
Member nations must therefore allow private ownership of the means of production and operate a market economy, or a mixed economy with a significant amount of market economy characteristics. Private ownership of most of the means of production is also a requirement. The degree to which this is necessary, as with the degree to which the operation of a market economy in member nations is necessary, is difficult to define, and will be considered on an individual basis.
Article 4.
Civil and Political Freedom
The AEFN stands for the protection of freedom in all its forms, though with a particular emphasis on economic freedom. Member nations of the AEFN must therefore provide civil and political rights and freedoms to their citizens, including the right to life, right to liberty, right to freedom of thought and expression, equality before the law and right to participation in the process of governance. A United Nations rating of ‘Average’ for both Civil and Political Freedoms is the guideline here. However, this is a guideline and if there are particular and extraordinary circumstances in question nations who do not meet this requirement may be accepted or nations who do rejected. Human rights of all peoples in general are also expected to be respected, such as the absolute prohibition of crimes against humanity. For the purposes of this contract, 'crimes against humanity' shall be defined as the following.
'Systematic or widespread acts of murder, rape, torture or persecution committed and/or tolerated by governments.'
If these rights outlined in both Article 3 and Article 4 are found to be violated, disciplinary processes as outlined in Article 2 are to be enacted.
Article 5.
Free Trade
i) The free market necessitates a free flow of goods and services internationally as well as domestically. All member nations of the AEFN are hence required to sign free trade agreements with one another. Tariffs on goods from AEFN nations are to be forbidden, and corporations from AEFN nations are to be treated equally to corporations based in one’s own nation. There is to be free movement of labour and capital between AEFN nations. For the purposes of this organization, it will be assumed that all signatory nations are willing to sign free trade agreements with all current members of the AEFN unless specified otherwise.
ii) If a prospective member does not wish to sign free trade agreements with a particular member nation or particular member nations, or a member nation or member nations do not wish to sign free trade agreements with a prospective nation, this will be considered acceptable if there are extraordinary circumstances causing this, such as longstanding tensions or animosity or the ban of free movement of labour or free access to particular segments of the information market for national security reasons. Note that in many cases this will affect consideration of a prospective member’s admittance. If a member nation repeatedly objects to free trade agreements or aspects of free trade agreements with many different prospective nations without good reason, procedures outlined in Article 4 part (ii) will be undertaken.
Article 6.
Economic Support
(i) AEFN nations are obliged to provide economic support to one another in times of economic crisis. The AEFN also stands for the support of other capitalist non-member nations throughout the world in times of economic crisis. For these purposes, an AEFN fund is set aside. All nations are obliged to contribute a sum consisting of 0.02% of their total Gross Domestic Product to this fund. Nations will be exempted if they show that they are unable to pay this sum or that payment of this sum would cause serious damage to their economy or security. Leading Members of the AEFN are obliged to contribute an additional 0.02%. Again they may be exempt from payment if it is unreasonable. Of course, AEFN members are encouraged to contribute as much to the AEFN fund as they wish.
(ii) The usage and management of the AEFN fund will be decided by the Leading Members. Its most pressing use will be to support AEFN nations in a military conflict or suffering economic crisis, and secondarily the support of free and democratic capitalist nations under threat by aggressive communist forces or in economic crisis. When the AEFN fund is not being put towards the support of a nation in major crisis, whether military or economic, it will be put towards the peaceful support of the cause of capitalism in general throughout the world through varying means. The Leading Members may also choose to alter the amount of contributions required to the fund as per Article 1 part (ii). They may also choose to redistribute a certain amount the AEFN fund back towards its members given that they pledge to use it for means such as alliance defense.
Article 7.
Military
i) AEFN members are forbidden from declaring war on one another or committing provocative or aggressive acts towards one another. They are also forbidden from taking any course of action which would legally or morally force other AEFN nations into a course of declaring war on them. As such all mutual defence commitments of members should be listed.
ii) Aggressive Actions; The AEFN does not forbid aggressive acts or wars of aggression, with the exception of Article 7 part (i). However, aggressive actions in general are strongly discouraged by the AEFN. If a war of aggression is deemed to be unnecessary or unwarranted to a high degree disciplinary action may be undertaken.
iii) Defensive Actions-general; The AEFN is not a mutual defence pact. Members are not obliged to go to the military assistance of one another, although it should be noted that in general this is strongly encouraged. The AEFN fund will, however, be used to provide material support to any member nation involved in a defensive war.
iv) Defensive Actions-in which the freedom of the market is threatened; this is an exception to Article 7 part (iii). If a defensive military conflict in which an AEFN member nations is involved is deemed to threaten the preservation of capitalism and the free market, the AEFN as a whole is obliged to go to the aid of said nation. If deemed to be necessary in the defence of capitalism, pre-emptive measures will be defined as defensive actions for the purposes of this section of this article.
v) In all conflicts involving members of the AEFN, basic rights of civilians and captured legitimate and legal enemy combatants as prisoners of war are to be respected.
vi) The alliance defines Weapons of Mass Destruction as all nuclear, chemical, biological, radiological weapons or those orbital weapons which have a yield greater than approximately ten kilotons of TNT. Use of Weapons of Mass Destruction by member nations is acceptable when in retaliation for an enemy strike or attempted strike by Weapons of Mass Destruction, when to prevent an enemy strike by Weapons of Mass Destruction, when in retaliation for an enemy attempt to disable significant defences against Weapons of Mass Destruction on a nationwide scale and when doing so would prevent the deaths of a significant amount of the member nation’s population. Otherwise use of Weapons of Mass Destruction is forbidden.
Final Statement of the Contract
The Alliance of Economically Free Nations is dedicated to the protection of capitalism, the free market and civil and political freedoms within its member states, the promotion of free trade and the support of democratic capitalist nations, movements or political organizations throughout the world by peaceful means.
Alliance Status
Leading Members
The Federal Republic of Hamilay
Full Members
The Republic of Adygea
The Federation of Angaor
The Commonwealth of Bredford
The Most Serene and Holy Altaic Empire of Tartarystan
The Empire of Vetalia
The Grand Imperium of Risban
The Democratic States of Vista Buena
The Commonwealth of Tolvan
Vault 10
Partial Members
The Imperial Kingdom of Gataway
Observers
Trading Partners
The Crown Commonwealth of Praetonia
AEFN Fund Status
$100 Billion Universal Standard Dollars
Application Form
Nation Name:
Status of Economic Freedom:
Status of Civil and Political Freedom:
Current Defence Commitments:
Current Gross Domestic Product:
Special Requests/Important Information:
By agreeing to join the Alliance of Economically Free Nations, you imply that you will uphold the values of the AEFN and the articles outlined in the contract, save any exceptions provided above.
Nation Name: The Federal Republic of Hamilay
Status of Economic Freedom: High. Minimal regulation on business, save laws to protect civil rights, low corporate tax, low income tax, etcetera
Status of Civil and Political Freedom: Semi-presidential federal republic, universal suffrage at 16 with age of majority. Four main political parties as well as numerous minor ones elected by proportional representation give wide range of voice to interests of all citizens. However, voting is heavily along party lines and largest party Progressive Capitalism party has held Parliament for past 12 years. Military influence on politics has also been criticised but it has had effect of reducing corruption from private interests. Civil freedoms also very high, with socially liberal government in power and socially liberal populace.
Current Defence Commitments: UFAN, GDI, Generia (reducing)
Current Gross Domestic Product: ~159,760,543,000,000 $HmD
yes I know the logo says 'allied economically free nations', it doesn't fit. if anyone has a better idea for the logo or the motto (cheesy, I know) I'd be interested to hear it. by the way, the gold represents prosperity, the navy blue security and the light blue phoenix freedom.
Alliance of Economically Free Nations
In recent times, the Federal Republic of Hamilay has noted tension caused by aggression and expansionism in the name of capitalism and communism alike has begun to rear its ugly head throughout the world. Reaction to this has been seen in the revitalisation of the Anti-Communist Treaty Organization in the form of the Anti-Communist Initiative for Defence. However, whilst Hamilay understands the motives behind alliances such as these, it is our opinion that they have an unfortunate side-effect of maligning the ideal of capitalism by allowing admittance to all manner of rogue states and dictatorships, which is why our ACTO/ACID membership has not been renewed. Capitalism and the free market are means, not an end; a means towards both greater prosperity and freedom itself for all.
Therefore, in the interests of defending the interests of democratic and capitalist nations throughout the world, the Alliance of Economically Free Nations is proposed. The Alliance of Economically Free Nations (AEFN) is intended to provide a counterbalance to communist and/or socialist blocs such as the Global Union of Socialist Nations. Whilst we have no objection to these organizations in principle, in practice the Federal Republic feels that the presence of multiple organizations dedicated to advancing the cause of world socialism serves to upset the balance of international power. It is unfortunate that the only counterpoints to these alliances specifically for advancing the cause of capitalism around the world happen to be aggressive and somewhat overzealous.
The Alliance of Economically Free Nations intends to provide a more moderate alternative for capitalist nations around the world. AEFN is dedicated to the protection of the free market and its ideals within its member states and the support of free-market states, movements or political organizations throughout the world by peaceful means. AEFN also supports free trade and the provision of economic aid to its members in need.
Contract of the Alliance of Economically Free Nations
Article 1.
Organization
(i) The structure of the Alliance of Economically Free Nations will involve nations being sorted into the following categories; Leading Members, Full Members and Partial Members. Leading Members are the highest rank of the AEFN, of which the Federal Republic of Hamilay is a permanent Leading Member, as the founder. If a decision is deemed to affect all members to a great deal, and it is not legally bound to be decided one way or another due to this contract, it will be placed before Full Members in addition to Leading Members for a vote. If a Leading Member or Members wish to open voting on a particular topic to the Full Members, this will immediately be done regardless of objections of the other Leading Members. If there are no significant objections to the admittance of a nation to the AEFN, they will immediately be given Full Member status. If there are reasonable objections to a nation’s membership, although not significant enough to deny membership outright, they will be allotted Partial Member status. If any of the principles of the AEFN charter are violated, they will be immediately expelled. Nations who do not fulfil certain requirements for membership outlined in Articles 2 and 3, but who still seek admittance to the AEFN, will be given Partial Member status if they agree to meet these requirements, and moved to Full Member status once these requirements are deemed to be met by Leading Members. There is also a fourth category, Observer category. This is used to define nations who are not currently interested in becoming an AEFN member, but who wish to observe the workings of the alliance in the interests of any or all of passive support for the alliance, keeping watch over the workings of the alliance to avoid corruption, or international cooperation.
(ii) The Leading Members undertake decisions involving admittance of nations to the alliance, alliance-wide military and economic commitments, alterations to the AEFN contract and the movement of nations between different categories in alliance structure. Leading Members are however bound to respect and consider the opinions of all alliance members.
Article 2.
Disciplinary Action
i) A violation of articles 3, 4 and 7 of the AEFN charter by a Full Member will see the member nation in question will be immediately demoted to Partial Member status. They will be given an ultimatum to reinstate said rights as rapidly as possible, with a deadline which will be set depending on the existence and nature of any extraordinary circumstances which led to the violation of said rights. If these rights are not reinstated within the deadline they will immediately be expelled. If rights are reinstated, the alliance will decide as a whole whether to reinstate their previous rank or have them remain at Partial Member status if concerns are grave enough.
ii) A violation of other aspects of the charter, or an action not in the charter but deemed of sufficient seriousness, will be put before AEFN Leading Members for consideration of whether disciplinary action should be undertaken as detailed in part (i) of this Article.
iii) Leading Members are exempt from the consequences of Article (i). If a Leading Member is found to violate these rights, the Leading Members will decide whether to demote the Member in question to Partial Status, Full Status or take no formal disciplinary action. This will be decided by a majority vote of the Leading Members. However, if any Leading Member votes towards for a demotion to Partial Member status when a lesser punishment is advocated by the majority, the vote will be placed before the Alliance’s Full Members.
Article 3.
Economic Freedom
The AEFN’s primary goal is the protection of capitalism and the free market. Member nations must therefore have these policies active to a reasonable extent in their nations. From here on in this contract, capitalism shall be defined as the following.
‘Private ownership of means of production, where investment, income and pricing, production and distribution of goods and services are determined through a free market economy, where a free market economy involves these pricings of goods and services being determined by mutual consent of consumer and producer.’
Member nations must therefore allow private ownership of the means of production and operate a market economy, or a mixed economy with a significant amount of market economy characteristics. Private ownership of most of the means of production is also a requirement. The degree to which this is necessary, as with the degree to which the operation of a market economy in member nations is necessary, is difficult to define, and will be considered on an individual basis.
Article 4.
Civil and Political Freedom
The AEFN stands for the protection of freedom in all its forms, though with a particular emphasis on economic freedom. Member nations of the AEFN must therefore provide civil and political rights and freedoms to their citizens, including the right to life, right to liberty, right to freedom of thought and expression, equality before the law and right to participation in the process of governance. A United Nations rating of ‘Average’ for both Civil and Political Freedoms is the guideline here. However, this is a guideline and if there are particular and extraordinary circumstances in question nations who do not meet this requirement may be accepted or nations who do rejected. Human rights of all peoples in general are also expected to be respected, such as the absolute prohibition of crimes against humanity. For the purposes of this contract, 'crimes against humanity' shall be defined as the following.
'Systematic or widespread acts of murder, rape, torture or persecution committed and/or tolerated by governments.'
If these rights outlined in both Article 3 and Article 4 are found to be violated, disciplinary processes as outlined in Article 2 are to be enacted.
Article 5.
Free Trade
i) The free market necessitates a free flow of goods and services internationally as well as domestically. All member nations of the AEFN are hence required to sign free trade agreements with one another. Tariffs on goods from AEFN nations are to be forbidden, and corporations from AEFN nations are to be treated equally to corporations based in one’s own nation. There is to be free movement of labour and capital between AEFN nations. For the purposes of this organization, it will be assumed that all signatory nations are willing to sign free trade agreements with all current members of the AEFN unless specified otherwise.
ii) If a prospective member does not wish to sign free trade agreements with a particular member nation or particular member nations, or a member nation or member nations do not wish to sign free trade agreements with a prospective nation, this will be considered acceptable if there are extraordinary circumstances causing this, such as longstanding tensions or animosity or the ban of free movement of labour or free access to particular segments of the information market for national security reasons. Note that in many cases this will affect consideration of a prospective member’s admittance. If a member nation repeatedly objects to free trade agreements or aspects of free trade agreements with many different prospective nations without good reason, procedures outlined in Article 4 part (ii) will be undertaken.
Article 6.
Economic Support
(i) AEFN nations are obliged to provide economic support to one another in times of economic crisis. The AEFN also stands for the support of other capitalist non-member nations throughout the world in times of economic crisis. For these purposes, an AEFN fund is set aside. All nations are obliged to contribute a sum consisting of 0.02% of their total Gross Domestic Product to this fund. Nations will be exempted if they show that they are unable to pay this sum or that payment of this sum would cause serious damage to their economy or security. Leading Members of the AEFN are obliged to contribute an additional 0.02%. Again they may be exempt from payment if it is unreasonable. Of course, AEFN members are encouraged to contribute as much to the AEFN fund as they wish.
(ii) The usage and management of the AEFN fund will be decided by the Leading Members. Its most pressing use will be to support AEFN nations in a military conflict or suffering economic crisis, and secondarily the support of free and democratic capitalist nations under threat by aggressive communist forces or in economic crisis. When the AEFN fund is not being put towards the support of a nation in major crisis, whether military or economic, it will be put towards the peaceful support of the cause of capitalism in general throughout the world through varying means. The Leading Members may also choose to alter the amount of contributions required to the fund as per Article 1 part (ii). They may also choose to redistribute a certain amount the AEFN fund back towards its members given that they pledge to use it for means such as alliance defense.
Article 7.
Military
i) AEFN members are forbidden from declaring war on one another or committing provocative or aggressive acts towards one another. They are also forbidden from taking any course of action which would legally or morally force other AEFN nations into a course of declaring war on them. As such all mutual defence commitments of members should be listed.
ii) Aggressive Actions; The AEFN does not forbid aggressive acts or wars of aggression, with the exception of Article 7 part (i). However, aggressive actions in general are strongly discouraged by the AEFN. If a war of aggression is deemed to be unnecessary or unwarranted to a high degree disciplinary action may be undertaken.
iii) Defensive Actions-general; The AEFN is not a mutual defence pact. Members are not obliged to go to the military assistance of one another, although it should be noted that in general this is strongly encouraged. The AEFN fund will, however, be used to provide material support to any member nation involved in a defensive war.
iv) Defensive Actions-in which the freedom of the market is threatened; this is an exception to Article 7 part (iii). If a defensive military conflict in which an AEFN member nations is involved is deemed to threaten the preservation of capitalism and the free market, the AEFN as a whole is obliged to go to the aid of said nation. If deemed to be necessary in the defence of capitalism, pre-emptive measures will be defined as defensive actions for the purposes of this section of this article.
v) In all conflicts involving members of the AEFN, basic rights of civilians and captured legitimate and legal enemy combatants as prisoners of war are to be respected.
vi) The alliance defines Weapons of Mass Destruction as all nuclear, chemical, biological, radiological weapons or those orbital weapons which have a yield greater than approximately ten kilotons of TNT. Use of Weapons of Mass Destruction by member nations is acceptable when in retaliation for an enemy strike or attempted strike by Weapons of Mass Destruction, when to prevent an enemy strike by Weapons of Mass Destruction, when in retaliation for an enemy attempt to disable significant defences against Weapons of Mass Destruction on a nationwide scale and when doing so would prevent the deaths of a significant amount of the member nation’s population. Otherwise use of Weapons of Mass Destruction is forbidden.
Final Statement of the Contract
The Alliance of Economically Free Nations is dedicated to the protection of capitalism, the free market and civil and political freedoms within its member states, the promotion of free trade and the support of democratic capitalist nations, movements or political organizations throughout the world by peaceful means.
Alliance Status
Leading Members
The Federal Republic of Hamilay
Full Members
The Republic of Adygea
The Federation of Angaor
The Commonwealth of Bredford
The Most Serene and Holy Altaic Empire of Tartarystan
The Empire of Vetalia
The Grand Imperium of Risban
The Democratic States of Vista Buena
The Commonwealth of Tolvan
Vault 10
Partial Members
The Imperial Kingdom of Gataway
Observers
Trading Partners
The Crown Commonwealth of Praetonia
AEFN Fund Status
$100 Billion Universal Standard Dollars
Application Form
Nation Name:
Status of Economic Freedom:
Status of Civil and Political Freedom:
Current Defence Commitments:
Current Gross Domestic Product:
Special Requests/Important Information:
By agreeing to join the Alliance of Economically Free Nations, you imply that you will uphold the values of the AEFN and the articles outlined in the contract, save any exceptions provided above.
Nation Name: The Federal Republic of Hamilay
Status of Economic Freedom: High. Minimal regulation on business, save laws to protect civil rights, low corporate tax, low income tax, etcetera
Status of Civil and Political Freedom: Semi-presidential federal republic, universal suffrage at 16 with age of majority. Four main political parties as well as numerous minor ones elected by proportional representation give wide range of voice to interests of all citizens. However, voting is heavily along party lines and largest party Progressive Capitalism party has held Parliament for past 12 years. Military influence on politics has also been criticised but it has had effect of reducing corruption from private interests. Civil freedoms also very high, with socially liberal government in power and socially liberal populace.
Current Defence Commitments: UFAN, GDI, Generia (reducing)
Current Gross Domestic Product: ~159,760,543,000,000 $HmD
yes I know the logo says 'allied economically free nations', it doesn't fit. if anyone has a better idea for the logo or the motto (cheesy, I know) I'd be interested to hear it. by the way, the gold represents prosperity, the navy blue security and the light blue phoenix freedom.