Almadaria

Almadaria, officially the Democratic Republic of Almadaria, is a country in Vallos. It is neighbored by Equatorial Ostiecia to the north, XXX, and Takatta Loa to the south. Its shoreline extends against primarily the Polynesian Sea, though its eastern border includes a shared freshwater body of water with its western neighbor. The Democratic Republic is a megadiverse nation, with one of the highest biodiversity per square kilometer across its rainforest, highland, grassland, and desert zones. The economy of Almadaria has significant government intervention, with most public services resources (water, electricity, transport, telecommunications, healthcare, etc.) being controlled or funded by the government. Nevertheless, private industries, including foreign ones, flourish in established free trade zones which benefit all involved from tax incentives and domestic investment. Almadaria has a high rate of literacy, and an equally high level of higher education attendance; this has contributed to both the growth of the economy as well as the standard of living. The tourism, financial sectors are the two major contributors to Almadaria’s GDP. The government of Almadaria is a presidential, representative democratic republic with a multi-party system. Based on Cartadanian practice, it is broken into three branches (Executive, Legislative, and Judicial), though the legislative exercises significantly more power over the executive, primarily by having no ability to be vetoed by the President and being able to set the government budget.

Almadaria underwent intense political instability in the later twentieth century, its primary cause being decades of political repression under President Sergio Arbelaez. Despite Arbelaez leaving office in 1996 and sweeping political reform thereafter, a low-intensity conflict against fringe guerilla and criminal groups exists to this day.

Almadaria is a member of the League of Nations. Though nominally non-interventionalist, the government does willingly lend its armed forces to the peacekeeping efforts of the organization.

Etymology
Almadaria originates from a loan word from ninth-century Caphirian observers to describe the region of Vallos that had a ‘soul of its own’, possibly referring to its incongruity to the rest of the Undecimvirate’s territories and increased combativeness of the Kings with one another. Other speculation suggests that the divided nature of the land, with indigenous groups and Taineans split on either side of the Undecimvirate’s southern borders, created a interminable friction with the Caphirian-placed Kings. ‘Almadaria’ went on to describe primarily the northern half of the modern-day nation, though centuries of cultural diffusion and political interdependence– though no particular demographic diffusion took place– had roped the southern part under the Almadarian umbrella.

History
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First Vallosian Warring Period and Tainean Predominance
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Caphiric Undecimvirate
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Second Warring Period
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Geography
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Climate and environment
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Government and Politics
The Democratic Republic is a presidential representative democracy, sourcing its constitutional principles and and general framework from the venerable legacy of participatory government of Cartadania. The nation's first constitution, fully ratified in 1847, outlined three branches of government in accordance with the principle of separation of powers, dividing it into executive, legislative, and judicial branches. Following the 1995 Constitutional Plebiscite, reform lessened the power of the executive in its authority to manage clandestine or secretive operations, as well as setting up measures for increased government accountability, including several extragovernmental oversight institutions such as the Office Inspectorate of Almadaria (Oficina Inspectorado de Almadaría).

The government of Almadaria, sometimes styled as 'GRDA' in informal internal documents, is touted as a successful indigenous Vallosian democracy, with a strong democratic traditions that persevered in face of international conflict and internal crises. Its multi-party legislature, well-established judicial, and kept-in-check executive branch are at the heart of Almadaria's democratic institutions.

Almadaria is known for its distinct constitutionally-enshrined election process, known as 'rat cage elections' among the population, which pits all candidates against one another in a primary election, regardless of party affiliation, and generally the highest four candidates in votes go on to a secondary election. This nonpartisan election process has kept any one party from gaining superiority over one another, diversifying and increasing representation of otherwise marginalized groups. This practice extends from the national government to local governments, though with some variation.

Though the Democratic Republic currently notionally stands as a stable democracy, the reality is far from utopic. Since the Constitutional Plebiscite of 1995 in which inter-branch relations were altered and new checks on executive power were introduced, the government of Almadaria has suffered a personnel crisis involving persistent low-level corruption and unwillingness on most wings of government to accede to the new watchdog measures. Despite many of the checks and balances now levied against the President, the bureaucratic complexity of their branch of government hinders comprehensive oversight, particularly areas of off-the-book interactions or especially 'grey campaigns'. Grey Campaigns are particularly topical in Almadarian constitutional thought, mainly due to the analysis between their moral or ethical shortcomings (or violations) and their necessity for national security.

Executive
The 1995 Constitution of Almadaria re-establishes the Executive Branch as headed by a popularly elected President, who selects their Vice President and cabinet. As a balance to the judicial branch, the Ministry of Justice (clearly delineated under the executive branch), responsible for areas of national law enforcement and administration of law, is headed by the Attorney General, answers to and represents the First Court of Almadaria in Presidential affairs.

The President of Almadaria, serving as head of state and head of government, is elected by popular vote in a nonpartisan 'rat-cage' election to serve a single five-term term, a precedent established in the so-called 'stripping down' of the executive. At the regional level, executive power is vested in Provincial Governors (Almadarian: prefecto), then municipal alcaldes (mayors).

The Cabinet of Almadaria is made up of nine ministries, whose heads are selected, without Legislative veto, by the President. The Ministries and their senior official serve not only as administrators of their respective national focuses, but in an advisory role to the President and Vice President in implementing policy. Subject to frequent government restructuring, the members of the Cabinet as of 2032 are: the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Trade, the Ministry of Environmental and Resource Concerns, the Ministry of Defense, the Ministry of Science and Technology, the Ministry of Culture and Tourism, the Ministry of Justice, the Ministry of Education, and the Ministry of the Interior.

Legislative
The National Legislative Council is the sole national legislative body of Almadaria. As a unicameral entity, the National Legislative Council (CLN) consists of a frequently-held, XXX-seat convocation. The seats on the CLN are elected democratically from municipal districts every two years.

The National Legislative Council is presided over by the Council President, voted into power by the unicameral body, in order to oversee the institution and the management of its numerous parasite agencies. In order to be eligible for Council President, one must have already been elected into the CLN. There are no term lengths.

The large body of the National Legislative Council is only summoned in its entirety for major policy proposals; otherwise, it is not uncommon for handfuls of councilmen/women to meet in committees, smaller semi-permanent organizations to research and develop policy. Most of these committees are impermanent, although there are committees, named Popular Agencies, which are long-standing; many of these exist as oversight bodies and liaisons to their executive Ministry counterpart, though other concern standing issues, including ones such as anticorruption, intelligence oversight, and constitutional debate.

Judicial
The Judicial branch is made up of institutions present at every level of government-- at the national level, it is represented by the First Court of Almadaria. The First Court is headed by four high courts: consisting of the Civil High Court, for penal and civil matters; the Constitutional High Court, which weighs policy produced by the CLN against the principles of the Almadarian Constitution and established precedent thereof; the State High Court, which in turn manages the executive branch by establishing administrative law; and finally, the Auditor's Court, which is a self-regulating agency of the First Court.

Members of the the First Court of Almadaria are selected by the National Legislative Council and approved by the President. These judges serve terms no longer than twenty years.

Federal subdivisions
At the national level, Almadaria is divided into XXX Departments and one capital district, separate from the municipality it forms. The departments are divided into provinces, ran by prefects (Almadarian: prefectos). These are further divided into subnational entities of municipal districts, or municipalities.

Each of the levels has a local government with a governor (in provinces, prefects; municipalities, alcaldes), though deprived of legislative bodies. At sub-national levels, most positions are directly elected, unlike the President's Cabinet.

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