Almadaria

Almadarian Republic (1846–1875) República Almadariense United Almadarian States (1875–1907) Estados Unidos Almadarienses Almadarian Confederation (1907–1938) Confederación Almadariense Osmian Republic of Almadaria (1938-1963) República Osmiana de Almadaria Federated States of Almadaria (1963-1995) Estados Federados de Almadaria Democratic Republic of Almadaria {1995-204X} República Democrática de Almadaría
1846-204X
Flag Coat of arms
Motto: Un Pueblo Unificado ("A Unified People")
Anthem: La Guerra que Luchamos Fuertemente
Location of Almadaria (dark green) In Vallos (gray)
Capital and largest city	Piedratorres
Official languages	Pelaxian
Common languages	Reform Tainean Insuo Loa
Demonym(s)	Almadarian
Government	Unitary presidential republic (1846-1875; 1995-2037) under presidential rule by decree (2000-2037) Federal semi-presidential republic (1875-1907) Confederal parliamentary republic with an executive presidency (1907-1938) Semi-unitary presidential republic under a one-party authoritarian personalist dictatorship (1938-1963) Federal presidential republic (1963-1995) Unitary Valverdist one-party state under a totalitarian dictatorship (2037-204X)
• President	Hernan de Osma (first) Ernesto Allende (last)
• Vice President	Guillermo de Pardo (first) Graciela Parra (last)
• President of the Chamber of Deputies	Vito Sanchez (first) Javier Becerra (last}
Legislature	National Congress
• Upper house	Chamber of Councillors
• Lower house	Chamber of Deputies
Establishment
• Almadarian Republic	3 March 1846
• United States	16 August 1875
• Confederation	1 January 1907
• Osmian Republic	13 April 1938
• Federated States	6 May 1963
• Democratic Republic	14 September 1995
• Civil war	2036
• Central Vallosi War	2037
• Fall of Piedratorres	204X
Currency	Valverde (ALV)
Driving side	right
Internet TLD	.al
Preceded by Succeeded by Viceroyalty of Los Rumas Castadilla

Almadaria, officially the Democratic Republic of Almadaria (Pelaxian: República Democrática de Almadaría) from 1995 until its capitulation to Castadilla in 204X, was a sovereign country located in central Vallos, a subcontinent within Sarpedon. It was formed in 1846 at the beginning of the Almadarian War of Independence when it declared independence from the Viceroyalty of Loa Rumas, and lasted until 204X after its defeat and annexation by Castadilla after the Central Vallosi War. It was the second country to have declared independence from the Pelaxian Crown after Vallejar and before Delepasia, and had went through multiple government structures throughout its almost two hundred years of existence.

After the end of the War of Independence in 1846, the first republican government was a unitary presidential republic governed by aristocrat and war leader Hernan de Osma who was primarily opposed by a sizeable faction who wished to organise Almadaria as a more decentralised and federal state, and another faction that believed that the presidential powers were too strong and that it needed to be lessened for fears of a potential dictatorship. Disputes between these three factions would result in a brief state of civil war between the three factions after de Osma's assassination in 1870 which saw the anti-presidential and federalist factions winning in 1875.

The new republican government empowered the position of vice president to an authority similar to that of a head of government despite not necessarily being one as well as empowering the power of the states by delegating certain powers to them. It was much more stable than the preceding centralist republic, mostly due to its stricter adherence to the rule of law as well as the rise in political pluralism. It was soon further decentralised in 1907 after a referendum, with the offices and president and vice president being merged and the new position being dependent upon the confidence of the National Congress. During its time as a confederation, Almadaria was lauded as being one of the most democratic states in Vallos, with some of the subcontinent's most well-known intellectuals having being influenced by some Almadarian ideologies even if indirectly. However, with the onset of the Second Great War, the confederal republic was becoming less and less popular due to fears of a possible invasion by the Delepasians and soon the people called for a stronger central government to be put in place.

The elections of 1938 saw the populist United Almadarians Party winning a supermajority and were thus allowed to pass sweeping reforms which saw the presidency gain independence from legislative confidence, the state being centralised albeit with a certain degree of devolution, and the legislature losing power overall. The new regime, centred heavily around its leader Diego Arnez, was noted for being very dictatorial which had made relations between it and the rest of Vallos, particularly the Delepasian Estadi Social which had seen the new Almadarian regime as a threat to the safety and security and of the subcontinent, and had designated itself as being the rightful heir to de Osma's ideology. The Osmian regime would only last for about twenty-five years before ultimately being overthrown in a popular revolt in 1963 shortly after Arnez's death. The new constitution had restored the old presidential republic, but retained a degree of federalism which wound up contributing to its instability due to numerous disagreements between the states, which in turn made democratisation much slower, before being eventually modified to centralise the state.

The centralisation of Almadaria in 1995 allowed for the country to stabilise and begin to re-democratise in earnest before its turn towards democracy came to an end after the Social Unity Party, which had been the main party that was democratising Almadaria, collapsed due to a series of scandals and corruption charges pertaining to president Pedro Montillo who was subsequently removed from office. This incident largely turn most Almadarians away from liberal democracy and instead support the cultural nationalist and statist Valverdian Popular Front and its presidential candidate for the 2000 elections Arturo Nuñez, allowing for the FPV to win. Under the presidency of Nuñez, Almadaria has experienced a period of democratic backsliding, increasing authoritarianism, and even a rise in an extreme form of Almadarian nationalism which is seen by many international observers as being highly chauvinistic; the Taineans and the Loa minorities have complained about the rise in active discrimination and cultural erasure.

In 2036, Almadaria came under a civil war after Nuñez was overthrown by the Revenant Valverdia Vanguard which soon re-branded itself into the Revenant Valverdia Party under the leadership of Ernesto Allende. The civil war, which was between the PVR and pro-democracy forces, lasted for about a year and resulted in the PVR winning and the pro-democracy forces fleeing to neighbouring Castadilla while Allende's regime began to invade Arona in the name of irredentism which saw the protectorate collapse quickly due to lack of preparedness. An international coalition was formed in response to this invasion, with Castadilla as the main liberating force against Almadaria, thus beginning the Central Vallosi War, the first major conflict in the Vallosi subcontinent since the 19th Century. A subsequent counterattack led by both Castadilla and international forces primarily led by Urcea would establish a provisional Castadillaan government on Almadarian territory before eventually liberating Arona about a week before the fall of Piedratorres to Castadillaan forces in 204X, thus ending Almadaria as an independent country. The provisional Castadillaan government in the former Almadaria would start off as a military occupation being put in place to ensure that any and all forms of armed resistance from remnant PVR forces are eliminated before the military can relinquish control over the newly-acquired territories to civilian administrators appointed by the People's Democratic Party.

Etymology

The name Almadaria originates from a loan word from 9th Century Caphiric observers to describe the region of Vallos that was said to have had a "soul of its own", possibly referring to its incongruity with the rest of the Undecimvirate’s territories and increased combativeness of the vassal kings with one another. Another acceptable speculation suggests that the divided nature of the land, with both indigenous groups and Taineans having been split on either side of the Undecimvirate’s southern borders, created a interminable friction with the vassal kings of the Undecimvirate. Almadaria went on to describe primarily the northern half of the nation, particularly the region that comprised of the Kingdom of Septemontes, though the centuries of cultural diffusion and political interdependence, despite there being no particular demographic diffusion took place, had soon made the southern part of the nation also be referred to as a part of the region of Almadaria. The fall of Almadaria after its defeat in the Central Vallosi War in 204X and the subsequent occupation and integration into Castadilla has largely led to the name Almadaria fall into disuse as a symbol of the former nation's chauvinism.

History

War of independence

Main article: Almadarian War of Independence

After the restoration of the Pelaxian monarchy and the return of the Viceroyalty of Los Rumas in 1814, the recently-restored viceroy was not interested in maintaining the noble titles held by the Cuasilatins of the western provinces, and thus passed a law which forcibly stripped all Cuasilatin aristocrats of their titles by reason of treachery, the sole exception to this law were the Duques who were largely loyal to the Viceroyalty and were eventually forced to flee to the eastern provinces in 1843. Although this was met with great outrage from the former Cuasilatin aristocracy, many of whom had had their titles dating back to the days of the Undecimvirate, it was met with jubilation from the lower classes of the western provinces who were often mistreated by their aristocrats who have abused the fact that they were nobles to assert their authority as well as the Delepasian aristocracy who have largely disliked the Cuasilatin aristocracy for their snobbery and entitlement. The stripping of these titles have, however, led to the aristocracy to embrace their Cuasilatin heritage to distance themselves from the highly-Occidental Delepasians as well as to boycott the viceregal government which in turn led to the viceregal military to attempt to suppress the aristocracy's insubordination. This would culminate in 1846 when the former Cuasilatin aristocracy, in protest to the passage of a new law that would have removed Cuasilatin as a distinct group from the Delepasians, declared the western provinces of the Viceroyalty to be an independent republic. The viceroy responded by launching an attack against the new republic.

In an effort to garner the support of the lower classes, the new republic took on certain elements of Delepasianism, mostly the principles of liberty, popular sovereignty, the rejection of monarchy, and embracing the market economy of capitalism. By ostensibly acting upon the interest of a meritocratic society, the leaders of Almadaria were able to secure much-need popular support in favour of the new republic. The subsequent viceregal interventions were thus able to be repelled quickly and allowed for the republic to enter into negotiations with the viceroy. By securing their independence, Almadaria wished to secure a treaty of non-intervention that would be in effect for a century to allow the new republic to legitimise itself without any further action from the Viceroyalty. Of course, there were some Almadarians who wished to go even further than just a non-intervention treaty; they also wanted to make demands such as taking some of the Viceroyalty that borders Lake Remenau which were ultimately ignored by de Osma who just wanted to secure Almadarian independence and nothing more and thus the treaty was signed with no amendments.

Government and Politics

Almadaria was a unitary presidential republic, having sourced much of its constitutional principles as well as general framework from the venerable legacy of participatory government in Cartadania. The nation's first constitution, which was fully ratified in 1847, much like the current 1995 Almadarian constitution, outlined three branches of government as per the principle of separation of powers as well as a system of checks and balances. Subsequent constitutions between the 1846 and 1995 constitutions have experimented with both decentralisation and oftentimes even taking power away from the presidency with the sole exception being the highly centralised and dictatorial "Osmian system" which governed Almadaria from 1938 until 1963.

The Almadarian government was once touted and lauded as the first successful sovereign democracy in Vallos, having had strong democratic traditions and rule of law from its establishment in 1846 until 1938 when Almadarian democracy was largely dismantled in favour of a personalist dictatorship with the rise of the United Almadarians Party under Diego Arnez. Democracy would only be restored shortly after the death of Arnez in 1963 and his government was overthrown in a popular revolt; the new federal republic's attempts at re-democratisation was largely stifled by endless disagreements between the states and thus in 1995 federalism would be abolished. Almadaria's process of re-democratisation would be stifled again after the fall of the Social Unity Party and the rise of the Valverdian Popular Front in 2000.

Almadaria was known for its distinct constitutionally-enshrined election process, commonly known as "rat cage elections", which pitted all candidates against one another in a highly competitive primary election, regardless of party affiliation. Generally, the top four candidates were selected to move on to a secondary election. This nonpartisan election process had kept any one party from gaining superiority over one another, but when Arturo Nuñez was first elected president in 2000 this process was changed so that only the top two candidates would be able to go on to a secondary election, and had instituted an electoral machine in which people who opt to let their administrators to vote on their behalf will be counted as votes for himself. This ensured that he would comfortably win subsequent presidential elections without moving to far from the constitutional principles of Almadaria, thus turning a system that was designed to diversify and increase representation of otherwise marginalized groups into a system that would guarantee his reelection ad infinitum.

Executive

According to the 1995 constitution, the presidency was established as the head of the executive branch of the Almadarian government. The President of Almadaria was to be elected by popular vote, and selected who may serve as their Vice President and cabinet members upon their electoral victory. One of the cabinet ministries, the Ministry of Justice which was responsible for both national law enforcement and legal administration, was headed by the Attorney General and initially answered to the First Court of Almadaria as their executive representative in presidential affairs. The executive branch existed in a state of dual legitimacy with the legislative branch, both contained democratic features and abilities to shape policies. The 1995 constitution added additional checks and balances that were supposed to make the President be less independent of the National Congress such as limiting his veto power by adding method for the National Congress to override the veto, make the President form a collaborative relationship with the President of the Chamber of Deputies, and other measures which would have kept major divisions from happening within the government. Nonetheless, the President still held sole responsibility for forming his cabinet and was still allowed to sign executive orders.

Since the year 2000 and the rise of Nuñez and prior to the civil war, the powers of the President had increased in many different ways such as taking advantage of his legislative supermajority to remove most of the First Court justices and replacing them with loyalists, passing executive orders to bypass obligations to cooperate with the National Congress, install an electoral machinery to perpetuate his rule in subsequent elections, reduce the remaining vestiges of devolved regional power, and subvert the term limit by pushing through an amendment.

The Cabinet of Almadaria was made up of nine ministries, whose heads were selected, and were not subject to the approval of the National Congress, by the President. The cabinet ministries and their senior officials served not only as administrators of their respective subbranches of the executive branch, but also in an advisory role to the President and Vice President in implementing policy. Formerly subject to frequent government restructuring, the members of the Cabinet as of 2000 were: 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 Congress of Almadaria was the bicameral legislative body of Almadaria. The two chambers of the National Congress were the Chamber of Deputies, serving as the lower house, and the Chamber of Councillors, serving as the upper house. Elections for both houses were held at different intervals, with the 100-member Chamber of Councillors holding an election once every seven years, and the 600-member Chamber of Deputies holding an election once every five years; Councillors were elected by lower-level regional administrators and even Deputies through indirect elections, and the Deputies were directly elected in a two-round system of primaries. The fact that Councillors held their seats for seven years have often meant that the composition of the Chamber of Councillors may conflict with the composition of the Chamber of Deputies. This would often have resulted in bitter disagreements between both legislative houses prior to the Nuñez presidency.

Both chambers were presided over by their own presidents, both President of the Chamber of Deputies as well as the President of the Chamber of Councillors who were elected by members of their respective legislative bodies. Their purposes were to oversee their chambers and manage the numerous agencies that were interlinked with each legislative house. The presidencies of both chambers were not term-limited so long as they maintained the confidence of their respective chambers. This also meant that they were often the officers who introduce bills to their respective chambers before opening the floor up for debates and eventual voting.

Ever since the beginning of the Nuñez presidency in 2000 yet prior to the civil war, the National Congress had underwent a series of executive orders which made sure that not only would it remain in a subservient role in regards to its relationship with the presidency, but it was also rigged to ensure that the FPV would maintain a perpetual supermajority through taking advantage of non-voters and preventing prominent independent opposition members from being able to maintain their candidacies by manufacturing last-minute rules that removed them from the ballot so as to circumvent accusations of suppressing the opposition.

Judicial

Almadaria's judicial branch, according to the 1995 constitution, were made up of institutions that were present at each level of government. The highest court in the nation was the First Court of Almadaria which had jurisdiction on criminal matters, civil cases, the constitutionality of certain policies, administrative law, and even self-regulation. All justices of the First Court were nominated by the President and were subject to the approval of both houses of the National Congress. Justices that were approved generally stay on their positions for life except in cases when they were removed from power or decided to retire. The former case was used extensively during the early years of the Nuñez presidency as numerous justices were removed and replaced by justices who were aligned with the FPV thus ensuring that the FPV would be able to get their laws passed and upheld with little difficulty.

Federal subdivisions

Almadaria's primary subdivision was the departments, of which there were twelve of them, and one autonomous district which held the nation's capital. One the second level, the departments were divided into provinces, each led by prefectos ("prefects"). Lower levels of government divided the provinces into numerous municipal districts. The 1995 constitution gave less-populated municipalities the option to join up with larger municipalities to consolidate resources for more effective distribution, often resulting in the oft-quoted criticism Uno freno; doce caballos ("one bit; twelve horses"). All levels of government had their own governing authorities, each with their own leaders such as prefects for provinces, and alcaldes ("mayors") for municipalities. However, local government authorities do not have their own legislatures, instead most of their administrators were directly-elected.

Politics

Ostensibly a multi-party system, Almadarian politics since the year 2000 were under the rule of the Valverdian Popular Front (FPV). Founded in 1995, the FPV was initially a liberal opposition party to the more popular christian democratic Social Unity Party, but when Arturo Nuñez was made leader of the FPV he began to turn the party away from its liberal roots and more heavily towards conservative statist cultural nationalism mixed in with populist rhetoric and overall hostility towards liberal democracy. Opposition parties since the beginning of the Nuñez presidency were divided into two groups, those being the official opposition, and the independent opposition. Official opposition parties were parties that often allied themselves with the FPV, and those included the Almadarian National Union (UNA), the Liberal Party of Almadaria (PLA), and the Democratic Liberties Alliance (ALD); these parties were largely a part of the political right and have held ultranationalist sympathies. The independent opposition referred to parties that were opposed to the FPV and were often suppressed or banned from participating in politics, and those included the Civic National Party, Congress of Freedom, and Justice and Development; these parties varied in ideology, but were opposed to the ultranationalism of the FPV and the official opposition parties.

Prior to the Almadarian Civil War, the FPV held the vast majority of positions in all three branches of government, effectively making the nation a dominant-party dictatorship with a controlled group of parties that served as the official opposition yet were effectively puppets of the FPV. Independent opposition parties had very little representation and when they did the winning candidate often referred to themselves as independent so as to ensure their political survival while doing everything they could to try and stop the Nuñez regime. All of Almadaria's political parties have either been dissolved, banned, or merged with their Castadillaan counterparts by the time the nation was annexed by Castadilla in 204X.

Military

Established by the Constitution of Almadaria, the basis of national defense is embodied by the Armed Forces of Almadaria (FAA). Tracing its lineage from the twentieth-century Republican Army and the Royal Army of Septemontes, the Armed Forces of Almadaria comprises of the Almadarian Land Forces, the Navy, and the Air Forces as its main components. Control of the FAA lies under the jurisdiction of the President and the Ministry of Defense, though as an institution it is obliged to defend and protect the Constitution.