Kiravian federalism

Federalism in the Kiravian Federacy describes the relationship between the federal government and the governments of its constituent states, territories, and other federal subjects. The Federacy is, true to its name, an asymmetric federation in which the federal subjects have varying degrees of autonomy from the federal government and varying roles to play in the national political process.

Policy distribution

Federal	Shared	State
National security Foreign policy Monetary policy Colonial policy Admiralty law and Maritime policy Migration policy and Nationality law Customs policy Competition law Nuclear policy Railways Aviation law Weights & Measures	Economic regulation Industrial policy Banking policy Taxation Environmental policy Civil defence and Emergency management Aboriginal affairs	Policing and Public order Education policy Social policy Property law Corporate law Labour law Land use Resources and Fisheries policy Health policy Public welfare Court administration Most Criminal justice Most Infrastructure

Kiravian federalism balances the principle of subsidiarity with ... As such, the federal government retains sole or primary responsibility for matters such as defence and foreign affairs. Economic modernisation and the expansion of interstate commerce has led the federal government to gain more influence over financial regulation,

State governments retain primacy in most domestic matters. The federal subjects are the primary source of economic, corporate, labour, banking, insurance, and environmental regulation. In most cases, states ejoy exclusive authority over land use, property law and building codes, mineral rights, and the management of natural resources. Key governmental powers related to the land - such as escheat, eminent domain, and law on treasure trove belong to the states alone, as does the power to tax real property. State governments conduct the majority of policing, ajudicate the vast majority of civil and criminal cases, and operate most prisons.

"Marble-cake" Federalism

Although the delineation between areas of primary policy responsibility are very clear, over time the states have made limited inroads into areas of primary Federal responsibility and vice-versa. Although the federal government has exclusive control over foreign policy, it has allowed the states a limited degree of participation in diplomacy: Many overseas colonies have either standing or ad hoc permission to conduct some intergovernmental relations with neighbouring countries or neighbouring foreign colonies. Numerous states operate "representative offices" in the capital cities of major Kiravian trading partners such as Urcea and Paulastra to encourage tourism and investment in their states.

Intellectual property is an area of shared state and federal responsibility. Patents, copyrights, and trademarks may be registered and granted either by state patent offices (67.4% of patents in 21205) or by the central patent office in Kartika. Regardless of the point of registration, all patents and trademarks are entered into a common national registry and are valid throughout the Federacy. State courts ajudicate most intellectual property cases.

Major states, such as Kiygrava, Sydona, and Devalōmica have considerable sway over nationwide industries. Due to their large populations and market share, regulations set by these states in industries such as motor vehicles, health and pharmaceutical products, and communications services tend to become de facto nationwide standards.

Classes of Subjects

States & Colonies

States, also called full states or member-states are the highest class of federal subject, enjoying the highest degree of self-government and the most input into federal politics.

Each state is accorded three seats in the Federal Stanora and one seat on the Council of States.

Territories

Territories, also termed provisional states are the second-highest class of federal subject. They are incorporated, meaning that they are integral components of the Federacy and cannot be sold or otherwise relinquished. Territories are self-governing, and in most respects function identically to full states, but unlike states they do not enjoy constitutional guarantees of their self-governance. Many territorial charters include clauses that expressly assert federal primacy over policy areas ordinarily handled by states, such as natural resources and land grants.

Territorial governors are unilaterally appointed by the Prime Executive of the Kiravian Federacy.

Each territory is accorded 1 seat in the Federal Stanora, but they are not represented on the Council of States.

Federal Districts

Federal districts are integral parts of the Federacy that are not full or partial states and as such have no constitutional autonomy from the federal government. Unlike territories, federal districts are meant to be permanent and never attain statehood. There are currently two federal districts: the District of Coīnvra which houses the seat of the federal government, and the Interlacunal District which surrounds the Interlacunal Canal in Arenica.

Although they have no constitutional autonomy, the federal districts do have their own local governments created by the Coīnvra Organic Act and the Interlacunal Organic Act. These governments have had numerous powers devolved to them by Stanora legislation, and now have essentially the same functions and responsibilities as state governments. Nonetheless, they are subject to close budgetary control by the federal government, and the federal government has (and regularly exercises) the power to strike down local laws. Because they are created by federal statute, the devolved governments of the federal subjects could in theory be dissolved at any time for any or no reason by the Stanora.

The federal districts each have one seat in the Stanora.

Governorates & Provinces

Governorates and provinces are external possessions of the Kiravian Federacy that are governed by it and subject to its sovereignty, but are not integral parts of it. Most are overseas territories where Coscivian-Kiravians constitute a minority. Though they often have representative assemblies, governorates and provinces are not self-governing, and are administered by federal appointees.

Provinces have no seats in the Stanora, but may send nonvoting representatives.

Tribal Authorities

In addition to ordinary territorial federal subjects, there exist Tribal Authorities governing the Aboriginal Kiravite tribes that allied with Kiravia in the Continental War. Though they exercise administrative control (and sometimes police powers) over their respective Aboriginal lands, they do so extraterritorially, and these areas are considered (and for many governmental purposes remain) part of the states within whose boundaries they are located. Nonetheless, they are considered subjects of federal law in their own right, with the same semi-sovereign status as the states. Tribal Authorities are not represented in the Stanora or Council of States (though there have been proposals to allow them nonvoting representatives in both), and instead relay their concerns to the national government through their Advocates in Kartika, a holdover from when the independent tribes dispatched Ambassadors to the Kiravian capital. Since 211XX, they have been disallowed from raising armed forces.

History

See also: Constitutional history of Kiravia

Kirosocialism and Unitarism

The Kirosocialists viewed federalism as an anachronism and an impediment to socialist construction, and established the Kiravian Union as a unitary state. The former 'states' retained their boundaries for the most part, but were redesignated as 'regions', and the former 'territories' as 'districts', and the two former 'federal districts' as 'union municipalities'. Some of the patterns and language of federalism lingered, but the Kirosocialist constitution stressed the complete subordination of the regional governments to the national government, abrogating any notion of shared sovereignty or reserved rights.

Regional governments were reorganised along Devinist lines, with the Regional Soviets replacing the old state legislatures and the functions of the old state governors being divided among "People's governors" (with authority over public order and administration) and the First Secretaries of the regional Party chapter (with authority over policy implementation). During Early Kirosocialism the regional governments and party chapters operated in a relatively organic bottom-up manner, but as the regime consolidated, the central party apparatus asserted greater control over these bodies, preördaining the makeup of the regional soviets and fixing executive appointments.

The governmental role of regions was relegated to ironing out the details of assisting with regional implementation of national initiatives, and handling mundane matters unworthy of a national profile, such as land registration, newspaper censorship, and policing.

Restored Federalism (21170-present)

The fall of Kirosocialism was both caused by and spurred a renewed enthusiasm for state-level politics and reinvigorated political activity at the state level. Governor Andrus Candrin's successful fiscal and industrial policies in Kiygrava inspired Kiravians elsewhere to begin dismantling Kirosocialism in their states and engendered a political consensus thereafter that states could and should play meaningful roles in economic policy. This was a dramatic reversal of public attitudes in the densely-populated, economically-advanced "core" states of the Federacy, where most people had come to think of the states as mere geographic departments of the national government.

Between 21185 and 21195, the SRA-led Renewal Alliance rolled back the federal government's size and powers through an aggressive programme of fiscal conservatism, privatisation, and devolution of power to the states. At the same time, state governments took on additional powers, voluntarily stepping in to take over policy areas and programmes that Kartika had abandoned. However, the ordoliberal SRA continued to play an active role in stimulating the economy both directly, through fiscal policy and subsidies, and indirectly, reconfiguring those parts of the Kirosocialist apparatus that it hadn't dismantled into fiscal, legal, and regulatory tools to herd states into following its lead on economic developent. This, as well as high military spending and a very active foreign policy under the Mérovin and Candrin administrations, suggested to many Kiravians that the federal government was still in need of reduction. Although the soft-antifederal Liberty Group and hard-antifederal Kiravia of Regions caucuses both lost Stanoral seats during this time, the antifederal elements of the Caucus of Justice and other caucuses became more pronounced. The 21207 Irovasdra asylum dispute and subsequent emergence of hard-antifederalist Ruarí mac Tòisich as a contender for the Prime Executure reīnjected strong antifederalist sentiment and serious antifederalist policy recommendations into the political mainstream, portending that the enduring questions of Kiravian federalism are far from settled.

Perspectives

Federalism

Federalism is the consensus position among the contemporary Kiravian public, and is widely considered the "natural" or "just" way of governing the large and diverse country. All of the major political movements in Kiravia today endorse some form of federalism, though there are differences of opinion regarding the exact distribution of powers and responsibilities between the federal and subject-level governments.

Antifederalism

Hard

Hard antifederalists (Kiravic:Idriasovundirisurya) seek a rapid and dramatic reduction of the federal government (or its abolition), mainly through a total overhaul or repeal of the Fundamental Statute. They have a minimalistic view of the federal government's rightful responsibilities, usually limiting them to collective defence, foreign relations, and interstate dispute resolution. Many hard antifederalists are confederalists, who seek to return to the constitutional arrangement of the Confederate Republics of Kirav. Others seek even looser arrangements comparable to the the pre-Maastricht European Union, the British Commonwealth, or the Russo-Byelorussian Union State.

A tiny, but active contingent of hard antifederalists known as total abolitionists (Kiravic: ēlatabaśtirisurya) or dissolutionists seek to abolish the federal government without creating a successor entity, envisioning a future in which the Kiravian states would all be fully independent and all relations among them entirely bilateral. Total abolitionists are a fringe movement, and many organised groups advocating this position have been identified as seditionist by the Domestic Security Agency.

The Regional Kiravia Caucus once held an affirmatively hard-antifederalist line, but has since moderated its official platform to bring soft-antifederalists and others under its umbrella. The Southern Green-Right conference within the Reservatives and Conformists Caucus is also hard-antifederalist.

Soft

Soft antifederalists seek to shift more political power to the states at the expense of the federal government, but do not seek to abandon it or reform it into a weaker association among the states. They generally believe that the Fundamental Statute adequately distributes power between the states, Federacy, and citizenry, but that strong-federalist legal interpretations of it, certain amendments to it, and various political practices and customs adopted during the last century have caused Kiravian federalism to drift from its intended framework. Soft antifederalists seek an incremental reduction of the federal government's power through federal legislation to relinquish power and cut spending and taxation, court cases based upon stricter interpretations of the Fundamental Statute, and new constitutional amendments that more clearly delineate the bounds of federal authority.

Soft antifederalism is most common in the southern and western states in Great Kirav and certain overseas colonies with strong subnational identities or anti-government views. It is weakest in the economic "core" states of eastern and coastal Great Kirav, as well as overseas colonies that rely heavily on the federal government for resource markets, military contracts, and defence, such as the Atrassica and Saxalin Islands.

The Freedom Conference within the Kiravian Free Alliance, as well as the Kiravian Reservative Union conference within the Caucus of Justice, have a soft-antifederalist agenda.

Unitarism

Unitarism (þuvikorisēn) is a rare view among contemporary Kiravians. It is historically associated with Kirosocialism and survives mainly among more hardline segments of the modern Kirosocialist movement, whereas the mainstream of the movement has come to embrace left-wing formulations of federalism. The post-Kirosocialist and civic-nationalist Nation-State Party is also unitarist.