Cananachan Republicanism

Cananachan Republicanism, formally called Quaternalism or Quaternal Republicanism, is a branch of republican political theory promoted by Callac Cananach. Quaternalism was and remains the foundational ideology behind the Republic of the Fhainn, though the interpretation of its core tenets has varied over the history of the Fhainnin republic. Several other countries broadly fall under the umbrella of Quaternalism, though most of these interpret it as a localized variation of their own design, which is encouraged due to the nationalist bent of Quaternalist theory.

The Four Theses

The Four Theses form the foundational tenets of Quaternalism, and are a distilled form of Callac Cananach's most important writings. Cananach's Theses originally numbered several hundred detailed points, but the Four are the most central to the ideology and outline the most defining differences between Quaternalism and traditional democratic and republican theory.

• Thesis One: Structure of Government. The four primary functions of the state are: to tax and spend; to create law; to manage the public good; and to self-audit. A government should therefore have four branches, one for each primary role - Fiscal, Legislative, Administrative, and Corrective.
• Thesis Two: The Public Good/Welfare. The ultimate purpose of a government is to benefit the country as a whole. A government should therefore not be centered on a monarch or any institution other than itself. In addition, a government should work to ensure the rights of the people - primarily the right to freedom of thought and the right to fair and safe work.
• Thesis Three: Source of Sovereignty. Flaitheas (Sovereignty) comes from the People, who entrust power to the State. The People collectively hold all power in theory, and have both collective and individual rights. Collectively, the People hold the right to choose members of the State, and individually have rights to live, abstain from religious obligation, obtain fair and safe work of their choice, and own property free of unpaid seizure, among other rights considered to follow naturally from those. The State solely has the right to raise military forces, collect taxes for public administration, and write and apply the law, among other duties of state.
• Thesis Four: Liberation. A republican and democratic government liberates the People in several ways: from Social Tyranny (through full equality under the law) , Religious Tyranny (through secularism and laicism), Foreign Tyranny (Through nationalism), and 'Life-Tyranny' (a Fhasen term roughly meaning self-actualization or the pursuit of happiness). A government should therefore treat all citizens equally in criminal and civil law, remove religious expression from government institutions and publicly-owned utilities, maintain a strong military, and seek economic and technological excellence.

The Theses establish traditions of a four-branched national government, irreligiosity within public life, a strong emphasis on militant liberation, and the role of the State as an avatar of populist sentiment. They also loosely provide the basis for the tendency towards futuristic and modernist movements present in Quaternalist states, as well as more loosely relating to universal military service and the voting and local government systems .

Secondary Thinkers and Developments

Cian Walaerin

Primary tenets of Cananachist republican thought (established in primary work): - unitary republican government, not federal or aristocratic - four branches of government (exec, legisl, budget, audit/judicial) - secular goverment/anticlericalism secondary tenets (specific to Faneria, established via policy and other works): - focus on infrastructure, sciences and education/technologism or technocracy (both classical experts and modern technophilia themes)/futurism - counter-equatorialism, (esp. gaelic and sometimes coscivian nationalism) - semi-autarky - citizenship by attainment, not birth associated themes (not codified as part of Cananachist theory but related to the Fhainnin Republican movement in general or practiced by Fhainnin gov't to some degree: antiseparatism, authoritarian democracy, mixed economy, reformism, audit state, infrastructure state, perpetual revolutionary spirit any gov't that meets all three primary is Cananachist, any that meets 'republican' and 'secular' is a felow-traveller movement that can 'claim' Cananachist affiliation - federal states not a huge issue @Nolis @Kir (edited)

June 28, 2022 @Kistan Primary tenets of Cananachist republican thought (established in primary work): - unitary republican government, not federal or aristocratic - four branches of government (exec, legisl, budget, audit/judicial) - secular goverment/anticlericalism secondary tenets (specific to Faneria, established via policy and other works): - focus on infrastructure, sciences and education/technologism or technocracy (both classical experts and modern technophilia themes)/futurism - counter-equatorialism, (esp. gaelic and sometimes coscivian nationalism) - semi-autarky - citizenship by attainment, not birth associated themes (not codified as part of Cananachist theory but related to the Fhainnin Republican movement in general or practiced by Fhainnin gov't to some degree: antiseparatism, authoritarian democracy, mixed economy, reformism, audit state, infrastructure state, perpetual revolutionary spirit any gov't that meets all three primary is Cananachist, any that meets 'republican' and 'secular' is a felow-traveller movement that can 'claim' Cananachist affiliation - federal states not a huge issue @Nolis @Kir (edited)

is a variant of republican political theory designed as the founding ideology of the Fhainnin Popular Republic and its successor state, the Republic of the Fhainn by its namesake, Callac Cananach. In formal use, it is sometimes referred to as Gaelic State Theory or more commonly as Quaternal Republicanism. According to Cananach, Quaternal Republicanism is a liberal nationalist ideology designed to integrate radical anti-monarchism, perpetual revolution, and national revitalization theory; in practice, it is considered a stable form of authoritarian democracy, typically following liberal or pseudo-liberal principles.

The basis of the ideology comes from the Fiannrian Pan-Gaelic movement, early Restarkism, anti-clerical and anti-monarchic sentiment, and the republican tradition of Fiannria and other neighboring states. Many of its specifics are designed for Faneria in particular; at its heart, Cananachists accept any four-branched unitary republic as a Cananachan government, as well as republics in general as fellow-travellers. It incorporates some socialist elements while rejecting socialist economic theory. Cananachan Republicanism specifies unitary republicanism due to the failures of Federalist republican movements to cohesively resist monarchial power prior to and during the Fhainnin Civil War, as well as to combat regional separatism in Culriocha and Lyukquar after the revolution and through the first half of the 20th Century, as well as the relative ease of creating unitary states in underdeveloped regions compared to a strong federal system. Several of its details are intentionally designed to distinguish it from the Latin legal tradition, which is attractive in peripheral parts of the Occidental world.

The Four Theses

The tenets of Cananachan Republicanism are organized into a set of overarching points called the Four Theses. 'Sovereignty' outlines the basis of political authority and the rights and duties of the People and State, 'Governance' outlines a model for a four-branched unitary republic, and 'Nationalism' and 'Modernism' encapsulate the spirit of the ideology. Originally, there were three Theses, with 'Sovereignty' being expanded dramatically as Cananach rewrote his original works and 'Governance' being added later.

The People

The People are defined as any group with a sense of collective consciousness, but is noted to be most often based on shared culture rather than pluralism. However, it specifies that tolerance of minority citizens is of equal importance to the treatment of citizens from a nation's majority, in contrast to historic governments in Faneria.

The People are considered the source of legal authority through popular support, and have the rights to life, personal property, self-defense, thought, and political representation. Importantly, only Citizens have the right to *elect* their representation, while the politically apathetic and children have the right to be represented but not necessarily to vote. The Peoples' duties are cooperation with lawful operations of the State and, in the case of citizens, 'civil contribution' (meaning taxes, jury duty, cooperation with legal authorities, and militia service in wartime). Unlike the State, the rights and duties of the People apply to individuals; the People cannot be collectively tried in court. The State commonly stands as a legal entity both for itself and 'in place' of the People.

The State

The State is defined as a group of Citizens elected to form a smaller collective representing the People. In theory, its right to rule directly stems from the consent of the People. As a result, monarchic governments fall into a range of partial compliance and noncompliance with the First Thesis, requiring a republican form of government due to the election clause. Whether crowned republics and various types of elective monarchy are compliant with the First Thesis is an ongoing debate within political circles, which is critical to political discourse due to it defining if a Cananachan republic is ideologically opposed to such states or not.

The duties of the state mirror the rights of the People with the addition of the self-preservation of the State. The State's rights consist of the rights to pass and enforce laws and regulations and to represent the People both diplomatically and through war.

Riaghaltasachd (Governance)

The Second Thesis, Governance, outlines a republican form of government, breaking the core powers of the state into lawmaking, judicial operations, warfare, regulation, and international relations. Of these, regulation and warfare are considered too dangerous to both State and People to merely have checks and balances, instead being subordinate to the branches of government. The resulting system has four branches of government: Judicial, Legislative, Executive, and Budgeting. Budgets in the common form of a republic (three-branch republicanism) are typically handled by the legislature and the executive body, but in the Second Thesis, Cananach argues that power over the budget being separated to a council and approved by the legislature would the power of each branch individually.

The Second Thesis devolves administrative functions of government to Offices subordinate to their related branches of government. In theory, this creates four equal branches with a set of ministries appointed to each; in practice, the Executive branch usually has strong power over the bureaucracy.

Nàiseantachd (Nationalism)

The Third Thesis calls for civic and national pride, the rejection of subjugation to foreign governments, a sense of 'national self-respect', and the viewing of international diplomacy as a mixture of competing and cooperating wholes, each composed of States and Peoples.

Teachdail (Futurism/Modernism)

The Fourth Thesis, loosely translated to futurism, modernism, or scientism, outlines a general philosophical view based on Scientism, political reformism, Mathematicism, and indutrialization. It pushes for mechanization of industry, a focus on public infrastructure and works, heavy investment into the sciences and arts, and a secular government that refuses the authority of religious bodies to any formal legal power in government.