Cananachan Republicanism
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Cananachan Republicanism 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.
Flaitheas (Sovereignty)
The First Thesis, Sovereignty, centers on the source of legal power in a Cananachan Republic. It establishes two entities, the People and the State, as concepts and lays out their sources, rights, and duties.
"A represented People and an effective State creating prosperity;
A represented People and an ineffective State creating poverty;
An unrepresented People and an effective State creating tyranny;
And an unrepresented People and an ineffective State leading to revolution."
The First Thesis outlines the rights and duties of both the state and the people, as well as the basis of each.
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.