Delepasian Confederation

Confederation of the Delepasian Forals (1852-1888) Confederación de Foros Delepasíanos United Delepasian States (1888-1924) Estados Unidos Delepasíanos
1852-1924
Flag from 1852-1900
Motto: E pluribus unum ("Out of many, one")
Anthem: Delepasian March
Location of Delepasia at its territorial extent in 1924 (dark green)
Capital	Santa Maria
Official languages	Pelaxian
Common languages	Cartadanian Reform Tainean
Religion	Catholicism
Demonym(s)	Delepasian
Government	Foralist constitutional elective monarchy (1852-1888) Confederal parliamentary constitutional elective monarchy (1888-1924)
Emperor
• 1852-1859	Alphonso I
• 1859-1900	Augustine I
• 1900-1924	Augustine II
Prefect
• 1852-1873 (first)	Luis-Afonso del Ocampo
• 1922-1924 (last)	Isidoro de Santa Ana
President
• 1852-1864 (first)	Miguel de Pretorica
• 1922-1924 (last)	Fernan Pascual
Legislature	Foral Assembly
History
• Independence	1852
• End of foralism	1888
• Beginning of Pascual's tenure	21 August 1922
• Estado Social declared	3 August 1924
Preceded by Succeeded by Delepasian Kingdom Delepasian Commonwealth

The Delepasian Confederation refers to an era from 1852 until the rise of the Estado Social in 1924 in which Delepasia, now Castadilla, was a loose confederation of highly autonomous and quasi-independent states which swore loyalty to a relatively weak central government under a figurehead emperor. Although the era spans two different confederal governments, they are typically counted as happening under one era due to the many similarities in historiography between the foralist and confederalist regimes despite the two being ideological opponents. Indeed, the 1852 constitution of Delepasia still remained in force even after the fall of foralism with the advent of modernisation reforms in 1888. It is the first entirely independent Delepasian government.

The confederation era began in 1852 after the fall of the Delepasian Kingdom shortly after the fall of the Pelaxian monarchy a few months prior. In the ensuing chaos, it was the old aristocracy of the former Viceroyalty of Los Rumas which had emerged victorious, thus establishing a new government which would reflect the traditionalist and conservative values which they saw as a bulwark against the violent radicalism of the First Pelaxian Republic which arose just fifty years prior. The aristocracy called for an alternative to liberal ideals as well as free market capitalism, and result was a quasi-feudal ideology known as foralism which was based upon medieval forms of government and sought to establish a highly decentralised government under which member states would be granted a foro ("forum"), a document which guaranteed both a given state's autonomy, but also its right to govern based on the cultural norms and values that make up its day-to-day society.

Foralism would eventually be dismantled in the 1880s when a reformist government gained power and began to repeal many of the medieval-inspired laws to make way for laws based around the rule of law, thus ending the laws which guaranteed an aristocratic monopoly on the economy and beginning the transitioning of said economy towards capitalism. However, the aristocracy largely retained their monopoly until the end of the First Great War when the economy rapidly collapsed, plunging numerous Delepasian member states into social and political instability which saw Auxana's aristocratic republic collapse and Rosaria come under hundreds of prime ministers and presidents in a very short period of time until its government was overthrown in a military coup led by Isidoro de Santa Ana.

It was during the latter years of instability that an economics professor by the name of Fernan Pascual would emerge as the Rosarian military government's minister of finance. His policies and oversight allowed for the Rosarian economy to rapidly go from a freefall to a surplus in the 1920s, the seemingly miraculous economic recovery would see Pascual become Prime Minister of Rosaria before his appointment as President of the Forals shortly afterward. His popularity would allow him to pass a series of sweeping centralisation reforms, converting the confederation into a unitary authoritarian conservative regime which Pascual dubbed the Estado Social ("Social State"); the new regime's constitution would be enacted in 1924, thus ending the confederation era.

History

Background

Main article: Delepasian Kingdom

The collapse of the Girojon monarchy of Pelaxia in 1852 in favour of the stratocratic Second Pelaxian Republic would see both the former aristocracy and the former royal family flee to the Viceroyalty of Los Rumas where they, with the support of the colonial aristocracy, declared the Delepasian Kingdom, a royalist government-in-exile that wished to establish the Pelaxio-Delepasian Union, a proposed real union under the Girojons between the newly-established kingdom and Pelaxia. Throughout the restoration period, from 1814 until 1852, the idea of a real union between the former Viceroyalty and Pelaxia had been proposed on both sides of Sarpedon and was seen as a way to preserve the loyalty of the Rumian peoples as well as solidifying their long-held autonomy and constitutional norms. However, the idea was never put into practice as the centralistic Pelaxian government saw it as more of a distraction to keep the colonial elite from opposing the gradual centralisation measures which were being put in place, but with the fall of the Pelaxian monarchy any wish to integrate the Viceroyalty into Pelaxia proper was considered a dead-end; letting the Viceroyalty become a practically independent state was seen as the more viable option.

The new royalist government in the newly-independent Delepasia had to respect the 16th Century Charter of San Lina, which was a constitutional document for the Viceroyalty and the new kingdom which limited the monarch's power and necessitated the establishment of a legislature. This also saw the rise of three main, competing political factions within the new kingdom. Those were the Royalists, who supported the Girojon monarchy and the idea of a Pelaxio-Delepasian Union; they were not absolutists, but they still were in support of an assertive monarch as in a semi-constitutional monarchy, the National Constitutionalists, who were supportive of Kilikas Enlightenment ideals and wished to further limit royal power; they were also nationalists who wanted the kingdom to abandon the real union idea and simply become an independent monarchy, and the National Republicans, who were more radical in their support of Kilikas Enlightenment ideals, and they wanted to abolish the monarch altogether in favour of an independent Delepasian republic.

The three groups were equally influential to the point that none of the three were any more powerful than the other two factions. This alone was not enough to result in constant instability, but the fact that all three factions were hostile to one another made it very clear that the new kingdom was going to have to struggle to remain united. Three months after the fall of the Pelaxian monarchy, the situation in Delepasia became so untenable that it looked like the nation was on the brink of civil war, prompting King Luciano II to abdicate the throne and flee the country, calling the Delepasians "ungovernable". The kingdom would dissolve itself shortly afterward, leading to the former provinces becoming quasi-independent states. Civil war was ultimately averted, but the instability of the former kingdom did not disappear due to the mounting tensions between rival factions simply being too high.