An Examination of Extra-Universal Systems of Government

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Worffan101

Worffan101

Dark, but I like the sleazy aspect of it and the idea of a completely broken Britain that somehow still maintains a colonial empire is ironically humorous somehow.
 

rvbomally

Worffan101 said:
Dark, but I like the sleazy aspect of it and the idea of a completely broken Britain that somehow still maintains a colonial empire is ironically humorous somehow.
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Yeah, Mr. Gates is so corrupt he serves as a counterpoint to the system's efficacy while advocating for it. :p
 

Kriegdämmerung

As always, these entries are forever superb!

Was inspired by the "non-traditional states" entries to think about the following; doubt I'll have time to flesh it out though:

Inspired by Cambodia in OTL, have the UN Transitional Authority (UNTAC) become the first in a series of UN-mandates that become "international territories" of the UN. And then two, Khmer-run, "governments in exile", one being Kampuchea, in all of its Khmer Rouge craziness, being run out of camps in the jungle and embassies/honorary consulates in a few rogue states, and a Kingdom of Cambodia, in a hotel room in Beijing as a "guest" of the PRC...
 

Ephraim Ben Raphael

Banned
Kriegdämmerung said:
Was inspired by the "non-traditional states" entries to think about the following; doubt I'll have time to flesh it out though:

Inspired by Cambodia in OTL, have the UN Transitional Authority (UNTAC) become the first in a series of UN-mandates that become "international territories" of the UN. And then two, Khmer-run, "governments in exile", one being Kampuchea, in all of its Khmer Rouge craziness, being run out of camps in the jungle and embassies/honorary consulates in a few rogue states, and a Kingdom of Cambodia, in a hotel room in Beijing as a "guest" of the PRC...
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I like it. Would the focus be UNTAC?
 

Deleted member 82792

rvbomally said:
City of London
​
I must admit a weakness for microstates. Perhaps it is the appeal of the underdog: a state the size of a city block facing off against a hostile world. Maybe it is the interesting logistics of putting all of the apparatus of state in such a small area. I confess that part of my love affair is that I like the idea that I can explore an entire country in an afternoon.

The next destination on my adventure is small, it is far from an underdog. Although known as the Square Mile - an apt name, given its total metropolitan area is 1.12 square miles - its colonial empire is significant, and its financial power unmatched in power.

The City of London certainly showed off its wealth. The Square Mile was covered in interlocking buildings, such that the entire Square Mile could be counted as a single building. The Port District took up nearly half of the City's territory; I saw now why London maintains colonial holdings for its massive fleet. With no room to build outward, the City build upward, and it towered over neighboring Westminster. I sat by a large glass window overlooking the Thames River, and watched ships of every flag move to and from the Port District.

I meet my contact, Mr. Henry Gates, a councilman for the City of London Corporation. He grabs my hand and pulls me in for one of the most aggressive handshakes I've ever had inflicted on me, patting me on the back as he goes. Mr. Gates' thick Midwestern American accent was far out of place in the middle of Westminster.

"It's been a while since I've talked to someone from the Nutshell. Is it still, eh, nuts?"

Perhaps that explained the accent. I ask Mr. Gates if he's done business in the Nutshell.

"Yes, I've made a pretty penny turning over refurbished Kwamunian KF7s and Pactist surplus. That business got too hot for me to handle so I 'retired' here. Switching to a monoworld silk market upped my life expectancy considerably."

I asked how a foreigner could become a councilman for London.

"Foreigner? Sir, I'll have you know I redeemed myself, er, got my citizenship, same as everybody else. Paid for it all up front in solid gold."

While such a statement may be considered a bold admission of corruption in most societies, I understood that in the City of London, anyone could become a freeman and buy their way in, a process known as "redemption." The price, I knew, was onerous. I thought better of asking Mr. Gates what his was.

"Not just anyone, friend, you have to be at least twenty-one years of age and give up your old citizenship, if you had any. And the Freedom of the City doesn't let in just anybody. The Court of Aldermen has to approve your application, and Common Council has to approve your freedom through a resolution. I had to grease a few palms to get them to vote for me, being a foreigner, you know. They let in some French nobility a century ago, and they were loaded. You also have to have the approval of every Livery Company in the City, or at least none of them can object."

The Livery Companies of the City of London are the collection of guilds, corporations, and other businesses that are based in London. During my visit, there were over a thousand, and they dominate this world's commerce. Tea, silk, diamonds, oil, - if it is moved via ship, there's a good chance it ends up under a Londoner flag.

Mr. Gates and I walk out of London Tower - a distinct building from the Tower of London - down and out into the City itself. Hardly anything remains of the old city, thanks to Cromwell, but Mr. Gates tells me the Guildhall has survived. As we make our way to the Guildhall, our conversation momentarily turns to the state of the Nutshell, before I move the conversation back to the topic of freedom.

"When you get your freedom, you have the same right as any Londoner who was born with it. There aren't a lot of us, and most of us live in the colonies. You can vote for councilmen of the Common Council, if you reside in the City itself. I'm here because of my duties as a councilman."

As we approached Guildhall, it seemed as if part of another timeline were dropped right in the middle of the glass jungle around me. The medieval building was gutted during the Great Fire, but the City of London was able to repair it. It was difficult to believe that this was the hub of commercial power in this world.

I was curious as to what a foreigner would gain from being councilman. Couldn't Mr. Gates get what he needs here with his freedom alone?

"What, is civic duty to my new home not enough?

I wordlessly expressed my skepticism.

"Alright, alright, you got me. When things got too hot for me in the Nutshell, I needed protection. Most places will take your loot, but they'll leave you out to dry if some goons come knocking. But here, I could buy my citizenship real quick. Being a government official buys me protection, and boy howdy, does London give good protection for your coin."

I wondered how much protection a place called the "Square Mile" could give a marked man.

Mr. Gates held up three fingers. "Three letters, friend: E. I. C. London has the largest fleet in the world, because we have the East India Company and a dozen of the largest shipping companies in the world. All part of the Worshipful Company of Traders. We rule the waves, so if anyone fucks with me, they fuck with the world's merchant marine, and nobody wants to piss off folks that can shut you off from global trade."

The City of London began as the Roman trading outpost of Londinium. After the fall of Roman control on Britain, the Anglo-Saxon invaders built settlements around Roman London, and the city was periodically sacked by the Vikings. Seeking shelter behind the old Roman walls, the City of London developed its own unique government, separate from the settlements beyond the London Wall. The Normans established new fortifications outside London, and with them the surrounding urban areas grew. London remained part of the Kingdom of England, but retained its unique government.

London would gain its independence in the aftermath of the chaos that was the English Civil War. Beginning as a dispute between the English king, Charles I, and the Parliament, the English Civil War tore apart England and its neighboring kingdom of Scotland. The Parliamentarians under Oliver Cromwell would triumph for a time, successfully deposing and beheading Charles I, and establishing the Commonwealth of England under Cromwell and several major-generals across England. The system would not survive Cromwell's death, which led to the second phase of the English Civil War. The major-generals fought one another for control, and a revitalized Royalist movement under Charles II joined the fray. In the chaos, London was burned to the ground by the forces of Richard Cromwell, Oliver Cromwell's son, in an attempt to deny the city he was about to lose to his Royalist foes.

The English Civil War would end with no decisive winner, fracturing England and the devastated areas around the City of London. Angered by the City's treatment during the war, London had no desire to reunite with any of the factions, particularly the Protectorate of England which surrounded it. London was able to maintain its independence by enlisting the loyalty of the East India Company, which wanted to be able to trade with all of the post-war English states and thus could not join with any of them. With command of one of the largest fleets in the world, and control of trade with Asia, the City of London was unassailable.

I asked Mr. Gates what his duties are as a councilman.

"The Common Council is in charge of 'the police duties' of London. This used to mean walking around looking for troublemakers, but ever since we started getting colonies, it also means military power. The shipping companies are usually in charge of their own defense, but we do have a Londoner Navy in charge of patrolling the Thames and the colonial ports. Most of my real responsibility as councilman is voting to appoint members of committees. They're the bureaucrats who keep everything in the City itself running. Schools, public utilities, the works, the City of London's committees take care of everything here."

And outside the City? This elicited a grin.

"Did I ever tell you I was a liveryman?"

I shook my head.

"Yep, liveryman in the Worshipful Company of Traders. That's where the real fun is."

I didn't quite get Mr. Gates' meaning, and he explained what he meant.

"In my capacity as a liveryman, I represent the Worshipful Company of Traders. Not every freeman is a liveryman - most freemen aren't - but I managed to become enclothed because I could offer a lot to the Company."

And why would Mr. Gates want to become a liveryman.

"We're the ones who vote for the Lord Mayor. The Lord Mayor is elected by liverymen - we call the electorate Common Hall - who in turn represent the interests of their company. If a liveryman doesn't vote for what his company wants, he can expect a pink slip. The Lord Mayor doesn't have much power in the Square Mile, but he is responsible for governing the colonies. He calls all of the shots there: he appoints governors and bureaucrats, sets taxes, the whole shebang. And while the number crunching all goes on in the Square Mile, the money is made in the colonies."

I asked Mr. Gates how he managed to gain such an honor so quickly.

"I knew where the big money, and power, was: the Worshipful Company of Traders. The East India Company's part of it, and so are the next twelve or so shipping companies on the planet. So of course, I established myself as a businessman with experience in trade. When words didn't do the trick, gold did. Proof positive I know how to make a buck, right? So they let me in."

I felt the urge to ask Mr. Gates how he became a councilman, but I suspected being a liveryman in one of the most powerful livery companies in the City helped. Impressed by the power the companies held, I asked Mr. Gates what checks existed on the livery companies.

"None, when you're this loaded, nobody can tell you what to do. Technically, the Court of Aldermen can create more livery companies, which would dilute the power of the existing companies. But there's no way that will happen. The Aldermen are elected by the different wards in the City, and guess who votes in those elections?"

Mr. Gates answered his own question by pointing at himself.

"Everyone in the City works for the livery companies. There hasn't been a new livery company in nearly two centuries."

Finally, I asked Mr. Gates about his primary political concerns.

"Making sure the Worshipful Company of Traders gets what it wants. Ideological disputes aren't much of a concern here; the most you'd get is arguments over how much autonomy and democracy the colonies should have. The important fights are over specific policies. Do we stop trading with the Malay Caliphate because of piracy, or do we help that government fight the pirates? Things of that sort."

Was the democratic movement popular?

"Hell no. The City of London is a corporation. It represents the interests of the livery companies, and they are the only reason London means anything in this world. If the colonials want democracy, they can vote with their feet."

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Nice work.

Can you please tell us more about the city's demographics and culture?
 

B_Munro

I like the idea of a London city state and it's colonial empire, but it seems a bit small: 2/3 of the population of "London" were already living outside the 1.1 square miles of "the city" proper by the 1660s. And having a navy isn't much help when the enemy can just march an army by land right up to the walls - London isn't conveniently perched in a marsh like Venice - and you can't pack more than a certain number of people into 1.1 square miles without modern sanitation or modern architecture. The colonies? In 1660 the American colonies had only about 1/4 the population of London plus its suburbs, and would not surpass the population of London until the 1730s OTL. London needs some Lebensraum, but it could be like the "country area" of various Italian city states or Swiss city-dominated cantons: the "country people" (including smaller, adjacent towns and little cities) are governed by different laws and are subordinated to the ruling metropole. If the protectorate is unpleasant enough, they'll accept the leadership of London even under such circumstances, since they're where the money is...
 

rvbomally

The Pink Tide
​
My cover of @KitFisto1997's Union of European Communes article. Many thanks to him, of course, for all of the ideas and the text below.
  • The Algerian War goes to hell for the French, de Gaulle is assassinated and the attempted OAS coup succeeds in 1962. France plunges into a short lived civil conflict that ends in 1965.
  • McCarthyism doesn't leave the US political sphere and remains a major point of Cold War-era American politics throughout the 60's and beyond.
  • The New Left movements in Western Europe grow more radicalised and violent. The Soviets avoid going into a détente with the West and begins to actively fund these terrorist groups.
  • France fully collapses in 1970 and the UEC is forged from the aftermath. Similar revolutions take place in the Low Countries, Spain and Portugal, adding more territory to the fledgling nation.
  • The United Kingdom manages to survive an aborted revolution with American support, but ends up as a military junta in a way similar to the Tokugawa Shogunate.
  • The Sino-Soviet split happens almost on cue, with the Europeans quickly breaking their ties to Moscow in the mid 1970's. The Communist world is quickly split between the Minarchist Socialist UEC, neo-Stalinist Soviet Union and Maoist PRC.
  • Other offshoots of Communism/Socialist ideologies such as neo-Trotskyism, Christian Socialism and Strasserism begin to take over the rest of Europe and the Third World. Some exist as terrorist organisations in the US and the rest of the Free World.
  • As a result of these revolutions, the United States grows closer to the Religious Right earlier than OTL with a heavily protectionist streak. The Civil Rights movement is more violent than OTL as Black Power/Socialist movements grow in number, drowning out moderate voices.
  • Militias such as Weather Underground begin to grow in number, espousing a large number of ideologies, from Green Anarchism to Christian Conservatism, almost every political movement has some form of an armed wing. The general attitude in the US is that of hopelessness and despair as the only thing that keeps the Free World from collapsing is a massive internal and external military presence and a shit-tonne of nuclear weapons.
  • Australia has taken a hard-right turn under Sir Joh Bjelke-Petersen in the 70's, and is suffering from a Red Scare. Despite the hard right politics compared to OTL, it is currently dealing with the flood of refugees from SE Asia. The European refugees and their descendants are considered their own distinct ethnic group. Melbourne is considered an honorary Greek city.
  • There are three French governments-in-exile. One in the Caribbean, another in Algeria and the third in the Pacific. Spain holds the Baleric Islands, Tangiers, Western Sahara and Equatorial Guinea. Portugal exists only in their island territories and Angola.
  • There are also large populations of Europeans in North/West Africa, but these have mostly assimilated and have since put their respective nations into the US bloc. West/North Africa is mostly borderline First World ITTL.
  • New Zealand is neutral and wants to remain that way. Wellington is ruled by a Green-Labour Coalition and is fervently anti-nuclear, moreso than OTL.
  • Poland and the DDR butt heads over the former's meshing of the Catholic faith and Communism and the Pole's status as Slavs with the latter.
  • The US went religious right earlier than ITTL as a backlash to the New Left. Reagan ran for President in the 60's instead of Goldwater.
  • The Middle East is somewhat peaceful. Although, the Soviet-backed United Arab Republic is starting to get sick of their neighbours - the UEC-backed Libyan Socialist Federation. The Republic of Iraq is a free and secular state. Israel is UEC-aligned and is one big communal Kibbutz. Saudi Arabia sells oil to everybody. Yemen is still split. Iran and Afghanistan are in the US sphere.
  • India and Pakistan nuked each other in the 1990's and is a massive multi-faceted battleground for the US, UEC, USSR and PRC. Both of the nations have plenty of neutral independent states however.
  • Thailand is a nasty military dictatorship and is a rogue state, having done away with the King in the 80's.
  • Ethiopia is a Christian theocracy with a puppet Emperor. Also a rogue state.
  • Macau is another rogue, this time a corporate uber capitalist nightmare state with a mixed Portuguese/French/Spanish/Cantonese ruling class.
  • Brits still hold Hong Kong and Singapore directly. Both are looking toward Macau's AnCap-ish corporatist dictatorship for guidance. Britain is trying to keep a tighter leash on them without pissing off the locals/Americans.
  • Plenty of French and Belgians have fled to the Congo and have aided in the democratisation and industrialisation of the region. Think of what a 'perfect' multi-racial South Africa would look (i.e. no farm murders and angry commies).
  • Sarawak is still under the White Rajas and is considered an Apartheid rogue state. Anglos are obviously on the top followed by Chinese, Indians, Siamese refugees and Malays.
ThePinkTideDraft.png
 

rvbomally

B_Munro said:
I like the idea of a London city state and it's colonial empire, but it seems a bit small: 2/3 of the population of "London" were already living outside the 1.1 square miles of "the city" proper by the 1660s. And having a navy isn't much help when the enemy can just march an army by land right up to the walls - London isn't conveniently perched in a marsh like Venice - and you can't pack more than a certain number of people into 1.1 square miles without modern sanitation or modern architecture. The colonies? In 1660 the American colonies had only about 1/4 the population of London plus its suburbs, and would not surpass the population of London until the 1730s OTL. London needs some Lebensraum, but it could be like the "country area" of various Italian city states or Swiss city-dominated cantons: the "country people" (including smaller, adjacent towns and little cities) are governed by different laws and are subordinated to the ruling metropole. If the protectorate is unpleasant enough, they'll accept the leadership of London even under such circumstances, since they're where the money is...
Click to expand...

I imagine that London has a lot of political and financial (really, the same thing when it comes to this) clout with the Protectorate and people living in the rest of Britain. I'm sure that plenty of "Londoners" spend most of their time in the rest of England and rarely step foot in the Square Mile.
 

B_Munro

rvbomally said:
I imagine that London has a lot of political and financial (really, the same thing when it comes to this) clout with the Protectorate and people living in the rest of Britain. I'm sure that plenty of "Londoners" spend most of their time in the rest of England and rarely step foot in the Square Mile.
Click to expand...

Modern time conditions don't explain how they survive, say, the first century... :(

(BTW, The Pink Tide? Nice.)
 

jeckl

[QUOTE="rvbomally, post: 16490967, member: 7885"
  • Australia has taken a hard-right turn under Sir Joh Bjelke-Petersen in the 70's, and is suffering from a Red Scare. Despite the hard right politics compared to OTL, it is currently dealing with the flood of refugees from SE Asia. The European refugees and their descendants are considered their own distinct ethnic group. Melbourne is considered an honorary Greek city.[/QUOTE]
Jeez Sir Joh as PM, what a dark TL this is :eek:

Are the governments in exile backed by the US?

Also what are relations like between the Frances?
 

rvbomally

B_Munro said:
Modern time conditions don't explain how they survive, say, the first century... :(

(BTW, The Pink Tide? Nice.)
Click to expand...

Damn that present tense. I meant that this would have happened earlier on. Of course, it would still be a close run thing. I suspect that London had friends beyond that would have intervened if it had been decapitated.
 
Gokbay

Gokbay

I love that how in "the Pink Tide" Turkey is trying to be a neutral, nice, social-democratic and prosperous country but the people just keep on electing Islamists so that military has to intervene for the sake of secularism. (damn most of Anatolia and the overwhelming migrant (from said most of Anatolia) population of Istanbul why must you keep pulling our nation down in most timelines.) (because southeast is definitly voting for a thinly veiled (if it is veiled at all) Kurdish rights/independence/autonomy party and the coasts are voting for a secular Social-democraric party (most likely the Republican Peoples).)
 
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