Our Fair Country: The Commonwealth of New England
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Rhode Island general election, 2014
The 2014 Rhode Island General Election was the most expensive in the province's history and widely regarded as being one of the most acrimonious in recent memory. Rhode Island Labour had suffered a series of defeats going back to the 1970s, unable to break the stranglehold the Liberal Conservatives held over the levers of power, aided by the moderate Progressive Nationals. Labour, as a brand, was not well liked in the province, which leaned very much to the right in national elections. After former Premier Mark Zaccaria decided to step down and hand over power to his deputy, Scott Avedisian, many believed that this was going to be Rhode Island's next Premier for the foreseeable future, the Progressive Nationals overwhelmingly voted to support him in the coalition.
The real signs of trouble came with the Gina Raimondo, the leader of the Rhode Island Labour Party. She was far to the right of most Labour members in other provinces, and branded herself as a moderate, much to the dismay of labour unions. Her message of economic reforms and a new direction for Rhode Island resonated with the electorate, who surprised all of New England with handing her a majority in the Rhode Island General Assembly, and inflicting heavy losses on the Liberal Conservatives and the Progressive Nationals. Avedisian announced he would remain as the party's leader, while Fung believed the losses were cause for a leadership review, which he would go on to win a few months later.
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23 seats? That government could easily fall into a minority should one of their own become Speaker. Would I be correct in assuming Labour has the support of Progress?
What is the ideological difference between the Liberal Conservatives and the Progressive Nationals?
Deleted member 92121
One is a free market social conservative and the other is a protectionist pro-social investment one?
Too many regional parties in my opinion, they should merge and spare everyone the confusion.
Oh certainly! But Progress does indeed support them. Not in any official capacity, but will help carry most bills, if need be.
The Liberal Conservatives are a merger of the former Liberal Party of Rhode Island and the Conservative Party of Rhode Island. The two merged with the intention of bringing a "moderate" force to Rhode Island to fend off from Labour, which was viewed (rightly) as a socialist party. The LCP's party platform is often centred around "big tent" issues that can unite everyone in the province, finding ways to reduce spending without hurting the working poor, working on 'sensible' regulations, and stressing a good working relationship with both Connecticut and Plymouth, with whom the province has the most economic partnerships with. The Progressive National Party is much more right-wing (comparable to say, a Midwestern U.S. Republican) and are wholly dominated by the "business" aspect of things. They are a cadet branch of the National Party, which at one time held seats in the Parliament but has since been supplanted by the Conservatives and Parti Francophone. Despite the "Progressive" in their name, their list candidates are quite right-wing and sometimes hold strong opinions on social issues (eg gay marriage, lgbtq+ rights, abortion) but the business-wing of the party makes sure that's never in the official platform.
The LCP and the PNP have effectively governed Rhode Island as a centre-right (by New England standards) government, providing little change but strong stability. Rhode Islanders are inherently hostile to leftist ideas, as Gina Raimondo is certainly well to the right of the national Labour party.
Why did Newfoundland join Canada ITTL? Wouldn't there have been more support for joining New England instead?
Newfoundland had a natural rivalry with New England fishermen and it need resentment between the island and the New England dominion. When it came time for Newfoundland to resume its responsible government the resentment towards New England was strong, and the desire to have a seat over Labrador (all of the territory had been granted to Quebec, and Labradors dismay) Newfoundland voted to join Canada on the condition that Labrador be separated from Quebec, which was granted. Newfoundland retained control over it until the 1970s when it became the Labrador Territory.
Rhodesia, and all of Southern Africa, is a humanitarian nightmare. South Africa became a hyper-apartheid regime mixed with elements we associate with Nazism. The entire region is war torn, and Rhodesia itself was the target of removals of the native population by the then Southern Rhodesia government, backed by South Africa. After the Commonwealth forces were able to topple the Rhodesian government, the ruins were picked up by the Anglo-Africans who then formed a multiracial democracy. Due to the strong Commonwealth investment in the region, it became an area of migration, partially to offset South Africa's own immigration plan of importation of Whites who are ideologically similar to the regime's, to ensure that the country didn't grow too powerful.
Current population growth in southern Africa (sans South Africa) is due to large commonwealth investments infrastructure, water and food security, as well as economic investments into cities to benefit both the native Africans and white immigrants. Rhodesia's current Prime Minister is an African native and all parliamentary parties are multiracial.
Soontm
The Commonwealth of Rhodesia is a landlocked country in southern Africa, the fifth largest Commonwealth country, and the largest African country in the Commonwealth. Its history has been shaped by its interactions with the British Empire and South Africa, with the Republic of Southern Rhodesia having been declared in 1962 to support the Apartheid policies of South Africa, with whom the country signed an alliance with and began to implement the "Cape Town Plan," which was designed to relegate the native African populace to small Bantustans and banning them from other white areas. All of Rhodesia was never under the control of the Apartheid forces, with the British Parliament passing the Rhodesia Act shortly after the colony's declaration of independence, which organised the colony as the Commonwealth of Rhodesia, and allocated funds to expel the South Africans and Apartheidists from the country. This ignited the Bush War, which was not won until 1982 with the final surrender of the Southern Rhodesia government and complete liberation of Rhodesia.
With peace in 1982, the country were severely depopulated and in a general state of economic despair. The native African populace had been decimated by war, famine, and the Cape Town Plan, so much so that Whites were believed to make up the majority of the roughly three and a half million people left living there. The 1980s and 1990s were a period of economic investment and nation building to try and secure the country's southern border, which is heavily militarised on both sides. The Limpopo Brigade is responsible for maintaining border controls across the river of the same name.
Since the 1993 constitution, Rhodesia has officially been a multiracial democracy, ending all restrictions against native Africans who sometime early in the decade became the plurality ethnic group in the country, and has seen strong population growth (especially among the native Shona population) since. Rhodesia today has a growing economy, with Salisbury being one of the premier cities in southern Africa. Because of its strong economy and numerous civil rights, thousands of South Africans, both white and black, attempt to escape into the country each year, which result in the highest internationally observable state-sponsored murder against the escapees, with South African military forces firing upon them as they attempt to cross the river. Those who are able to make it across need to merely get to the middle of the river, where South African forces will no longer fire as it then considered Rhodesian territory.
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Union of Soviet Socialist Republics
The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics also known as the Soviet Union is the second most powerful nation in the world and the leader of the world Communist movement. While it had been the main adversary of the United States and United Kingdom during the Cold War, after the Oslo Treaty in June of 2003, the Soviet Union has agreed to nuclear disarmament and an opening of the Soviet economy to the outside capitalist world. Since the treaty, the economy has been transformed from a centrally planned economy to a heavily regulated semi-free market economy, resulting in massive economic growth from the malaise of the 1990s and causing concerns in many western countries that the Soviet Union's economy would grow to eclipse that of Europe's by 2030.
The Soviet Union is also the world's third most populous state behind India and China, and is the world's largest state by land area. Civil freedoms in the Soviet Union are limited, with the internet heavily regulated along with public demonstrations and speech to preserve the Communist Party's control over the country. While the 2005 constitution separated the party and the government officially, this has been on paper only, and the General Secretary of the Communist Party is the most powerful office in the country, surpassing that of the President of the Soviet Union. The country's first President, Mikhail Gorbachev, has announced he would be stepping down at the end of April, after a Presidential election is held to determine his successor.
The Soviet Economy is based around heavy industrial production, manufacturing goods at a cheap rate for export to Europe and North America, being an important trading partner for both regions. Germany is the Soviet Union's biggest trading partner, importing high-tech machinery, automobiles, and other goods, while exporting cheap consumer goods and raw materials. The Soviet Union is responsible for the majority of Europe's natural gas.
Despite the end of the Cold War, the Soviet Union retains strong ties with her former satellite states in Europe, notably with Albania, which remains a communist state. The Soviet Union also has strong ties with communist states around the world such as Mongolia, Cambodia, Laos, and Angola. It does not, however, support communist movements such as the ongoing insurgency in Colombia and Burma, per terms of the Oslo Treaty.
Recently, the Soviet Union has had to deal with unrest in Central Asia, which pro-separatist, pro-democratic movements have emerged in Kirghizia, the Tajik SSR, Turkmenia, and the Uzbek SSR. While some elements inside the Kazakh SSR are sympathetic to the movement, the republic is the second largest majority-Russian republic in the Soviet Union and few observers believe it could become a potential problem in the future. The Soviet Union has also dealt with partisans in the Caucasus, which was briefly supported by the United States, before they backed down amidst pressure at home to not intervene, and not wishing to disrupt ongoing talks about ending the Cold War.
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The Oslo Treaty guaranteed the independence of Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia, which had been occupied by the Soviet Union since the Soviet-German War.
Western Belarus and western Ukraine never became part of the Soviet Union, remaining a part of Poland. Today, the Ukrainians in Poland are known as Ruthenians, and the Polish government actively supports the distinction to prevent any movements for unification with the Ukrainian SSR.
So the Baltic states never gained independence till 2003? That must have caused a lot of independence marches and civil wars etc.?
Would it be fair to say Belarusian is included in the Ruthenia designation too? So at the most the Poles would refer to North and South Ruthenians?
This is correct. A lot of this:
happened in the Baltics before they were finally let go.
I think this would be a fair assumption, given that they had been culturally tied to Poles and Ukrainians for the past ~century, making them distinct from the Byelorussians in the similarly named SSR to their east (At least, in the eyes of the Poles and many 'assimilated' Byelorussians and Ukrainians who identify as Ruthenian). The dividing line could roughly be drawn at the Rokitno Marshes in eastern Poland. Instead of calling them "North" and "South," it would most likely by "Ruthenian" and "White Ruthenian," which was what Poland historically used in the interwar period.
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