Yohannes
This is an article about the NationStates population version of the nation Yohannes roleplayed in the NationStates roleplaying world. To see the capped (small population) version of Yohannes roleplayed in the region Maredoratica, click here
Yohānnes
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| Motto: "Tauhokohoko me te Whai Rawa" "Economic Prosperity, Strong Nation" |
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| Anthem: Manaakitia mai Yohānnes (Praised be the Nineteen Countries) |
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 Mainland Yohannes in Greater Dienstad
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| Capital | Te Whanganui-a-Tara | ||
| Official languages | English, Sign Language, Yohānnesi | ||
| Ethnic groups | 72% Pākehā, 21% Yohānnesi, 7% others | ||
| Demonym | Yohannesian | ||
| Government | Constitutional monarchy | ||
| - | Kīngitanga | Cid IV | |
| - | Pirimia | Simon Ani Mahawa | |
| Amalgamation | |||
| - | Wiremu restoration | 08 April 1608 | |
| - | Royal promulgation | 14 July 2010 | |
| Area | |||
| - | Total | 46,059,783 km2 17,783,774 sq mi |
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| - | Water (%) | 14.1 | |
| Population | |||
| - | 2013 estimate | 8.475 billion | |
| - | Density | 184/km2 476.6/sq mi |
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| GDP (PPP) | 2012 estimate | ||
| - | Total | $380.8 trillion | |
| - | Per capita | $44,934 | |
| Gini | 32.6 medium |
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| HDI | 0.895 very high |
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| Currency | Quertz russling (YQR) |
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| Date format | dd/mm/yyyy | ||
| Drives on the | left | ||
| Calling code | +585 | ||
| ISO 3166 code | YO | ||
| Internet TLD | .yo | ||
Yohannes (Yohānnesi: Yohānnes; formally: Kīngitanga o te Yohānnes) is a sovereign nation located in the continent of Westwickport, lying along the south-western outskirts of the Greater Dienstad region.<ref>http://www.nationstates.net/region=greater_dienstad</ref> It is a middle-sized nation by international standard, with an estimated 8.475 billion people within its border.<ref>http://nstracker.web44.net/?nation=Yohannes</ref> It has observed a flexible diplomatic policy of realpolitik and pragmatism - based upon commercial expansion - since its rather ambiguous recognition as a 'civilised' independent state.<ref>An Imperial Declaration of Open Border Policy</ref><ref>Silence Broken</ref><ref>War of Words</ref><ref>Greater Prussian Fleet Report</ref><ref>Embargo of Gholgoth and its nations</ref><ref>The End of the Yohannesian Monarchy</ref><ref>Make or Break You...</ref><ref>Hippostania Peace Conference</ref><ref>Bank of Yohannes Hiring Alliances for Protection</ref><ref>Expedition Myrobia</ref>
Yohannes is a confederation of nineteen countries (Yohānnesi: Profinsi, or literally "province" in English), most of which are ruled by grand ducal, ducal or princely families with limited sovereignty. Each of the member countries are subordinated to the Pāremata: a democratically-elected and unicameral mixed member proportional (MMP) parliament, vested with the legislative authority to administer the kingdom. The executive body coming from the majority or minority led coalition government voted once every four years is led by the Premier (Yohānnesi: Pirimia), with the hereditary constitutional monarch or regent (Yohānnesi: Kīngitanga Yohānnesi) overseeing and signing himself the passing of every single laws affecting the land.
The capital city of Yohannes is Te Whanganui-a-Tara, which is also its financial centre.<ref>Yohannesische Börse AG storefront thread in NationStates</ref> From the region of Audax to Hemithea, Esquarium to Cornellia, Pony Lands to Esportiva, Mystria to Western Atlantic, and Greater Dienstad to Gholgoth, Yohannesian foreign investment and commercial presence have resulted in the construction of countless schools, hospitals, houses, public infrastructures, factories, high-technology manufacturing centres and the continuing exporting success of numerous local industries.<ref>Bank of Yohannes storefront thread in NationStates</ref> Its capital export can be found in over 400 nations and 100 regions around the world.<ref>VMK Defence & Steel Works storefront thread in NationStates</ref>
It is a member of the World Assembly (WA) through its somewhat unconventional World Assembly Office.<ref>http://www.nationstates.net/nation=world_assembly_office_of_yohannes</ref> Yohannes is a subject of the world's governing body Security Council Resolution #149, passed in 2014 for its contribution to international commerce and trade, in the process becoming the 39th nation to have been commended in the world.<ref>http://www.nationstates.net/page=WA_past_resolutions/council=2/start=148</ref><ref>World Assembly Archives</ref>
Contents
Etymology
The name "Yohānnes" can be traced back from the now-bygone Yohānnesi name "Yomamaki", which means "land of the eternal grey cloud". The Yohānnesi were one of the two, and first of the "original people" that settled in the continent of Westwickport during the early 13th century. The Yohānnesi came from The East Pacific - a far-flung gargantuan region of numerous young nations and still developing societies. According to the Encyclopedia Yohannesia, the first known use of "Yohannes" to refer to the earliest Yohānnesi people's point of arrival in the north-eastern part of Westwickport occurs in 1202, and its modern spelling was first used in 1439, with the arrival of the first Pākehā settlers - the last of the two "original people" - from not just Greater Dienstad, but also far-flung regions of the old world, such as that of Gholgoth and Nova.
The term Yohānnes or the name of the continent Westwickport itself was once synonymously used together to identify the nation as a sovereign entity. It has now been largely supplanted with the English translation of the word, "Yohannes", commonly used by foreign nations and people to identify the nation. Despite the effort of His Majesty's Government to combat the 'butchering of Yohānnesi names by the dominant English speakers of this world', and the English-ification of many Yohānnesi words by young Yohannesians, the trend has proven to be a development too strong to tackle. Yohannes is powerless in the face of a cultural tide and secondary language minority situation it can never counter or combat, resulting in the gradual disappearance of uniquely old Yohannesian tradition and knowledge among its young generations, who are more attracted to the consumerism-driven culture and popularity of the English speaking world.
Some Yohannesian scholarly critics have cited the above examples as a way to spotlight the way in which the mainstream and numerically dominant English-speaking nations of this world have degenerated the true origination as well as history of Yohannes and its people of assorted cultures. However, any accusations of "English-speaking imperialism" was brushed aside by the simple fact that Yohannes has for the past two-hundred years evolved to become one of the few notable non-English speaking members of the international community.
History
The nation state known as Yohannes today was first inhabited and settled eight hundred years ago by the people widely acknowledged in Yohannesian society today as the Yohānnesi or 'first people', when the first known and recorded credible evidences were unearthed by Yohannesian archaeologists throughout the 20th century, and up to this date. The first 200 years of Yohannesian historical chapters were dominated by the nation's relative isolation, until the arrival of predominantly light-skinned and non-English speaking foreign settlers originating from a number of old world nations, funded as well as sponsored by various colonial companies and settlement ventures. The descendants born from these people and settler society are today called Pākehā Yohannesians.
As immigration peaked, gradually overwhelmed Yohānnesi society, and consolidated Pākehā position throughout the continent, the embryo of the nation was finally developed with the independence of these nineteen settlement societies in 1511, acknowledged by the proclamation of the Treaty of Loriath. It was successively followed by a long and gradual period of centralisation from the late 16th century up to the early 18th century, and finally the subsequent cultural and economic transformation as well as technological modernisation of the Kingdom of Yohannes as a nation.
Earliest settlements
Their constant infighting and tendency to follow the ritual known today as "Mameke Mati", roughly translated in English as "Kill the Neighbouring Tribe" further aggravated their problems as well as inability to counter the Pākehā presence that would soon face them. The conclusion of this early period of inter-tribal strife was a much weakened society lacking the unified resources nor capacity to offer the faintest sign of armed resistance against even the first small number of badly organised but comparatively better armed and equipped settlers.
Years of amalgamation
The Canhi-Yohannesian Trading Company, established officially in 1440, was an economic and supranational association of nineteen Yohannesian communities; the forefather entities of the present nineteen Yohannesian countries. The nineteen communities, or more akin to that of colonies, were nominally subordinated to the then Kingdom of Canhadast. The three largest countries in present Yohannes; that of Alexandria, Burmecia and Lindblum, were the first three colonies established within the Yohannesian Island, dated at approximately 1442 to 1460. The three colonies were known famously for their competitive merchant guilds and associations. Both Alexandria and Lindblum dominated commerce and trade in Westwickport.
The 1470s was marked as the influential peak period of the nineteen colonies, which has by then acquired a significant form of internal self-government right from mainland Canhadast, resulting in the right of its highest ranked citizens to acquire as well as exercise titular authority, and ultimately the eventual establishment of a somewhat primitive parliamentary system within each of the nineteen countries. A consensus and treaty ratification by the nineteen colonial governments furthermore established a unified economic administrative collaboration within Westwickport. At the present, its form would be categorically regarded as that of a partial customs union.
The golden period was however, short. By the late 1480s, various self-made crisis caused by administrative incompetence and corruption as well as natural plagues, compounded by fiscal excesses of the public and private sector of fifteen of the nineteen economies for the previous 40 years, would finally bring down Canhadasti rule throughout the continent of Westwickport. A crisis of succession right ensued in 1491, marked as the turning point of the supranational entity's period of prosperity. It started when the Kingdom of Alexandria, under the leadership of King Alfred IV, declared war upon the Regency of Lindblum. Alfred IV exploited his kingdom's revolutionary advance in early finance and banking to afford and maintain its constantly expanding Royal Navy, in relative to Lindblum's overall economic decline for the past twenty years.
The then Regent of Lindblum, Cid I, fought valiantly with that of his subject. However, Alexandria was the first Yohannesian country to establish an effective and functioning early form of finance and banking system. It was therefore, able to more effectively harness its economic capacity to reinforce its military prowess over that of Lindblum and all its neighbouring colonial countries combined. An arduous five years of strife ensued, in which Lindblum was joined by the Kingdom of Burmecia and the rest of the sixteen smaller Yohannesian countries. All was intimidated by the prospect of a complete Alexandrian hegemony.
Despite the support of its distant mainland Canhadasti ally in Greater Dienstad however, the Treaty of Loriath in 1511 saw the eventual, de-facto strategic victory of Lindblum and her allies within Westwickport. The treaty imposed a numerical limitation upon Alexandria's army and maritime force, deprived her of the strategic capacity to wage similar wars of aggression, thereby restoring the balance of power on the continent.
Pre-Industrial Development
A general secularist culture and moderate religious tradition of the elites furthermore ensure the fact that the potentiality of related strife or complex persecution found in multiple nations overseas were not present in Yohannes. Such development would impede upon the dynamism of Yohannesian pre-industrial economic foundation, human resource accumulation, educational as well as scientific breakthrough. It was upon this period, between the years of 1520s to 1800s, that demographic urbanisation, the rapid increase of shipping and commodities trading between the nineteen countries as well as the rise of highly-influential banking guilds and merchant associations paved the way for the very gradual industrialisation throughout the nineteen countries.
The equally slow trend of centralisation throughout the nineteen countries also symbolised the end of Yohannes’ so-called “feudal age” period, and further aided the beginning of an era known as the “Yohannesian Industrial & Scientific Miracle.” The nineteen countries were not capable of resisting the effort of its numerically and technologically superior, neighbouring regional nations, or the higher productivity and more advanced manufacturing capacity of various nations it daily imported the goods required to feed and sustain its population from. As quoted by the Third Earl of Randee, "Naturally, now united at last with a semblance of one centralised authority to represent the continent, buying time and giving temporary diplomatic as well as trade concessions would be two of our most obvious priorities... that is, if our great nation was to stand a chance of modernising itself, with its de-facto and de-jure independence left unscathed, and somewhat intact."
Multiple treaties of unjust nature were imposed upon the nation of Yohannes; exemplified in particular to the extraterritoriality rights granted to various old world governments. Pre-industrial Yohannes however, was not in a position, both economically and militarily, to counter these external pressures. Rigorous modernisation of its economy and strategic industries, therefore, was the primary objective of the government of this era. Heavy subsidies were in place throughout the continent, though the complex nature of free-trade imposition meant that the government was somewhat incapable of effectively exercising its sovereignty in commerce and trade related matters.
During the late 1650s, agricultural innovation and the introduction of various new farming methods were the catalyst to this initial period of sustained economic growth. By the 1660s, consolidation of various large farming estates ensured the fact that these farms would be run with more effective and inventive techniques, one of which was the mass introduction of the seed drill process. This innovation was a breakthrough in comparison to the previous method, that of manual labour seed scattering process, which was time consuming by comparison. As a result, agricultural production efficiency increased approximately tenfold overnight, thereby allowing for a greater labour productivity for much less a cost. Furthermore, the breakthrough released the use of much-needed labour towards the then still developing and vulnerable industries, such as that of textile and light manufacturing.
This amalgamated and highly-increased effectiveness of agricultural production was simultaneously one of the main element behind the significant increase of population in Yohannes for this period. Based from all the above mentioned factors, by the 1660s, it was without a doubt that the successful implementation of this series of reforms throughout the nineteen countries had provided for the solid foundation it needed as a springboard to enter the rank of the world's industrialised nations.
Industrial Revolution
Unknown to the man and most Yohannesians of his time, the advent of a new era has arrived; its foundation laid hundred of years' past in history. Clothes, furniture and coal-based metallurgic objects were just some of the earliest indication as to the level and advancement the nineteen countries' technological growth had achieved, and would proceed to continue up to the present year. Throughout the Agricultural revolution's era, the foundation which most Yohannesian textile manufacturers needed to advance towards the next stage of industrial growth had been established.
The converging nature of domestic textile spinning and manufacturing inventions for that time ensure the eventual increase of efficiency of the continent's textile industry within a period of 20 years. With a wage-rate equilibrium higher than most of the nation's regional neighbours, and a largely uninterrupted period of customs union advancement and trade efficiency unheard of the previous decades; the Yohannesian textile manufacturing industry was able to capitalise upon the above mentioned condition to the maximum; climaxed with the fateful introduction of the hydrological-powered cotton factories throughout the southern industrial region of Lindblum. It was not before long that steam industry was finally amalgamated for the national requirement of textile factories throughout the island nation.
Inevitably, the metallic engineering industry soon followed suit, inter-connected by the convergent nature of Yohannesian industrial innovation and cross-sectors' maximisation theory. Coals had largely replaced local woods as the source of energy by this period, allowing for further improvement of iron heating methods throughout specific industrial areas; thus enabling the eventual introduction of single puddling furnace technique toward the production of iron, and eventually that of cemented and crucible-refined steel.
By the 1790s, urban Yohannesians of the previous generation would have been unable to detect this new version of their pre-industrial nation. Indeed, the "loud sound of train whistle reverberated all around the air", while the "puffing, dark smokes are everywhere rising up to the sky above." Paradoxically, however and in a sense, numerous traces of the old Yohannes were still present outside the immediate urban, industrialised area of the nation. Some farmers were still using pre-industrial era tools and technique, their habitual preference changed only during the late 19th century.
Politics
Main article: Politics of Yohannes
The politics revolves around the existence of a figurative head of state with limited power, strong aristocratic and upper merchant class dominated parliamentary tradition. The Constitutional Regent of Yohannes, elected by the Pāremata, is subordinated to the constitutional foundation of the nation; that of the Treaty of the River Loriath. The candidate of the presiding elected Regent of the nineteen countries comes every four years from any of the nineteen presiding head of states within each of the nineteen Yohannesian countries. De-jure, this core foundation has been held sacrosanct ever since the founding days of the nation, although in practice only head of states of the three largest Yohannesian countries stood the chance of being elected as a Regent.
Once elected, the Regent of Yohannes has quite a limited executive power, constitutionally restricted and subordinated in practice to the upper class-led Pāremata, which in turn is elected once every four years. At the present, as it stands and de-facto, the Regent is in practice an equal partner with that of the Pāremata, both supervised by the High Law Commissioner's Office, which - in practice - are in turn subordinated to the Pāremata once every four years. The Pāremata simultaneously has the power to veto the regent’s decisions on important matters, including legislation, foreign affairs, declaration of war and taxation.
The Chancellor-Premier or Pirimia-Kanselor is a head of government position in Yohannes. This position belongs to any executive members of the Pāremata who can obtain the formal vote of confidence of at least 50% of the exclusively merchant class dominated Federal Council within the Pāremata. The Yohannesian cabinet is then drawn from the official registered political party of the Chancellor, with certain exception made sometimes regarding the status and influence exerted by a certain party according to the respective circumstances. The current Chancellor of Yohannes is the Member of Pāremata (MPA) Simon Ani Mahawa, The Right Honourable (The Rt Hon).
Yohannes is unique in that each of the nineteen countries hold quite a high degree of internal autonomy and domestic administrative freedom, although external affairs are solely conducted by the higher confederate-styled government.
Head of State
Due in part to the strong foundation of Yohannes' socio-political meritocratic tradition, influential members of the three mercantile classes (business owners, entrepreneurial developers and head guilders) may enter the nineteen countries' rank of upper-class Gentlemen (in Yohannesian culture, the Gentlemen is the equivalent of an aristocratic class overseas) with relative ease in comparison to most other patriarchal countries overseas. This sociopolitical meritocratic tradition, in turn, has historically established an economically sound parliamentary system and tradition, gentlemen society and upper class-men which considers the economic advancement of Yohannes as the first and foremost priority for the nineteen countries' quest to prosperity.
Head of Government
Due to its long history and various incarnations, the authoritative meaning of this title cannot be defined as comprehensively inside Yohannes, as that overseas. Prior to the establishment of the contemporary de-facto political routines for example, the office of the Chancellor was comparatively much stronger; in one specific historical case the then Chancellor Te Aro, who was able to openly challenge the wish of the Pāremata. Nevertheless, the present Chancellorship of Yohannes position do not hold such a potentially overreaching executive authority any longer.
The chancellor is given the responsibility for all government policies. Formally issued policies dictated by the chancellor is legally binding, and must be followed upon by all the existing cabinet ministers under his or her government. However, to ensure the sanctity of independent course of action for all cabinet ministers, the chancellor is obligated to entrust and give complete departmental autonomy towards each cabinet minister's ministry, so as to ensure its proper operations and activities without debilitating interference from above.
Executive Branch
The executive branch of Yohannes, formally the "Cabinet of the Nineteen Realms" is the collective decision-making body of His Majesty's government. Overseeing its various junior administrative bodies throughout the nineteen countries, the cabinet is a collection of 30 government ministers, and are authoritative-wise the leading senior members and heads of their respective departmental and ministerial portfolios. it is led by the incumbent of the Chancellor of Yohannes position.
The Pāremata has the power to veto the appointment of distinguished individuals who are chosen by either the Regent or Chancellor as head minister of head ministerial portfolios. The Cabinet of Yohannes was originally implemented during the time of the Yohannesian First Monarchy as a decision-making body only in theory, dependent and completely subordinated to the office of the Regency and subsequently, Chancellor in practice.
List of departments of Yohannes
- High Law Commissioner's OfficeFile:Ancient Cabinet.jpgMedieval Cabinet painting.
- Ministry of Executive Administration
- Office of Foreign Affairs & Trade
- His Majesty's Treasury
- Ministry of Transportation
- Ministry of Science & Technology
- Ministry of Home Affairs
- His Majesty's Justice & Laws
- Ministry of the Environment & Agriculture
- Ministry of Culture and Media
- His Majesty's Health & Social Office
- Ministry of the Education
The three highest-ranked cabinet portfolios as of January 2012 are generally regarded as that of the Office of Foreign Affairs & Trade, Treasury and Home Affairs. In contrast to its various counterparts overseas, the ministerial portfolio of defence; that of the Ministry of War, has always been supervised and subordinated to the Chancellor's authority, under veto power and capacity of intervention reserved to the Office of the Yohannesian Head of State.
Judicial Branch
The practice of law in Yohannes is at present a relatively centralised system gradually developed from the original composition of territorial and regional laws of the then confederation of nineteen independent countries. The urgency of reforms resulting from the Lamoni-Yohannesian Colonial War and the crisis following that event rendered defunct the majority, if not most, of Yohannes' previous judicial restrictions, largely transforming the point of authority from the constituent countries to that of the confederation-styled government. It also further guaranteed the independence of the judicial branch. This was revealed by the explicit dictation upon the Regency Restoration reversion which stated that "all judges shall acquire the independent-of-action they require to fill their roles with, first and foremost, their moral conscience, bound by this dictation of the previous Treaty of River Loriath Constitution."
It furthermore clearly stated that judges cannot be removed from the bench unless His Majesty's Justice & Laws declared them to be mentally or physically incapable of performing their duties effectively. Such a motion however will require the approval of at least 60% of all judiciary council members. As of the implementation of this changes in 1992, only 3 judges has been voted out by their peers out of office, none influenced by initiative of the executive or legislative branch; a testament to the centralised nature, and independent trait of the judiciary branch.
Prior to the Regency Restoration changes, and especially most notable during the previous Monarchy era, the judicial system was easily influenced by the executive branch of government. Though it had quite a significant authority in regard to administrative and constitutional cases, the less explicit and vaguely worded constitution allowed various legal loop-holes and paths out.
Citations
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