Difference between revisions of "Nation/Free Pacific States"

Revision as of 16:40, 10 January 2016

Federated Alliance of Free Pacific States
Motto: Forged from War, Dedicated to Peace
Capital		Liberty City
Largest city		Faramount
Official languages		None
Recognised national languages		Codexian
Ethnic groups (2015 Estimate)		97% Human 2% Pax Drone 1% Other
Demonym		Free Pacifican
Government		Federal Presidential Constitutional Republic
-	President	Christopher Arctoris
-	Vice President	Julian Reynolds
-	Speaker of the Assembly	Jacob Gustafson
-	Chief Justice	Alwyn Landry
Legislature		Parliament
-	Upper house	Council of the Alliance
-	Lower house	Assembly of Representatives
History
-	Ratification of the Charter of the Alliance of Free Pacific States	1919
-	Ratification of the Constitution of the Federated Alliance of Free Pacific States	1968
Area
-	Total	1,697,400 km2 648,419 sq mi
Population
-	2015 estimate	148,002,729
-	2010 census	139,828,449
-	Density	87.2/km2 228.3/sq mi
GDP (nominal)		2015 estimate
-	Total	$6.85 billion
-	Per capita	$46,275.52
Gini (2015)		32.2 medium
HDI (2015)		.944 very high
Currency		Federate Dollar (FD)
Date format		MM/DD/YYYY
Drives on the		right (side of road)
Calling code		+9
ISO 3166 code		FPS
Internet TLD		.fps .fa .fafps

The Federated Alliance of Free Pacific States is a federal presidential constitutional republic comprising five states and a federal district. The nation is situated in Southeast Yasteria, just South of Pax Draconica, and just North of East Malaysia. The Federated Alliance shares a land border with Pax Draconica and the Lyon Republic, though the Free Pacific States is largely comprised of an archipelago. The nation has a tropical climate. The Federated Alliance is amongst the most highly populated nations on Urth with approximately 148,002,729 persons inhabiting its 1,697,400 square kilometers (648,419 square miles). It is a relatively diverse nation due to recent immigration from territories controlled by Pax Draconica.

The Federated Alliance traces its origins from the Alliance of Free Pacific States, a military pact formed in 1919 by Codex, Wachovia, Tilden, and Columbia following the First Free Pacifican War. These four colonial powers sought to avoid another conflict, to promote trade, and to provide a united front given the rising influence of the Pax Empire, Drakkengardian Empire, and Looplite Empire. The alliance successfully defeated Drakkengard and Loop in 1946 in the Second Free Pacific War, but only after years of fighting that left all belligerants in ruins. Codex, Wachovia, and Columbia joined Tilden as democracies in the late 1940s, and democratic socialists dominated elections in the early 1950s. These socialists pushed for greater unity within the alliance in the 1950s and 1960s, while also granting independence to numerous colonies because of war weariness. The former Wachovian colony West Malaysia joined the alliance in 1963. The socialists proposed a full unification in 1966, and in 1968, voters approved the Constitution of the Federated Alliance of Free Pacific States.

The Federated Alliance is a developed country with a high standard of living, a medium level of income inequality, and a sizable global domestic product. The Federated Alliance is a post-industrial nation, though it retains substantial manufacturing and agricultural industries. The Federated Alliance is enjoying a decade-long, immense economic boom thanks to the Pax trade agreement, which has driven the nation's GDP to an estimated $6.8 trillion in 2015. The Free Pacifican economy is largely driven by information technology, manufacturing, agriculture, and the service sector.

Etymology

Codexian Foreign Affairs Minister Walter Resetin coined the term Free Pacific States in 1919, seeking to name the new alliance in a manner suggesting it supported freedom, peace, and sovereignty. Few Free Pacificans used the phrase until the 1970s, when the drafters of the Constitution of the Federated Alliance adopted it. Most of the authors of the Charter of the Alliance of Free Pacific States hailed from academia, and strongly favored the use of the entirely made-up term.

History

Geography and environment

Mount Mahameru, a volcano in Faramount.

The Federated Alliance comprises an archipelago and continental peninsula located between the equator and the Tropic of Karkata, and between longitudes 80E and 120E. It is just West of Oceanus Spoilaverunt, just Southeast of Codex Pontus, and just Northeast of the Imperial Sea. The Free Pacific States maintains two small islands beyond this contained area, Milesandia and Fish Island, which lie in the Imperial Sea just East of 120E. FPS consists of approximately consists of 15,407 islands, about 600 of which are inhabited. The largest islands are Beren, Codex, and Tilden. The Federated Alliance shares land borders with Lyon and Pax-Draconica, and shares maritime borders with Lyon and East Malaysia. The population is mostly divided between Sumera and Beren.

At 1,684,000 square kilometers (650,196 square miles), the Free Pacific States is amongst the the largest nations by land area. Its average population density is 85.3 people per square kilometer (223.4 per sq mi). Population density varies significantly, however, with most of the population living along the coasts. At 4,884 metres (16,024 ft), Mount Java in Beren is FPS' highest peak, and Lake Sumatra in Faramount its largest lake with an area of 1,145 square kilometers (442 sq mi). The country's largest rivers are in Codex, and include Kalimantan and Borneo; such rivers are communication and transport links between the island's river settlements.

A rice paddy in Codex.

FPS' location on the edges several tectonic plates make it the site of numerous volcanoes and frequent earthquakes. The Federated Alliance has at least 150 active volcanoes including Mount Timor and Mount Sulawesi, both famous for their devastating eruptions in the 19th century. The eruption of the Jengov supervolcano, approximately 70,000 years ago, was one of the largest eruptions ever, and a global catastrophe. A strong commitment to earthquake engineering, tsunami monitoring, volcano monitoring, and emergency response has allowed the Free Pacific States to significantly reduce the deaths resulting from local tectonic activity. Nonetheless, seismic activity commonly results in deadly natural disasters in FPS including the 2004 tsunami that killed an estimated 15,893 in Columbia. However, volcanic ash is a major contributor to the high agricultural fertility that has historically sustained the Free Pacifican agricultural industry.

Tropical rainforests dominate the Federated Alliance, covering approximately 70% of the nation. Most forested areas very sparsely populated by humans, but host a wide variety of plant and animal species. These rainforests suffered substantial harm in the 15th through 18th centuries, but the early rise of environmentalism in FPS led to strict protection laws being enacted in the 19th century. Rainforests have made a comeback in recent years as a result with the level of forestation rising from just 63% at its trough to 70% today. Most estimates indicate that prior to the development of Codex, Wachovia, Tilden, and Columbia, nearly all of the Federated Alliance was covered in rainforests.

Climate

Lying along the equator, FPS has a tropical climate with distinct monsoonal wet and dry seasons. The wet season usually spans from November to March while the dry season lasts from June to October. Rain usually falls in sudden, tropical bursts during the wet season, but it is not unusual for rain to fall for multiple days on end. Rain still falls during the dry season, but much less frequently. Colloquially, April and May are referred to as spring, June through September are referred to as summer, October and November are referred to as fall, and December to March are referred to as winter, though there will often be crossover.

Average annual rainfall in the lowlands varies from 1,780–3,175 millimetres (70.1–125.0 inches), and up to 6,100 millimetres (240 inches) in mountainous regions. Mountainous areas – particularly in the west coast of Faramount, Beren, and Mangek – receive the highest rainfall. Humidity is generally high, averaging about 80%. Temperatures vary little throughout the year; the average daily temperature range of Liberty City is 26–30 °C (79–86 °F). FPS experiences relatively little change in the length of daylight hours from one season to the next; the difference between the longest day and the shortest day of the year is only forty-eight minutes. Most of the nation is contained within two time zones, and in each, federal legislation has set the official time 60 minutes later than the sun. As a result, throughout the nation, the sun always rises between 6AM and 7:30AM, and the sun always sets between 7PM and 8:30PM.

Biodiversity

A rainforest in Wachovia

FPS' size, tropical climate, and archipelagic geography support the one of the world's highest level of biodiversity. Its flora and fauna is a mixture of Yasterian and oceanic species. Many islands were once linked to the Yasterian mainland, and have a wealth of Yasterian fauna. Large species such as the tiger, rhinoceros, orangutan, elephant, and leopard, are making a comeback after years of population loss. Forests cover approximately 70% of the country. In Beren, these are predominantly of Yasterian species. Tilden and many of the smaller islands – having been long separated from the continental landmasses—have developed their own unique flora and fauna. Codex is home to a unique fauna and flora including over 600 bird species.

The Federated Alliance is unique in its total number of endemic species with 36% of its 1,531 species of bird and 39% of its 515 species of mammal being endemic. FPS' 65,000 kilometers (40,000 miles) of coastline are surrounded by tropical seas that contribute to the country's high level of biodiversity. The Free Pacific States has a range of sea and coastal ecosystems, including beaches, sand dunes, estuaries, mangroves, coral reefs, sea grass beds, coastal mudflats, tidal flats, algal beds, and small island ecosystems. FPS has amongst the world's greatest diversity of coral reef fish with more than 1,650 species in the Eastern FPS alone.

Demographics

The FPS Census Bureau currently estimates the country's population to be 341,852,000. The FPS population almost quadrupled during the 20th century from about 79 million in 1900. Amongst the most populous nations in the world, the Federated Alliance is the one of few major industrialized nations in which large population increases are projected. The average woman had 1.38 children in 2014, substantially less than the replacement rate of 2.1, and significantly down from the 3.56 children that the average woman had in 1900. Foreign born immigration has caused the FPS population to continue its rapid increase with the foreign born population doubling from almost 22 million in 1990 to over 44 million in 2010, representing one third of the population increase. The foreign born population reached 50 million in 2015, and is expected to grow even faster as immigration laws have been weakened amidst plummeting unemployment.

The Federated Alliance has a highly diverse population. Twenty-six ancestry groups have more than one million members. Eight ancestry groups have more than five million members: Codexians (approximately 107 million), Loopians (approximately 79 million), Packilvanians (approximately 58 million), Tyrsins (approximately 25 million), Drakkengardians (approximately 21 million), Dovakhanese (approximately 15 million), Lyonese (approximately 7 million), and Xiopothans (approximately 5 million). Humans comprise nearly the entire population, though approximately three million Pax cybernetic drones reside in the Cuttersville territory. The majority of the population is white (approximately 248 million), but a substantial population is mongoloid (approximately 79 million).

The Federated Alliance has a birth rate of 9 per 1,000, which is well below the world average. Its population growth rate is positive, reaching a noteworthy 1.6% in 2015, higher than that of many developed nations. Most legal immigrants are refugees, persons seeking familial reunification, or persons that have secured employment. Tyrsins, Drakkengardians, and Dovakhanese have represented the largest sources of immigrants since the mid-2000s. Illegal immigration is unusual, though not unheard of, and there are several hundred thousand illegal immigrants suspected of living in the nation. Most of the illegals are Drakkengardians, Dovakhanese, or Tyrsins that have fled Pax-Draconica.

The FPS Census Bureau estimates that approximately 11.6 million Free Pacificans, or roughly 3.4% of the adult population, identify themselves as |homosexual, bisexual, or transgendered. Polling from various media outlets supports this conclusion. Liberty City has the highest percentage of LGBT activity with 10% of the population self-identifying as homosexual, bisexual, or transgender. The Tyrsonis territory has the lowest percentage of LGBT activity with 1.7% of Tyrsonians identifying as homosexual, bisexual, or transgender.

Approximately 82% of Free Pacificans live in urban areas (including suburbs); about half of those reside in cities with populations over 50,000. The FPS has numerous clusters of cities known as megaregions, the largest being the Southwest Faramount Megalopolis followed by the Northwest Faramount Megalopolis and Southern Zalebano. In 2008, 281 incorporated places had populations over 100,000, eleven cities had more than one million residents, and four global cities had over two million (Faramount City, Empire City, Port Zalebano, Port Mangek, and Grissom City). There are 54 metropolitan areas with populations greater than one million. Urbanization is heaviest in Tilden, Mangek, and Faramount, and lightest in Beren.

Language

There is no official language in the Federated Alliance, but Codexian is the de facto national language. Every level of government operates in Codexian, foreigners must learn Codexian to be naturalized, and numerous other laws standardize the Codexian language. In 2015, about 244 million people, or 73.9% of the population aged five years and older, spoke only Codexian at home. Packilvanian, spoken at home by 8.5% of the population, and Loopian, spoken at home by 7.7% of the population, are the second and third most common languages, respectively. The vast majority of Free Pacificans use Codexian publicly regardless of language spoken at home, but about five percent of the population solely speaks a foreign language, mostly Tyrsin. Federal law requires that government programming be provided in any requested language.

The federal Department of Education mandates that public schools provide foreign language education, and most secondary school graduates are fluent in a foreign language. The vast majority of pupils, approximately 89%, study Tyrsin, Drakkengardian, or Loopian. There is a growing movement towards the education of Unionian and Mahigian, though, and approximately 7% of students take one of these subjects. Tilden Isle enacted a major program in 2013 promoting Unionian, saying that there was a strong market demand for more Codexian-Unionian translators. The remaining 4% of students learn any one of a dozen other languages.

Religion

The Federated Alliance Constitution guarantees freedom of religion, and mandates a separation of church and state. Christianity is the most common religion practiced in the FPS, but Shinto, Buddhism, and Islam are also practiced. In a 2013 survey, 28% of Free Pacificans said that religion played a "very important role in their lives," reflecting a low level of religious practice in the nation. In a 2009 Gallup poll 21% of Free Pacificans said that they attended church weekly or almost weekly; the figures ranged from a low of 11.5% in Tilden to a high of 31.5% in Beren.

As with other developed countries, the FPS is becoming less religious. Irreligion is growing rapidly among Free Pacificans under 30. Polls show that overall Free Pacifican confidence in organized religion is declining, and that younger Free Pacificans in particular are becoming increasingly irreligious. Free Pacificans with no religion have 1.7 children compared to 2.2 among Christians. The unaffiliated are less likely to get married with 37% marrying compared to 52% of Christians.

According to a 2014 survey, 40.9% of adults identified themselves as Christian. Catholicism accounted for 23.4%, while Protestantism accounted for 15.6%. The total reporting non-Christian religions in 2014 was 23.3%. Shinto was the largest non-Christian religion at 9.9%, followed closely by Islam at 9.1%, and then by Buddhism at 3.6%. The survey also reported that 35.2% of Free Pacificans described themselves as agnostic, atheist or simply having no religion, up from 26.3% in 1990. There are numerous other religious groups in the Federated Alliance, reflecting the diverse nature of its population.

There are substantial regional differences when it comes to religion in the Federated Alliance. Irreligion dominates Tilden, Mangek, Liberty City, and Cuttersville, and is a growing force in Faramount. Faramount and Zalebano are highly diverse with substantial Buddhist, Shinto, and Islamic communities. Christianity, and especially Catholicism, is dominant in Beren, New Xiopothos, and Codexia.

Family structure

As of 2007, 58% of Free Pacificans age 18 and over were married, 6% were widowed, 10% were divorced, and 25% had never been married. Women now work mostly outside the home and receive a majority of bachelor's degrees.

The FPS teenage birth rate is 16 per 1,000 women. The rate has declined by 57% since 1991. In 2013, the highest teenage birth rate was in Beren, and the lowest in Tilden. Abortion is legal throughout the FPS, owing to a 1969 landmark decision by the Constitutional Court. While the abortion rate is falling, the abortion ratio of 229 per 1,000 live births and abortion rate of 13 per 1,000 women aged 15–44 remain higher than those of most developed nations. In 2013, the average age at first birth was 26 and 36.8% of births were to unmarried women.

The total fertility rate (TFR) was estimated for 2013 at 1.86 births per woman. Adoption in the Federated Alliance is common and relatively easy from a legal point of view (compared to other developed countries). In 2001, with over 127,000 adoptions, the FPS accounted for a substantial portion of the total number of adoptions worldwide. It is legal for same-sex couples to adopt. Polygamy is illegal throughout the FPS.

Health

Garneldo General Hospital

The federal Department of Health operates the national healthcare system, providing publicly funded healthcare to all persons mostly for free at the point of use. The national healthcare system is decentralized with states, territories, and localities operating most medical facilities, though the federal government itself operates some specialized facilities like the National Center for Infectious Diseases. The vast majority of medical facilities are operated by a government, a government corporation, or a non-profit company, but there are some for-profit hospitals that operate independently from the national health system. Drug manufacturers are for-profit entities. The federal government spends approximately $3000 per person on healthcare, an amount usually increased by $1000-$2000 at the state level.

The Federated Alliance has a life expectancy of 81 years at birth, up from 75.2 years in 1990. Increasing rates of obesity in the FPS pose a major challenge to the public health community. Approximately 21% of the adult population is obese and an additional 30% is overweight; the obesity rate, amongst the highest in the world, has more than doubled in the last quarter-century. Obesity-related type 2 diabetes is considered epidemic by health care professionals. The infant mortality rate of 4.5 per thousand places the FPS amongst those nations with the lowest mortality rate.

In 2010, coronary artery disease, lung cancer, stroke, chronic obstructive pulmonary diseases, and traffic accidents caused the most years of life lost in the FPS. Lower back pain, depression, musculoskeletal disorders, neck pain, and anxiety caused the most years lost to disability. The most deleterious risk_factor|risk factors were poor diet, tobacco smoking, obesity, high blood pressure, high blood sugar, physical inactivity, and alcohol use. Alzheimer's disease, drug abuse, kidney disease and cancer, and falls caused the most additional years of life lost over their age-adjusted 1990 per-capita rates.

Education

The undergraduate library at Shiro Academy's Tilden campus.

The federal Department of Education operates the national education system, providing free preschool, primary education, and secondary education through a network of schools operated by states, territories, and localities. Children are required to attend school from age 3 to age 18, except if homeschooled. Vouchers are provided for some of the approximately 9% of children that attend parochial or nonsectarian private schools, and a tax refund is provided for the approximately 1% of children that are homeschooled. The federal government spends approximately $6000 per student, an amount usually increased by $3000-$5000 at the state level. Tilden is unique in providing free college education to all long-term residents.

The Federated Alliance has many competitive private and public institutions of higher education. A number of top Urth universities are located in the Federated Alliance including a campus of the revered Shiro Academy. There are also local community colleges with generally more open admission policies, shorter academic programs, and lower tuition. Vocational schools are also common. State and local governments fund public institutions, most community college, and some vocational schools with only limited support from the federal government. Tuition at universities is often expensive, though the federal government and state governments operate grant and loan programs to assist students. Students are also able to secure student loans from private creditors.

The Federated Alliance has a highly educated populace thanks to its educational system. Approximately 93% of Free Pacificans have graduated secondary school, approximately 56.2% attended some college, 29.6% earned a bachelor's degree, and 9.8% earned a graduate degree. Literacy is effectively universal.

Government and politics

The Capitol Complex hosts the Parliament

The Federated Alliance is a federation, constitutional republic, and representative democracy. Governance is regulated by a system of checks and balances enshrined in the Constitution of the Federated Alliance, the supreme legal document of the nation. Citizens are usually subject to three levels of government: federal, state, and local. A three-branch government usually exists at each level, though local administration is commonly split between counties and municipalities. The state governments possess general police powers, while the federal government and local governments exercise limited authority. Executive officials are usually elected by plurality vote. Legislative and executive officials are varyingly elected through party-list proportional representation for at-large seats, single transferable vote systems for multiple member districts, or instant runoff systems for single-member districts. Judicial officials are usually appointed by the executive, often with the required consent of the legislature.

The political system of the Federated Alliance

The federal government is composed of three branches:

• Legislative: The bicameral Parliament, comprised of the Alliance Council and Representative Assembly, makes federal law, declares war, approves treaties, possesses the power of the purse, and has the power of impeachment, by which it can remove sitting members of the government.
• Executive: The President is the commander-in-chief of the military, possesses the power to veto legislative bills before they become law (subject to Parliament override), and appoints the members of the Cabinet (subject to Council approval) and other officers, who administer and enforce federal laws and policies.
• Judicial: The Constitutional Court and lower federal courts, whose judges are appointed by the President with Council approval, interpret laws and overturn those they find unconstitutional.

The Blue House, home of the President of the Federated Alliance

The Representative Assembly is comprised of 483 representatives, who serve two year terms. Most representatives are elected by plurality vote from single-member districts containing approximately a million persons, but some representatives are elected from multi-member districts using single transferable vote proportional representation. A nonpartisan commission sets the number of districts in each state, determines the nature of the district, and draws the borders of the district. The commission acts when the Parliament proscribes by law a total number of representatives following each decennial census.

The Constitutional Court Building, where the nation's highest court sits

The Alliance Council is comprised of 150 councillors, 30 per state, elected at-large through party list proportional elections for six year terms. Ten Council seats are up for election every other year. A party must win more than 5 percent of the vote in a state in a given election year to win a council seat representing that state. The President is elected by plurality vote nationally, and serves a four-year term. A Vice President is elected alongside the President. The Constitutional Court, led by the Chief Arbiter, has nine members, who serve for life.

Four states possess a structure similar to the federal government, while Tilden and the five territories have a unicameral legislature. A governor is the chief executive of each state and territory. Some cabinet members in some states and territories are elected, and some judges in some states and territories are elected. Most local governments also possess a structure similar to the federal government, though some local governments use a hybrid executive/legislative branch. Some local governments alternatively have an executive appointed by the legislature.

Political divisions

The Federated Alliance is a federal republic of 5 states, a federal district, and five federal territories. The states and territories are the principal administrative districts of the country, and are subdivided into counties and municipalities. These administrative divisions operate autonomously, but are subject to federal law. The sole exception is Cuttersville, which is entirely self-governed. The federal district is the capital of the Federated Alliance. All citizens aged 18+ are eligible to participate in the presidential election, which is decided by the total national popular vote. The states, federal district, and federal territories are represented in the Representative Assembly, but only the states are represented in the Alliance Council.

The five states of the Federated Alliance are Codex, Wachovia, Columbia, Tilden, and West Malaysia. Each state has its own constitution, and is largely autonomous with regards to its internal organization. The federal district is Liberty City. The federal government has granted Liberty City self-rule, and the city government exercises substantial autonomy from the federal government. The federal territories are mostly far-flung islands, but also include Cuttersville, the drone enclave established in 2006. Each territory has its own constitution, and operates similar to a state. Cuttersville is the exception to the rule as it operates almost entirely independent of the federal government.

Parties and elections

The Federated Alliance holds elections every year with campaigning usually lasting numerous months. The federal government holds general elections in mid-November of every even-numbered year, while state and local governments hold general elections in mid-November of every odd-numbered year. There are no primary elections or runoff elections. Elections are generally considered free and fair. Universal suffrage exists for all citizens aged 18+, and citizens aged 16+ can vote in Tilden elections.

The Federated Alliance operates under a multi-party system. Five parties have dominated politics since 2006: the Centrist Party (founded 1991), the Nationalist Party (founded 2006), the Reform Party (founded 2006), and the Progressive Party (founded 2007 as the Liberty Party). Independent candidates often achieve success in local elections, and occasionally achieve success in state legislative and federal representative assembly elections. Several small parties exist, but usually only achieve success in local and state elections.

Each party possesses an ideological standpoint within the context of Free Pacifican political culture. The Centrist Party supports Western centre-left domestic policies, and a multilateralist foreign policy. The Nationalist Party favors right-wing domestic policies, and a limited, realpolitik foreign policy. The Reform Party advocates libertarianism and isolationism. The Progressive Party favors left-wing domestic policies, and a multilateralist foreign policy. Most independents in government caucus with the Centrist Party.

The Nationalist Party is presently the dominant political party. President Christopher Arctoris is a Nationalist, who won election in 2008 and 2012. The Alliance Council currently consists of 79 Nationalists, 51 Progressives, 16 Centrists, and 6 Reformists. The Representative Assembly currently consists of 265 Nationalists, 160 Progressives, 38 Centrists, 11 Reformists, and 9 independents. Among the five states, three have both Nationalist governors and Nationalist legislatures, while two have both Progressive governors and Progressive legislatures. Every territory has both a Progressive governor and a Progressive legislature. The Centrist Party controls both the mayoralty and city council of Liberty City.

Government and finance

Taxes are levied at the federal, state, and local levels in the Federated Alliance. The federal government largely collects income through a progressive income tax, though the federal government also imposes import, inheritance, and gift taxes. Capital gains are treated as regular income, but there is no tax on corporate income. State and territorial governments often use a mixture of income, sales, and property taxes. Local governments usually rely upon property taxes. Taxes collected by federal, state, and municipal governments amounted to approximately 40% of GDP in 2015.

Governments at every level in the Federated Alliance make expenditures, usually independently of each other, though sometimes jointly. The federal government spent $1.8 trillion in 2015, and budgeted $1.9 trillion in 2016. Major categories of spending in the 2015 included healthcare ($403.9 billion or 21.5% of federal spending), defense ($385.3 billion or 20.5%), welfare and social policies (389.0 billion or 19.1%), education and science ($124.1 billion or 6.6%), foreign aid ($78.6 billion or 4.2%), environmental protection ($26.6 billion or 1.4%), national security and intelligence ($65.6 billion or 3.5%), law and order (20.6 billion or 1.1%), and debt interest (210.1 billion or 11.2%). Total government spending at all levels in the Federated Alliance amounted to approximately $2.8 trillion in 2015, 41.4% of GDP, though federal and state spending cuts are expected to reduce this percentage in 2016.

The federal government, states, and local authorities all regularly run deficits, issuing bonds to cover debts. Surpluses are in fact rarely achieved, and any deficit of less than 3% is usually considered healthy. Total government debt in 2015 amounted to over $5 trillion, approximately 72% of GDP. Interest rates for Free Pacifican bonds are relatively low, thanks to high confidence in the Federate dollar.

Law enforcement and crime

A standard police vehicle in the FPS

Local police and sheriff's departments are primarily responsible for law enforcement in the Federated Alliance. State police forces provide broader services, often serving in a support role for primary law enforcement agencies. Federal agencies such as the Federal Law Enforcement Agency (FLEA), National Protection Agency (NPA), and Federal Marshals Agency (FMA) have specialized duties including protecting civil rights, national security, and enforcing federal court rulings and federal laws. A common law legal system operates at the federal level and in each state. State courts hear most criminal cases while federal courts hear federal law violations, national security cases, and certain appeals from state courses. plea bargaining is prohibited both at the federal and the state level, though accused criminals often plead guilty in return for a judge's promise of a specific lenient sentence.

Abandoned government housing in the Faramount City Maltonville.

The Federated Alliance has a relatively high crime rate for a developed nation, though the rate has substantially fallen over the last ten years. There were 7 murders per 100,000 persons in the Federated Alliance in 2012 including 5.3 gun homicides per 100,000 persons. There were 4,869 violent and property crimes per 100,000 residents in 2012. There is a high degree of gun ownership amongst the population despite considerable regulations upon firearms. Gun laws remain the subject of contentious political debate. Crime rates are relatively uniform across the Federated Alliance. Crime rates are particularly high in the urban ghettos that exist in most major cities. The NLEA estimates that approximately 15% of all crimes and 20% of all homicides occur in these so-called "Maltonvilles," named for the reform politician who championed the housing cuts widely believed to have created these centers of crime.

Capital punishment is exceedingly rare in the Federated Alliance. The federal governments and the states regularly imposed the death penalty until 1964, when the Federated Alliance adopted a constitutional amendment severely limiting the death penalty. Federal courts alone have the power to impose the death penalty today, and can only impose the death penalty for treason, espionage, piracy, and war crimes. The death penalty cannot be imposed upon persons under 18, mentally handicapped persons, and persons that plead guilty when charged. Since 1964, the federal government has only executed 3 persons, a group of terrorists put to death in 2009. Prior to 1964, the federal government and state governments executed 2614 persons, almost exclusively adult men convicted of murder. The Federated Alliance specifically requires its extradition treaties with other nations to include a provision mandating that extradition partners not execute persons extradited by the Federated Alliance.

The Federated Alliance has a sizable prison population, which is increasing in size due to anti-crime initiatives enacted in recent years. There were approximately 575,000 incarcerated persons in the Free Pacific States in 2012, the equivalent of approximately 1 person for every 400 adults. Approximately 1 in 140 adult residents in the Federated Alliance were under some form of correctional supervision at yearend 2012. The imprisonment rate for all prisoners sentenced to more than a year in state or federal facilities is 119 per 100,000 in 2012, and the rate for pre-trial/remand prisoners is 38 per 100,000 residents in 2012. Prisons are operated exclusively by the state except in Beren, where the use of privatized prisons for approximately 80% of state prison inmates is highly controversial.

Military

The President of the Federated Alliance is the commander-in-chief of the nation's armed forces. The president appoints the leaders of the Free Pacifican military, the civilian Adjutant of the Federated Alliance and the military Commandant of the Federated Alliance, with the advise and consent of the Alliance Counsel. The Federated Alliance Department of Defense administers the armed forces, which are divided into three services: the Army, Navy, and Air Force. The Department of Defense also supervises the National Maritime Enforcement and Rescue Agency during wartime. In 2015, the Department of Defense supervised approximately 1 million active duty personnel, 465 thousand reserve personnel, 615 thousand national guard personnel, and 615 thousand civilian personnel (not including contractors).

Military service is voluntary, though conscription may occur in wartime. The vast majority of Free Pacifican military forces are committed to defensive operations, though the Navy maintains a sizable expeditionary force capable for the purpose of force projection. The Federated Alliance maintains sizable military installations in Lyon, Reziel, East Malaysia, and Xiopothos. The Free Pacifican air defense and sea defense systems both also protect Lyon. The Federated Alliance commits over 5.6% of its GDP to the military every year, appropriating $385 billion for defense for 2015. The Federated Alliance historically spent significantly less, and most of the spending today is focused on addressing the perceived Pax threat.

The Federated Alliance maintains a sizable arsenal of thermonuclear weapons. The Navy manages approximately 300 strategic nuclear weapons, which it deploys in submarine-launched ballistic missiles aboard five ballistic missile nuclear submarines. The Air Force manages approximately 50 tactical, which are designed for use against the Pax in the case of an invasion. The Federated Alliance does not have any other weapons of mass destruction.

Foreign affairs

The International Building, headquarters of the EPTO.

The Federated Alliance is a major Urth power with substantial international influence. The Federated Alliance is the host of the East Pacific Treaty Organization, hosted the 2015 Convention on Diplomacy, and hosts embassies from most Urth nations. The Federated Alliance maintains close relations with Lyon, Xiopothos, East Malaysia, Reziel, and Infinite Loop, Kelssek, and Dannistaan. Several nations host Free Pacifican military bases, and most nations host a Free Pacifican embassy. The Federated Alliance appropriated $70 billion for foreign aid for 2015, though $60 billion of this amount was spent in Lyon.

The Federated Alliance focuses much of its foreign policy on constraining the Pax, whom the FPS government views as the greatest threat to world peace. The FPS has militarized its border, and Lyon's border, with Pax-Draconica, creating altogether the longest militarized border in the world. The Free Pacific States formed the EPTO in order to counter Pax influence, and has consistently maintained close relations with states adversarial towards the Pax. Despite this fact, the Pax and the FPS have highly interlinked economies, both of which would suffer immensely from any conflict.

Economy

The Federated Alliance has a capitalist mixed economy, which is field by trade with the Pax and by high productivity. The FPS nominal GDP is estimated to be $21.8 trillion in 2015, approximately $66,600 per capita. The Federated Alliance has enjoyed an economic boom over the last seven years with real GDP growth averaging 7%, compared to an average of 3.3% real compounded GDP growth from 1987 to 2006. The FPS dollar is a major reserve currency. Federal debt approximates 47% of GDP with most bonds held by Free Pacifican entities.

The Federated Alliance is amongst the largest importers and exporters of goods, thanks mostly to the Free Pacifican relationship with Pax Draconica. The Pax engage in free trade solely with the Federated Alliance and with Lyon, allowing those nations access to unlimited cheap natural resources, a massive market for consumer goods, and a massive market for agricultural goods. The Federated Alliance also engages in trade with 1 Infinite Loop, a massive, post-industrial nation with a strong demand for consumer goods. In 2015, FPS trade amounted to $10.4 trillion, approximately 45% of the FPS economy. The FPS maintains a relative balance of exports and imports with a trade surplus of approximately $43 billion.

The Free Pacifican private sector comprises approximately 71% of the economy with federal government activity accounting for 24% and state and local government activity accounting for 5%. The number of employees at all levels of government outnumber those in manufacturing by 1.9 to 1. While its economy has reached a postindustrial level of development and its service sector constitutes 64.8% of GDP, the Federated Alliance remains an industrial power. The leading business field by gross business receipts, and by net income, is manufacturing. Resource refining, wholesale and retail trade, information technology are also major business sectors. Agriculture accounts for just 2% of GDP, but the agricultural industry is enjoying significant growth thanks to Pax demands.

Consumer spending comprised 68% of the FPS economy in 2015. The Free Pacifican labor force in 2015 comprised of 215.1 million people. Government is the leading field of employment. The largest private employment sector is information technology. Approximately 32% of workers are unionized. Employment is at-will throughout the Federated Alliance, though it is prohibited to make employment decisions based off certain factors. The Federated Alliance has a sizable welfare state, though welfare programs have been substantially reduced in size since 2009. Workers receive paid vacation, paid family leave, and sick leave as a legal right.

The Federated Alliance is highly reliant upon Trade with Pax Draconica. The Pax only trade with the Federated Alliance and with Lyon, granting a massive economic benefit to these nations. Most experts estimate that approximately 20%-30% of the Free Pacifican economy exists solely due to Pax trade.

Science and technology

The Battlestar Atlantis, flagship of the FPS space force

The Federated Alliance has traditionally lagged behind regional powers in scientific research and technological innovation, especially during its lengthy isolationist period. The Free Pacifican government has in the past two decades invested heavily in technology in a bid to overcome this long-time holdback, but significant challenges remain. FPS possesses superior technology than most regional powers today thanks to its close relationships with 1 Infinite Loop, East Malaysia, and ironically, Pax-Draconica. But FPS still lags behind those nations substantially, despite investing over $650 billion in science and technology in 2015. The vast majority of that money -- approximately $630 billion -- was spent developing FPS' military space program.

The Federated Alliance has a great deal to show for its recent investments in science and technology. FPS has amongst the highest rates of internet access in the world; 94% of Free Pacificans have some internet access and 82% of Free Pacificans have high-speed internet access. 91% of Free Pacificans have a cellular phone, and 84% of Free Pacificans have a smart phone. The Free Pacifican space program features two major space stations, one civilian and one military, along with a Looplite-constructed battlestar. The FPS Space Force plans to complete its own battlestar by next year, and to build another every eight years thereafter.

Transportation

A high-speed rail train in Faramount.

The Federated Alliance maintains an interlinked national mass transit system featuring high-speed and conventional inter-city railways, train and regular ferries, rapid transit systems, light rail systems, trams, and intercity and transit bus services. State-level and local-level government corporations operate most of these systems, though with financial support from the federal government. Mass transit accounts for approximately 22% of national work trips, and for approximately 40% of urban work trips. Approximately 45% of Free Pacificans normally commute through some combination of walking, biking, and mass transit, though some of these commuters also use a personal vehicle for part of the trip. The overwhelming majority Free Pacificans live within a kilometer of a mass transit stop. The mass transit system links up with the nation's system of passenger airports, which are mostly publicly owned. The civil airline industry is privately owned, notably featuring three major airlines, Free Pacifican Airlines, Federated Alliance Airlines, and Pan-Yasterian Airways, along with some smaller carriers. Air travel is more expensive than other mass transit, and is most commonly used for interstate and international travel, offering a much faster alternative to the FPS' ferry system.

Personal automobiles are nonetheless the predominant form of transportation in the Federated Alliance. Approximately 55% of Free Pacificans commute in a personal vehicle. The FPS maintains a dense system of roadways, and an extensive interstate freeway system. The overwhelming majority of vehicles are powered by a traditional internal combustion engine, but electric vehicles, hybrid vehicles, and other alternative fuel vehicles are surging in popularity. Most government vehicles, and nearly all mass transit vehicles, are either electric or hybrid, along with approximately 26% of personal vehicles. Less than a percent of vehicles are propelled by alternative fuel engines, and close to seventy percent of personal automobiles are propelled by gasoline internal combustion engines. Diesel combustion engines comprise the remainder of the market, mostly trucks. Approximately 28% of Free Pacifican personal vehicles are gas-powered vans, SUVs, or light trucks, down from a high of 45% in the early 1990s. Automobiles are subject to strict greenhouse gas emissions standards.

Transport of cargo is dominated by private rail companies, private trucking companies, and private shipping companies. The Federated Alliance features some of the world's largest and busiest ports, most notably Garneldo, which is amongst the largest container ports on Urth. The government owns most ports, though individual docks are often leased to private companies.

Energy

The Federated Alliance is amongst the world's largest consumers of energy, using approximately 31,000 terawatt hours per year. The government closely monitors the energy industry, and state-level government corporations oversee most electricity generation and distribution, though with financial support from the federal government. Most electricity in the FPS is generated by nuclear power plants, which account for approximately 75% of energy production. Hydroelectric dams account for another approximately 16% of energy production, and fossil fuel-based power plants account for most of the remainder. Renewable energy accounts for only .1% of energy production in the Federated Alliance because there is little environmental push for renewable energy given the large amount of energy derived from nuclear and hydroelectric power. The Federated Alliance plans to phase out fossil fuel as an energy source by 2030, largely through the construction of more nuclear power plants.

The Free Pacifican government is highly committed to energy conservation, green technologies, emission reduction activities, water resource management, and environmental protection. The Federated Alliance spent $91.1 billion on environmental programs in FY2015, though the federal government only spent $56.4 billion. The Federated Alliance formally recognizes that climate change is occurring as a result of human activities. President Matthew Terrus signed legislation in 2007 committing the Federated Alliance to derive all of its energy from renewable energy and nuclear power by 2040. The nation is easily expected to meet this goal, mostly due to ongoing nuclear power plant expansion. The Federated Alliance engages in substantial nuclear reprocessing of nuclear waste, but produces far more nuclear waste than is reprocessed. The federal government operates several short-term nuclear waste depositories, and plans to construct a deep geological depository for permanent storage of nuclear fuel, but has yet to select a site for such a depository.

The Federated Alliance briefly accepted fusion-generated power from Pax-Draconica, but ceased to do so in 2009 after the Pax suddenly cutoff power for an extended period amidst heightened tensions. The Free Pacifican government is investing heavily into research into fusion power.

Water supply and sanitation

State-level government corporations provide water and sewer services for most Free Pacificans. Just eleven percent of Free Pacificans receive water from private utilities. Approximately 10% of Free Pacificans are served by their own wells, and use their own sewage systems. Nearly the entire Free Pacifican population has access to safe, clean water. Water consumption is high in the Federated Alliance, despite water management efforts. The federal government has invested substantially in water conservation and water reclamation efforts in a bid to reduce the costs associated with this high level of water consumption. Most public water originates in the FPS' numerous mountain ranges

Culture

A monument to multiculturalism in Garneldo.

The Federated Alliance is home to many cultures and a wide variety of ethnic groups, traditions, and values. Aside from the Native Free Pacifican population, nearly all Free Pacificans or their ancestors settled or immigrated at some time in the past, the majority within the last five centuries. Mainstream Free Pacifican culture is a Western culture largely derived from the traditions of Codexians, Packilvanians, and Looplites with influences from many other sources, such as traditions brought by immigrants from Dovakhan. More recent immigration from Southeast Yasteria and especially Tyrsis and Drakkengard has added to a cultural mix that has been described as both a homogenizing melting pot, and a heterogeneous salad bowl in which immigrants and their descendants retain distinctive cultural characteristics.

Core Free Pacifican culture was established by Codexian colonists and shaped by the settlement process with the traits derived passed down to descendants and transmitted to immigrants through assimilation. Free Pacificans have traditionally been characterized by a strong work ethic, competitiveness, and individualism, as well as a unifying belief in an "Free Pacifican creed" emphasizing liberty, equality, private property, democracy, rule of law, and a preference for limited government. Free Pacificans are extremely charitable by global standards. According to a 2006 East Malaysian study, Free Pacificans gave 1.67% of GDP to charity, an unusually high amount.

The Free Pacifican people place a great deal of significance in the capacity for social mobility, and this plays a key role in attracting immigrants. While mainstream culture holds that the Federated Alliance is a classless society, scholars identify significant differences between the country's social classes, affecting socialization, language, and values. Free Pacificans' self-images, social viewpoints, and cultural expectations are associated with their occupations to an unusually close degree. While Free Pacificans tend greatly to value socioeconomic achievement, being ordinary or average is generally seen as a positive attribute.

Food

Rendang, a FPS national food.

Free Pacifican cuisine is highly diverse, reflective of the nation's multiculturalism. Codexian settlers and Packilvanian administrators normalized Western cuisine for hundreds of years, making wheat a staple, and making pasta dishes commonplace. But Looplite settlers and conquerers revitalized traditional Free Pacifican cuisine, which features rice as a staple with side dishes of meat. Many other cultural groups have brought other specialties, and Drakkengardian and Tyrsin cuisine is in particular on the rise. Traditional Free Pacifican cuisine is the most well-known in the FPS, though, and the country's national dishes are considered to be rendang, nasi goring, gado-gado, satay, soto, and bakso.

The Federated Alliance has undertaken a major, multi-pronged effort to combat obesity in the last two decades. The federal government requires food products to be labeled with basic nutritional information, and requires restaurant menus to contain basic nutritional information. Food distributors and restaurants must make more extensive information available online. Sizable labels are required to be placed on food products with a high sugar content, or with a high content of any sugar substitute, especially highly sweetened soft drinks. Several states have gone further, limiting the size of soft drinks. The government has also controversially promoted traditional Free Pacifican cuisine, which tends to be relatively low in calorie content. Obesity remains a significant issue despite these efforts.

Entertainment and the arts

The International Building in Liberty City was constructed in the internationalist style.

The Federated Alliance has generally taken its cues from other nations when it comes to literature, theater, cinema, music, philosophy, and art. Major inspirations have been Codex, old Packilvania, Infinite Loop, Drakkengard, Dovakhan, and East Malaysia. Numerous artists from across the FPS have become leading members of various movements from numerous countries, but the FPS has originated few artistic movements, musical genres, cinematic styles, or fundamental philosophies. Nonetheless, there is an entertainment industry of considerable size and strength in the FPS, and the FPS features size art, literature, and philosophy communities, usually focused in and around university campuses.

The major exception to the above rule is the international style of architecture, which was pioneered in the FPS in the 1920s and 1930s. The FPS' booming population prompted a considerable need for efficiency in the use of space in this time period, and the FPS architectural community developed the international style in response. Most historians cite this incidence as "the exception that proves the rule," however, given that the development of the international style came in large part simply from the application of modernism to architecture. Modernism itself did not originate in the FPS, but rather, was an influence gained from abroad.

Sports

The 2014 FPFF Cup

Sports are highly popular in the Federated Alliance at the amateur, college and professional levels. There are two major sports seasons: spring/summer (April-October) and fall/winter (November-March). Football (soccer) dominates the spring/summer season, and is generally considered the de facto national sport. Baseball is also highly popular. Basketball is the preeminent winter sport, though badminton is also very popular. Baseball and badminton are mixed-sex, while separate men's and women's leagues exist for football and basketball. Generally, the men's competitions attract greater attention, and the women's leagues are substantially smaller as a result.

The Free Pacifican Football Federation and Free Pacifican Badminton Association are organized around a promotion and relegation system, while the South Yasterian Baseball League, the International Men's Basketball League, and the International Women's Basketball League use a franchise-based system. Baseball and basketball in the Federated Alliance are noteworthy for including a single Lyonese team per league. Lyon launched its baseball, men's basketball, and women's basketball franchises in 2012, 2011, and 2014, respectively, prompting FPS' baseball and basketball leagues to adopt their current, more inclusive names. College athletics are organized by the Free Pacifican University Sports Organization, a for-profit entity.

Media

The internet is rapidly becoming the primary source of media consumption in the Federated Alliance, especially as high-speed internet has begun to reach even the most remote corners of the nation. Most media outlets now maintain a substantial online presence, often making programming available for streaming following traditional broadcast. The streaming service WebFlix accounts for a third of bandwidth usage nationally, providing its subscribers with access to a wide variety of movies, full seasons of television shows, and original content. Competing services NetTV and Nile provide original content as well, and are unique in also providing programming the day after broadcast. Traditional sources of media consumption continue to be highly profitable, however, and the internet is not expected to dominate the media for another 10-15 years. Social media, search engines, and portals are the most accessed sites in the FPS.

There are four major broadcast networks in the FPS: the Free Pacifican Broadcasting Company (FPBC), the Federated Alliance Broadcasting System (FABS), the New Codexian Broadcasting Network (NCBN), and the Yasterian Broadcasting Company (YBC). All are commercial entities. A smaller public entity also competes with these companies: the Federated Alliance National Public Television Network (FANTV). Nearly all programming on FANTV is educational or news, though, and its viewership is vastly lower. Cable television additionally offers hundreds of channels catering to a variety of niches. The overwhelming majority of cable television stations are for-profit entities, though several government and non-profit channels exist. The Free Pacific States News Network (FPSNN), Free Pacific One (FP1), Federated Alliance News Network (FANN), and the Yasterian News Network (YANN) are the most well-known, and most widely watched, cable channels.

Free Pacificans listen to radio programming, also largely commercial, on average just over two-and-a-half hours a day. In 1998, the number of FPS commercial radio stations had grown to 4,793 AM stations and 5,662 FM stations. In addition, there are 1,460 public radio stations. Most of these stations are run by universities and public authorities for educational purposes and are financed by public or private funds, subscriptions and corporate underwriting. Much public-radio broadcasting is supplied by the Federated Alliance National Public Radio Network (FANR). As of September 30, 2014, there are 15,433 licensed full-power radio stations in the FPS.

The most well-known newspapers in the FPS are the Faramount Times, Garneldo Free Press, Liberty City Post, and FPS Today. Although the cost of publishing has increased over the years, the price of newspapers has generally remained low, forcing newspapers to rely more on advertising revenue and on articles provided by a major wire service, such as the FPS Press, for their national and world coverage. With very few exceptions, all the newspapers in the FPS are privately owned, many by large chains. Major cities often have "alternative weeklies" to complement the mainstream daily papers, for example, Faramount's Bay Report or Zalebano's Zalebano Weekly, to name two of the best-known. Major cities may also support a local business journal, trade papers relating to local industries, and papers for local ethnic and social groups.