Union of Allied Badaran Vanguardships

The Socialist Republic of Al'Badara is an island nation located in Majatra. It is near to Cildania in the north-west, Kafuristan in the south, and Saridan in the east.

Geography
Al'badara consists of two large islands off the coast of the continent of Majatra. Its climate is tropical. The islands are ringed with mangrove swamps, giving way to a low-lying landscape of deserts and more fertile farmed areas. Further inland, the interior mountains are covered in jungle rain forest. The capital city is Dar Al'Badara (also known as Gharki). Al'bandara is 584,700 km2, making it the third smallest nation, next to Selucia (502,900 km2) and Keymon (55,200 km2).

Ethnicity and religion
About 90% of the people of Al'Badara are mostly Majatran (similar to real life Arabs) by ethnicity. Most of the Majatran people follow Islam to varying degrees: some are devout, while others are secular "nominal Muslims" who do not attend mosques. A few Majatrans follow Christianity of the Badaran Rite. An unknown number of people follow the teachings of The Order. The indigenous Asli people of the interior rain forests mostly observe their own animist beliefs. For many years during republican rule, the Official state religion was Islam, though practicing the state religion was not required. After the civil war, the state no longer had a religion.

Ancient History
The original people of Al'Badara are the Asli (a dark-skinned people similar to real life Malays). At least 1,000 years ago, Majatran people from the mainland settled the coasts of the islands they called Al'Badara. With the coming of Islam, Sutan (Saint) Abdullah brought the faith to Al'Badara, converting most of the people.

Sultanate
Five warring emirates emerged in Al'Badara, until they were united by Emir Azahari of Sumilkando, who established the Sultanate in 1376. His dynasty often raided the mainland for non-Muslim slaves. The Sultanate's highly authoritarian system held power for seven centuries, doing little to develop the country. Al'Badara developed a strong seagoing tradition, however, with merchants voyaging as far afield as Malivia. The early period of the Sultanate saw a flowering of science, including the discovery of algebra and the telescope, but stagnation set in by the 16th century and the Sultanate became increasingly poor and isolated.

Sultanate as constitutional monarchy
In 1906, Michelle Aflaq established the Al'Badara democracy league to campaign underground for an end to the Sultan's absolute monarchy. Her movement, with its demands for democracy, an opening of the country's borders, and equality of the sexes, gained increasing popularity. The Sultan oppressed the movement. When Sultan Reza tried in 1975 to take control of the mosques and end religious leaders' independence, the religious leaders (ulama) joined with the secular democracy movement to campaign against him. The result was the fall of Reza. He was replaced by his cousin, who became Sultan Khalil, but by the terms of the peace he was allowed to act only as a constitutional monarch.

Badara Protectorate
For the full article, see Badara Protectorate.

The Badara Protectorate (Badarenprotektorat) was an unofficial holding of the Dundorf Federation founded in the year 1882. The country was considered a 'protectorate' and the Sultan ruled as a puppet leader under advisement from Dundorfian military and colonial advisors. In 1902 rebellions began by locals over the ban of Islam by the Dundorf colonial government. After 22 years of small rebellions, Dundorf was forced to re-think its colonial ideas, and Al'badara became a Dundorf 'dominion'. During the civil war between Socialists and Capitalists in Dundorf during the 1920s, the Al'badaran Sultan assumed control of the country. In 1928 the massive protests of the Dominion began across Al'Badara, and the last Dundorfian soldiers left for their homeland or were killed by the rebels. This would see a Restoration of the absolute monarchy of previous times.

The Constitutional Sultanate
In 2095, the country became a Constitutional Monarchy, with the Sultan as the head of state and an elected Head of Government. The Sultan acted as more of a ceremonial position, as power had been transfered to the Majelis, an elected parliament. By law, the Sultanate became a democratic state, with no special privileges for the monarchy, the Muslim faith or any of the feudal relics. Men and women are guaranteed equality under the constitution, which also protected freedom of religion.

The Caliph and the Elective Sultanate
In 2143, After being named the Caliph of all Islam, the Sultan stepped down as head of state, and the position was replaced by elected Head of States. The head of states in this period were elected Sultans, this making the country an elective monarchy, though the people usualy do not refer to this perioid as such.

Reforms and Republic
In 2159, Al'Bandara became a Republic by means of a series of Constitutional Reforms that were passed in March 2159. The reforms changed the title of Sultan to Voice of the People, changed the countries name, and the flag. A year later, the national anthem was changed also, due to its references to the old sultanate. The new anthem was written by a member of the Ishtirakiya Party, and made to present national Unity with no favouritism.


 * Old National Anthem


 * I, servant of His Majesty,
 * pay him respect and give him blessing,
 * the protector of our wondrous islands,
 * the leader of the our faithful people,
 * who protects and guides us.
 * All people are happy and live in peace.
 * We pray, that whatever your wishes may be,
 * that destiny shall give you,
 * as you wish in your heart,
 * to give us wealth and happiness.
 * We hail you.
 * Peacefully be, the Kingdom and Sultan,
 * Lord, save Al'Badara, the abode of peace.


 * Current National Anthem


 * Sing, O Al'Badara, my song,
 * Echo it over and over again,
 * Remember, through my joy, each martyr,
 * Clothe him with the shining mantles,
 * Of our glory.
 * Repeat, O Al'Badara, our glorious song.
 * In faith and love I am part of mankind.
 * A Majatran I am in all my life.
 * My heart beats in tune with The Voice.
 * No foreign power shall ever dominate,
 * over the United Majatran Republic.
 * over the United Majatran Republic.

Troubled Republic?
Since the creation of the Elective Sultanate, Al'Badara has had to deal with the the Al'badaran Unionists (Patriotic Bloc)'s terrorist actions. Their blend of extremist actions and populist politics have led to the nation's current state. The Patriotic Bloc had a large ressurgence of power in the late 2170s, and since it's surge in power, a large shift in the nation has been occuring. In October 2182, the Unionsts resumed their extremist stylings after a long dormance, and stormed the Grand Majelis under the justification that the Majelis was planning to crack down on Unionists. Between 2183 and 2185, several parties withdrew from the Cabinet due to dissagreements with parties symathetic towards the Unionists and de-nationalization, leaving 6 of the 12 ministries and the Grand Vizer (Head of Government) positions vacant. The Al'badaran Unionists formed their own unrecognized government, The Royal Union Of Agundi, the Ba'ath Party and the Majatran Popular Front have formed the Gharki Soviet, and the Union of Progressive Ulama, the Democratic Reformist Party, and the Socialist Party remained loyal to the United Majatran Republic of Al'Badara. The Ishtirakiya Party was torn between the Gharki Soviet and the United Republic, thus causing them to be an important swing vote in cabinet proposals. In the wake of the turmoil, the capital was moved from Dar al Badara, Gharki to Vashti, Sumilkando. A small civil war was fought, and the republic slowly returned to its former state, but the Ba'ath Party, the Majatran Popular Front, and the Union of Progressive Ulama were dissolved in the wake, leaving the country to fall into Unionist hands. With unionist control, the capital was moved to Abu Yacub, Algundi (Former centre of the Royal Union of Algundi) and many rightist laws were put into place.

Second Sultanate
In 2213, a Bill was passed that re-named the Head of State (then Voice of the People) to Sultan. Due to a majority of the Pro-Republican parties dissolving at the end of the civil war, the bill passed with an approximate 6:1 majority. Soonthereafter, a bill was created that proposed re-naming the country back to "The Sultanate of Al'Badara". The bill is currently in debate, but it is unknown if it will pass.

Heads of State
Sultan (Elective Sultanate) Took Office 	Name 	Party January 2218 	Robert Taylor 	Socialist Party January 2215 	Robert Taylor 	Socialist Party

Voice of the People (Republic) Took Office 	Name 	Party January 2212 	Robert Taylor 	Socialist Party January 2209 	Grand Marshall Friedrich Misivic 	National Unionist Badaran Workers Party January 2206 	Grand Marshall Friedrich Misivic 	National Unionist Badaran Workers Party January 2200 	Robert Taylor 	Socialist Party January 2203 	Robert Taylor 	Socialist Party January 2197 	Robert Taylor 	Socialist Party January 2194 	Robert Taylor 	Socialist Party January 2191 	Grand Marshall Leanov.S.Misivic 	***Al'Badaran Unionists (Patriot Bloc) January 2188 	Faisal Al-Hashimi 	Democratic Reformist Party January 2185 	Faisal Al-Hashimi 	Democratic Reformist Party January 2183 	Mahmmoud Ghali 	Democratic Reformist Party April 2181 	Mahmmoud Ghali 	Democratic Reformist Party April 2178 	Grand Marshall Leanov.S.Misivic 	***Al'Badaran Unionists (Patriot Bloc) June 2164 	Salim Ali Rubai al-Shaabi 	Ishtirakiya Party December 2161 	Salim Ali Rubai al-Shaabi 	Ishtirakiya Party June 2159 	Mohammed Khalifah Suraqah 	Medusoid Party
 * April 2175 	Hasina Wahid 	Union of Progressive Ulama
 * April 2172 	Hasina Wahid 	Union of Progressive Ulama
 * June 2169 	Abdurrahman Wahid 	Union of Progressive Ulama
 * December 2166 	Mu'Ammar Ghanem Taraki 	Ishtirakiya Party

Sultan (Elective Sultanate) Took Office 	Name 	Party December 2156 	Mohammed Khalifah Suraqah 	Medusoid Party June 2154 	Mohammed Khalifah Suraqah 	Medusoid Party December 2151 	Muhammad al-Kufi 	**Marxist-Leninist Society April 2150 	Muhammad al-Kufi 	**Marxist-Leninist Society October 2147 	Muhammad al-Kufi 	**Marxist-Leninist Society October 2145 	Grand Prince / General Alarsk 	***Monarchist-Union Coalition May 2145 	Grand Prince / General Alarsk 	***Monarchist-Union Coalition April 2144 	Faisal bin Turki 	Freedom Coalition

Sultan**** (Absolute Monarchy/Constitutional Monarchy) Took Office 	Name 	Important Contributions ? 	Sultan Khali'afar 	Disposed Sultan, many parties have tried to put back in power of Al'badara Late 1900s 	Sultan Khalil (Cousin of Reza) 	Changed the country into a Constitutional Monarchy Early 1900s 	Sultan Reza 	Tried to keep absolute control over the country 1376 	Sutan Azahari, The Emir of Sumilkando 	United the waring emirates of Al'badara, thus establishing the sultanate. Around 1,000 years ago 	Sutan Abdullah 	Brought Islam to Al'badara


 * Indicates an election in which the Head of State had over 50% of the vote, causing there to be NO runoff


 * Now the Majatran Popular Front


 * Now the National Unionist Badaran Workers Party


 * Only culturaly important and well known Sultans are listed

Defence and Foreign relations
Al'Badara enjoys especially close ties with the Union of Quanzari Soviets, but has good relations with most states. The exception is Deltaria, with which the Republic has no diplomatic relations of any kind. Al'Badara is a member of the South Ocean Treaty Organization which in addition to Quanzar includes the Selucian Empire, Cildanian Republic, United Jakania. Al'Badara has signed a number of international conventions to protect human rights. The Republic does not possess any weapons of mass destruction, but it has strong conventional forces. Due to a recent decision of the Majelis, Al'Badara has began to build a powerful naval force consisting of several battleships.

Economy
Al'Badara is a third world country, with enough to feed all its people but a generally poor standard of living. Despite democracy, there are large gaps in income between the old elite and the mass of the people. The discovery of offshore oil and natural gas has created a new wealthy group, but the bulk of the population has yet to see much benefit from oil riches. Most of the population are small farmers, cultivating rice, raisins & dates, olives, and other crops or tending livestock such as sheep and goats. Many remain nomadic, travelling with their livestock from oasis to oasis. A few cities handle oil refining and services, including a large government sector. There is also a relatively modern and successful shipbuilding industry.

Politics
Most of Al'Badara's political parties trace their roots back to the 20th century movement for democracy, although they often have very different interpretations of the meaning of democracy. Politics was for many years dominated by old-line parties such the Durussalem Party, the Purity Party and the Sultan's Loyalist Party. Politics are currently domianted by two large parties and a group of smaller parties, some of them gathered into a third-party alliance.

Active Parties
The Al'Badaran Conservative Party was the country's largest party for several years, holding power for most of this period on a platform of "stopping the socialist take-over of this great nation". Founded as the Liberty Party, a radical small-government group, it transformed itself into the Conservatives soon after its formation. Since then it combined moderately conservative morality with a policy of government deregulation in a highly successful blend.

The Al'Badaran Unionists (Patriot Bloc) (formerly the National Unionist Party, and the Monarchist-Union Coalition) is a highly patriotic authoritarian party, standing for a mixed economy and national pride. It has called for monumuments to glorify Al'Badara, a massive arms buildup, and war with Deltaria. It distinguished itself through a brief civil war with the BMSP militias, but has since disbanded its para-miltiary force and sought to achieve its goals through democratic means.

The Ishtirakiya Party (لاشتراكي حزب) is an Islamic Socialist party formed in 2158. It goes by the belief that Religion must be a branch of the government, but it must be a non radicle socialist government. in the June 2159 elections, the newly created Ishtriakiya party recieved 166 of the 750 seats (up from 0), takeing majority from the Medusoid Party. In the 2161 elections, the Ishtirakiya party lead a coalition of several left wing parties in order to keep the position of Voice of the People out of the hands of the Al'Badaran Unionists (Patriotic Bloc). The party experienced rapid growth after it's founding, but has in recent years, fizzeled to extremely low amounts of seats.

The Order of Light was created in the year 2210 by a mysterious religious group known only as "The Order". The Order of Light (or OL) promotes a combination of Lassie-faire Capitalism and Religious reform to better Al'Badaran society. The OL has experience unprecedent growth since it's creation, leading many political experts to believe that there is a growing movement in Al'Badara to throw out the current Bureaucratic Socialism system that is the current state of Al'Badaran government.

Defunct Parties
The Ba'ath Majatra Socialist Party is Al'Badara's second-oldest party. It describes itself as "Pan-Majatran, Nationalist, Socialist, Secular and Militarist." Initially a highly authoritrain left-wing party which united all others against it in an "anti-dictatorship pledge," it has recently moderated its policies somewhat under a "new guard" leadership. The Ba'ath party pushed Al'badara into a "state of war" on the allies side in Terra War I, but it could not push the country enough to provide millitary assistance.

the Union of Progressive Ulama is Al'Badara's oldest surviving party. The UPU describes itself as "progressive, Islamic, and democratic," loyal to both the Sultan and democracy. Its roots lie among left-leaning religious scholars (ulama) but it claims to speak for faithful Muslims throughout the country. The UPU has provided Al'Badara's foreign minister for many years.

The Majatran Popular Front (formerly the Marxist-Leninist Society) was founded as the Campaign for Social Justice, but it now is explicit about its ideological basis. It seeks to build economic socialism as rapidly as possible, and has often acted as a mediator between otherwise opposed parties. Its recent policies have concentrated on unseating the Conservatives from power.

the Medusoid Party, under a leader the party claims is charismatic but some others find terrifyingly ugly, has never been explicit about its ideology, but it has pursued a socialist voting record very close to that of the Marxist-Leninists. Like the UPU, it shared power for some years in Conservative-led cabinets, but later joined the BMSP in power.

A Special Report from Dundorf's famous reporter Paulvonludendorff:
Al'Badara is an exciting, mysterious, and overall fascinating nation. Its people have an exotic culture, which is radically different from the Teutono-Christian lifestyles and traditions seen by many Dundorfians. Their premier religion, Islam, is supplemented by an Arabian way of life. Despite the usually conservative aspects of the Muslim religion, Al'Badara has become a highly liberal, secular, and progressive state. Though many in Dundorf (and around Terra) may support a return to the old traditions there, it seems that Al'Badara will remain this way for some time.

Located on a pair of large islands, the country is divided into five Provinces. It is, in many ways, similar to Dundorf as far as government composition goes. A 750-member legislature, known as the Majelis, creates the laws of the land. The ruler is a hereditary leader. The Head of State is currently Sultan Khali'Afar.

Several large - and small - parties exist in Al'Badara. Most powerful is the Conservative Party, a secular libertarian group comparable to the Free Action Greens of our homeland. However, several other organizations rival the Cons for power in their country. The Progressive Liberals, Ulama, and several smaller socialist parties hold a large number of seats. New parties, such as the Ba'athists, have sprung up recently.

Laws are secular and liberal in Al'Badara. Their military is small and does not utilize WMDs, while the government and democratic councils run large parts of industry and agriculture. It is effectively a Social Democratic state, with a progressive legal system and an efficient government. The most characterizing aspect of the Al'badaran constitution, however, is the importance of the Sultan. The anthem reflects this feeling, with several lines describing service to the Head of State:

"I, servant of His Majesty, pay him respect and give him blessing, the protector of our wondrous islands, the leader of the our faithful people, who protects and guides us."

If Al'Badara continues on the path it has followed thus far, good things will appear in its future. Their relative quiet in international affairs may end soon, as well, with greater international recognition of the small island country appearing. Dundorf has already expressed its interest in friendship with the people of Al'Badara; hopefully, this will blossom into a long-term feeling of mutual understanding between our countries.