Kirlawa

Kirlawa is a small nation in northern Artania that borders Dorvik, Aloria, Dundorf, Kundrati, and the Lievenian Sea.

History
See History of Kirlawa

Kirlawa has had a rather mixed history, with distinct periods of major turbulence followed by major calm. The first ideas of a united Kirlawan state date back to the 1300s with Ylana Ghalee's ideas on a 'Kirlawan Oligarchy', with the Kirlawan Democracy Front spearheading moves to unite the region, succeeding partially with the First Kirlawan Confederacy and fully with the Second Kirlawan Confederacy.

The Second Confederacy and Republican periods were generally very stable, with Kirlawa adopting a semi-isolationist stance, politically distancing itself from the outside world and adopting an economic approach that gradually went to the left, particularly in the mid period of the Republic. However, the CandyKids dictatorship that existed from around 2236 to 2245 heralded in much change in the Republic, with the rise of the Leftist Coalition in opposition to the CK and the birth of Kirlawan fascism.

The Republic lasted, drifting constantly leftwards, until 2289 when the Free Democratic period was heralded in. After the brief revival of right-wing economics from 2295 to 2300, the period saw the birth and regrowth of Christian fundamentalist movements, in particular the Veritan Catholic Church, the Church of the Almighty Path, and the Orange Order.

The Free Democratic era came to an end in 2333 with the First Kirlawan Civil War which saw the end after 299 years of a unified Kirlawa and the splitting of the nation. It would take until 2369 and the establishment of the People's Republic of Kirlawa after the Second Kirlawan Civil War to reunite the nation.

During the 2400s, Kirlawa underwent a period of sustained growth and stability. Towards the end of the century the growth in non-Artanian population led to the establishment of distinct political movements to further the causes of ethnic minorities, such as the Greater Dundorf Party and An Páirtí Daoine Ceilteach, the latter representing the Celtic community made up of Irish and Welsh émigrés.

Government of Kirlawa
Kirlawa is governed at the top by 3 branches of government. Currently, there is a system of checks and balances between the 3 branches albeit they are very limited. The only time is usually if the Supreme Court of Kirlawa challanges a bill that is seen as illegal and/or unconstitutional. The powers of the President and Prime Minister are somewhat limited in the fact that they cannot issue executive orders. This prevents the 2 from becoming too powerful. That being said, the only noticable one is between the Head of State and Government. The HoS is a cerimonial position while the HoG is the leader of the nation.

Kirlawa is a Liberal Democracy where all citizens have the right to vote. The system currently used in elections allows people to directly vote for President using the Two-Round System. This means if none of the candidates recieve over 50% of the vote, then the top 2 candidates will face each other in a runoff election. The elected President is not bound by term limits and can serve as long as he/she wants.

All the members of the General Assembly, Senate and Governors are elected through results from eac province. Every 3 and half years (excluding Early Elections), Kirlawa holds elections for the legislature. Results from the provincial level determine the seats in the General Assembly and Senate. Gubenatorial elections are also held the same day and follows the format as the legislature elections. The party that wins the provincial elections will win the position of governor. The President is selected through popular vote.

President
The President of Kirlawa is a purely symbolic figure selected by the voters from a field nominated by the Assembly. She or he has no power other than to perform ceremonial and symbolic actions such as signing off on treaties. Every three and a half years, the voters select a new President (or retain the current one), from a party with at least 5 percent of the seats in the General Assembly.The President works in Indrala at the Executive Office along with the Prime Minister and Cabinet of Kirlawa.

Prime Minister
The Prime Minister of Kirlawa is the Head of Government and the most powerful person in the nation. He/she chairs the cabinet and works with the president and the cabinet to administer and enforce the law in the nation. The Prime Minister is not elected in any election, but is instead choosen by a cabinet coalition comprising from the parties that make up the majority in the General Assembly. The Prime Minister works in Indrala at the Executive Office along with the President and Cabinet of Kirlawa.

Cabinet
The Cabinet of Kirlawa is a 13-seat body chosen by the Assembly who act as the government. The leader of the Cabinet is the Prime Minister, who is regarded as the most powerful individual politician in Kirlawa. The government is usually based on a coalition of parties forming the majority of Assembly members. The cabinet is housed at the Executive Office along with the President and Prime Minister.

Legislative
Kirlawa has a bicameral Parliament, made up of the Kirlawan Senate and the Kirlawan Assembly. The location of the two legislatures is in the Capitol Complex. This consists of the old Capitol which once housed both the Executive and Legislative Branch all under one roof. It has since been turned into a museum. The current Capitol, features 2 distinct wings for both legislatibe bodies and a 37-story tower that provides offices to all 817 people in the Parliment.

Assembly
The Kirlawan Assembly is a body of 717 members chosen by proportional regional representation with a maximum term of three and a half years. It is the prime Legislature in Kirlawa, and the Senate does not have the power to repeal Acts passed in the Assembly.

Senate
The Kirlawan Senate is a 100-seat body elected from first-past-the-post single-seat constituencies. Each region has a number of seats allocated on a proportional basis, and the boundaries of each seat are determined by an independent commission to ensure roughly equal size. The Senate determines mainly non-Legislative matters, and it has been suggested that it should be able to veto any Constitutional changes.

Supreme Court of Kirlawa
The Supreeme Court of Kirlawa is the highest and most powerful court in the nation. It has Judicial Review or the power to check, if necessary, the actions of the President, Prime Minister and Congress. It can tell the Prime Minister and/or President that certain actions are not allowed by the Constitution. It has the authority to review a law and dem it as Unconstitutional. The Supreme Court has the final judge in all cases.

The court is made up of 7 justices; 1 Head Justice and 6 Associate Justices. They are appointed by the President or Prime Minister when there is a vacany. They serve life terms and are expected to, "Use good judgement and always analyze facts before making a decision". Though, the court is a neutral body that actively promotes political independence, it is evident that political ideologies sometimes are used when making decisions. This is especially evident for social issues.

Head Justice


 * Ward Anderson

Associate Justices


 * Thomas Bermain


 * Lawrence Young


 * Elizabeth Curtis


 * Foster Dunwood


 * Allan French


 * Bridgett Merriwether

National Court of Appeals
They are the second highest court system in the nation. The main function of the National Court of Appeals is to decide appeals from the Regional Courts within its assigned Judicial Branch, and in some instances from other designated courts and/or administrative agencies. There are 3 designated Judicial Branches that serve all 5 provinces in the nation. As with the Supreme Court, the judges are appointed for a life term.

Branch A


 * Judge Julia Lambert

Uwakah Province

Branch B


 * Judge Alex Garrison Jr.


 * Dirlana Province and Dirguzia Province

Branch C


 * Judge Christopher Young II


 * Merkan Province and Nuchtmark Province

Kirlawa Regional Courts
These are the general trial courts of the court system. Both civil and criminal cases are filed in the regional courts. Each of the 3 Branches of the National Court of Appeals is broken up in to 7 regional court systems. The judges in the regional courts serve a term of 10 years.

Provincial Courts
These courts have jurisdiction over disputes involving some issue affecting the province. Each province excluding New Englia has a system like this. There is a low court and high court. This allows the person to appeal to the higher court if they are upset over the decision; this is true for the national court system. The highest court in a province is the Supreme Court of [province name]. They are elected in a non-partisan election.

Court of Regents
This is a special court that is not aligned with the court system of the nation. This court deals with military tribunals and terrorism cases.

Provincial Governors
Each Province of Kirlawa has a Governor elected in a simple election with the post going to whoever has the plurality of the votes. The position is mainly symbolic, although the Governor will hold the casting vote in the Provincial Assembly.

Provincial Assemblies
There are also five Provincial Assemblies, each with an amount over 150 seats. first-past-the-post single-member constituency seats.

=Parties= There are currently 5 active parties in the nation.

Active Parties (as of 3688)

 * Kirlawan People's Justice Party - Populist, nationalist, isolationist. Being generally leftist on fiscal issues, and despite their center-right positions on social matters, the KPJP are a member of the Leftist Coalition.
 * Green Party of Kirlawa
 * Kirlawa Capitalist Alliance
 * Virtue & Righteousness Party
 * Kirlawa New Future Alliance
 * Democratic Party of Kirlawa
 * Religious Rural Community

Historic Parties (mostly from the 2500s)

 * Christian Socialist Party - Economically socialist, but favoured very restrictive social policies. Was ejected from the Leftist Coalition over disagreements on moral issues.
 * Democratic Socialist Party - A hard left political party dedicated to great equality in society. Member of the Leftist Coalition and Socialist International.
 * Fascist Front of Kirlawa - Less inclined to support capitalist policies than the National Fascists, but had joined them in the Rightist Coalition.
 * Kirlawa Democratic Labour - A Social Democratic party, formed in the 2240s. A founding member of the Leftist Coalition.
 * Liberal Progressive Party - Founders of the Leftist Coalition, and an influential force in Kirlawan history since the early 23rd Century. Center-Left Liberals.
 * Love Life Happiness - Neoliberal Anarcho-Capitalists with a large composition of ravers. As the political arm of the Brentwood Corporation, the LLH were in place to shape the nation in the best interests of the company in addition to maintaining the tradition of the CandyKids, Kawaii-Meomi, and Angelis movements.
 * National Fascists - Initially the Kirlawa Far Right National Fascist Front at the time the First Kirlawan Civil War started, the Kirlawa fascist movement started up again a while back as the Kirlawa National Fascist Lucasite Loyalist Party, named after civil war fascist leader Peter Lucas (later Emperor Peter Lucas I of the Fascist Imperial Empire of Kirlawa). The party held a hardline nationalist stance and had for some time been among Kirlawa's larger political parties.
 * TEA Party
 * Urban Party of Kirlawa

Historic Parties (mostly from the 2400s or before)

 * Guiding Hand - Frequently the largest party, the nationalist, conservative Guiding Hand took Kirlawa by storm as droves of conservative voters finally discovered a party that took a stand against Kirlawa's perceived immorality. The Guiding Hand followed restrictive, fascist doctrine and supported total government control over the nation to ensure the citizens followed a traditional Christian Artanian lifestyle.
 * Kirlawa Green Party - A leftist party similar to the Liberal Democrats, but supporting more government regulation of the economy, primarily to ensure environmental safety.
 * Left Socialist Party - A small socialist party that had its roots in the now defunct National Communist Party.
 * Liberal Democrats - The Liberal Democrats espoused a doctrine of classical liberalism and personal freedom.
 * Reform-Independent Party - A centrist party that was most notable for being strongly opposed to the Greens' environmental policy.
 * Social Conservatives - A right-wing party that was formed as a compromise between the radical Fascists of the Guiding Hand and the predominantly leftist Kirlawan mainstream, proclaiming a return to the Kirlawa of the 2100's. The party was formed when the young Christian National Front suffered a schism, with the revolutionary Fascists and statists forming the National Socialist Kirlawan Workers' Party and soon joining the Guiding Hand. In the elections of 2444, they managed to win a plurality of seats, mirroring the rise of the Guiding Hand in the previous election.
 * Social Liberal Party - A centre-left party, largely supportive of devolution, an internationalist foreign policy, and a strong military to protect Kirlawa's progressive systems and values. A founding member of the Democratic Alternative.

=Political Divisions of Kirlawa= Kirlawa has 5 regions known as Provinces and a Dependency. The 5 provinces in the nation have their own government and unicameral legislature. The one dependency of Kirlawa is Joint-Ruled by 4 nations. It has its own legislature.

List of Provinces
=Demographics=

Population
Kirlawa has a population of more than 410 million people. It is the second most populated country in Terra behind the Imperial Lands of Kalopia. While it is second in population, it is 13th in Terra in terms of population density. The most populated province is Uwakah Province; the least populated is Merkan Province.

Race and Ethnicity
Kirlawa, like many nations in Artania, has received immigrants from all across Terra. Citizens of Kirlawa are all treated equally, with any form of discrimination being frowned upon.

In the census of 2950, the plurality of Kirlawans (45%) identified themselves as 'White North Artanian', an Anglo-Saxon grouping. High levels of immigration have introduced significant minorities, most notably Celtic (32%), Dundorfian (10%), Dovani (4%), and Istalia (2%).

Religion
Religiously, the nation is very divided, with no single religious following attracting a majority of Kirlawans. According to the census of 2950, 49% of Kirlawans consider themselves Christian; of these, 25% identify as Protestant, 23% Catholic, and 1% other Christian. 31% of people are agnostic or atheist or other non-religious, 16% Pagan, 2% Buddhist, and 2% other.

All demographic figures are from the Cultural Census of 2950: http://classic.particracy.net/viewbill.php?billid=293339.

=Economy= Kirlawa is a moderately thriving nation economically, generally considered a first-world country, although the economic strength has dropped somewhat since 2723. The richest areas are the coastal areas bordering the Lievenian Sea, with the nation as a whole enjoying a fairly high standard of living. Poverty is still considered low. Much of the poverty is in Uwakah Province where light industry and very little commerce frame their economy. Recent programs have been passed to help end poverty in Uwakah. Unemployment nationwide has remained low for over 85 years. The country has a government regulated stock market and 2 exchanges; the National Exchange and the Artanian Commodity Exchange or ACE-100. Both are located in Brase Lake.

Commerce
Kirlawa exports slightly more than it imports, creating a trade surplus. Major exports include grain, fruits, electronics, and metals; while major imports include meat and oil. Nation has 5 ports in total with the largest being the Port of Cadoria. It ranks 5th in all of Artania in terms of cargo.

The nation is home to many businesses that provide goods and services to people around the world. The nation is home to such companies as: Neptune Inc., Artania Airlines Inc., Federation Bank, GlobalTech Sciences, X-1 Aerospace, Kirlawan Motors and many more. The nation is currently experiencing a tech sector boom that has brought many jobs to the nation over the past 5 years.

=Natural Resources=

=Military=

War and Military Conflicts
Since the founding of the nation, Kirlawa has been involved in about 4 wars the 2330s North Artanian Crisis, First Kirlawan Civil War, Second Kirlawan Civil War and the Kirlawan-Dorvish Border War. The nation has also participated in dozens of other military conflicts across terra most notably the New Englian Crisis.

=Foreign Policy= Kirlawa has mostly kept to itself in recent centuries, except for having signed cultural exchange and friendship agreements with several nations, both neighbouring and across Terra.

=Education=

=Transportation=

=Media=

=Arts and Culture= Culturally, Kirlawa is a very multi-cultural nation, with the influence of immigrants from foreign lands over the past several centuries, in particular from areas including Dundorf, Dranland, New Englia, and Istalia, having a great effect on the nation's culture. There is a 'traditional' Kirlawan culture, highly regionalised across the nation. Classical Kirlawa spawned many famous artists, poets, and writers, their legacy alive today in a recovering arts movement.

In rural areas, the culture tends to be based more around traditional farming practices in the south and mining practices in areas of the north, particularly western Merkan and Uwakah. The city areas have a very homogenised culture similar to that of other Artanian and Makonian democracies.

Kirlawa also had a significant demographic of ravers, primarily in Dirguzia and Merkan. The raver culture expanded vastly mostly due to the CandyKids influence on capital projects and policies during their times of strength. This demographic typically had unwavering support for the Love Life Happiness in Kirlawan politics, as the the majority of the party were ravers themselves, leading to mutual agreements on topics such as drug laws and civil issues. Over the decades since LLH suspended their political activities, however, this demographic has faded into the background, with many emigrating from Kirlawa to libertarian-leaning nations.

In food, the Kirlawan people are not known for their mastery of cooking, but there are a number of foods and dishes including the Gerlan berry of Uwakah and the famous grain-berry rolls of Nuchtmark. The traditional Kirlawan diet consists mainly of fruits, vegetables, fish and juices.

=See Also=

List of Presidents (Kirlawa)

Kirlawa National Highway System