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Workers' Republic of Azuristan
Motto: "Workers of the World, Unite!"
Anthem: The Internationale
Capital	Osbos
Official languages	English
Recognised national languages	Russian, Mandarin, Swedish.
Ethnic groups	64.1% White, 26.6% Black, 9.3% Han Chinese.
Religion	State Atheism
Demonym(s)	Azuristani
Government	Unitary Socialist Republic
• President	azureScapegoat
• Vice President	Julia Caesar
• Prime Minister	Peter Rhodes
Legislature	National Assembly
Establishment
• Holy Azuristani Empire	1 June 1671
• Republic of Azuristan	2 September 1904
• Workers' Republic of Azuristan	1 May 1976
Area
•	372,142 km2 (143,685 sq mi)
Population
• 2019 census	11,594,023
• Density	31.15/km2 (80.7/sq mi) (148)
Currency	Azuristani Ruble (ARB)
Time zone	UTC+3 (UTC)
• Summer (DST)	UTC+4 (UTC)
Date format	dd/mm/yyyy (CE)
Driving side	right

Azuristan, officially the Workers' Republic of Azuristan, is a unitary socialist republic located in the Pontic Steppe. It includes 16 municipalities and covers an area of 372,142 square kilometres (143,684 sq mi). Its capital and largest city is Osbos.

History

Republic of Azuristan

The Republic of Azuristan was founded on the 2nd of September, 1904, following the dissolution of the Holy Azuristani Empire, which had existed since the 1st of June, 1671. The Republic of Azuristan was a unitary republic with a free-market capitalist economy. It was lead by the democratically elected Republican Parliament and the President of Azuristan. The Republic of Azuristan had no Prime Minister, but instead combined their head of state with their head of government, effectively making the elected President also the Prime Minister. Faith in the government was low ever since the start.

Inspired by the Bolshevik-led October Revolution in Russia in 1917, a communist uprising lead by the newly-formed Azuristan's Anti-Capitalist Workers' Party occurred in Azuristan on the 20th of January, 1918. This became what is today known as the January Revolt. Although short-lived, the January Revolt is often cited as the beginning of Azuristani revolutionary socialism.

Azuristani Revolution

On the 20th of April, 1975, Azuristan's Anti-Capitalist Workers' Party and the Communist Party banded together and staged a nation-wide socialist revolution. The People's Armies of Azuristan quickly managed to seize republican cities from the inside. Stationed military officers, soldiers, and police officers were either captured or executed. Mostly using guerilla tactics to strike out at republican convoys, the People's Armies had little trouble keeping and defending the cities they took. Revolutionaries often scavenged supplies from republican convoys, and sometimes managed to find and repair artillery equipment. This was used to destroy roads, rails, and other forms of infrastructure outside of revolutionary cities, making it harder for republican troops to arrive.

The Anarchist movement also gained footing during the Azuristani Revolution, lead by the "Anarchy Group". The anarchists managed to completely seize a few republican cities and declared these to be new anarchist communes.

The revolution lasted for 11 days and 11 nights, and on the morning of the first of May 1975, the former President of the Republic of Azuristan formally signed a peace treaty, ceding all republican territory over to the Socialist Republic of Azuristan.

Workers' Republic of Azuristan

The Socialist Republic of Azuristan was founded on the 1st of May 1976, as a result of a socialist victory in the Azuristani Revolution.

Geography

The Socialist Republic of Azuristan consists mainly of one large island and two smaller ones. In total, there are 3 (close, but disconnected) main islands, 6 smaller (inhabited) ones, and over 200 even smaller but uninhabited ones. Terrain is mostly flat to rolling plains, with rugged hills and mountains in the southeast. The Island of Egrua is the most mountainous region in Azuristan.

The climate of Azuristan is extremely diverse, considering the nation's small size. The precipitation tends to be uniformly distributed throughout the year, although the rainfall can be particularly heavy during the Autumn months.

Azuristan contains in itself 16 municipalities. These are, in alphabetical order:

Afla, Aren, Brial, Echait, Egrua, Huplesia, Laflu, Locreize, Masnounia, Samausia, Skein, Snybe, Stryeland, Sumania,Triy, and Urgil.

The three largest cities of Azuristan are, in decreasing order of population: Osbos, Snybe and Styreland (de-facto capital), Neblad, Skein, and Uscal, Locreize.

Politics

National Assembly

National Assembly
Type
Type	Unicameral
Leadership
President	Som Ting Wong, UWFA since 2016
Structure
Seats	2,000
Political groups	United Workers' Front of Azuristan (1115)   Green party (332)   Libertarian Socialist Coalition (422)   Peasants' Union (131)
Elections
Last election	14 September 2016
Next election	14 September 2018

The Workers' Republic of Azuristan is a multi-party parliamentary democracy, using a "highest averages" proportional representation voting system called the Webster method to elect members of the National Assembly. The Azuristani constitution prevents political parties that advocate for a capitalist economy from gaining any seats in the parliament, but they are allowed to run in local elections.

The parliament has a total of 2000 seats. The Speaker of the House can break ties.

On the 9th of August 2016, the Animal Rights Initiative, after being under investigation by the Security Service of Azuristan, as well as the Anti-Corruption Court of Azuristan, was revoked of its representative rights. This was a result of the Anti-Corruption Court ruling the party guilty of election fraud and bribery of government officials. The party leader, Mateo Félix, was arrested and sentenced to 11 years in prison for corruption. Several other people with leading positions within the party were also arrested, as well as the government officials that had accepted bribes from the party. Despite being in prison, Mateo Félix remains the official leader of the party, and is seen as a martyr by some party members.

Political Parties

Azuristan has had many political parties since the republic was declared in 1904, but today there are only 4 legal political parties (each of which contain multiple caucuses).

United Workers' Front of Azuristan

The United Workers' Front of Azuristan, or UWFA, was formed on 10 June 2018 after a merger of several political parties, the largest of which were the Popular Communist Front and the United Socialist Party. The Popular Communist Front was a short-lived but popular party that split from the United Socialist Party in the summer of 2016 after ideological disagreements. The leader of the Popular Communist Party, Alikhan Sezim, was the founder of a unique socialist ideology called "Azuristani Socialism" which was an attempt at creating a Marxist ideology which was adapted to the specific material conditions of Azuristan in the 21st century. The United Socialist Party, at the time the oldest still active political party in Azuristan, originating as Azuristan's Anti-Capitalist Workers' Party in 1975, was a self-described "multi-tendency socialist and Marxist party", had for a time been slipping from its position as the most popular party in Azuristan. In 2015 the United Socialist Party officially dropped feminism as an official ideology, although reassuring that the decision was entirely for the sake of allowing diverse discussion within the party and not because of a change of heart on the matter of women's rights. The move became controversial, resulting in a long-time ally of the United Socialist Party, the Working Women's Party, to leave the "Red-Green-Pink" coalition (the ruling coalition between 2012 and 2016, consisting of the United Socialist Party, the Green Party, and the Working Women's Party), although the United Socialist Party and the Green Party still held a majority in the National Assembly even without the seats of the Working Women's Party.

After the election in 2016, the United Socialist Party lost 58.75% of its seats in the National Assembly, mostly to the Popular Communist Front. The Popular Communist Front formed a ruling coalition together with the Communist Party of Azuristan, the Communist Party (Maoist), and the Working Women's Party. The United Socialist Party, the Green Party, and the Libertarian Socialist Coalition entered into oppositon to this new government.

On 10 June 2018 the Popular Communist Party approached the United Socialist Party with a proposal, dubbed the June Proposal, which some observers called an attempted "annexation" of the USP, fully disbanding the USP and granting all of its resources to the PCP, in exchange for some top positions within the Central Committee and Politburo of the PCP for 30 of the leading members of the USP. The proposal was quickly rejected, but talks continued until 2 months later on 23 August when the two parties officially announced their merger into an entirely new political party: The United Workers' Front of Azuristan. This merger also included the Communist Party of Azuristan, the Communist Party (Maoist), and the Working Women's Party, the leading members of which were all rewarded with top positions within the new party. There were media speculations about whether or not the Green Party, the Libertarian Socialist Coalition, or even the Peasants' Union would join the UWFA, with some even speculating that Azuristan was turning into a one-party state, but the UWFA did not show any intention of merging with any other political parties.

The United Workers' Front of Azuristan contains 5 internal caucuses, each allowed to advocate its own ideology, however all caucuses must follow the "fundamental ideology of the Party", namely Azuristani Socialism, defined by the party manifesto as "a socially progressive and feminist ideology based on the material truth of Marxism applied to Azuristan in the 21st centry and the ultimate desire of building an international communist society."

Azuristani Caucus

The largest internal caucus, the Azuristani Caucus, was formed mostly by former members of the old Popular Communist Party. The Azuristani Caucus follows the ideologies of Azuristani Socialism and Socialist Patriotism. The Azuristani Caucus advocates for things like a national Flag Day, the erection of more flag poles, "patriotic education" in schools, and an increased military budget. The Azuristani Caucus has in the past been accused by some of the other caucuses within the UWFA of being revisionist, nationalist, militarist, populist, and even dictatorial, but all of these accusations are fiercly denied by the caucus leadership.

In a poll which asked people in Azuristan over the age of 18 what their view of the Azuristani Caucus was, 13% answered "very favourably", 66% answered "somewhat favourably", 9% answered "somewhat unfavourably", and 12% answered "very unfavourably".

Marxist Caucus

The Marxist Caucus is an internal caucus of the United Workers' Front of Azuristan, advocating a strict adherence to the Marxist ideology and worldview, without losing sight of the real plights of the working class. The Marxist Caucus advocates for feminism, anti-racism, open borders, international diplomacy and cooperation (especially with other socialist states), and a democratically planned economy.

In a poll which asked people in Azuristan over the age of 18 what their view of the Marxist Caucus was, 4% answered "very favourably", 70% answered "somewhat favourably", 21% answered "somewhat unfavourably", and 5% answered "very unfavourably".

Leninist Caucus

Founded by the members of the old Communist Party of Azuristan, the Leninist Caucus advocates for Azuristan to follow more closely in the footsteps of the Soviet Union and adhere strictly to the Marxist-Leninist ideology. The Leninist Caucus has been accused by some of being "class reductionists", although this is denied by the leaders of the caucus.

In a poll which asked people in Azuristan over the age of 18 what their view of the Leninist Caucus was, 11% answered "very favourably", 20% answered "somewhat favourably", 49% answered "somewhat unfavourably", and 20% answered "very unfavourably".

Maoist Caucus

Founded by the members of the old Communist Party (Maoist), the Maoist Caucus advocates for Azuristan to follow a variant of Maoist ideology. The Maoist Caucus is split on what "Maoism" should mean, some advocating a more "classical Maoism" based on Mao Zedong Thought, others being followers of the international Marxist-Leninist-Maoist movement, and a third and smaller group advocating closer relations with the People's Republic of China and adherence to Deng Xiaoping Theory and Xi Jinping Thought.

In a poll which asked people in Azuristan over the age of 18 what their view of the Maoist Caucus was, 4% answered "very favourably", 44% answered "somewhat favourably", 46% answered "somewhat unfavourably", and 6% answered "very unfavourably".

Women's Caucus

Founded mainly by former members of the old Working Women's Party, the Women's Caucus focuses on the social and economical issused faced by women in Azuristan. The Women's Caucus also follows intersectional feminism and advocates for anti-racism and a reduction in class inequality.

In a poll which asked people in Azuristan over the age of 18 what their view of the Women's Caucus was, 10% answered "very favourably", 60% answered "somewhat favourably", 25% answered "somewhat unfavourably", and 5% answered "very unfavourably".

The Webster Method

Main article: Webster/Sainte-Laguë method

The Webster method (or Sainte-Laguë method) is a highest quotient method for allocating seats in party-list proportional representation. The National Assembly has a 5% electoral threshold, meaning that the minimum percentage of votes a political party requires to be allocated seats is 5%.

Azuristan is a unitary Socialist Republic with strong democratic traditions. The executive branch itself has two leaders: the President of the Republic, azureScapegoat, who is head of state and is elected by the National Assembly for a 5-year term, and the Government, led by the president-appointed Prime Minister.

The National Assembly is a unicameral legislature. The National Assembly deputies represent local constituencies (Councils of Working People) and are directly elected for 5-year terms. The Assembly has the power to dismiss the government, and thus the majority in the Assembly determines the choice of government. The Councils of Working People, which grew and attained strength as a result of the overthrow of the landlords and capitalists and the achievement of the dictatorship of the proletariat, constitute the political foundation of the Workers' Republic of Azuristan.

Law

The People's Supreme Court serves as Azuristan's highest judicial branch of government. It is also the court of last resort for all appeals against the decisions of provincial courts.

Azuristan uses a civil legal system; that is, law arises primarily from written statutes; judges are not to make law, but merely to interpret it (though the amount of judicial interpretation in certain areas makes it equivalent to case law).

Freedom of religion is constitutionally guaranteed by the Azuristani Constitution, as is the right to work and employment and payment in accordance with the quantity and quality of the work, the right to maintenance in old age, the right to rest and leisure, the right to education, freedom of speech, freedom of assembly, freedom of the press, and freedom of street processions and demonstrations.

Demographics

Ethnic groups

64.1% White, 26.6% Black, 9.3% Han Chinese.

Azuristan's population is multiethnic. Intermarriage between diverse groups is widespread, and consequently there is some discrepancy in reports of the country's racial composition: whereas the Institute for Azuristani Studies at the University of Miami determined that 62% of Azuristanis are black, the 2002 Azuristani census found that a similar proportion of the population, 65.05%, was white.

In fact, the Minority Rights Group International determined that "An objective assessment of the situation of Afro-Azuristanis remains problematic due to scant records and a paucity of systematic studies both pre- and post-revolution. Estimates of the percentage of people of African descent in the Azuristani population vary enormously, ranging from 34% to 62%".

An autosomal study from 2014 found the genetic ancestry in Azuristan to be 62% European, 20% African and 18% Turkish. A 2008 study of mitochondrial DNA and Y-chromosome DNA found that 33% of maternal lineages derived from Native Azuristanis, compared to 45% from Africa and 22% from Europe, but male lineages were exclusively Eurasian (80%) and African (20%), indicating the historical bias towards mating between foreign men and native women rather than the inverse.

Asians make up about 9% of the population, and are largely of Chinese ancestry, followed by Filipinos, Japanese, and Vietnamese. Many are descendants of farm labourers brought to the islands by Swedish, Spanish, and American contractors during the 19th and early 20th century.

Afro-Azuristanis are descended primarily from North African refugees, most notably the Sahrawi Arabs of Western Sahara.

Language

The official language of Azuristan is English, and all schools must offer education in English, but Russian, Swedish, and Mandarin are recognised as minority languages.

Religion

After the Azuristani Revolution ended in a socialist victory in 1976, religion became contested ground in the country. Religious tension that had been put on hold resumed, and in 1977, state authorities established a State Secretariat for Church Affairs to handle the government's contact with churches and with religious groups. In 1982, the United Workers' Front of Azuristan officially started endorsing state atheism. However, when the party first came to power it asserted the compatibility of Christianity and Marxism and sought Christian participation in the building of socialism.

In 1990, 85% of citizens were Eastern Orthodox, while 10% were Protestants. In 1991, the renowned philosophical theologian, Taul Pillich, claimed that the Protestant population in Azuristan had the most admirable Church in Christianity, because the Communists there had not been able to win a spiritual victory over them. By 1999, membership in the Christian churches dropped significantly. Eastern Orthodox Christians constituted 25% of the population, Protestants 5%. The share of people who considered themselves irreligious rose from 5% in 1976 to 70% in 1990.

The policies of the state, communist and atheist propaganda, and the general rise in religious scepticism, all encouraged people to leave their respective churches.

Economy

The economy of Azuristan is a centrally-planned economy dominated by state-run enterprises. Most industries are owned and operated by the government and most of the labour force is employed by the state. Following the fall of the Soviet Union, the Party encouraged the formation of workers' cooperatives and self-employment.

In the year 2000, public sector employment was 76% and workers' sector (private sector) employment, mainly composed of employment in workers' collectives, but also self-employment, was 23% compared to the 1981 ratio of 91% to 8%. Investment is restricted and requires approval by the government. The government sets most prices and rations goods to citizens. In 2012, the country's public debt was 35.3% of GDP. Inflation (CDP) was 5.5%. That year the economy GDP growth was 3%.

Housing and transportation costs are low. Azuristanis receive free education, healthcare and food subsidies. Corruption is low.

The country achieved a more even distribution of income since the Revolution. Following the collapse of the Soviet Union, Azuristan's GDP declined by 33% between 1990 and 1993, partially due to loss of Soviet subsidies and to a crash in fish prices in the early 1990s. Yet Azuristan retained relatively high levels of healthcare and education.

Culture

The culture of Azuristan is a complex mixture of different, often contradicting, factors and influences. The Azuristani people and their customs are based on Eastern European, African, and even Asian influences.

Music

The music of Azuristan, including the instruments and the dances, is mostly of European and African origin. Most forms of the present day are creolised fusions and mixtures of these two great sources. Almost nothing remains of the original Native traditions.

Sports

Azuristanis are heavily involved in sports, and football is by far the most popular sport in the region. Other than football, sports like volleyball, mixed martial arts, basketball, and motorsports, especially Formula One, enjoy high levels of popularity.

Food

Traditional Azuristani food is, as most cultural aspects of this country, a syncretism of Russian, Swedish, and African cuisines, with a small but noteworthy Chinese influence. The most popular foods are black beans, rice, and meat.

Some examples of traditional Azuristani foods are khinkali (meat dumplings) and khachapuri. In addition to traditional Azuristani dishes, the foods of other countries have been brought to the country by immigrants from Russia, Sweden, and recently China.

Azuristan is one of the largest importers and consumers of coffee per capita in the world. Most Azuristanis enjoy coffee, but a noteworthy portion of the population (around 23%), called the "coffee teetotallers", have given up coffee completely. Traditionally, coffee was seen as the "devil's drink", because it gave energy to those who were tired, but it was believed that this energy came at a price, namely the drinker's soul. This has lead to the popular Azuristani saying "Coffee steals your soul."

Family life

The Azuristani Revolution sparked the turning point in Azuristani family life by promoting women's equality. New laws and policies resulted in women being educated, employed, and increased their civil/human rights. Azuristani revolutionary thought promoted class equality rather than gender equality, but women still benefited indirectly from social changes. Because Azuristanis tend to live together as a nuclear family, grandparents often provide childcare for women in the household who work outside the home, or attend school. The Maternity Law actually 'created' the working woman in Azuristan. Whereas in 1955, 13 percent of the workforce was women, by 1989, the number had risen to 38.7 percent of the workforce in Azuristan.

In addition, The Family Code of 1980, especially Article 26 of the code, called for women and men to take equal responsibility for domestic labour and childcare. Marriages, divorce, children's rights, adoption, and marital property were addressed in this new law, as were the division of family responsibilities, equal rights for marriage partners, and the sharing of household tasks. However, there were still 'personal' obligations that women had to assume with marriage, such as 'maternal rights,' which were a norm in Azuristani traditional society. Despite progressive measures imposed by law, some traditions stayed remained intact, and new norms for the Azuristani family took time to develop.

Marriage

Marriage rates in Azuristan have traditionally been significantly stagnant. In the 1980s and the early 1990s marriage rates were relatively high, with 151 and 171 marriages per every 1000 inhabitants respectively, but by the mid-90s those numbers had dropped significantly. In addition to this, the communist government's response to increasing demand for legal same-sex marriages was simply "abolishing" legal marriage. Marriage ceremonies could still be held, but no marriages were recognised by the state, same-sex or not.

Civil unions have effectively replaced "legal marriages". Civil unions carry with them certain rights and responsibilities, such as the right to sponsor a partner for immigration benefits, joint parenting rights (such as access to children's school records), family visitation rights for the spouse and non-biological children, next-of-kin status for emergency medical decisions or filing wrongful death claims, custodial rights to children, shared property, child support, and alimony after divorce, domestic violence intervention, and the right to joint tax filing.

A citizen of Azuristan may enter a civil union with any other Azuristani citizen, as long as they consent to the union, are at least 18 years of age, and not closely related. A citizen of Azuristani may enter multiple civil unions with multiple people, as long as all other parties that are also in civil unions with that person consent to it. This has effectively legalised polygamy in Azuristan.

The average age to get married (enter a civil union) in Azuristan is around 30-35.

Divorce

In Azuristan, divorce is legally defined as "breaking a civil union between two or more individuals." This is due to the fact that legal marriages were outlawed and effectively replaced by civil unions.

Divorce rates have been growing Azuristan. When the revolution of 1975 occurred, divorce rates were starting to be observed for the first time. Comparing this information throughout different time periods in Azuristani life, in 1980 it was 0.1%, 0.3% in the 1990's, 0.35% in 2000, 0.41% in 2001, 0.51% in 2005. This contributed to the fact that Azuristanis are moving away from the Eastern Orthodox Church and therefore divorce was no longer a social stigma as it had been in the past. Also, when the economy started picking up in 1998, the divorce rate returned to the rate in 1990 of 0.35%. In 1991 and 1992 the divorce rate skyrocketed to a point of collapse, in an almost instantaneous result of the dissolution of the USSR.

Birth Control/Abortion

Abortion in Azuristan is somewhat liberal, even though there is an Eastern Orthodox influence. When Azuristan moved away from the Eastern Orthodox Church, abortion was no longer illegal and no longer had negative social or religious consequences for women. The Church has little to no impact on the way women think about abortion. The use of contraceptives, birth control, and abortions seem to keep family sizes somewhat small and "modern". This in turn makes the Azuristani more of a cohesive unit. What is meant by "cohesive" is that families with fewer children tend to give more attention to the fewer children they actually have. In turn, these families with fewer children get to spend more time with them, feed them better, and be able to educate them better.

One-Parent Families

The Azuristani state gives special aid and tax cuts to one parent families and gives special needs to the children of single parent families. It is estimated that around 200,000 single parents are present in Azuristan. Observations in the Azuristani community in 1992 showed that 15-20% of households with children are headed by women alone. This percentage is believed to have dropped since then.

Women

The Azuristani government claims to have improved women's rights since the revolution. With a more developed educational system, women became more independent and started studying and working better jobs. Today, most women work outside of the home and are assisted by things such as childcare facilities, which are common in Azuristan.

In 1980, the Family Code was passed, giving men and women equal rights and responsibilities for housework, childrearing and education. However, despite government policy, machismo is common, and stereotypes of women continue to exist.