Her Majesty forms the Provisional Assembly to Draft Constitution
By Květoslav Krejčí in Luscová
May 12 2021
Luscová- Her Majesty began the constitutional reform process, forming a provisional assembly to begin the drafting process. The Provisional Assemblies' duties include a mandate to form a strong democratic element from Her Majesty. One of Her Majesty's goals for the Assembly and the constitution is recognizing the Empire's cultural diversity by emphasizing local autonomy rights by expanding the Four Kingdoms' rights as the Imperial States.
Norsitica as an Absolute Monarchy
An absolute Monarchy has ruled Norcie since 1024. The Saitta Royal Family is the longest-reigning and longest surviving lineage of nobility in any of the Four Kingdoms. Under their dynastic rule, our country has suffered disease, famine, war, tyranny, and the wrath of the world. We've been through it all like any other country but rarely have we had the misfortune to have been ruled by an incompetent monarch.
One can argue that even our tyrants, like Wilfrid the second, were good rulers if only through virtue that they kept the country from ruin or stagnation, even at the expense of the commons. How is this possible? Well, several things come into play. One major key is the proverb 'excellence inherited, confirmed in the present.' Pedigree may get your foot in the door, but your family tree does not define you. Norcie is a meritocracy; if you want that dream job, you have to earn it like everyone else.
The merits of one's person are doubly important for members of the elite. The crown will not simply be inherited when Her Majesty passes away. She chooses who will bear the crown next after her passing, and we, the common folk, confirm their right to rule as we have done since 1643. It wasn't out of the blue that Her Majesty held the referendum to keep her as Empress or abolish the crown in 2017 when she took the throne. She was restoring our rights to reject her rule, and with a 63% majority, we voted to keep her after everything her mother and grandmother had done to us.
The mantle of Emperor or Empress of Norsitca is a heavy mantle to wear. To wear it effectively, you have to be very well educated. You have to know matters of politics, economics, and war. You have to be a leader, a person of business, and a general all at once. Our government is very old-fashioned yet somehow modern at the same time. Even so, it's showing its age with every new year, and it's time to truly modernize, even if it means looking to the past.
The necessity to Democratize
Craviter, the land of Crowns, is full of democratic countries. In fact, we're surrounded in every direction by democratic countries. You may not feel it, but we're under a kind of peer pressure to democratize. No one is urging us, no one is trying to force us but take a look around on a map of Craviter. It kind of feels like we as a country missed the ten o'clock tram, doesn't it? In comparison to most of our neighbors on the continent, we're is stuck in the past, still using an archaic system that is prone to failures huge and small. In reality, Norcie, throughout the past, Millennia kept winning the lottery in terms of monarchs. If we lost that lottery just once, the whole thing we have going could have crumbled into ash and rubble. Think of it this way, if Empress Elli were actually competent outside of winning the war with Ereion, Craviter probably would've formed some coalition against us. No one likes it when a fascist regime rocks the boat.
What does modernizing our government mean? Democracy. In this day and age, there is no way around it, not for us. We're looking to outside sources like Saintonge and Goyanes for references, but there are issues with that. Their systems are tailored for their countries' needs, not ours, we can take inspiration, but we cannot directly rip off their systems. That'd cause a lot of issues. We need a Norsian system that caters to our needs. How would a Norsian democracy even work?
We can look back and remember the past to answer that question. Norcie was once a democracy. Back in those times, Norcie was still called Luscová after our capital city, and it was the bronze age. Look at our world today; democracy has more or less become the norm in one way or the other. The funny thing is Norcie is one of the countries that did it before it was cool! The answer to the issue is we look to our ancestors for guidance, and then we alter that system around modern ideas. A Norsian system with Norsian foundations, complemented by inspirations from other countries and reinforced with modern safeguards. We have the power of hindsight. Democratization also has the benefits of giving us a say in how our own country is run. It takes the pressure off of Her Majesty, and it gives us better recourse and protection if it turns out one of our future monarchs isn't up to par. I have no doubts, however, that Her Majesty is going to retain a majority of her power.
National Assembly and the Draft
The Provisional Imperial Assembly comprises ninety-nine delegates, and the roll-call reads like a who's who of our greatest thinkers, law-men, and more. Lawyers extraordinaire Štefan Haušild, Alan Zacpal and Helena Špačková, Oil and Railroad magnate Arthur Lafitte, philosophers Alexandre Picard and Ivan Horváth. To name a handful. Her Majesty and most of her cabinet are also in attendance at the Assembly meetings. Bringing the Assembly's total headcount to one hundred and ten.
The Imperial Provisional Assembly is not permanent. It exists for as long as it takes to draft and ratify the constitution. From there, real elections will begin to elect members of Parliament. The constitution seems to be mostly in the planning stage still, but from what little information we could gather about it so far, the Imperial Parliament will draw its seat counts from the Duchies of each Kingdom. Each Duchy getting a guaranteed seat count of three, with additional seats being proportional to the Duchies population. We can't tell if this is set in stone; it may change in the final draft. However, what is set in stone are the ideas of the Four Kingdoms getting expanded autonomy privileges, officially becoming semi-autonomous states to administrate their constituents better. They are still fully beholden to Royal Authority and Imperial laws, but this change lets the Empire operate a bit more like a decentralized Federation than an overly centralized Empire. Another item on the list is each realm gets its own localized parliament, which will behave pretty much exactly like the Imperial Parliament.
Since the very beginning, her Majesty's reign has been focused on the betterment of her subjects' lives, the expansion of their rights, and the strengthening of Norcie on the world stage. I can't see her deviating from that line of intent with the constitution.
Rise of a Democratic Empire and foreign meddling fears
As we become a Democratic Empire, the innate mistrust other countries like the Republic of Arcanstotska have in our future, and our actions should subside somewhat. Diplomacy in some ways should become easier and harder in others. The days where our monarchs can abuse us with impunity are ending and with it, so too are the days where our government can immediately act to the changing needs of our country. Democracy is good, but we should expect the workings of our government to slow down. As a people, we must be ever vigilant, now more so than ever. We must hold our government and our future representatives accountable, and we must continue to root out corruption wherever we find it.
Alas, that brings us to the issue that worries me the most, and it's a worry that many Norsians share. Elections, no matter how good our anti-corruption laws and enforcement are.. the Elections can be tampered with, MP's can be bought, swayed, or even intimidated. Party members can go rogue, and others can go hardline. Highton was an example of how easily a foreign power can subvert another's election. Now we're opening ourselves up to it too. I am curious to see how exactly Her Majesty and the new democratic government will handle these issues. I know Her Majesty has a hardline policy regarding it, but the policies so far have not been made clear at all. The only indicators that we have are Her Majesty has been keen to put distance between Norcie and Syrixia since the Highton scandal became known. If they can do it to Highton, they can do it to us.
In the end, I think Norcie will come out of this transition better than it ever has been. Stronger and truly more unified. It's been four years since we began our ascent to becoming a power, and I personally do not see any signs of our march slowing down.
