[tshiggins]

Answer to Question 20 e-g:

How are the governments of California, Britain, Japan organized?

The Red Star Republic of California

Ostensibly, California follows a republican model of government. The nation has a single-chamber Senate popularly elected, a popularly-elected presidente, and an independent judiciary in which judges are appointed by el presidente and confirmed by the senatores.

However, in practice, California politics is actually quite oligarchical, and those who run for office and get elected to serve come from the same set of 200 or so wealthy families. Additionally, there are no term limits for any post, and certain offices tend to get filled by members of the same set of interrelated families, generation after generation.

For instance, the California minister of justice always seems to have the last name, "de la Vega," while the Carsons tend to hold high army posts, the Vizaínos are a long-standing navy family, and the post of el presidente is frequently held by descendants of Juan Bautista Valentín Alvarado y Vallejo.

Most of the 200 families descend from the old "dons" of the days of Alta California. While the territory of the Red Star Republic of California extends from the middle of the Columbia River, to the north, all the way to Cabo San Lucas, to the south, the baja peninsula remains sparsely populated, largely lawless, country.

Internally, California mostly struggles with the same sorts of special interest conflicts as most people. However, efforts to secularize the mission system has had limited success, and the Catholic Church remains the nation's largest single land-holder. The church uses its wealth to leverage considerable political clout, and while it has no formal political authority, as a practical matter no judge gets appointed in California without the tacit approval of the archbishop of San Francisco.

Externally, California enjoys warm relations with the Lone Star Republic of Texas, and the Anglo-Hispanic mixed cultures are quite similar between the two nations. California is the single largest consumer of Texas petrol reef exports, and plenty of traffic -- both shipping and rail -- flows between the two countries.

However, the issue of indentured servitude is a source of some conflict between the two nations -- Texas continues the slow (glacial...) process of ending the system, whereas indentured servants have been illegal in California for nearly two generations. The Red Star Republic recognizes no such status in its territory -- California soil is free soil, and the Catholic Church has declared the keeping of slaves "in any form" as a cardinal sin. Any efforts by the contract-holders to repatriate indentures or seek reimubursement for losses are summarily dismissed in California courts, and the plaintiffs frequently ordered to pay court costs and attend Mass.

By contrast, the Red Star Republic of California considers the Mormons in the territory of Deseret as little more than heretical bandits. California's borders are closed to Mormons, and none may legally settle there. In the past, the archbishops of San Francisco have urged active crusades against Salt Lake City, but opponents have narrowly defeated such proposals, thus far and the archbishops have had to content themselves with missionary efforts.

Most of the nation's wealth is concentrated in the cool, temperate, northern provinces, save for the large ports at Los Angeles and San Diego. The national capitol, in San Francisco, lies about midway through California territory, and is a bustling Pacific seaport and center of North American trade with Asia. California's provincial borders roughly follow those of the counties, in our time line, but the provinces have no autonomy under the California system of government and exercise only the powers delegated to them by the Senate.

The Empire of Great Britain, and the United Kingdom of Britain and Wales, and the Protector of the Celtic Nations

The government of His Imperial Majesty Edward VII, King of the United Kingdom and British Dominions, Emperor of India, Lord Protector of the Celtic Federacy, closely matches the government of the British Empire of our world, save for the commonwealth status of the Celtic Federacy of Ireland and Scotland. The House of Lords packs a bit more clout, while petrol reef wealth from territories in southern climes results in few more brown faces in the House of Commons, but for the most part the sun never sets on the British Empire, which stands at the zenith of its wealth and power.

Also, there are no MPs from Northern Ireland. The island was never partitioned and remained unified as the Principality of Ireland held by the heir of the British Crown (along with the principality of Wales) until the British Parliament buckled to pressure to grant commonwealth status to both Ireland and Scotland during the Napoleonic Wars. The two Celtic peoples had strong ties, and used the distraction of the continental wars to gain additional autonomy. Once granted it, the newly-minted parliaments in each voted to join the war against the French.

(The Scots fought as enthusiastically as any proper Englishman, while the Irish did the duty more reluctantly.)

Externally, the country enjoys warm relations with Brazil and the Louisiana Confederacy, although the persistence of indentured servitude in those areas is a source of friction (his majesty has publicly called the system, "a transparent effort to extend the vulgar institution of slavery"). However, relations with the primary continental powers of France and Germany range from "lukewarm" to "positively chilly," and favorable comments about strong navies in the two "Entente" nations is guaranteed to send the diplomatic temperature plunging.

The collapse of Russia has given the British Empire a much freer hand in South Asia, and its position in the region remains quite secure, and the Raj has firm control of India. However, the rising power of the technically-friendly Empire of Japan is a source of increasing concern.

Internally, nouveau riche industrial families who dominate the House of Commons joust with "old-money" landed aristrocrats in the House of Lords, and slowly but steadily gain ground. The primary conflict in Parliament centers around the expansion of the franchise to include women, as well as voters in colonial territories, as well as the rise of trade unionism in the empire's industrial and petrol reef extraction districts.

The Empire of Japan

Far and away the most aggressive great power in the world, today, the Empire of Japan actively pursues efforts to establish its Greater East Asian Co-Prosperity Sphere. The collapse of the governments of Russia and China created profound opportunities for expansion from the home islands to mainland Asia, and the Japanese have taken advantage, energetically.

By contrast, the lack of a strong, unified power in North America means the Empire of Japan has little interest in the creation of a Pacific Buffer Zone, and while it patrols the Western Pacific and has a few naval bases, there, it focuses the vast majority of its efforts on the Asian mainland.

The elderly Emperor Meiji, under whose reign the Japanese made an astounding transition from a feudal society to a modern industrial one, technically rules the empire and all its holdings. However, the increasingly-ill emperor, whose character includes a strong pacifist streak, pays little attention to daily governance, and privately views Japan's violent expansion to the Asian mainland with some dismay.

That leaves day-to-day government administration and pursuit of war efforts in the hands of the Imperial Diet, divided into a powerful House of Peers, and a much less powerful House of Representatives.

Japan is mostly ruled by the oligarchs from the traditional daimyo noble families, who support the Rikken Seiyukai (Constitutional Association of Political Friendship) party, led by Saionji Kimmochi, with Ito Hiobumi as prime minister. The politically powerful Imperial Japanese Army supports the conservative oligarchs who, in turn, supply and support military expansion of Imperial Japan.

Externally, the Empire of Japan sees the British Empire as its primary rival and, while the two countries remain technically friendly and at peace, isolated incidents have occurred in mainland China when Japanese troops and British tommies have come into contact. Additionally, Japan keeps a close eye on the maneuvers of the British East Asian fleet, as that powerful flotilla evokes a healthy sense of caution amongst the newly-industrialized Japanese forces.

In addition to Nanking, large sections of Manchuria and all of the Korean Peninsula, Japan has cast its eyes southward toward Indonesia (still controlled by the British), and southeastwards as far as Guam island. However, an attack on Indonesia would likely mean war with the British Empire, and Imperial Japan doesn't feel ready for such a conflict.

Yet.

Question 31

Which nation(s) or group(s) in the Middle East offer the greatest opposition to the stagnant Ottoman Empire, and who are their primary international backers?