User blog:Scopatore/Re-imagining Europe

Intermarium
The Intermarium is an old vision of a Polish-led, anti-Soviet coalition of eastern European states. Although the Soviet Union is dead, Russia is still able to project power around its immediate vicinity. I think this idea should be resurrected in order to have a strong eastern European power to rival the Russians and be a check on any possible expansion.

The members of this nation would be Poland, Belarus, Ukraine, and the Baltic States. It would be a tripartite union, with a Kingdom of Poland, a Grand Duchy of Ruthenia (consisting of Ukraine and Belarus), and a United Baltic Duchy. The nation would look similar to Austria-Hungary, where a single monarch would be heading separate national governments, and the central government would be dealing mainly with national defense, a customs union, and foreign affairs. Each member will have its own parliaments, budgets and domestic policies completely separate of the central government.

The nation will maintain a common military dedicated to defending against an invasion from the east.

The country will be a constitutional monarchy under the Saxons, the Catholic German dynasty that are the inheritors of the claim of the last King of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. Although a German monarch may be an odd choice, the truth is that foreign monarchs were chosen to rule countries all the time in history, and perhaps a third party that is not part of any of the member states' ethnicities would be a good thing to minimize friction between the states, as there would be less chance of being denounced for favouritism of one particular member because they aren't from any of the member states.

The Lands of the Crown of the Intermarium is the official name of the union between Poland, Ukraine, Belarus and the Baltic States. The union is a constitutional monarchy under the Wettin Dynasty, which presides over this federation as High King of the Intermarium. Each constituent nation has their own government; legal systems, treasuries and most official institutions remain independent of each other while the Intermarium government presides over common defence, free trade, and foreign affairs. The capital and largest city of the Intermarium is Warsaw.

Germany
Germany is an interesting country, politically-speaking. For a nation that lost two world wars and suffered a fair amount of injustice from both their own rulers and foreign ones, they seem to have a remarkable ability to rise back to the top each time. Today, Germany is quite probably the strongest and most influential nation in the European Union, hence the oft-used name from the EU's detractors of the Fourth Reich when describing the hegemony of Germany in the EU.

Germany will once again become a monarchy, but it will not, as it was in its last regime, become an Imperial regime under the Hohenzollerns. It will instead become a federal kingdom under the House of Habsburg, who will become the Kings of Germany. This will be for a few reasons: firstly, the German Empire was a protestant country, and its potential cannot be truly realized unless its leaders return to the One, Holy and Apostolic Church. Secondly, Europe should once again recognize only one Emperor in the West: the Holy Roman Emperor, which will be once again crowned by the Pope and act as the leader of Christendom in Europe, and the temporal arm of the Church.

The nation would be a federation that would restore as many monarchies from the German Empire as it could. The main difference would be the demotion of those monarchies who held the status of kingdoms, so as to keep them subordinate to the new King of Germany. The King of Germany would rule Berlin directly, and be

The states of the Kingdom of Germany are as follows:


 * Grand Duchy of Baden: Restored with the borders before its dissolution in 1918; under the headship of the current Margrave of Baden, Maximilian.
 * Grand Duchy of Württemberg: Württemberg would become a grand duchy, so as to keep the state subordinate to the King of Germany. The borders would be the same as their 1918 borders, and would be ruled by the current Duke of Württemberg: Carl.
 * Grand Duchy of Hesse: Restored under Prince Donatus, Landgrave of Hesse.
 * Grand Duchy of Mecklenburg: As the male line of Mecklenburg-Schwerin has died out, the House of Mecklenburg-Strelitz has inherited the claims of their old lands and there would be a united Grand Duchy of Mecklenburg under the current Duke of Mecklenburg, Borwin.
 * Grand Duchy of Saxony: Once again becoming a grand duchy, Saxony would consist of the same borders as the current state of Saxony. The Grand Duke would be
 * Duchy of Anhalt: The Duchy of Anhalt would
 * Duchy of Anhalt: The Duchy of Anhalt would

France
France will see the return of their monarchy under the House of Bourbon, and the coronation of their rightful heir: King Louis XX. Under him, the country will transform once again into the Eldest Daughter of the Church, as it was before the French Revolution.

France will return to the pre-revolutionary administrative system of provinces, which gave more autonomy to regions who were under the influence of local nobility. The locations and functions of these provinces should be similar to Spain's idea of autonomous communities, which are broken up into mostly cultural regions with varying degrees of autonomy. The provinces would be:


 * Alsace
 * Haut-Rhin
 * Bas-Rhin
 * Arpitania
 * Brittany
 * Côtes-d'Armor
 * Finistère
 * Ille-et-Vilaine
 * Morbihan
 * Île-de-France
 * Lorraine
 * Normandy
 * Calvados
 * Eure
 * Manche
 * Orne
 * Seine-Maritime

France would be a traditional monarchy, where the monarch would wield significant power in the country and would be the chief executive. The country would have a constitution, but the constitution would nevertheless protect the ancient rights of the French King to effectively rule his realm.

United Kingdom
The United Kingdom is very dear to my heart, not least because it is the land from which my birth country of Canada came from; without the British, this great land would not be here today. Although there have been many unfortunate political developments since the War of the Three Kingdoms, there is much good that still came from the Isles, and today it is unfortunate how parliament has reigned supreme by stripping the monarchy of any effective power, curbed the rights of the citizenry, and fell in line with the EU's plan of massive immigration. There are a few major issues plaguing the United Kingdom that I would like seen changed.

Federalization and the nature of the British state
Britain's political structure ever since the Acts of Union has been quite unitary, and only recently had devolution become something that parliament has implemented in mitigating the agitation of the various different peoples that do not feel have been properly recognized or respected by Westminster. There have been proposals from time to time to devolve the United Kingdom prior to the 90s, but they didn't see much success. The biggest debate of importance in the 20th century was the question of Home Rule in Ireland, which was an excellent idea yet blocked by many in the British government because of many fears, but principally because they believed "Home Rule means Rome Rule." Not surprisingly considering the nation's general anti-Catholicism. However, there was another movement that advocated for Home Rule All Around that believed each part of the United Kingdom ought to govern their own internal affairs, with Westminster being the overarching Imperial parliament for the Empire; this was tied closely to the idea of restructuring the Empire into the Imperial Federation. This sparked further debate, but the Irish Home Rule issue overshadowed the ideas for devolved parliaments in other constituencies.

I believe this idea should be championed, as of course the principle idea of governance on the Isles for many centuries was aligned with what we call today subsidiarity, the idea that the lowest level of governance ought to have as much authority as is effective and prudent, and will only defer authority to a higher governing body if they cannot do the job properly. This meant the King, although theoretically absolute, had to effectively let the country run itself in the form of the nobility and the towns/boroughs that elected their own councils. The monarchy rarely regulated the economy, trades or crafts; all those were in the hands of the guilds and councils local to each city and town. Of course, overtime with the enlightenment and the improvements in technology, countries became far more centralized with the advent of the nation-state, and today they hold an obscene amount of power in comparison to years past. As such, I propose that England continue decentralizing, but in the form of a proper federation.

Why a federation and not an increasingly devolved state? Well, because of principle: a devolved country may give its regions a degree of autonomy, but that autonomy is always subject to the whims of the central government, as since they gave the region the autonomy they have the right to revoke it when they see fit. Federations differ in that the localities exercise their authority by right of the constitution, and they cannot have their power legally usurped by a central government. In Britain, this means that Westminster has the right to abolish the devolved parliaments whenever they want, or even take every devolved power exercised by, for example, Scotland, and govern all of Scotland's internal affairs themselves. This, of course, would be morally wrong, but unitary states (which Britain officially is) reserve the right to do this. As such, although further devolution would be great, it would always be in jeopardy of being removed if the right people in Westminster desire it, so to protect the rights of the individual parts of the United Kingdom, a federation is desirable.

The United Kingdom would be a federation of six states:


 * England, with their capital in Birmingham
 * Scotland, with their capital in Edinburgh
 * Wales, with their capital in Cardiff
 * Northern Ireland, with their capital in Belfast
 * Cornwall, with their capital in Truro
 * Greater London

The monarch of the United Kingdom would be monarchs "In Right of" these countries, much like how the monarchy works in Canada - where the Queen of Canada is also Queen in Right of British Columbia, Alberta, etc. Each would have their own parliaments

The powers of the monarchy would be extended

Spain
Spain would see the abdication of King Felipe VI and the crowning of the rightful King of Spain, Don Sixto Enrique as Enrique V of Spain. As he has no children and his nephews are ineligible for the throne (Charles Xavier on the count of his morganatic marriage and Prince Jaime on the count of his ideology), the crown would pass to the current Grand Duke of Luxembourg. The country would

Italy
Italy is a country that should really have never united in the way that it did. The regional differences were too great to be effectively united under one unitary government, and many legitimate monarchies were deposed in the Risorgimento. In addition, the policies under the new Piedmontese-ruled government directly led to the exodus of millions of Italians (mostly southerners) from the peninsula, famously known as the Italian Diaspora. It was evident that Italy was too diverse to be treated like any other country, and a peninsula that had scarcely been united since the days of the Roman Empire being forcibly united in such a way was only going to exacerbate resentment. However, it is foolish to say that in the current state of affairs, most citizens do not consider themselves Italian one way or another, so in this new Europe, the injustices of the past will be rectified while still maintaining a unified Italian state.

Federalization
Italy would be turned into a federation. Its cultural and economic differences are too large to maintain a single unitary state without the decentralization of power in the regions that prefer to govern themselves. This is a way to possibly avoid the north-south divide in governance; the northern and southern parts of the country will largely govern themselves, while an overarching federal Italian government would exist to primarily worry about the defence of the country and the representation of the Italian states in world affairs. This federation would be similar to the German Empire, which was a federation of many kingdoms, grand duchies and the like, with the King of Prussia being the dominant member of the federation. Within this federation, there would be many kingdoms and duchies that mostly correspond to the borders of the old pre-Risorgimento nations, with some changes. From South to North they are:

Kingdom of the Two Sicilies
The Kingdom of the Two Sicilies will be restored with the pre-Risorgimento borders, with the throne being occupied by Prince Pedro, the Duke of Calabria. The kingdom will be further decentralized into two separate administrations, using nomenclature similar to what the "two Sicilies" were referred to historically: Regnum citra Falum (the Kingdom on this side of Falo), and Regnum ultra Farum (the Kingdom on the other side of Falo). This administrative divide would act similar to Austria-Hungary's dual monarchy, which both parts of the country having its own separate administrations (parliaments, prime minister's, budgets, etc.) but a common head of state under King Pedro that unites the two zones with a common foreign policy, customs union, and economic policy.

The two kingdoms will have their own parliaments and tax policies, although of course guided by the common monarch. The Sicilian Parliament (Parlamento Siciliano) would be based in the Palazzo dei Normanni in Palermo, while the Mainland Parliament (Parlamento Terraferma) would be based in Naples, likely the Palazzo Reale di Napoli. The parliaments ought to consist of elected representatives, high-ranking clergy, and the nobility of the two areas. As such, the kingdom would have two official capitals, with the principle royal residence likely at the Reggia Caserta. The kingdom would, of course, enshrine the Catholic faith as the official religion.

Both administrations would also have separate state police, but a unified military police answerable to the king; for our purposes, lets call them the Royal Grenadiers. The Grenadiers would also serve as the spearhead of the country's militia during crises, but most military duties would be performed by the federal government. The monarch would be in charge of patronizing the arts and education, as well as the Church, and create programs to aid the less fortunate with his own money.

Grand Duchy of Tuscany
The Grand Duchy of Tuscany would be restored under the House of Habsburg-Lorraine.

Duchy of Modena
The Duchy of Modena would be restored under Prince Lorenz of Belgium, Archduke of Austria-Este.

Duchy of Parma
The Duchy of Parma would be restored under Prince Carlos, Duke of Parma. Although his morganatic marriage made him ineligible for the Spanish throne (and I'm not a huge fan of his), he is the uncontested and rightful heir of Robert I.

Most Serene Republic of Genoa
The Republic of Genoa was unfortunately conquered by Napoleon and a puppet state was installed, and after the Congress of Vienna, the state was restored for less than a year before the Kingdom of Savoy annexed it. It is very unfortunate, because Genoa was a city state with such a rich history that it could stand next to Venice as one of the most powerful merchant republics of the world. Had Genoa not been swallowed up by its neighbour, then perhaps the disasterous Risorgimento would have never occurred; but I digress, the Republic of Genoa will be restored within the federation.

Before continuing, I would like to address an obvious contradiction: why would I restore a republic if I am a monarchist? Well quite simply, the truth is that several cultures have a republican history, and the merchant republics of Venice and Genoa (with the brief exception of Venezia under Austria) have never been monarchies; and with the model of republic that La Senerissima and La Domina had, it was aristocratic to the point that it quite resembled a monarchy, and it functioned better as a monarchy than any modern constitutional monarchy in the West. As such, as far as republics go, Genoa is one of the absolute best examples, but pretty much a unicorn in history. As such, as long as the Republic is set up aristocratically like its first incarnation, I have no issue with its restoration.

On to brass tax. The Most Serene Republic of Genoa will comprise of all of the current region of Liguria, divided into the four provinces that it is currently under Italy: Imperia, Savona, Genoa, and La Spezia. At the top will be the Doge of Genoa, which will be elected by the Consiglio della Repubblica for a life term (although it was historically switched to a term of two years, I think a life term is far better). The provinces will be led by a Podesta, elected by the Consiglio for a term of six years. Within that, the municipal governments would be elected by the people.

The Consiglio della Repubblica, the old legislature of Genoa, would be revived and will comprise once again of the Minor and Major council. The Minor Council will once again comprise of a Noble class, or "alberghi," selected by a procedure similar to the procedure by which the Canadian Peerage was selected, by having a non-partisan committee research peoples across Liguria and drawing up a list of names of people with exceptional merit or service in the military, arts, sciences, mathematics, public service, and many other criteria. Those peoples would be selected and then elevated by the Doge to the nobility of Genoa, who would sit in the Minor Council. The amount of recognized noble families is limited to thirty: nine from Genoa, and seven from each of the other provinces. The heads of these families would sit in the Minor Council and comprise the aristocratic element of the Republic. The Major Council would be comprised of

Most Serene Republic of Venice
The Venetian state is another sad casualty of the Napoleonic Wars, where it was looted by both French and Austrian troops, and eventually was taken by the Austrians the are, which became the Kingdom of Lombardy-Venetia, was established as an Austrian crown land. Although I am personally a big fan of the Habsburgs, I do not believe that they should have taken over the region and I very much mourne the death of La Senerissima, because of its millennium-long history and continuity of a stable government, and the fact that an independent Italian state fell victim to effective domination by a foreign power. It was truly a remarkable regime, and the best republic that has ever existed; although, of course, it was hardly a republic in the modern sense, as it was quite similar to a monarchy and was aristocratic to the point where it was never susceptible to the type of mob rule that plagues modern republican regimes. As such, I would advocate the restoration of the Most Serene Republic of Venice.

Firstly, borders will consist of the entire regions of Veneto and Friuli Venezia Giulia, and the neighbouring province of Trentino, which would untie Venetian-speaking regions into one country; the extended borders that Venice had in the modern region of Lombardy is likely a poor idea to give back, considering how they are all Lombard-speaking and the Lombard regionalists would likely cause havoc. The head of state would once again be the Doge of Venice, which would be elected by the Great Council. The Great Council will be bicameral, much like the old republic, into the Major and Minor Councils. The Council of Ten would be elected by the Senate, and would be a sort of "national nanny," auditing government ministers, investigating and punishing the crimes of government ministers, and generally overseeing the governance of the republic and ensure its efficiency. The Senate would consist

Kingdom of Sardinia-Piedmont
The Kingdom of Sardinia would be restored with the borders they had immediately after ceding Savoy and Nice to France, with the exception of Liguria, which would be the restored Republic of Genoa. The House of Savoy are the rightful leaders of their ancestral lands, but there is no real way to actually return Savoy and Nice to them as they are almost universally culturally French these days (which is a similar reason that Prussia can never be revived in what is now Kaliningrad, as there are virtually no Germans in the area any longer). The House of Savoy also voluntarily gave them up to the French in order to gain more land in Italy and conquer the peninsula, so I have little sympathy for such a return of lands if it is desired by the Savoyards.

The kingdom would consist of the island of Sardinia, and the regions of Piedmont and Valle D'Aosta. Similar to the Two Sicilies, the kingdom would consist of two co-equal administrations: the Kingdom on the Mainland, and the Kingdom on the Island. This will correct the serious historical injustice that was the (so-called) "Perfect Fusion" of 1847, where the Savoys attempted to assimilate and destroy the culture of Sardinia in order to conform to a unitary kingdom such as the French model (sound familiar?), which was pushed for by the liberal faction of the country. Sardinia lost any autonomy and it fueled resentment for the rest of their rule over Italy. There would be a mainland parliament based in Turin, a Sardinian parliament in Cagliari, and a unified parliament in Sassari.

Papal State of Rome
The conquest of the Papal States was just one of many historical injustices done at the hands of the Risorgimento, and ideally they would be restored to its pre-unification borders. However, we come to a problem where this world would likely not accept direct Papal rule over a large body of land. As such, we will go with Plan B: the Papacy would be the head of the City of Rome, and the rest of what we know as the Papal States would be an independent entity known as the Kingdom of Apenninia, or the Kingdom of Central Italy.

Austria and Hungary
As with the rest of the European republics, Austria and Hungary should have its monarchy restored. The Habsburgs would once again rule the two nations under the current pretender Karl von Habsburg. However, a key difference with Austria-Hungary is that the restoration should not take the same form that fell after World War I; instead, I would advocate the restoration of the Archduchy of Austria that preceded the Empire, which would be ruled in personal union with Hungary (not unlike the relationship between England and Scotland prior to the union of parliaments in 1707). The main reason for this is because Europe should revert to recognizing only one emperor in the West; that of the Holy Roman Empire. The restored Holy Roman Empire is more akin to the European Union, with the various European countries as member states of the Empire rather than an integral part of it, so to maintain the tradition that all Christian monarchs owe an ultimate allegiance to the Holy Roman Emperor, nobody within the new Europe should style themselves as Emperor except for the Holy Roman Emperor.

Border Changes
Austria should get South Tyrol from Italy, owing to its Austro-German majority and its long, long history of rule from Austria. This will reverse one of the many nonsensical border changes following a major war. Hungary should maintain its own borders, because the neighbouring Hungarian populations are not populous enough to warrant any border changes to accommodate them.