Foreign relations of Gianatla (Pacifica)

The foreign relations of Gianatla describe all relations the Federal Republic of Gianatla maintains to other countries and peoples all across Pacifica. Throughout its history Gianatla has mainly focused on its diplomacy to the direct neighbours, especially Snolland, Bruuma and Erinor and Sereva. Since its colonial era there are also connections to countries in the Rainbow Islands and in Central Bailtem, which got more cordial after the Great War when Gianatla went through a democratisation and discarded its imperial claims in the regions.

Foreign policy

The foreign policy of Gianatla is based on four core principles:

Power through diplomacy

After the Great War ended in 1954 and Queen Charlotte I has taken power, Gianatla was subject to a democratic overhaul of its political system, which also included a change in foreign policy ideology. Gianatla has lost territory after the war, most notably Hazelia in the Eastern Cordilles, which was given to Snolland as part of a reparations package. This set the path for Gianatla to discard all their imperialistic claims and focus on themselves and the relationships to their direct neighbours for the foreseeable future.
As of the Mid-60's Gianatla, in an attempt to regain their honour, tried to reach out to the entire world again, especially to the Rainbow Islands and the Cordilian continent, which notably culminated in the foundation of the Alman Group together with Weisserstein by 1983 and a trilateral agreement with Besern and Eflad founding a common market in x. As of 1998 this course of action was described by King Axel I as 'power through diplomacy': Gianatla would try to offensively build up cordial connections to other countries and territories, thus gaining lots of soft power, and would always emphasise to be a true neutral base for talks about international disputes.
Under the reign of King and Leader Gianluca IV this ideology was taken even further by participating in the Grovne Conference and the following foundation of the World Forum. While Gianatla was not playing a striking role during the foundation talks, it is viewed as one of the strongest supporters and developers of the WF since the ratification of the charter in 2017. Also into his reign falls the Incorporation of Atlantis in 2011, what can be viewed as one of the biggest peaceful annexations, that have ever happened on the surface of Pacifica and with that one of the biggest successes of the 'power through diplomacy' agenda.

Pacifism

After the lost war in 1954 Queen Charlotte I was implementing a clause in the Constitution of Gianatla, which bound Gianatla's military to be a solely defensive force. While the government still tries to maintain armed forces capable to defend the country and funds military research on modern defensive or retaliatory weapon systems, Gianatla primarily promotes change through peaceful and diplomatic means and views countries critically, which are known for engaging militarily in conflicts very quickly, or which escalate protests and revolts by using unnecessarily harsh violence against their inhabitants.
Gianlucian pacifism does not, however, equal an acceptance of violations against the rules of international law or of undemocratic regimes and institutions. After the Serevan War, the Gianlucian military doctrine was refined to include the use or support of military action as a last resort to not only defend the own nation, but also its closest allies and to facilitate the development of generally peaceful conditions around the world by providing troops, material or money to the WF-peacekeeping forces. The Gianlucian government reaffirmed this new approach of what some call "realistic pacifism" by particpating in the foundation of the Concordia Entente in 2022.

Respect to other cultures

The defeat in the Great War also led to a decrease in nationalism. Nowadays Gianatla views any culture or political system as valid. They respect the sovereignity of nations in regards of their domestic affairs, even if they generally promote certain democratisation processes and the establishment of liberal societies. Gianatla believes true democracy and liberal view points are not imposable from outside and above onto a people, but must come from within a society.

Human rights on the other hand are seen as undisputable and universal. independent of a nation's culture or identity. For this reason, the Gianlucian government has also taken a harder stance on countries maintaining a nuclear arsenal since the introduction of the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons. The official standpoint is, that nuclear weapons are a significant threat to humanity as a whole and therefore a danger to universal human rights.

Multilateralism

Especially under the reign of King and Leader Gianluca IV, Gianatla has included the principle of multilateralism into its foreign policy agenda. Threats like the global injustice between industrialised and poorer countries, climate change or the existence of nuclear weapons as a mean of detterence are seen as problems of a global scale, which need global answers. Talks about possible unions, free trade and defensive agreements and the strong support of mandatory World Forum agreements are the projects, which define this Gianlucian foreign policy core principle.

Bilateral relations

Diplomatic relations

Since after the Great War Gianatla maintains a broad network of embassies and consulates in foreign countries. It also offers the possibility to open embassies and consulates within its own borders too. The following list provides an overview of official formal relations between several countries and Gianatla. The list is non-exhaustive.

Country	Gianlucian ambassador	Foreign ambassador	Notes
Anserisa	Felix Borsch	Katerina Domerum	Anserisa has an embassy in Atlantis. Gianatla has an embassy in Brantavilla.
Bzerneleg	Gregor Kleng	François Gérard Georges Hollande Florence Marie Parly	Bzerneleg has an embassy in Atlantis. Gianatla has an embassy in Belmont and consulates in Gaffney, Normandie and Burlington.
Erinor and Sereva	Paul Eismann	Orusyo Sityata-Orusyo	Erinor and Sereva has an embassy in Atlantis. Gianatla has an embassy in Ciria. The first and former ambassador Helena Guben perished during the Big Cirian earthquake 2017.
Esfalsa	-	Arthur Hornick	Esfalsa has an embassy in Atlantis.
Ezervulge	Monika Liebich	-	Gianatla has an embassy in Sárkányvölgy.
FiHami	Myka Busa	-	Gianatla has an embassy in Ha'Hani.
Frost Empire	Martin Wensger	Shinji Imagawa	The Frost Empire has an embassy in Atlantis. Gianatla has an embassy in Frost City.
Holy Free	Ana Liß	Gilian Kunkru	Holy Free has an embassy in Freudstadt. Gianatla has an embassy in Lordinia.
Huawan	Zara Gürdal Serkan Durgen	Li Ching	Huawan has an embassy in Atlantis. Gianatla has an embassy in Lián.
Ikoania	-	-	Gianatla's embassy in Ezervulge also covers all diplomatic relations to Ikoania. There are on-going talks about the establishment of a Gianlucian embassy in Ikoania.
Karnetvor	Kyra Ang	Valentina Pavlovna	Karnetvor has an embassy in Atlantis. Gianatla has an embassy in Karnetgrad.
Phanama	Klaus Keller	Everleigh Watson	Phanama has an embassy in Atlantis. Gianatla has an embassy in Spiritus.
Ryccia	Ludger Luß	-	Gianatla has an embassy in Castiana.
Sedunn	Lars Krogendorff	Elie Minna	Sedunn has an embassy in Atlantis. Gianatla has an embassy in Grovne.
Valkyria	Marie Raisch	-	Gianatla has an embassy in Stockholm and a consulate in Monteros.

Trade relations, visa policy and sanction regime

Due to general regional instabilities and in order to limit adminstrative costs for the Gianlucian government and private sector, foreign minister Christian Strunk has announced the development of a classification system for international trading partners similar to Izaakia's Lock and Key policy in March 2023. The "Bill on solid guidelines for Gianlucian foreign policy" (Gesetz über feste Leitlinien der gianlucischen Außenpolitik - Außenbeziehungsgesetz (AuBezG)) was passed in November 2023 by the Sanddorn cabinet with a vote of 292 approving, 125 disapproving, and 33 abstaining votes. From 1 January 2024 onward, each country globally is sorted into a tier-ranking. Each tier describes the status of relations between Gianatla and another country, the access to the Gianlucian markets and the visa requirements of a foreign national to enter Gianatla. The ranking shall be reviewed at least every six months, although the foreign ministry retains the right to do so more regularly, however at maximum every quarter. It may also, in a certain set of mostly emergency situations, pass directives immediately demoting or promoting an individual nation's ranking.

Critics claim, that an effective and flexible foreign policy is impossible with such a system and that especially the private sector has not won any more planning security with this law. Furthermore it is highly questioned, whether adminstrative costs actually decreased by the implementation of this system.

International organisations

World Forum

Gianatla is a founding member of the World Forum with their former representative, Christian Strunk, being the first Speaker of the organisation as of 2017 and the first Speaker having been elected multiple times to this position. They are also members of all Committees, including the Committee of Science and Education (CSE), which they are the hosting country of. At the International Court in Petrovka they are currently represented by Judge Risa Terry.
The federal republic played a huge role in the finalisation of the WF. Furthermore Gianatla is vocal against critics, who bemoan an alleged ineffectiveness and senselessness of the World Forum.
The current World Forum ambassador is Helene Meise, who followed Strunk in 2020, when he announced his plan of becoming the next Chancellor of Gianatla after the elections in 2021.

Other organisations

Gianatla is a member of the CPSC since 1998 and a founding member of the Concordia Entente and IUFA.