The Union of Democratic States
The Union of Democratic States | |
|---|---|
 Flag
 Coat of arms
| |
Motto: Long Live the Union! | |
| Demonym(s) | Unionists |
| Government | Representative democracy |
• WA Delegate | The Glorious Hypetrain |
• President | Kingdom of Sacento |
| Independent region | |
• Region founding | 18th December 2015 |
| Population | |
• 6th January 2022 census | 403 Nations |
| |
The Union of Democratic States, or the UDS, is a user created region founded in 2015 by The Noble Thatcherites. It is a defender region, is part of the Partnership for Sovereignty, and is a treatied ally of the South Pacific. The current Ambassador from the South Pacific to the UDS is BlockBuster2K43.
History
The UDS was founded by The Noble Thatcherites on the 18th December 2015. They've had a treaty with TSP since 2017. A new Constitution was introduced in May 2021, making the Union a representative democracy.
Foreign Relations
The UDS is a founding member of the Partnership for Sovereignty. It has bilateral treaties with the East Pacific (the Aurora Covenant), 10000 Islands (the United Island Accord), and the South Pacific (Treaty of Democratic Unity). The UDS had a treaty with Europeia from October 2020, which Europeia repealed in February 2021 due to a disagreement over a UDS vote on a commendation - possibly UDS voted against Commend King HEM.
The Union of Democratic States Armed Forces (UDSAF) is run by the Minister of Defense, which is appointed by the President. It works with Libcord and the SPSF pretty often.
The current Minister of Defense is Moe, and the current Minister of Foreign Affairs (+Deputy MoD) is Kade/The Glorious Hypetrain.
Government
The UDS government has an executive Cabinet, a legislature consisting of a Senate elected from the citizen population, and a judiciary. The WA delegate is appointed with no set schedule.
The Cabinet consists of the President, the Vice President, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Minister of the Census, Minister of Culture, Minister of Defense, Minister of Justice, and the Minister of Roleplay. Presidential elections are held at the end of February, June and October, with the president being sworn in at the start of March, July and November. The President nominates the other Ministers, but they no longer require a confirmation vote in the Senate. The President's basically the most important person - according to the legislation, they're technically head of all the ministries, and are just delegating to the Ministers. The President also nominates the WA delegate, which is confirmed by the Senate and regularly reconfirmed.
- The Ministry of Foreign Affairs - manages ambassadors + advises the President on FA stuff.
- The Minister of the Census - manages citizenship applications and the citizen roster; does recruitment; also maintains guides + information infrastructure
- The Minister of Culture - organizes cultural events
- The Minister of Defense - runs the UDSAF
- The Minister of Justice - also known as the Attorney General, is responsible for presenting prosecution to the courts + for improving the Judiciary system.
- The Minister of Roleplay - manages the two roleplays of the Union - one modern, and one future-tech (interstellar)
Senators are elected from the pool of citizens every two months. The number of senators is based on the number of people who voted in the previous Senate elections. The Senate elects a speaker upon its election. The President can veto a law, but the Senate can veto the President's veto. Citizens are represented by the Senate; they can veto laws and recall Senators but cannot propose or vote directly on bills.
The Supreme Court consists of three Justices, nominated by the President and confirmed by the Senate. They have reconfirmation votes at the end of April, August and December. The Minister of Justice doesn't rule the supreme court, they just submit prosecution to the court when necessary.
Culture
The UDS are big on independent media - there are like nine different media companies. They play a lot of trivia and Minecraft.
Information for Ambassadors
All elections take place in last two days of the month and are sworn in on the first day of the next month.
| Month | Positions elected |
|---|---|
| January | Senators (appoint Speaker) |
| February | President (appoints Cabinet) |
| March | Delegate reconfirmation; Senators (appoint Speaker) |
| April | Supreme Court reconfirmation |
| May | Senators (appoint Speaker) |
| June | President (appoints Cabinet) |
| July | Senators (appoint Speaker) |
| August | Supreme Court reconfirmation |
| September | Delegate reconfirmation; Senators (appoint Speaker) |
| October | President (appoints Cabinet) |
| November | Senators (appoint Speaker) |
| December | Supreme Court reconfirmation |
The Union maintains a up-to-date election page and count-down at https://forum.theuds.org/index.php?pages/government/
Once elected, the President appoints their Minister of Foreign Affairs, Minister of the Census, Minister of Culture, Minister of Defense, and the Minister of Justice. These are then voted on by the Senate. The President and Vice President run in the election on a combined ticket.
The WA delegate is appointed by the President and must be confirmed by the Senate to assume office. A re-confirmation vote takes place every six months.
https://forum.theuds.org/index.php?pages/government/ is the most accurate source for finding the current government members - the ROs and forum maskings don't seem to always match.
Apply for a visa here: https://forum.theuds.org/index.php?forums/visa-counter.88/
Their gameplay thread: https://forum.nationstates.net/viewtopic.php?f=12&t=424340