Kymry

The **Centralist Republic of Kymry** (*Welsh*: **Gweriniaeth ganoliaethol o Kymry**) is a country in north-western Europe, surrounded by the Atlantic ocean. Its largest and capital city is Gwellynsea, which is also its economic and financial centre.

Settled initially by Celtic tribes, Kymry only unified as a kingdom in the early 1300's. It came under the influence of Lutheranism during the Protestant Reformation, wherein it became dominated by anti-Catholic policies up until the mid 1600's. During the 1700's the United Kingdom conquered Kymry after it functioned as a vassal state from the late 1600's. Following the French Revolution nationalism begun to dominate the internal politics of the nation. Kymry remained under British control, becoming a dominion in 1867 and attaining independence after the First World War in 1919 with the declaration of the Kymrian Republic. The republic was short lived, collapsing to a fascist regime in 1926. The fascist regime was initially netrual in WWII before declaring war on the UK in 1940, and was subsequently occupied by British forces in 1944. The occupation lasted two years, with a liberal democratic government being installed in 1946. Since then, Kymry has functioned as a democracy, initially following a welfare social democratic model before in the 1990's adopting a neoliberal, market based economy.

Kymry has a developed economy, but suffers from wealth inequality. Its financial based economy is considered to be one of the freest on the planet, while maintaining a minimal welfare state. Kymry is a member of the United Nations, European Union, IMF and NATO.

## Politics

### Government

Following the fall of the fascist regime in 1946 Kymry began the transition from single party fascist rule into a liberal democracy. The Constitution of Kymry labels the country as a secular, democratic nation. Primarily politics take place within a unitary parliamentary republic with a bicameral legislature. Officially Kymry is a multi-party state, with the largest two political parties being the National Party and the Labour Party. The second biggest parties are the Reform Party, Green-Left Movement, Radical Party and the Christian Democratic Party. The legislature is known as the Parliament of Kymry with House of Senators serving as the upper house of whilst the House of Councillors is designated as the lower house. Kymry has a three tier judicial system that mainly utilises common law.

* The head of state is the President of Kymry who plays a largely ceremonial role. The President is however the commander-in-chief of the military with the power to declare war, approve and ratify laws, and give pardons. The President also helps appoint members of the House of Senators. The president is elected every four years through a direct election.
* The legislative body of Kymry is divided into two houses - the House of Senators (upper house) and the House of Councillors (lower house). The House of Senators 128 members are voted in a first-past-the-post voting system, and is functionally less powerful than the House of Councillors. The House of Councillors are elected every four years in general elections through a mixed-member majoritarian voting system with universal adult suffrage. The party or coalition that has the most seats in the State Congress forms the official government of Kymry. There are 66 seats in the House of Senators and 111 in the House of Councillors.
* The executive branch of Kymry is led by the Prime Minister of Kymry who serves as the head of government. The Prime Minister is the leader of the political party that either holds a majority of seats in the House of Councillors (at least 56) or is the leader of a coalition. The Prime Minister is responsible for putting together the Cabinet of Kymry, a cabinet of ministers who are picked from members of the ruling party in the House of Councillors by the Prime Minister. The Cabinet is responsible for running the majority of government operations in Kymry.
* The Judicature of Meskheti mainly consists of a system based around civil system as well as using a three tier court system. The High Court of Kymry functions as the supreme court of Kymry and is led by the Chief Justice, a position appointed by the senate and approved by the president. Below the High Court stands the District Courts, which are located in the seven districts of Kymry. Finally there are the magistrate courts of Kymry which are subdivided into civilian and criminal courts, and are located in most towns and cities in Kymry.

### Foreign policy

Kymrian foreign policy is handled by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, with Benedict Arnold serving as the current Foreign Secretary. Since 1989 has mainly been focused around further integrating into Europe, with Kymry having cordial relations with its neighbours Norway and Iceland. Kymry also has close relations with other ex-Soviet states such as Poland, Hungary, and the Czech Republic. Kymry also maintains excellent relations with the United Kingdom, whom they share a common culture with.

Currently Kymry is part of various international organisations such as the United Nations, Council of Europe, NATO, WTO, OECD, EEA, OSCE, IAEA, ESA, Community of Democratic Choice, and the IMF. In 1975 Kymry was able to enter the European Union after a referendum.

### Military

    Kymry's armed forces are split into four divisions - the Army, Airforce, Navy and Coastal Guard, all of which answer to the Central Military Committee, a group of high ranking officers who in turn are subordinate to the Ministry of Defence, with the president serving as Commander-in-Chief.

As of 2015 Kymry still retains troops in Afghanistan, although since the end of the United States led war they have begun to pull troops out of the country as the Afghan government starts to handle the conflict. Kymrian military has also provided aid in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, and Iraq in 2003.

Kymry currently spends 3.6% of its GDP on defence, and has committed to increase spending in the military over the next four years. Prior to the fall of the Soviet Union Kymry received the majority of its military equipment from the USSR, and still some Soviet era equipment such as the BTR-80 armoured car. Despite this Kymry has begun to develop its own weapon industry with the manufacture of weapons, ammunition and tanks becoming the main priorities.

## Economy

    Since the 1980's Kymry has possessed a market economy based around the Anglo-Saxon model with extensive deregulation, low taxes ad high freedom of trade. However, earlier efforts especially in the 1930's-70's to construct a social market economy with greater state intervention and a larger public sector has resulted in Rainier possessing a mixed economy with an extensive welfare state. As of 2015 Kymry has a nominal GDP of $131.767 billion with $22,379 per capita, with a high HDI rating of 0.777. Kymry uses the pound as the national currency. As per European Union law Kymry must join the EERM and adopt the Euro once it meets the Maastricht criteria. However, Kymry has stated that it would take a 3/4 majority in the national legislature for the Euro to be adopted, and has instead discussed the possibility of joining the EERM II instead.

During the 1950's the Kymrian government drafted and implemented the Economic Restructuring Programme (ERP), a form of corporatism. The ERP was Keynesian in its approach, and with a strong focus on manufacturing led Kymry into quadrupling its economic growth between 1954-64. During the 1980's the economy was deregulated with most state run industries privatised alongside numerous social programmes, with free trade and deregulation being championed. In this period "Kymry went from one of the most protectionist, state run economies in western Europe to one of its most open and deregulated". The economic transition from the ERP to a more market friendly system "destroyed" much of Kymry's industrial base leading to higher unemployment and poverty; as such since 1993 the government has placed more regulations on the economy and expanded social welfare programmes, although not to the extent that they existed under the ERP. As a large amount of the economic deregulation was undertaken during the rule of the third Labour government (1977-94) union reform was a much more sensitive process, meaning that there still exists a large portion of unionised workers' comparative to other Anglo-Saxon market economies. Between 1993-2008 Kymry underwent an economic boom that saw an unprecedented expansion of the housing market, leading to a bubble that collapsed during the subprime mortgage crisis, with the Great Recession seriously damaging the Kymrian economy. Whilst Kymry has recorded economic growth since, it has yet to fully recover from the crash with Kymry running a large budget deficit of $TBA million.

Kymrian biggest industries are based around oil and gas refinery, agriculture, transportation, telecommunication services and tourism. The primary agricultural exports in Kymry are maize, sunflowers, barley, sugar beets and wheat. Kymrian companies also facilitate the building and maintenance of ship yards and railroads.

## Demographics

### Healthcare

Kymry, alongside the majority of the developed countries, maintains a two-tier system of universal healthcare, divided between a single-payer system centred around the Health Assistance Programme (HAP) and a private sector. Created in 1953, the HAP directly manages healthcare personnel and resources in Kymry and funded through general taxation. All citizens and legal (taxpaying) residents apply for a HAP card which entitles them to access to HAP services, meaning those who do not possess HAP cards cannot use HAP services. A smaller private sector within the healthcare industry exists for those who wish to pay for private services, having been established after the fall of communism in Kymry. Private health providers are arranged around insurance schemes, which pay for healthcare providers either within the existing HAP infrastructure or private hospitals. The HAP only does partial coverage of dental and optic services. Alternative medicine is also available in Kymry.

Prior to 1953, healthcare was distributed through entirely private means, mainly through private hospitals, religious groups and charities. In 1950 the Dominic Lennox government aimed in their program to provide healthcare for all, nationalising private hospitals and creating the HAP through the Health Assistance Act, 1953. Since then successive governments have expanded on the program, which has been credited with eliminating various diseases in Rainier. Since the Nicholas Halifax government more private investment in the HAP has been introduced, although moves to privatise the HAP are considered to be widely unpopular.

Life expectancy in Kymry is high, with women on average living for 83.8 years and men 78.4, ranking overall at around 81.1 behind Belgium but ahead of Finland. Cancer and obesity are considered the mot pressing issues in relations to Kymrian health, with the government heavily advocating weight loss camps. Since the mid-1980's, smoking has been on the decline in Kymry.