Austrian Democratic Republic: News, Insight, and Developments

[iamthey]

In Vienna:

It had been a few years since the dissolution of Greater Germany, and yet the interim authority of the new Austrian Republic remained in force. Spokesmen and supporters of the commission tasked to develop the new instrument of government had repeatedly fended off intellectual criticism citing the significance of the work itself, and the need for careful and delicate action. Critics on the other hand were writing with greater frequency against the secrecy surrounding its proceedings as well as the glacial pace of the progress communicated through its dispatches. Speculation was ever more common, and it was becoming a running joke in the highbrow journals and press to mock the delegation. Schröder and his administration, not parties to the committee nor verifiably privy of its status, had done their part to defend the project citing the need to "get it write" (a horrific pun the organizations public relations team had put out), but also urging timeliness and better interaction with the public. "I was a content member of Vienna's faculty before I took up the administrative mantle- and I will be happy to return to that role when the committees work concludes, the sooner the better really." He had remarked commenting on a question posed in a recent press conference.

Nonetheless, all else had proceeded with regularity since the wider empires collapse. Economically the country had continued to recover and develop at a dizzying pace, overtaking in pure GDP of the empire to which it had once belonged. One dramatic improvement (one that Schröder was in no small part responsible for) witnessed by the small German republic was the enormous improvement amongst its educational institutions. Among the first acts of the interim authority was a sizable influx of funding into both lower and higher institutes of learning. Paired together with a sizable increase in the salaries of lower level educators, stricter oversight and quality control was applied with the aim of maximizing the prospects of nations relatively small population. Along with this, a reform of the testing regime, and tract system had been implemented reclassifying and opening new magnet schools with increased funding being directed to the targeted development of the nations most gifted students. A subsidy scheme had been approved which eliminated tuition obligations for students attending university, assumed retroactive responsibility for all student debt, and expanded significantly the research budgets of the nations many Academic institutions. Finally higher academic education had been altered to extend its average duration from 3 to 6 years while expanding the required general curriculum to incorporate greater cultural edification along with deeper study of ones chosen subject.

Outside of academia the interim authority had infused sizable amounts into private scientific research investing in a number of application driven companies, guaranteeing loans for research budgets, and starting a foundation to organize and match donation bundling directed at pure science (most of which was experimental medical research).

Socially the interim government had moved to liberalize the country significantly repealing and rolling back the most caustic legal practices and political programs that remained from the German Regime. While there had not been any purge of the administration, a number of war criminals and regime officials responsible for said crimes had been investigated and prosecuted with significant reparations being extracted from those responsible for payment to the victims and their families. Beyond this cannabis had been legalized, and all but the most addictive and dangerous drugs fully decriminalized. Gay marriage had been sanctioned, ethnic privileges had been completely stripped from the legal code (with strict protections against hate crimes and discrimination replacing them), and immigration had been partially liberalized. Visas for students and high skilled workers were readily available and citizenship for the latter was usually easily obtained (with the former eligible for employment related visas upon graduation). Visas for uneducated laborers, and low skilled workers were usually fairly abundant being issued commensurate with demand and with the sponsorship for a domestic employer. Finally a new welfare state had been deployed to care for the nations aging, sick, and poor. Funding this support regime was a general VAT and tax on wealth with the states general funds being drawn from taxes upon income, capital gains, and corporate profits. Together the revenues generated by these sources were invested as two separate funds into the private capital markets and through conservative for-profit management utilized to stabilize the economy, fund private development, and generate additional revenues for the state.

With respect to Vienna, and Münich specifically- significant investment had been made to develop and grow the local art scene in the effort to gentrify inner city life. Police budgets had increased steadily, infrastructure had been heavily renovated, and redevelopment had been streamlined eliminating aggressively the most undesirable portions of the city- raising in their place new valuable properties. Nationally there had been many infrastructure projects to expand and upgrade high speed rail lines between and within the nations urban centers. Last mile efforts to extend access to fiber optic broadband to everyone were also well underway.

All and all life in Austria was a stable if not boring mix of adjustments, the state under Schröder was domestically apolitical and non-interventionist, internationally it was muted if not implicitly neutral. The nation was in stasis- its politics and the fulfillment of cultural aspiration awaiting the work of the committee. Edited October 26, 2013 by iamthey

[iamthey]

*private*

While the public narrative completely decoupled Schröder from the activities of the commission this of course was not entirely true. It went without saying that the stoic leader was completely informed of its goings on, he had after all worked with and selected many of its candidates, in fact it was far more likely that the delay represented a deliberately engineered state of exception than an accidental contingency. The collapse of the German state had broken the Austria to be quite completely, years under a regime of backwards ethnic and economic policy, years of environmental devastation, years of propaganda, years of the worst Europe had to offer: distilled provincial populism. What could one do with such a people, and at such a time? Had elections been held there was little doubt the result would have been a decisive victory for Nordic Socialists – and by necessity foreign invasion, reform and preponderance.

Whether this would have been bad in essence is up to debate- but both alternatives had their cost. In either case the problem was not the alien, but the people themselves, nursed on the teat of a half century of fascism the result couldn’t have been any more fixed – Austria was then and remains a nucleus of intelligent capable professionals, academics, and engineers amidst a sea of irredeemable ignorance. The difficulty of course was not teaching the rabble its place, but rather getting them to follow the right group, and muzzling those who stood to do the greatest harm. Precautions against mass incitement and fascist revival had of course been taken, new technologies meant an ease of domestic monitoring, while a reformed police bureaucracy provided for swift surgical action against revolutionary movements.

Metternich had been most resourceful setting up a press office within his own Chancellery to liaison with publication editors and influential journalists in containing and controlling the flow of information surrounding the revolutionary flavors of nordsoc that still persisted. Surprisingly when presented with the full extent of the European (perhaps even global) conspiracy surrounding nordsoc – the progressive journalist class became extremely cooperative with the regime’s program.

Needless to say the interim authority was not a not a permanent fix, and eventually a constitution of some sort would be necessary – lest he be replaced by someone even worse than Visari.

The committee charged with said task, a group of the nation’s most esteemed individuals, an odd mix of academics, industrialists, military representatives, journalists, delegates of various professional associations, and other notables had already done its work, Schröder had reviewed it and was generally satisfied, after all, much of it had been premised upon his own theories. As most in his position felt after the collapse of Germany, he had concluded that government was a complex institution with many constraints, and that every system had trade offs: to aspire after a single objective meant compromising others. In turn he advocated for a balanced studied approach tailored to the conditions on the ground – one which made use of Austria’s advantages while nullifying its deficiencies. He asked and so he received.

These were of course no mystery- prior to taking office he had published many of his speculations in the Viennese Journal of Political Science.


[on politics] (author designation)

…There is little to suggest otherwise that political disputes are anything more than the residue of a failing culture. Where one finds the most contentious discourse one also finds the incommensurability of values, the death of compromise, and the seed of revolution.

A fact which escapes from most today, in this bright age of democratic pluralism, is that true societies are more than just geographic demarcations of physical territory on a map. After all, a country is something greater than the sum of its jurisdictions. Civilization where it authentically exists is the organic and historical expression of a culture’s aspirations. This aspiration is not something chosen by the individual, but is instead something received and felt by a people. Where it exists the state is not a creature of individual will, nor the disputed territory of factious multitude, but instead is the spontaneous and organic manifestation of this social consensus. Government, and indeed ‘political life’ within states that ought to exist is a system of negotiated adjustments, one where the law and a people’s values are one in the same, one where the question is not why or what but instead how…

…Where deadlock in a system exists five conditions are present. First the resource (or set of resources) in question must be accessible only under the condition of mutual exclusion. Second running units of execution must take and hold each resource until such a time that it maintains sufficient conditions to act. Third there can be no preemption, once an actor holds a resource, to yield said resource must be voluntary. Finally within any (un)synchronized system there must exist a circular wait: that is there must exist some chain by which two acting entities hold resources mutually required by the other to proceed. Together these are known as the Coffman conditions.

In so far as the state is not self-caused, but instead exists to fulfill a set of received objectives, any administrative configuration which permits this sort of outcome is manifestly broken. While it is typical of failed institutions to write off deadlock as a deficiency of legislative ethics, it can always be reduced to one of two sources. It either originates in the structure of the state itself, that is in poor design, or it is instead symbolic of the cultural divergence previously discussed (prompting either need for cultural ministering, or the abandonment of present jurisdictions)…

…In institutions of late memory where deadlock has existed it has arisen out the dual quality of legislative autonomy and the motley character of those ushered into office. Within the mind of an elector, especially one representing only themselves, there exists a multitude of objectives each with distinct priority and order of purpose relative to those of others. The difficultly of representation schemes then is that all too often those selected for office are offered positions of general import and are asked to apply themselves not only to the area of expertise for which they were selected – but to all affairs of the state. So a candidate identified as expressive of the culture’s aspiration in foreign affairs will also weigh matters of domestic, juristic, and bureaucratic relevance. This gives rise to the false mandate- the simultaneous claim of moral sanction– the decoupling of political trajectory from its cultural ley lines and so the problem of legislative paralysis. Imagine instead a system of representation where those selected were invested with authority in only those policy areas for which they were chosen, or by contrast an electoral culture which encouraged participants to vote on behalf of everyone other than themselves. What would the consequences of such a system be? In the case of the former I would contend it to be the death of political clubs altogether; when offices are distributed such that the coupling of unpopular and popular positions (exploiting relative differences in priority among the electoral mind) is impossible there can only be a single ideology. Here legislators become technicians rather than demagogues, they have no platform to sell, no strange combination of positions to defend, they have nothing to offer but themselves and the expertise they bring to the position. Evaluation then becomes simple- did they accomplish what was expected – did they further the cultural aspirations of the public within their domain? These questions are functional ones, and for the elector the assessment of politician is no longer a matter of opinion, but a matter of fact. In the latter case, the outcome is much the same. In our approach to the world we feel acutely our distinctness from the anonymous mass that surrounds us and our immediate acquaintances. We know intimately our own peculiarities, we know what is good for ourselves, and we know what we personally desire. When we select representatives who give voice to our particular idiosyncrasies we emphasize our differences rather than our similarities, and in doing so we incentivize divergence rather than cohesion. If by contrast we, aligned our will with those that surround us, we would constrain deviations and promote a policy coherent political class which truly represented rather than divided us…

[on government] (author designation)

…One of the most defining characteristics of the last two centuries has been the near universal transition to democratic systems of government. While this has in more recent times given way to a strange feudal revival, various personal monarchies, hyper bureaucratic regimes, communist absolutism, and charismatic empires the cultural norm is present and representation remains an important claim of legitimacy particularly here in the west. To this end I think it warrants a fair degree of analytical attention, and the project of demystifying the origin of its more desirable attributes.

When speaking of democracy and its many benefits we often focus our attention upon three basic benefits it confers. First we consider it to be a more stable form of government as it is invulnerable to the arbitrariness of poor despot, second we speak of its increased accountability and the reducing effect it has on private corruption, finally we see justice as a norm within democratic institutions rather than the alternative exceptional case of the prototypical enlightened despot. This of course presumes an instrumentalist view of the system which sees its basic good in its usefulness, one could just as easily advocate on its behalf through an appeal to its inherent virtue, but just as I am remiss in my belief of God, so to am I skeptical of any claim to the inerrant necessity of any particular governing framework.

Before delving into the underlying mechanics at work, it is worth considering the analogically related activity of simple portfolio investment. While it may not seem immediately apparent there are actually a number of fundamental similarities. In the case of investment we are attempting to map a current resource (liquid capital) into a weighted set of equities such that the mature value of the set is greater than its initial value. Likewise we do the same in determining electoral, and structural policy- we attempt to map a current resource (power) to a set offices or designations such that a singular objective – the attainment of culturally given aspirations is maximized. Now consider three different ways one could foreseeably invest their wealth.

First a rather silly individual might average the returns of every equity available for purchase and place the entirety of their wealth into the asset class with the highest expected return. A sensible measure right- no. This of course fails to account for any measure of risk- the economy is after all a volatile system. Corporations fail and rise annually, patents expire, innovations substitute and consume the revenue of others – to hold the sum of your wealth, to put universal faith into a single asset is to invite disaster. So we need to account for risk – we need to spread out our exposure to the market’s fluctuations. This instance reflects the problems associated with the investment of power into an enlightened despot, and more appropriately to a dynasty. Expected returns may be high, but variance is extensive. We may have an exceptionally good king, only to suffer a terrible successor. Regardless of how benevolent, wise and thoughtful our previous king was the unlimited power of the next endangers any advances of the prior. Similarly we could consider the extremes of a statistician whose hands were placed in a fire as he waded in a pool of ice. On average his body is at room temperature, with the range values to which he exposed being the matter of concern.

Alternatively we could invest our wealth equally into every available asset, a uniformly weighted index. This exposes us only to the risk of the market, and thus when a firm fails we feel it only as much as everyone else. In essence this is a variance control measure, which through the mechanism of diversification reduces to noise the fluctuation of individual performance, leaving us with a tighter range of potential future losses and gains. The problem here is of course that the market does not necessarily give the minimum variance nor the maximum return, but even more generally, in employing such a strategy we are ignoring useful information that we could otherwise leverage to our advantage. This is of course analogous to a scheme of universal democracy- we invest electoral power into all and so our expected return while lower, is bounded by a tighter variance. In the same regard there are of course heuristics we could use with great efficacy to boost the robustness of our selection system. For example we could restrict voting to those over a certain age assuming that the contributions of children will detract from the system’s efficacy or might even introduce damaging biases.

In both cases we can observe the pitfalls of both absolute diversification and unlimited monopoly. It is no surprise then that in the financial industry neither is employed. A lazy but intelligent investor might opt for the Markowitz portfolio, which plots the intersecting curve of every possible portfolio’s variance with its respective returns. Under such a system the question then becomes ‘for a given variance- show me the weights for the optimal return’ or by contrast, ‘for a given return- show me the weights for least risky configuration’. There are of course innumerable alternative schemes for relating risk to return, and many metrics for assessing combinations of assets- the point remains however that in this third case the investor has ceased to trust both the most promising singleton and the indiscriminant collective. He has instead chosen discretion and narrowed his pool, adjusted his weights, and settled upon a filtered set which he has determined to be the most promising.

Extending this question of expected return and variance a step further it becomes abundantly clear that the benefits conferred by democracy in fact stem from a more general attribute of which democracy participates. That is that the evaluating body is an anonymous public, and thus any anonymous public: any suitably large subset of the population, will share in all of these advances. When suitably diversified the impact of arbitrary (biased) selection is minimized producing overall reliable and consistent behavior. When suitably large the impact of personal corruption is eliminated, leaving only transparent appeals for support (campaigning). When a group is anonymous enough so as to provide for independent judgment, the pit fall of groupthink/collective bias is averted.

Thus by seizing upon both this attribute and reliable heuristics, among which is modern psychometrics- discretion and volume could thus be wed to optimize the performance of the elect while preserving every attribute we value in democracy. This is the third way, the temperate paradise which partitions the volatility of the highlands and the sterility of the desert- occupying this ground must be our aim.

Not by trust in a sovereign nor faith in democratic process, but by a rational approach to government will the public find its truest expression in the state...

…The notion of the franchise as a right in my understanding of populations can only produce the corrosive tendency of self interest at the ballot box. When suffrage is narrowed, and the franchise regarded as a privilege – it ceases to be one’s ‘voice’ but instead transforms into a public service- that is the act of rendering one’s judgment on behalf of others. Just as we would condemn any degenerate member of the Reichstag who professed to vote only for his own private gain- culturally we ought to condemn those who vote only on behalf of themselves, their party, or their friends. The culture of the elect must cease to be the plebeian one it is and must take on the character of an aristocracy. Voting must become a selfless affair, a trust which represents not only the public, but all systems subject to human impact, to do otherwise can only perpetuate the multitude of harms and dysfunction we have to this point experienced…

Regardless, while the time table remained in flux, progress was being made - Austria would win its new beginning. Edited November 29, 2013 by iamthey

[Centurius]

With the recent shift to full technological independence it was time for the Athenian arms industry to begin moving abroad, rather than have each separate company set up shop they had decided to unite under the banner of Hellenic World Services. The first recipient of this new conglomerate would be Austria, the country had shown itself stable and due to its support in the war the government had opened them up to tier 1 exports. In essence the perfect place to verify the feasibility. Over the duration of several weeks Hellenic World Services would buy up existing factories useful for their purposes and construct new ones, in this providing a massive wave of employment for the Austrian population. The Austrian government would then again profit from the less expensive costs for transport and of course the fact that part of the money they paid for their systems went back into the Austrian economy.

[iamthey]

With the opening of the new Hellenic World Services facilities across the nation the Austrian military was abuzz in expansion. Growing rapidly around a nucleus of veteran cadres all segments of the armed service were undergoing rapid development. New top shelf aircraft were being turned out around the clock to be filled out with pilots who were training daily with their Athenian coaches. Freshly minted armored units were rolling out and the infantry as well as the military bureaucracy were being exponentially grown and armed day by day. When it was all said and done it would be one of the largest land forces on the continent- years of work were still ahead, but undeniable progress was being made.

In Vienna Alexander was quite pleased with what had been accomplished in normalizing the status quo. Over months he had painstakingly adjusted conditions and created those facts on the ground required to move forward with the ideal - rather the only acceptable - constitutional program available. Day by day he read the reports, and they never ceased to disturb him, NordSoc was far from dead, and it seemed poised to not only act out illegally through militant action, but also to mobilize politically: if not explicitly then through back channels. Both would need to be precluded in any political program the nation undertook. That would mean insulating the electorate from nordic socialists as well as precluding the wrong sort of corruption from taking hold in the administration. Having reviewed the work of the constitutional committee he was satisfied with the result and ready to move forward. It along with a proposed ratification process would be announced within the week, and the campaign for its passage would then begin.

There were two attributes of the new system that would diverge from international norms. The new scheme would not be a dictatorship, nor a monarchy, and it would be representative- however it would not be wholly egalitarian. Studies had shown that the bulk of the Nordic Socialist support base originated among the working class, and specifically the under educated. A key attribute of the new system would be the establishment of a narrowed electorate/political class and blanket standards which would constrain political participants to just the most qualified fraction of the population. An open referendum on ratification would be out of the question, thus the new electorate would largely need to be identified and awarded elevated status from day one. From there came the second element of the new system, the lower house would be selected by sortition (random selection) making it all the more necessary to ensure that on average each elector was intelligent, educated, and materially independent enough to both execute good judgement and transcend corruption. As the new constitution was announced a sub-committee of the body responsible would become the newly established 'Independent Body of Review' which would then publish the litmus test through which electors would be selected.
 

Basic Law of the Austrian Democratic Republic

A: Statement of Objectives

AI: The quest of man, is the quest for freedom. His existence has been the struggle for mastery in the face of adversity: the struggle to survive, to feed himself, to protect himself, to defend what is his and to conquer those who threaten him. But for every breath of liberty there is the human and material cost of bending nature, repressing threats, and harmonizing human organization. Indeed the existence of mankind is denoted by the quality of infantile exploitation in all forms. Civilization is a ravenous conflagration, which at this late hour threatens to consume all the world in its myopic hunger. For centuries Europe and Germania in particular, have been embroiled in the petty cycles of their own reconquest. Enslaved by our ambitions and haunted by nostalgia- we have been fodder to the poison of ideology, the lure of revanchism, and the sweet embrace of militants in all shades. It is against this grain that we the people of Austria do hereby bind ourselves and organize in the name of corporate prosperity, justice, and harmony.

AII: It shall be the duty of the Austrian State to preserve and uphold the human dignity of every citizen and legal resident. Guarantees entailed by this article include but are not limited to equality before the law, protection from discrimination on the basis of gender, race, sexual orientation, national origin, or religion, wellbeing of person and property, equal access to healthcare, a living wage, social welfare, and old age security.

AIII: It shall be the duty of the Austrian State to conserve and safeguard the integrity of the natural world, protecting it from the harms of unguided human exploitation. Its interests shall be held at parity with mankinds, treated with equal due concern.

AIV: Austria shall be a representative republic, and shall empower those fit and able to judge the capacity of its state through fair, free and regular elections. Synthesizing the principles of social democracy, aristocratic excellence, and Austrian tradition, this shall be carried out in the name of the public interest for the greater harmony and happiness of the people.

AV: In the name of the common defense, the Austrian State shall be vested with the authority to establish an armed service who shall see to the preservation of the people against foreign aggression and general insurrection. Furthermore the state is empowered to enter into diplomatic relations and negotiate on behalf the people among foreign powers. Finally it may take all requisite steps to facilitate this broad mission abroad.

AVI: To foster general prosperity and facilitate its own duties, the State shall be empowered to issue letters of incorporation for national industries, establish enterprises, make investments, issue public debt, establish legal tender, facilitate both international and domestic trade, subsidize transactions of any kind, as well as govern and regulate therein through the promulgation of regulatory law and the formation of monitoring entities.

AVII: To promote national harmony, equity, and innovation the state may formulate standards of instruction, as well as create and maintain systems of higher and lower education.

AVIII: To provide for the peoples wellbeing, the state shall be responsible for maintaining, preserving, and improving the quality of the national commons.

AIX: Provisional to servicing the dignity of the people, the sate shall look to its own stability, continuity, and security insuring its preservation against the disruptive and deteriorating forces of both anarchy and radical militant ideologies.

AX: To guarantee Public Safety the state shall be empowered to maintain law and order. For this it may create and issue a body of law regulating citizen life for the protection, wellbeing, and prosperity of the people. To this end it may take all necessary and proper steps to see its issuances upheld and to correct any violation of the civil body.

B: Structure of Civil Society

BI: The nation shall be divisible into three interloped groups, the citizenry, the electorate, and the state.

BII: The citizenry shall be composed of all former citizens of Greater Germany living within the borders of Austria for more than twenty years, all those naturalized under Austrian law, and all those of verified Austrian linage. Standards of naturalization shall be established by the state and must maintain impartial and nondiscriminatory standards. No citizen may be involuntarily deprived of their status for any reason.

BIII: The electorate shall be those citizens of Austria that constitute the body politic. Its members will maintain the responsibility and trust of assessing and selecting those offices of state subject to electoral review. Eligibility of candidacy for any national office of trust will also be limited to the electorate. No elector may be involuntarily deprived of their status for any reason other than in instances of severe criminal offense, corruption, or treason.

BIV: Membership in the electorate will be regulated by an independent body of review which will be responsible for establishing metrics of fitness as well as uniform standards of assessment. Standards and benchmarks must be nondiscriminatory and ought to impartially measure only the ability and capacity of a candidate to make an informed judgment in referendums as well as carry out terms of public service.

BV: The government shall be composed of three separate and equal branches: an Executive, Judiciary, and Legislature. Together they shall exist as a unitary state presiding over national affairs without sub-national sovereignties.

C: The National Diet

CI: The Legislative branch shall consist of two bodies, the State Council and the College of Electors, jointly referred to as a the National Diet. It shall be responsible for the provision of law, authorization of revenue, and the proper functioning of government through close oversight and monitoring.

CII: The State Council shall house five members to each region which shall serve a term of ten years, with elections staggered such that elections occur once every two years and are rotated between each regions five members.

CIII: The State Council shall establish its own operating rules and internal process, effective decisions by it shall require a two thirds consensus. The council may pass bills for ratification by the College and the assent of the executive.

CIV: The College of Electors shall be form a one thousand man ratifying body which shall give an up or down vote on all legislation proposed to it by the State Council. Its members will be selected by a process of sortition, with each being randomly chosen from the electorate to serve a two year term of office. Its decision shall be considered effective if it carriers a majority.

CV: The is responsible for funding the operations of the State, and shall undertake the effort to establish a code of taxation which adequately services those expenses it authorizes.

CVI: The State Council alone shall confirm executive appointments, provide oversight to the state bureaucracy, ratify treaties, and issue declarations of war.

CVII: The Diet may jointly remove a sitting Secretary General through the passage of an impeachment bill, which does not require executive assent.

CVIII: If the position of Secretary General is vacated- the Diet shall undertake the nomination of candidate successors who will then compete in a general election. During such a time the Secretariat shall act as a transitional regency council invested with the full powers and responsibly of the Secretary General.

CIX: Aside from the due oversight and guidance to be offered by the State Council, the Executive and Judiciary shall be free of interference, and left to execute their charge unhindered in the service of the public.

D: The Executive

DI:The Executive shall be responsible for the implementation of legislation passed in accordance with the law by the Diet. It shall be headed by a secretariat whose chief executive shall be the Secretary General.

DII: The Secretary General shall function as the dual Austrian Head of State and Government, and he shall serve a life term until he is no longer capable, effective, or willing do so.

DIII: The Secretary General shall have the power to appoint the cabinet, Supreme Court Justices, and Justices of Lower Courts. He shall also have authority to organize, establish and staff lower agencies and sub offices beneath himself and his cabinet.

DIV: The Secretary General shall be the Commander in Chief of the armed forces of Austria, and shall preside over their administration and deployment.

DV: The Secretary General may issue an absolute veto on any and all legislation passed by Diet.

DVII: The Secretary General may with the confirmation of the State Council appoint members of the independent body of review responsible for establishing electoral standards.

DVIII: The Secretary General may direct and guide the administration to ensure the full and proper execution of its charge.

DIX: The Executive is charged with the paramount duty to preserve the state, maintain the public trust, and safeguard the integrity of national service.

E: The Judiciary

EI: The judicial power of the Austrian state shall be vested in one Supreme Court, and in such inferior Courts as the National Diet may from time to time ordain and establish. Justices shall serve a life term until such a time that they are neither capable or willing to continue.

EII: The judiciary is to be guided by the Principles of the common law model, and shall strive for consistent, impartial, and uniform rulings in the settlement of disputes. Above all it should strive to balance equity with consistency, and should establish fair standards of evidence.

EIII: While the substantial decisions of each lower court shall be upheld, matters of form and procedure may be the subject of review and appeal to superior bodies.

EIV: In cases of serious criminal offense, the defense shall be guaranteed the right to representation by an officer of the court, and shall not be stripped of his life, liberty or property without the due process of law.

EV: The judiciary shall guarantee the right of equality before the law, and any citizen or subject party with grounds to do so may file suit for the redress of grievances.

EVI: Upon resolution of any suit the losing party will be considered responsible for the court and representation expenses accrued by the victor.

F: Sub-National Administration

FI:The nation shall be partitioned into thirty subnational administrative regions here listed by their historic and current names. Vorarlberg, Tyrol, Salzburg, Carinthia, Styria, Upper Austria, Lower Austria, Burgenland, Oberbayern, Schwaben, Niederbayern, Mittelfranken, Oberpflaz, Oberfranken, Unterfranken, Tübingen, Freiburg, Stuttgart, Karlsruhe, Rheinhessenpflaz, Saarland, Trier, Koblenz, Darmstadt, Gießen, Kassel, Thüringen, Chemnitz, Dresden, Leipzig, and Vienna.

FII: Each sub-national region shall be led by a regional Controller appointed at the pleasure of the Secretary General. Collectively the respective administrators shall occupy seats on the regional authority, a steering committee intended to permit the coordination of policy implementation among the various regions.

FIII: Each Controller shall function as chief executive of his own regional bureaucracy and shall be responsible for its proper functioning and staffing. The prerogatives afforded to a Controller in his mandate shall be authorized by the Secretary General, and may be augmented or altered as the Secretary General sees fit to delegate responsibility.

FIV: The partitions here established, may be augmented or altered by an act of the Diet carrying the assent of the Executive.

G: Amendment Protocol

GI: If for any reason the above articles prove insufficient as currently formulated, those articles other than AII may be amended by the provided process.

GII: An amendment may be brought forward as an act of the Diet, and must pass both houses with a majority greater than two thirds of each body. Once passed it must receive the assent of the Secretary General.

GIII: To become active a signed amendment must be ratified in a national referendum where it must receive a majority greater than two thirds of the voting public.

Edited June 25, 2014 by iamthey

[iamthey]

Formal announcement scheduled to unfold within a few days, the Independent Committee of Electoral Review paired with its dependent Office of Electoral Affairs internally published a pre-reviewed metric set and eligibility list of citizens who would be immediately invited to apply.
 

OEA Status Review Metrics

An applicant may not be denied Elector status should they meet the following minimum qualifications for confirmation.

I: Candidate must be a citizen of the Austrian Democratic Republic.
II: Candidate must be of the age of majority.
III: Candidate must hold a degree from an accredited national or approved international university.
IV: Candidate must be among the nation's top decile of asset holders and or income earners.
V: Candidate must score among the top decile of the national standards and measures psychometric nonverbal and symbolic ability survey.
VI: Candidate must score no less than 90% on a political literacy exam detailing subjects from history, current affairs, international relations, economics, literature, culture and philosophy.
VII: Candidate must have a clean criminal record free of serious legal infractions.
VIII: Candidate must have no history of affiliation with discriminatory, racist, nationalist, NordSoc, or related hate groups. Each candidate must sign an affidavit under the penalty of perjury attesting to the absence of historic association.

Edited March 10, 2014 by iamthey

[iamthey]

For a nation of nearly fifty million people the prospect of mass standardized examination, even on a one time basis, was daunting. Of those fifty million five to six million were expected to qualify for examination, and of those if the correlations lined up the way it was suspected they would, one to two million would be certified as electors. The logistics were dizzying, and to cope with it the OEA had brought on fifty thousand temporary staffers with plans to add an additional forty thousand as the mostly frontloaded undertaking was confronted. From there the office would scale down to a longterm size of forty thousand permanent staffers.

Occupationally the OEA couldn't be more diverse, its offices would be present in every major municipality, and among its ranks there would be thousands of investigators, accountants, lawyers, and white collar workers of all stripes. Together they would represent one of the most expansive departments the young regime would host.

Over the course of the next three years the process of ratification would be surmounted followed shortly by the election of the first government. However before either could take place the enfranchisement of an electorate would need to occur, millions would need to undergo examination, possibly two or three times, and with it untold chaos could be anticipated if improperly managed. To ensure the bureaucratic apparatus wasn't overloaded those prescreened for eligibility would receive invitations within two weeks of public announcement. Those that assented to undergo confirmation would be allotted one of six test periods to occur in the first year, with each period examining no more than 250,000 candidates. Voluntary applicants, and those that failed in earlier rounds would have the opportunity to undergo examination a year later in one of four examination periods. From there an additional eight testing blocks would be open on a first come first serve basis until the ratification and the first elections could be held.

While mass outcry was seen as unlikely, contingencies existed which anticipated the emergence of a coalition composed of young social democrats and nordic socialists should opposition to the new program gain traction. In combatting this potentiality the announcement of both the constitution and the details surrounding the OEA metrics would be muted, a limited untelevised speech, publication alongside a byzantine legal commentary, euphemistic editorials on the part of a colluding press, and the shrouding of those discriminatory aspects of the new program within the complexities of a confounding bureaucracy. The young ideologue thrived in the clarity of certain terms, but he would wither in a haze of fluid questions.

Edited March 11, 2014 by iamthey

[iamthey]

Jiang smiled, his face placid as he inwardly celebrated another triumph over his colleague. Pavan shook his head, sighing as he accepted his loss, fixated he stared at the board and contemplated, knight e6 and mate they both thought. "I think that's about it for today friend." The Han said to his vedic friend.

"What can I say Anshun- I think I'm the only one here that will still play with you." Jiang laughed, it was true- while not a professional by any means he was probably better at the game than any of his peers: another blessing of his ruthless upbringing he would admit.

"You are getting better- I think by the time of our decent you'll have bested me at least once." The indian rolled his eyes and checked his watch.

"We have a meeting."

"Right." Jiang assented as they both stood to conclude their lunch. The two of them were section chiefs on the elite course through their respective ministries, that of International Trade and Industry and Finance respectively. Jiang himself had ambitions to eventually become the Vice-Secretary of MITI while Pavan's hopes were less grand. Ever optimistic though, Jiang felt like it was realizable- his entering class was favored for the position, he had been recognized repeatedly by his seniors, and his own entering class promoted him as their own star candidate. However unlikely Austria had become a far more open place for the scions of immigrants under Schröder, and it was hardly a secret that he looked to the bureaucracy and not the public to safeguard the nation's future. A Tianaxian's child could command the inner life of a ministry he thought.

Both top graduates of Vienna's School of Public Law, the two of them had grown up under the discriminatory system of nordic rule and despite this had flourishing careers in the civil service. Vienna Law as it was referred to, was the most sought after education in the country, not only because its graduates maintained the highest pass rate of Austria's extremely rigorous tier I civil service exam (7%) (and the nordic variant before it), but because of the network you obtain through it.

Among its graduates were not just the many among the bureaucratic elite, but also the occupants of top industrial posts across the national economy. The fact that even the worst among them were deeply networked with the best, ensured all were eminently hireable. That being said, neither worked for their ministries directly, perfect examples of an unrare complexity of Austrian bureaucratic life both served as attache officers on the state facilities development board, a non cabinet level agency that executes build orders for new state construction requirements. It was not a particularly glamorous post, but the task Jiang had been selected for (one he had pushed for) was proving quite opportune. Today he would be presenting on behalf of his project team, he being its lead, new design plans for a corporate campus just outside of Vienna. When finished it would serve as MITI's, and those ministries it serviced as clients, new operational and strategic headquarters.

Briskly walking, the two of them turned a corner as they navigated the rats maze of corridors that intersected and weaved throughout the largely functional multipurpose flex offices occupied by the SFDB. Passing through row upon row of occupied cubicles, the open floor of this particular hub was abustle with similarly deployed staffers from a variety of oldline ministries (along with greater numbers of pures - those actually hired by the SFDB). As with other states, the premier core of bureaucratic entities in Austria (those with cabinet level secretaries) dominated their non-privileged counterparts: to this end it was often the case that when a new agency was erected, the existing players scrambled for control of its outlined administrative territory, filling out strategic posts with members of their own cadres effectively colonizing and appropriating its function, policy tools and resources for itself. In this way the expansion of rival ministries might be checked and their own roles may be protected or even enlarged. Strategic concerns aside, controlling greater and growing numbers of positions within other ministries/bureaus also eased the demand for bureaucratic posts within their own ranks helping to maintain internal harmony. The SFDB along with the Economic Planning Agency, the State Environmental Preservation Office, Foreign Investment Oversight Commission, Securities and Exchange Committee, the State Investment Assets Management Corporation, and numerous other regulatory and developmental instruments were closely guarded outposts of MITI personnel; together they enriched the potency of MITI's Industrial Policy making power and gave meaningful and important positions to its staffers.

Finally arriving at their destination, a conference room, the two entered. Pavan and Jiang warmly smiled and greeted their colleagues before taking their seats. Exchanging small talk and stories they were used to retelling, the meeting began at a meandering pace trudging along for a time before Jiang felt comfortable standing to signal the transition to topical discussion. This wasn't their usual meeting, it was MITI's last informal design review before ground was scheduled to be broken, and more pressing still finance was sitting in. As it was likely an inter ministry loan was presently being brokered to finance the project (likely in anticipation of official appropriations), the confidence of both parties was imperative. "So to the matter at hand: MITI's long awaited home in the capital." Jiang was not a particularly gifted speaker, he was naturally an introvert, but he had learned by experience to power his way through these gatherings - a necessary evil when living amongst men. "Most of you are familiar with the work we are doing, but as I see a few new faces I will begin by covering the broad strokes. The MITI campus project began when the size of our organization doubled nearly three years ago, it has since increased by eight fold growing from a thousand employees to nearly eight. Such rapid expansion has shown trends of tapering off sometime in the next decade, but the fact remains that for now it is positive and will remain positive for for sometime to come." Jiang prompted a slide change to reveal the various statistical trends in hiring and the current size of MITI's workforce.

"It goes without saying that this growth has substantial merit, with visari germania splintering, Vienna has mandated that we assume the responsibilities of a national development agency and so here we are. To this point MITI has managed this expansion well, opening up and growing into new spaces across city, spaces much like this one. This is of course only a short term solution however." A map of Vienna was displayed showing a cluster of red dots enveloping the city. "We need consolidation, not only for its longterm efficiency, but also for the synergies we can harness by consolidating our various teams into a single location. Which brings us to the project."

"To be developed on a two million square meters section of undeveloped suburban Vienna, the MITI campus hopes to create a talent hub of collaborative excellence. Composed of nearly thirty lowrise buildings, all to be enviornmentally certified by the end of construction, the campus will be as aesthetically beautiful, as it is functional. The highest scrutiny has been paid to environmental efficiencies, and a dizzying number of technologies have been deployed to minimize the footprint of the new facility. From water reclamation, to superior insulation, to high efficiency use of natural and artificial lighting, the new campus will pave the way for similar efforts and set a high standard that peer groups can aspire to meet. Most importantly though it will be accomplished in a cost effective way, and will save the state valuable resources in the long run. Along with the campus itself, much of the surrounding area will remain uncleared forest. Parking and transportation for the some 12000 future occupants of the facility will be accomplished through a large connected subterranean parking garage which can house vehicles on three levels. Furthermore the campus will be integrated into vienna's mass transit network and a secure subway stop will be constructed beneath the garage. All of which will serve to preserve the area's natural beauty and leave its ecosystems intact." Renderings of the subway station, the campus concepts, and the garage levels flashed over the screen.
 

"Structurally the campus will be a single connected unit composed of thirty separate low rise buildings, no building being greater than five floors. Beneath the various offices there will exist an interconnected network of service routes through which employees, equipment, and service personnel may pass. Campus amenities, the main data center, its replicas, as well as hubs for other shared infrastructure will be housed in or beneath centrally located buildings." A map was displayed to the audience.
 

"To ensure 'always on' capabilities, three separate power substations will be built and connected to distinct grids, additionally generators housed beneath the service level will provide backup power in the event of complete external failure while redundant gas lines should ensure indefinite electrical supply. However, in the event of fuel supply failure, Liquid methane reserves will be retained to ensure continued operations for up to one hundred twenty hours. Finally in terms of internet infrastructure, two separate fiber lines will link the internal network to the outside world."
 

"Regarding security, the campus will be enclosed by a perimeter fence penetrated by four entrance points. The outer fence while designed to only discourage casual interlopers, will be outfitted with motion detection with two successive sister rings of sensors that will be laid across the campus. Exterior cameras will provide three-sixty coverage of the building's exterior and full coverage of the service level and garages. Data security will be centrally managed and both incoming trunklines will be monitored continuously for attacks. In accordance with our current conventions, Ministerium für Staatssicherheit (Ministry for State Security) personnel and technicians will guarantee the physical integrity of the facility." The room nodded, though unease at the Ministry's mention could be felt as they did."

"Aesthetically architectural specifications have already been developed and the design auditing team we've put together have reviewed and confirmed their acceptability. Interior designers have recommended a package of collaborative and open office furniture solutions which management studies suggest will foster creativity, and improve productivity. It is our hope that the world class office environment we're striving to create will not only extend the capacities of our existing staff, but also draw in both young talent and seasoned professionals to fill out our ranks for years to come."
 

"Ultimately the facility will house MITI's entire core staff onsite as well as those and organs we collaborate most closely with." Jiang paused to take a sip from his water bottle. "I think we should break for a few minutes before we delve any deeper into the details of execution, but if any of you have questions I'd be happy to answer them in the hall or when we return."
 

Edited July 2, 2014 by iamthey