United Sovereign Nations

=The Charter of the United Sovereign Nations= Instated October 1st 2008 Forward We, the nations of the United Soverign Nations, do hereby draft this Charter to provide a constant and secure alliance for the membership, quality and freely elected leadership, and a strong and growing member base.

Article I. The Administrative Council
'''Section 1. The Administrative Council''' ''The Administrative Council shall be vested with the executive power of this government within the United Sovereign Nations and shall hold a term of two months. The Administrative Council will always consist of three members who shall vote and use a 2/3-majority process to settle alliance wide matters.''

'''Section 2. Powers of the Administrative Council''' The Administrative Council holds the authority to:


 * a. Declare war, Reprisals, Terms, Ultimatums, peace and other declarations on another alliance or nation with a Unanimous vote from the Administrative Council.
 * b. Draft legislation with foreign alliances
 * i. Legislation must be approved by the Senate
 * c. Draft and execute executive orders with a 2/3-majority
 * i. Executive orders are limited statutes, and may not interfere or violate the charter, or other statutes. Executive orders will only last the term of the Administrative Council and are to be used for policy making.
 * d. Nullify a High Council executive order with a 2/3-majority vote
 * e. Unanimously appoint temporary members to the High Council if there is a vacancy

'''Section 3. Powers over the Legislator''' The Administrative Council holds the authority to:
 * a. Sign any proposition passed by the Senate into a statute with a 2/3-majority vote.
 * i. Propositions are given three days to be signed by the Administrative Council, if a 2/3-majority vote is not reached in those three days, the proposition will be vetoed.
 * ii. The Administrative Council holds the power to line veto any proposition.
 * b. Unanimously appoint temporary members to the Senate if there are any vacancies. A 2/3-majority consent from the remaining Senators is required to replace any senators if there are more than three senators in the Senate.
 * i. If there are less than three senators remaining in the Senate, the Administrative Council will unanimously appoint temporary senators until there are at most three senators in the Senate. A 2/3-majority consent vote of the Senate is not required for this measure.

'''Section 4. Disentitlement of an Administrative Council Member''' ''The Administrative Council or any member of the council shall be removed from Office on Impeachment, and Conviction of, Treason, Bribery, or other high Crimes and Misdemeanors by the Senate. Refer to the Judicial Code Section VII for trial procedures.''

Article II. The High Council
'''Section 1. The High Council''' ''The High Council shall share executive power with the Administrative Council within the United Sovereign Nations and shall hold a term of two months. The High Council is to consist of the Ministers who head the major departments, and are in charge of their operation. Ministers may appoint members to assisting offices to Departments to facilitate them with the operation of their ministry. These Ministries are the:''


 * a. Ministry of Economics, headed by the Minister of Economics, is responsible for all tasks and events regarding economic matters in the alliance. The Ministry of Economics shall regulate alliance banks, oversee aid, and look out for the upkeep of member financial nations.
 * b. Ministry of Foreign Affairs, headed by the Minister of Foreign, Affairs is responsible for the public image, documentation of the alliance legislation, and communication with foreign alliances. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs shall deal with the day-to-day issues of foreign alliances in relation to the United Sovereign Nations that do not require the attention of the Administrative Council.
 * c. Ministry of the Interior, headed by the Minister of the Interior, is responsible for internal alliance communication, and the Justice Department. The Ministry of the Interior shall make sure members are informed by releasing information onto the alliance forums about game matters as a whole, update news reports, government reports, answer member questions, and receive member complaints and comments, they shall also be the creators of any official votes for the General Assembly. The Minister of the Interior specifically is responsible for ensuring the rules of the charter and judicial code are not broken, and shall act as head judiciary if they are.
 * d. Ministry of Recruitment, headed by the Minister of Recruitment, is responsible for all recruiting matters in the alliance. The Ministry of Recruitment shall coordinate widespread recruiting programs, assign recruiting positions to members, answer the questions of potential recruits, as well as be responsible for applicant nation background checks.
 * e. Ministry of Security, headed by the Security General, will oversee any and all military action. Nations are not to involve themselves in armed conflict, whether it is offensive/opportunistic in nature or in the defense of another member nation, without the consent of the Security General, Administrative Council, or a specified ministry assistant.  The Security General will be responsible for organizing the armed forces of the alliance into a single, cohesive unit.

'''Section 2. Executive powers of the High Council''' The High Council members hold the authority to:


 * a. Draft and execute executive orders
 * i. Executive orders are limited statutes, and may not interfere or violate the charter, or other statutes. The executive orders drafted by the High Council members may only be used for policy pertaining to their ministry. The executive orders will only last the term of the High Council.

'''Section 3. Powers over the Administrative Council''' The High Council holds the authority to:


 * a. Appoint members to the Administrative Council if there are any vacancies with a 4/5-majority and approval from the Senate.

'''Section 4. Disentitlement of a High Council Member''' ''The High Council or any member of the council shall be removed from Office on Impeachment for, and Conviction of, Treason, Bribery, or other high Crimes and Misdemeanors by the Senate. Refer to the Judicial Code Section VII for trial procedures.''

Article III. The Senate
'''Section 1. The Senate''' ''The Senate shall be vested with all legislative powers given to this government. The Senate will hold a term of two months and be comprised of at least three members. Senators are elected delegates and are to represent the General Assembly.''

'''Section 2. Chancellor of the Senate''' ''The Chancellor of the Senate is charged with the duty of organizing the Senate, and is a member of the Senate. The Senator that receives the most votes in a Senate election will be elected to the position of Chancellor of the Senate. Duty of the Chancellor of the Senate:''


 * a. To compile all propositions in to voting threads
 * i. All voting threads will be vocal votes, no poll threads will be used for Senatorial business.
 * b. Set voting time limits for propositions.
 * c. To move all passed propositions to the Administrative Council Chamber
 * d. The Chancellor of the Senate will make all official announcements from the Senate.

'''Section 3. Legislative power of the Senate''' The Senate holds the authority to:


 * a. Draft proposals.
 * b. Change the number of Senators in the Senate with a proposal.
 * It is suggested that the Senate add one senator for every 100 nation states if the member count is past 200 nation states, and that the number of senators always be odd.
 * i. Changes to the number of senators will not take effect until the next term.
 * c. Create legislative committees with a proposition

'''Section 4. Powers over the Executive''' The Senate holds the authority to:


 * a. Approve an Administrative Council or High Council appointment with a 2/3-majority vote.
 * b. Create a new executive branch with a proposition.
 * c. Hold an Impeachment hearing against a member of Administrative Council, or High Council, and may impeach the member of the council with a 2/3-majority.

'''Section 5. Disentitlement of a Senator''' ''A Senator shall be removed from Office on Impeachment, and Conviction of, Treason, Bribery, or other high Crimes and Misdemeanors by the Minister of the Interior. Refer to the Judicial Code Section VII for trial procedures.''

Article IV. The General Assembly
'''Section 1. The General Assembly''' ''The General Assembly is the collection of all member states of the United Sovereign Nations that are not a part of the elected government. All members are guaranteed freedom from penalty unless found guilty of high crimes or treason. Each Assembly member of the United Sovereign Nations is permitted freedom of speech and expression on the alliance boards. All member states are given the right to vote and run for government office, as well as lobby comments to the government for further discussion unless otherwise stated because of a criminal punishment.''

'''Section 2. Membership''' Nations aspiring to gain membership in the United Sovereign Nations must file a Writ of Application that will be reviewed by the Ministry of Recruitment. '''Section 3. Powers over the Government''' The General Assembly holds the authority to:


 * a. Petition the government
 * b. Call for the impeachment and/or removal of a government official
 * c. Call for a repeal of a statute, executive order or ruling with a petition signed by 70% of the General Assembly

Article V. Election and Removal Process
'''Section 1. Administrative Council Election''' ''The Administrative Council holds a term of two months. Nominations for candidacy will begin nine days before the end of the term, and elections will begin six days before the end of the term, polls will be open for three days.''

'''Section 2. High Council Election''' ''The High Council holds a term of two months. Nominations for candidacy will begin six days before the end of the term, and elections will begin three days before the end of the term, polls will be open for three days.''

'''Section 3. Senate Elections''' ''The Senate holds a term of two months. Nominations for candidacy will begin six days before the end of the term, and elections will begin three days before the end of the term, polls will be open for three days.''

'''Section 4. Sentio Effrego''' In the case of a tie vote the sentio effrego process will be used, and the tie vote will be broken by a second election between the candidates

'''Section 5. Appointing Temporary Officials''' If an official of the Government will be absent for an extended amount of time, they may appoint a member to temporarily replace them and serve in their place while they are absent, if they intend to be absent for the rest of their term or more than a month, a replacement will be appointed by the government to take their place.

'''Section 6. Vote of No Confidence''' ''Any member of the United Sovereign Nations is granted the authority to motion for a vote of no confidence in any government official, unless they have been impeached and are being tried. Such persons may be removed from office using two of the following process:''


 * a. 70% majority vote from the General Assembly in a 2 day poll
 * b. 4/5-majority vote from the High Council
 * c. Unanimous agreement of the Administrative Council
 * d. 2/3-majority vote from the Senate

If a government official feels they have been wrongfully terminated from office, they may appeal to the Ministry of the Interior to overturn the vote with a trial.

Article VI. Military Structure
All member-states are expected to be willing to take up arms against any and all threats to the well being or sovereignty of the alliance or any of its members. '''Section 1. Offensive Action''' ''No member-state of the United Sovereign Nations may engage in an offensive war without the direct consent of the Security General or the Administrative Council. Members engaging in offensive action without the direct consent of the aforementioned will automatically have their membership nullified for as long as the offensive action continues. Membership can only be reinstated pending a trial following the Judicial Code.''

'''Section 2. Pre-Emptive Sanctions''' ''In the event where the growth, prosperity and safety of the alliance comes into question, the United Sovereign Nations reserve the right to defend themselves by any means necessary. This includes military, trade and aid sanctions. If the alliance decides to conduct pre-emptive military operations against another group or alliance it requires unanimous agreement from the Admin Council, and 4/5-majority of the High Council's consent.''

'''Section 3. Reparations''' Any member-state of the United Sovereign Nations has the right to receive reparations from any aggressor. These will be taken on a case-by-case basis taking into account nation strength, losses, and any other factor deemed relevant by the elected government of this alliance.

Article VII. Amendments
'''Section 1. Formal Amendments''' ''If deemed necessary by any member of the United Sovereign Nations, an Amendment proposal may be made to the Alliance Government. An Amendment will be ratified if at least one of the following requirements is met:''


 * a. Three day 70% majority vote from the General Assembly, 2/3-majority vote from the Senate, and a 2/3-majority from the Administrative Council
 * b. Signed Petition from 70% of the General Assembly

'''Section 2. Informal Amendment''' ''Any proposition passed by the Senate, and Signed by the Administrative Council is an informal amendment or statute. The informal amendment does not and cannot add or remove from the charter, but is treated as an amendment. There shall be a topic in the Archives to publicly see all informal amendments.''

=The History of United Sovereign Nations=

Maroon Allied Guardian's Failure Sparks Discontent
The main contributing factor that led to the formation of United Sovereign Nations was a failed merger between the old TAGA alliance and ONOS. Several members felt that their input regarding the changes that were to occur with the merger were completely ignored. As such, there was some tension between the incoming ONOS members and the old TAGA members. Due to the hostility, ONOS decided that they would be better off remaining on their own. ONOS withdrew from the merger, and left MAG in shambles. With the apparent lack of power over the policies and actions of TAGA/MAG, a core group of MAG members started to discuss the founding of a new alliance governed by a representative democracy to ensure that all members have a voice in the leadership of the alliance. These discussions took place during the latter portion of September 2006.

USN Opens Doors & Goes Neutral
In October 2006, the core group of MAG members that were dissatisfied with the current status of the alliance left MAG to open the doors to USN. Amazonian Beasts, Marine91, Someone the Greate, Prozach, Scuba Lumberjack, Flyskate, King IB, and Rebel Strike were among the first members of USN, and contributed greatly to its founding and initial practices. United Sovereign Nations privately opened the forums on October 16, 2006, and announced its existence to the world on October 29th with the opening of a recruitment topic. The alliance was comprised of roughly 30 members formerly from TAGA/MAG, and despite the time involved with discussing the founding of a new alliance, there was no pre-written charter or any other policies decided before that actual founding. The early weeks of USN were spent discussing how the government should be setup (it was clear that it was to be a democracy, but positions and the electoral process hadn't been discussed yet). An interim government was appointed, and discussions regarding a charter and foreign policies. The original charter for United Sovereign Nations was ratified on October 31. Along with the ratification of the charter, it was decided that United Sovereign Nations would remain militarily and financially neutral from other alliances on Planet Bob. The decision was reached fairly easily considering the existing tension between the secessionists and their former allies in MAG (later reformed as Maroon Defence Coalition), and the inability to offer any meaningful support to other alliances.

Though not truly neutral in the strictest sense, as the members of USN were allowed to vocalize opinions for or against other alliance's actions or policies. Though they remained neutral in the aspect that unless directly involved in a conflict USN would not militarily of financially support either party. There was also an alliance ban on treaties that involve mandatory support as they would be against our interests in neutrality.

The CKA times
The Canada Kicks Ass Alliance joined up with USN en toto in November 2006 and started being active and respected members. They helped the alliance grow and become more respected throughout the Cyberverse.

COWT destruction
A bunch of rogues from COWT decided to attack USN and to not pay reparations. Even though USN was neutral, the military wiped out all of COWT, and ZIed many of their members. COWT was disbanded shortly after the members fled or were ZIed.

Major Development
When the USN had around 70 members, DaMan, Iamkoolerthanu, and Osama EBW decided to recruit. They recruited around 40 members put together in the matter of a couple weeks. They kick started recruiting for USN and made them a power of the maroon team. The USN also got 5 or 6 NAPs during this time also, most importantly though was a NAP with the MDC. The MDC is what MAG became after USN broke off.

Amazonian Beasts leaves
Shortly after USN hit 100 members, Amazonian Beasts decided CN wasn't as fun as it used to be, he thought he didn't have enough to do since the USN was doing all of the stuff ASB wanted to do already. He gave out all of his money and tech to friends and USN members, and quit his Admin Council Job and deleted his nation.

Attempted USN Infiltration
The USN was being infiltrated by 'The Order', a group of Neo-Nazis from Stormfront. Targeting the USN because of its very democratic charter, their intention was to slowly take over the alliance and kick out those who did not follow their white supremacist ideals. The idea was to then bring in their own members to build an alliance, which they could not do on their own.

A Stormfront informer leaked to USN admins information with a list of nations in on the plot. The USN administration then embarked on a counter-terrorism mission within the USN boards to weed out the offenders. On Thursday May 10, 2007, the USN administration felt that the time had come to unveil their knowledge of the stormfront plot. Massive war was declared upon all involved nations, and within hours the vast majority of offending nations were left languishing in ZI.

2 Million Nation Strength
In October 2007 the United Sovereign Nations surpassed the 2,000,000 nation strength mark. Shortly after that accomplishment, the admin changed the value of technology and the NS of USN dropped significantly. This was not a major problem, as USN switched to focus on buying infra. and growing further more.

One Vision-No Vision Conflict
Upon the declaration of war on the Global Alliance and Treaty Organization on April 28, 2008, the Commonwealth of Sovereign Nations declared their intent to defend their MDP allies. As a result, several alliances in turn declared war on the CSN, and as MDP allies of the CSN, the USN got involved and declared war on the Siberian Tiger Alliance. This resulted in a myriad of alliances declaring war upon the USN to protect their allies. This war went on for approximately 3 weeks before white peace was declared by The Continuum along with STA a week earlier.

Cancellation of MDP with The Phoenix Collective
As a casualty of the One-Vision/No-Vision conflict, the MDP with the Phoenix Collective was canceled when an overzealous TPC Minister informed their Prime Minister that the USN had attacked a BLEU nation and the treaty was initially canceled. When confronted with evidence of the mistake, the cancellation was rescinded, but the damage had already been done and the USN canceled the pact on their own end, citing a disappointment in the lack of communication on the issue and the TPC's willingness to defend an economic pact over a friendship of some years (as well as some sycophantic hanging-on to One-Vision alliances and allies).

Upgrades
In the weeks following the One Vision-No Vision Conflict the USN upgraded two of it's most important treaties. To show the strong bond between CSN and USN the treaty between them was upgraded to an MADP. USN also upgraded the treaty with UPN to a MDoAP solidifying their already strong realtionship.

The United Sovereign Nations and The Angels of the Realm Merge
On August 13th, 2008, the alliance known as The Angels of the Realm merged completely into the USN. This truly was a full circle revelation, due to the fact that AotR was created by former members of WhatYouSeeIsWhatYouGet (WYSIWYG), which in turn was created by former members of the National Organization of Neutrals (NOON), which was created by former members of the United Sovereign Nations. This event finally closed one darker chapter in USN's past, reuniting old foes as friends and allies.

The USN Joins The Common Defense Treaty
On October 29th, 2008, the day of the USN's second year of existence, the United Sovereign Nations was voted unanimously into the Common Defense Treaty Mutual Defense and Optional Aggression Bloc. This marks another step in the USN's increasing political influence in the whole of the Cyberverse.

The Founding of the Chestnut Accords
On December 27th 2008, the USN signed the Chestnut Accords as a founding alliance. The Chestnut Accords is an MDP and Economic bloc uniting the Maroon sphere. Although "Maroonity" has been tried through several different treaties in the past, this treaty is a truly remarkable step towards completely unifying the Maroon sphere.

Karma War
More recently USN has become embroiled in the events surrounding the Karma War. At this time however they are maintaining their neutrality with steadfast resistance. This has been met with harsh criticism within the alliance which has caused a significant number of players to resign from USN. The majority of the members who have departed have joined up with former mutual defense partner CSN in the war against the Global Democratic Alliance, while a former Administrative Councilor joined Vox Populi against the New Pacific Order. The recent government elections have seen many unknown nations become High Councilors.