Balisca
Baliscan Confederation Confederación Baliscana (Baliscano) Anhangá (Kurupirangüe) 7 other official names
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 Seal
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Motto:
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| Anthem: La Internacional (English: "The Internationale") | |
Government Emblem | |
 Location of the Baliscan Confederation | |
| Capital and largest city | Castejón |
| Official languages | Baliscano Baliscan Sign Language |
| Recognised national languages | Kurupirangüe, Neapolitan, Aragonese, Ladino, Catalan, Mozarabic, Portuguese |
| Recognised regional languages | Sabir |
| Ethnic groups (2023) |
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| Religion (2023) | 55.2% Irreligious 44.8% others |
| Demonym(s) | Baliscan |
| Government | Open-source collaborative liquid democracy |
| Legislature | Confederal Congress |
| Establishment | |
• Crown of Aragon abolished by Philip V | 1 November 1700 |
| 14 June 1808 | |
| 22 October 1883 | |
| 3 December 1918 | |
| 23 July 2022 | |
| Area | |
• Total | 1,526,052 km2 (589,212 sq mi) (28th) |
• Water (%) | 1.2 |
| Population | |
• 2024 estimate | 147,196,616 (5th) |
• 2020 census | 142,939,054 |
• Density | 96.45/km2 (249.8/sq mi) (23rd) |
| GDP (PPP) | 2024 estimate |
• Total | $6.356 trillion (3rd) |
• Per capita | $43,183 (16th) |
| GDP (nominal) | 2022 estimate |
• Total | $4.701 trillion (3rd) |
• Per capita | $35,190 (12th) |
| Gini (2024) |  18.9low |
| HDI (2023) |  0.917very high · 10th |
| Currency | Baliscan sol (Ꭶ) (SOL) |
| Time zone | UTC−3 (BST) |
| Date format | dd.mm.yyyy (CE) |
| Driving side | right |
| Calling code | +500 |
| Internet TLD | .bl |
Balisca (Kurupiran: Ahiag̃; Anhangá; Mapudungun: Quetrupillán, lit. 'sleeping pillán'), officially the Baliscan Confederation (Baliscano: Confederación Baliscana) is a country located entirely in the South Atlantic Ocean off the coast of South America. Balisca is the third most populous country in the Americas (after the United States and Brazil), and the fifth largest by total area. The capital and largest city of Balisca is Castejón. The country's sole official language is Baliscano, which is the world's most widely spoken constructed international auxiliary language. Balisca is one of the most multicultural and ethnically diverse nations, due to the strong immigration from various places across the world. It is one of 40 countries to not have any land borders. Meanwhile, Balisca shares maritime borders with Brazil, Argentina and Siculia. Balisca has maintained a historic claim to a significant portion of Antarctica, though it has suspended this claim inline with it's obligations under the Antarctica Treaty System.
Originally, what is now Balisca was settled by various indigenous tribes before being explored by a number of European expeditions during the 16th and 17th centuries, most notably by the Basque explorer Xenokrates Lizoain on behalf of the Aragonese Crown. Following the unification of Iberia, the Baliscan archipelago was colonized and partitioned by Castilian and Aragonese realms and the Mediterranean merchant republics operating on behalf of Aragon. Relative to other European colonies, particularly those of the Spanish, the footholds within the Baliscan archipelago were considered exceptionally "poor and dangerous" place. The Spanish War of Succession and the dissolution of the Crown of Aragon prompted the breakdown of colonial allegiances to the empire and sparked early calls for political separation. Napoleon's imposition of a new Bonapartist regime in Spain that was openly hostile to the "autonomous" Baliscan colonies eviscerated what little remaining political sway royalists and Peninsulares held. Spain would later launch an attempt at re-asserting imperial authority in 1808. In response to the Spanish aggression 18 (later rising to 23) colonies and the Hesperian League issued the Proclamation of Alcazaba, uniting as the Southern Confederation to wage their resistance against the Spanish. This confederation left all major functions to the individual communities.
Discontent with this system of government arose immediately after the end of hostilities, especially in regards to tariffs, trade, and taxes. These tensions erupted into the Pastry War, between Catalan and Aragonese colonists and prompted confederal intervention, ultimately sparking an extended civil war that lasted until 1838. The development of a cosmopolitan identity during the Reconstruction era resulted in significant strides in Baliscan socioeconomic development. It underwent a futurist social revolution in the aftermath of the First World War, from which it emerged as the world's largest libertarian socialist society. It would later experimente with accelerationist and futurist theory that resulted in substantial social and cultural shifts.
Balisca ranks among the highest in international measurements of government transparency, civil liberties, quality of life, social development, and education. As of 2022, Balisca is described as being highly democratic, with an open-source-system of governance that promotes universal participation, beginning at the lowest level in it's administrative divisions. This includes widespread support for a universalist social protection system aimed specifically at enhancing individual autonomy and promoting social mobility. This cooperative system involves the integration of communes in administration, and a commitment to social ownership based on mutualism, with a large number of state-owned enterprises and cooperative ownership in essential industries. As of 2020, Balisca ranks highly on the inequality-adjusted HDI and the Global Peace Index as well as being ranked in the top 10 on both the Social Progress Index and the World Happiness Report.
Balisca is a highly developed country, and it's economy is the world's fourth-largest by nominal GDP and fourth-largest by GDP (PPP). Since the late 1950s, it has operated a mixed economy which synthesizes mutualist ideals with a socialist-oriented market economy. Its labor force is among the world's largest, most educated, and the most unionized. The Baliscan government has followed a policy of international neutrality through non-alignment since to 1963, although this was violated by Argentina during the Cold War. Balisca is a founding member of the United Nations, the G20, Mercosul, the Organization of American States, the Organization of Ibero-American States, and the Concepción Organization of Cooperation. Balisca is recognized great power in international affairs, and is widely regarded as an emerging "soft superpower".
Etymology[edit | edit source]
The first Europeans to step foot in what is now Balisca arrived on 2 June 1500, with the arrival of an Aragonese fleet commanded by the Basque explorer Xenokrates Lizoain at Alcázar. The explores met various indigenous tribes, many who spoke the Tupi–Guarani languages.
Lizoain, upon further exploration and discoveries eventually named the entire land Basilikako hegoaldea (or "southern Balisca"), in reference to the natives he encountered that engaged in the growing of grape vines with a similar appearance to that of the bygone ancient grape vines from his homeland, Navarre. Lizoain established a close friendship with native leaders, especially that of the Kurupiranga peoples originating from Pindorama and the skilled Caiçara sailors, whom he viewed as very important partners in the exploration of Balisca. Lizoain would make three trips between the Aragonese Crown and the Baliscan archipelago, and also extensively explored Patagonia.
Under the Spanish Empire under intention to reassert imperial rule in Balisca, the various cantons came together in the Congress of Confederation to form the Confederation of the Southern Provinces.
The Mapuche name Quetrupillán (lit. 'sleeping pillán') and Kurupirangüe Anhangá (Ahiaḡ in the Kurupirangüe script; lit. 'land of spirits') are the pre-colonial names of Balisca, both referencing the traditional indigenous view of the archipelago as the home of spirits of the land that also served as the protector of the fauna and flora, who "[...] doesn't devour nor kill, but avenges animals victimized by insatiable hunters". The Indigenous peoples of Balisca had several traditional names for the islands they inhabited, including Pindorama ("land of palms") for the home island and Uitstlatlami ("the [southern] edge") and Tinguiririca for Cerdanya and Semlikkan ("windy land") for Atlantida.
History[edit | edit source]
Administration and politics[edit | edit source]
Balisca's political system is founded on libertarian socialist theory. The Confederation is an extremely decentralized, universally participatory, collaborative e-democracy, while incorporating aspects of liquid democracy.
The Secretary General is the chair of the Secretariat Council. The SecGen is considered to be "first among equals", and is representative of the confederal-level administration in Balisca. The current SecGen is Zavier Bilal, who was appointed in July 2021. The Premier recommends individuals to the Congress to be appointed to the Secretariat Council, the de facto executive branch. Deliberative councils in each administrative entity are the main source of law in Balisca.
The Confederal Congress is the "highest form of democratic authority", consisting of 736 delegates elected by their commune districts. According to the 2022 Democracy Index, Balisca garnered a score of 9.64, ranking it a full democracy.
The fundamental linchpins of this system are the principles of open-source governance and the "wikidemocracy" approach. This facilitates the rapid transmission of relevant information from the source of the discussion to the relevant populace, via the Cosmo system and automated information sorting software, which also employs human engineers assigned to assess unusual problems, problem trends, or through an appeal process pursued by an individual.
Baliscans have called this system the functional antithesis of traditional bureaucracies which sometimes notoriously suffer from corruption, slowness, and a list of other unfortunate qualities. In addition, this open-sourced approach is far more adaptive with its focus on participation, direct democracy and cultural contexts compared to traditional bureaucracies. The Open Cabildo utilizes administrative algorithms and AI.
As a matter of principle, all non-direct democratic authority in Balisca is exercised through the election of authority. This means the people elect the executive and legislative authorities and they are all subject to immediate recall. Economically, this means the workers within an sector elect the coordinating officials, and the workers within a particular enterprise elect the enterprise chairman and executive officers. Elections of delegates by the people or by members of organizations (e.g. syndicate members voting to elect their administrative representatives) are always by secret ballot. On the other hand, all votes cast by the elected delegates (on any level) on various matters, including the election of ministers, are always cast in public, and the votes recorded, even though their deliberations sometimes are closed.
Balisca today is considered a consensus democracy, where consensus is an important feature of political culture. Aspects of direct democracy have been well ingrained in the Baliscan political process since confederation, in the form of the earliest open cabildos. Since 2022, the Constitution also specifically encourages direct democracy through the Open Cabildo, to include the selection or retention of magistrates. A Confederal Convention occurs every ten years in order to review the constitution's content and potentially revise or replace it through amendments according to the confederation's shifting needs.
The judiciary operates based on principles that prioritize individual freedom, social equality, and direct democratic participation. While there is no standardized model for the judiciary in Balisca, certain key principles and possibilities can be identified. It is important to note that the specific structure and functioning of the judiciary in Balisca varies based on local contexts and community preferences. These principles serve as general guidelines, but the actual implementation is consistently undergoing experimentation, evolution, and democratic decision-making.
Decentralization and local autonomy are core tenets of Balisca. Accordingly, the judiciary is organized at multiple levels, ranging from local communal courts to regional and federated courts, depending on the scale of decision-making required. This decentralized structure ensures that power is distributed among the people, preventing its concentration in a central authority. Balisca emphasizes direct democracy, enabling individuals to actively participate in decision-making processes. In the context of the judiciary, this could involve the election or appointment of judges by the communities they serve, with regular rotations to prevent power imbalances. Community members are heavily involved in the selection of judges and determining the rules and procedures of the judicial system, promoting transparency, accountability, and legitimacy.
A strong emphasis is placed on transformative justice, which focuses on addressing the root causes of harm rather than resorting to punitive measures. Restorative justice approaches, such as mediation, reconciliation, and community service form the foundation of the Baliscan judicial system. The aim of this system is to repair harm, rehabilitate offenders, and reintegrate them into the community, rather than relying primarily on imprisonment. Additionally, decisions pertaining to guilt or innocence and suitable consequences are made by a jury of peers, rather than a single judge. This approach ensures collective decision-making that reflects the values and perspectives of the respective community. Jurors are selected through a transparent and inclusive process, actively participating in determining case outcomes.
Transparency is of utmost importance in Balisca's political system. Court proceedings, judgments, and decisions are live-streamed and fully open to the public to ensure accountability and allow for community scrutiny. This transparency fosters trust in the judicial process and empowers individuals to understand and effectively engage with the system. An appeal process is vital to safeguard against potential errors or biases. In Balisca, the appeal process is designed to avoid hierarchical structures and power imbalances, and provides a fair review of decisions, either through an independent body or a community-based mechanism.
Law[edit | edit source]
Anarchist law concepts prevail over both civil and common law practice. Under the Baliscan radical decentralized scheme, the bulk of "law" is adopted at the communal, cantonal, and regional levels via citizens' assemblies. This includes criminal law, civil law, education, water resources law, land allocation, housing and leasing, and highways. But if a confederal level initiatives and a particular law contradict one another, it is by no means certain that the national law will prevail. One must go to Article 4 of the constitution to see the boundaries between federal and regional authorities. And these boundaries are drawn so that in many if not most conflicts are resolved in favor of regional power. This is regarded as a radical democratic principle, the devolution of power downward to the levels of government closest to the people.
Any discourse pertaining to Balisca law necessitates the inclusion of the fundamental principles known as the right to revolt and the right to resist. These principles protect individuals' right to resist any violation of their unenumerated rights. Consequently, an individual can present a defense in court by asserting that they violated a law due to its inherent injustice, thereby challenging the legitimacy of the law itself. These established the principle that no law is beyond scrutiny. Moreover, this right has led to a particularly active culture of direct action, such as détournement, riots, sit-ins, and self-managed social centers and building occupations.
Anarchism in Balisca grew out of Balisca's tradition of direct democracy, beginning with open cabildos and eventually Soviet-styled council democracy. This led to the idea of ben-fortificato or democràcia preparada per a la batalla ("well-fortified" or "battle-ready democracy") which implies that each individual is empowered to defend the horizontal and consensus-based order ("ordeb horizontal y basato en o consensio") against those who want to abolish it, but only as a last resort. The idea behind the concept is the notion that even a majority rule of the people cannot be allowed to install an authoritative, totalitarian or autocratic regime capable of violating the principles of the Baliscan constitution and the Basic Laws.
While the legal system is based on the Baliscan Constitution, most recently promulgated on 23 July 2022, the basic principles of the rule of law were laid out in the Basic Laws of Balisca. All other legislation and court decisions must conform to its rules. As of July 2022, the constitution has been re-written 12 times, and has had 74 amendments. The electorate is the main source of statutes (via direct democracy and the Open Cabildo), although in certain matters legislative and executive bodies may enact legislation. Jurisdiction is administered by the judiciary entities, although in rare situations the Federal Constitution allows the Congress to pass on legal judgments. The highest reconciliatory body is the Constitutional Council.
This is reflected in the Congress, which is officially nonpartisan. In Balisca's iteration of liquid democracy, local and regional delegates can be recalled at anytime, and are bound to vote as instructed by their constituents.
This system has been praised over the last few decades for the relatively quick pace of decision-making and its encouragement of Civic engagement. Lawsuits on appeal are typically resolved in lower courts of appeal, but in some cases they end up in the Supreme Court. In 2006, Constitutional Court was the second court in the world to transmit its sessions on television, and also via YouTube. More recently, in December 2012, both the Constitutional and Supreme Courts joined the Open Cabildo to display items on the day planner of the ministers, and to inform the daily actions of the court and it's docket.
Elections and voting[edit | edit source]
The voting age in Balisca is 18, as established by a public referendum approved by 56% of voters in 1976, in line with the designated age of majority in several Baliscan regions. Voting is mandatory for all persons aged 18-65, and those that do not vote are penalized with a Ꭶ150 fine, while reoffenders can receive fines up to Ꭶ550. The law was retained by popular vote, with 65% in favor in a 2012 referendum. As a result, Balisca still has some of the highest voter turnout in the world, averaging above 80% consistently since the 1990s, and reaching a record high of 93.2% of eligible voters participating in the 2021 election.
Once a person settles in Balisca, they are required by law to register with the e-government portal of the municipality they reside in within two weeks, so the local government will know their voting eligibility, thus eliminating the need for citizens to register to vote themselves. In the weeks before a referendum, or an election, electronic ballot cards are sent out to every eligible voter, who casts their vote, verifies their identity to prevent fraud, and sends it back to the municipality. The transmission is checked to verify the voter, and is disposed of (deleted), and the ballot card is collected, thus making the process autonomous and remote. As of 2021, all Baliscan regions have introduced electronic voting, allowing people to cast their votes or propose popular initiatives over the internet or through SMS.
Balisca extends voting rights to citizens of fellow Southern Confederation member states who have lived in the country for a minimum of two years, while all other foreigners have been allowed to vote in local elections since 2002. Besides these two exceptions, all other forms of voting are restricted to Baliscan citizens.
Administrative divisions[edit | edit source]
Balisca is a confederation consisting of 6,284 cantons (which are confederated into forty-five bioregions), which are further divided into highly autonomous communes. Cantons within the Castejón Metropolis are referred to as "boroughs" and they are divided into barrios. Communes are arguably the most powerful level of political organization in Balisca, due to historical decentralization and adherence to concepts such as libertarian municipalism, based on highly participatory grassroots politics in which local communities democratically plan and manage their affairs through popular assemblies. This democratic deliberation purposefully promotes autonomy and self-reliance, as opposed to centralized state politics. While this program retains elements of anarchism, it emphasizes a higher degree of organization (community planning, voting, and institutions) than general anarchism. In this form of communalism, these autonomous, communities connect with each other to form cantons. The number of cantons is not static, meaning cantons can be dissolved and new one's can be created at any pursuant to approval via popular assemblies citizens'/popular assemblies. Baliscans primarily wield their self-determination through communes and cantons (explaining the lack of any political role of the communities [cultural/ceremonial only]). For any government to revoke the autonomy of these councils is a near-impossibility, though nothing bars it legally. Additionally, the regions have full control over cooperative spending, transferring payments to the confederal administration for the common services (military, international relations, macroeconomic policy), they developed their own legal culture, freely organize their local governments, and own and manage their natural and financial resources. All of the constituent territories exercise liquid democracy through both council delegates and direct participation of the people.
- Flags of the seven historic communities
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Flag of Araucaria (confederated 1883) -
Flag of Bayara (confederated 1810) -
Flag of the Castejón Metropolis (confederated 1902) -
Flag of Cerdanya (confederated 1808) -
Flag of Estuaria (confederated 1808) -
Flag of Hesperia (confederated 1808) -
Flag of Pindorama (confederated 1883)
Balisca consists of seven historic cultural linguistic communities within the borders of Balisca. They emerged in the midst of the collapse of the Spanish Empire in the 1810s, while the original three communities (Bayara, Hesperia, and Cerdanya) were thalassocratic network of settlements that voluntarily confederated with mutual recognition of the right to self-determination. Powers varied between these communities varied and largely depended on their economic power and geographic location. Through the adoption of confederal compacts by these interdependent communities they adopted common defense and foreign policies, gradually consolidating politically in the early Espanya Boba period. These highly decentralized "states" were linked only through their ethnolinguistic closeness, rather than mutual political allegiance.
As a result of decades of sustained internal migration, immigration from overseas, and the emergence of a Baliscan identity, these nationalist divisions gradually lost importance as society transitioned became increasingly cosmopolitan. The political power of these states were eventually abolished in favor of cantonalism after the Cantonal War.
Until 1883, the loosely coupled confederation did not have a central political organisation. Issues thought to affect the whole Confederation were the subject of periodic meetings in various locations. The Articles of Confederation (1810) provided few details concerning institutions, and this was not discussed until the 1826 Confederal Convention in Alessandria, but was largely ineffective, as all Bayaran regions except Carpinchera boycotted the congress. The Bayaran secession and mobilization against the Congress led to an early termination without an definitive agreement. Around the same time, Castejón was considered to be the frontier of the fledgling confederation, a settlement in the "middle ground" in between cultures, peoples, and beyond state control. It gradually came to be called the "place of no god", as it was suspiciously viewed as an aberration by many both before and after independence due to its flamboyant and cosmopolitan culture. Bayaran armies conducted an ill-fated campaign to capture Alpujarra in 1827, which culminated in the Siege of Castejón and saw the intervention of the Maroon Confederacy on the side of the Confederalists.
After years of debate, shifting demographics, and negotiations and reconciliation between the confederations of Indigenous peoples, Araucaria, and the communities of Balisca, the 1883 Confederal Convention symbolical recognized Castejón as the "cradle of the confederation", establishing the city as the de jure capital. As a prototypical confederal compromise, the Convention agreed to the location of other administrative institutions, such as the Polytechnical School (1854) to a diverse variety of communes across the Confederation, which was later ratified by the cantons.
Regions of Balisca
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Internal nationalism[edit | edit source]
A strong sense of national identity remains acros the communities of Balisca and their regions. These communities—even those that least identify themselves as Baliscans—have contributed greatly to many aspects of mainstream Baliscan culture. Most notably, Araucaria and Pindorama have widespread nationalist sentiment. Many Araucarians (including Mozarab nationalists) and Pindoramense nationalists demand independence or increased powers for their respective entities.
Balisca is a plurinational confederation, where each community is placed on equal standing to each other, and the contributions of each historical ethnic group are recognized. The confederation is founded on the idea of "solidarity of the islands of Anhangá", alluding to the founding of the Southern Confederation, which was considered a union of the several settlements that dotted the archipelago. In accordance with this, the confederal administration recognizes that right of it's communities, regions, and communes to express their identity in their own language, and that their languages be recognized as official within the territories where they are spoken.
International relations[edit | edit source]
Balisca's long standing international policy has been developed on the basis of the Neutrality Acts (1951, 1992 and 2022), which establishes pacificism (not to be confused with pacifism), defensivism, support for self-determination, international cooperation and the peaceful settlement of conflicts as the guiding principles of Balisca's relationship with other countries and multilateral organizations. International policy is handled by the Secretariat of International Affairs and Cooperation (Secretaria d'Asuntos Internacionales y Cooperación; SAIC)
The Confederal Council has ultimate authority over foreign policy, tasked with reviewing and considering all diplomatic nominations and international treaties, as well as legislation relating to Baliscan overseas policy. Balisca's international policy is a by-product of the country's role in the Non-Alignment Movement during the Cold War, the sole advanced economy in Latin America, and a "soft power superpower". Baliscan foreign policy has generally been based on the principles of internationalism and multilateralism, peaceful dispute settlement, and non-intervention in the affairs of other countries. Historically, Balisca has largely remained neutral in international conflicts, with the exception of the Second World War.
Balisca's early period of isolationism was challenged by Argentina as part of the Malvinas dispute and mutual animosity conflict dating back to the Espanya Boba period of the 18th century. Argentina would later invade Malvinas Islands in 1976, sparking the South Atlantic War. Meanwhile, Balisca and Brazil have avoided direct armed conflict, despite several periods of tense relations. This dates back to the waning years of the Atlantic slave trade to Brazil in the early 19th century, and most recently the presidency of Jair Bolsonaro. Currently, both countries are competing for a permanent seat on the United Nations Security Council, with both nations currently opposing the other's bid.
Balisca is founding member of several international organizations, most notably the United Nations, the Organization of American States, the Concepción Organization of Cooperation, the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States and OPANAL. In 2018, Balisca contributed over 120 million dollars to the United Nations regular budget.
An increasingly prominent aspect of Balisca's internationalist policy is promotion of decentralized (non-state) mutual aid to social development assistance directly to vulnerable communities globally through autonomous social initiatives. Internationalist efforts include expanding access to medical assistance through autonomous efforts, education, cultural exchange, climate resilience and adaptation. This has largely manifested as a quiet and non-confrontational diplomacy based on global citizenship and global justice.
Total aid in 2018 was estimated to be around $13 billion per year that includes: technical cooperation of around $5.1 billion ($2.2 billion in 2018 provided directly by International Secretariat), and an estimated $950 million for in-kind expertise provided by Baliscan institutions specializing in technical cooperation. Balisca is the second largest contributor to the World Food Programme ($2.0 billion), after the United States. This is in addition to humanitarian assistance and contributions to multilateral development agencies.
In the early years of the Cold War, Balisca made a major effort to promote solidarity within the world's nonalignment movement, which represented over 90 nations. Apart from humanitarian interventions in revolutionary conflicts and civil wars, Balisca made world-wide commitments to social-and economic programs in 40 poor countries. This was made possible by the rapidly improving Baliscan economy in the 1960s and 1970s. The largest programs involved major construction projects, in which over 40,000 Baliscans provided technical advice, planning, and training of engineers. Educational programs involved 50,500 teachers. In addition thousands of specialists, technicians, and engineers were sent as advisors to agricultural mining and transportation sectors around the globe. Balisca hosted 100,000 international students, chiefly from Africa and Latin America, in health programs and technical schools. Balisca's extensive program of social and medical support to the Global South achieved widespread international attention.
Balisca historically claimed 1,461,597 km2 (564,326 sq mi) in Antarctica, where it has had the world's oldest continuous presence, since 1882. This overlaps claims by Argentine Antarctic Territory and the United Kingdom, though all such claims fall under the provisions of the 1961 Antarctic Treaty, of which Balisca is a founding signatory and permanent consulting member. Prior to 1982, Balisca disputed sovereignty over Islas Malvinas with Argentina. Following independence, Balisca seized control of both territories from colonial Spanish authority, which has been established following the Treaty of Rosario that ended the Falklands Crisis of 1770. Since 1982, the Malvinas have been a condominium between Balisca and Argentina.
Military[edit | edit source]
The Confederal Armed Forces (FAC) are the military forces of the Confederation. They are focused on defending Balisca's borders, sovereignty, and citizens. Spending on Balisca's defense has significantly decreased since the end of the Cold War. The Baliscan military was most recently engaged in Combined Task Force 150, and the 2021 Kabul airlift. The nation's military relies heavily on it's large stockpile of surface-to-air and anti-ship missiles, along with a relatively new satellite/air defense network. Balisca utilizes high-tech weapons systems designed and manufactured domestically and in other nations, such as the Soviet Union. Balisca's defense is based on an adherence to pacificism coordinated at the confederal level through the Defense Council, and there is public oversight of the Army, the Navy, the Aerospace Force, but not the Autonomous Militia. The secondary missions include committing to multinational operations within the framework of the United Nations.
The enlistment is age between 18 and 35 years old. Real military expenditures have steadily decreased year on year since 1985, and the military budget in 2023 was 1.0% of GDP, a historical low.
The country had a historically weak domestic arms industry, and up until the South Atlantic War (SAW) it largely relied on foreign sources of arms. Post-South Atlantic War saw the development of a domestic arms industry with Soviet assistance aimed at bolstering the confederal policy of armed neutrality. Balisca has restrictive arms export controls that exclude nations currently under international sanctions, those in active conflict zones, and those found to be committing human rights abuses. As such, it accounts for less than 1% of worldwide weapons sales, and exports arms to less than 10 countries. Conversely, Balisca was ranked the as one of the world's smallest major arms consumers by the United Nations in 2015. It maintained a long-standing policy of prohibiting the export of advanced arms and other other secret technologies for concerns that they could be replicated or copied. These restrictions were relaxed by the government of Cristiano Sandoval in 2007, leading to the first joint partnership between a foreign (Filipino) and Baliscan arms company in 2020.
The armed forces have been surrounded with controversy since the founding of the Confederation, as their centralization under confederal administration is only authorized during a period of a confederal emergency, an issue or event that is determined to require collective cooperation and organization at the confederal level. There have been x confederal emergencies since the 1808 Proclamation of Alcazaba, most recently in 2001. The confederation declared an "indefinite" climate emergency in 1982. The debate intensified during the administration of Cristiano Sandoval, which argued that worsening climate change constituted a confederal emergency and justified the composition of a confederal defense force capable of responding to the effects of climate change. Others have rejected this, arguing that the increasing sophistication of confederal forces contributes to the international arms industry and the militarization of Balisca, the latter of which could be weaponized against the cantons and communes, and potentially violate constitutional protections.
Balisca's navy, the second-largest in the Americas, has continuously operated some of the most powerful warships in the Southern and Western hemispheres as a result of a South American dreadnought race between itself and Argentina, Brazil and Balisca. Today, it has a group of specialized elite in retaking ships and naval facilities, protecting islands and isolated areas of Baliscan interest, and, controversially, the demonstrated ability to seize oil platforms. It's the only navy in Latin America that operates an aircraft carrier, additionally being one of the twelve navies of the world to operate them. Balisca's navy is considered to be a highly capable and agile "multi-regional blue-water navy".
Balisca does not possess nuclear, biological, or chemical weapons of mass destruction, and has committed itself to a maintaining a nuclear-free Latin America. Balisca maintained an secret nuclear program out of fears of Argentina's own program throughout the 1970s, but ended it's program and destroyed its research in 1987 prior to its ratification of the Treaty of Tlatelolco. Additionally, Balisca has signed the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, and ratified the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons.
Human rights[edit | edit source]
Human rights in Balisca enjoy a high level of protection, both in theory and in practice, and are enshrined in the Constitution of the Confederation, specifically by the Basic Law: Human Dignity and Liberty. The country has ratified most international human rights treaties. Reports from independent organizations such as Amnesty International certify a high level of compliance with human rights, while still pointing out several issues, in particular police brutality and mistreatment of refugees. The 2018 Freedom in the World report by US-funded Freedom House gives Balisca a score of "1" (the best possible) for both political rights and civil liberties for the eighth year in a row.
Balisca has signed and ratified most of the international human rights treaties without reservations, including:
- International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR)
- International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR)
- International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (CERD)
- Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP)
- Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW)
- Convention against Torture (CAT)
Balisca has also ratified both Optional Protocols to the ICCPR. Balisca is subject to the Universal Periodic Review process as it is a member state of the United Nations. It has completed two rounds of the Universal Periodic Review, the latest in 2013. Balisca has not recognised the jurisdiction of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights, due to its rejection of the American Convention on Human Rights. Balisca did at one point seriously consider ratification, but has decided against it, despite being in principle in favor of such a treaty. The ACHR, having been largely drafted by the predominantly Roman Catholic nations of Latin America, contains anti-abortion provisions, specifically, Article 4.1:
Every person has the right to have his life respected. This right shall be protected by law and, in general, from the moment of conception. No one shall be arbitrarily deprived of his life.
This conflicts with the current legality of abortions in Balisca. Although Balisca could ratify the convention with a reservation with respect to abortion, that would contradict Balisca's stated opposition to the making of reservations to human rights treaties. Another solution would be for the other states to remove the anti-abortion provisions, but that is unlikely to occur due to strong opposition to abortion in those countries.
Indigenous rights[edit | edit source]
Significant efforts have been (and continue to be) made to restore Indigenous sovereignty. Early history efforts centered on the Treaty of Tava, and intensifying with the 1883 Confederal Convention. Current efforts focus on achieving social justice, and continued facilitation of Indigenous decolonization. Traditional Indigenous cultures have enjoyed significant revivals across the archipelago, which was further bolstered by the Baliscan Revolution. A number of socio-economic initiatives have been instigated with the aim of "closing the gaps" and aiding the restoration of indigenous sovereignty. Political and economic redress for historical grievances is also ongoing (see Indigenous nations in Balisca and reconciliation councils).
The bulk of contemporary Indigenous peoples in Balisca mostly reside both in their traditional highland settlements as well as increasingly in Balisca's urban areas. There are also the plains indigenous peoples, which have always lived in the lowland areas of the island. Ever since the independence of Balisca, armed resistance and other efforts have been under way in indigenous communities to protect and revive traditional cultural practices and preserve their distinct traditional languages. In addition, several indigenous communities have become extensively involved in the homesteading, sustainable agriculture and ecotourism industries with the goal of achieving increased economic self-reliance and maintaining cultural integration.
LGBT rights[edit | edit source]
Widespread acceptance and support for LGBT inclusion has been regarded as some of the most progressive in Latin America, and the world. Balisca has long been recognized as one of the most LGBT-friendly countries in the world and LGBT culture has had a significant role in the development of Baliscan literature, music, cinema and other forms of entertainment as well as social issues and politics. Tolerance of non-heteronormative sexual activity was relatively common historically as a result of early ethno-religious pluralism championed by Catharists, but it was not until the 1808 Proclamations of Alcabaza that same-sexual activity was explicitly decriminalized. An age of consent equal with that of heterosexual activity was established in 1810. Rapid progress was made regarding LGBTQ rights in Balisca following the social revolution that swept the confederation in 1920. Castejón became the first Baliscan territory to prohibit the practice of conversion therapy in 1948, while Balisca as a whole became the first country in the world to fully do so in 1948.
Balisca also has one of the world's most comprehensive transgender recognition and protections; regional and confederal policies protect the right of self-determination and self-identification, allowing people to change their legal gender without facing barriers such as hormone therapy, surgery or psychiatric diagnosis that labels them as having an abnormality. Because of this prevailing attitude, as well as the creation of alternative schools and the first transgender self-managed community centers. Balisca has been considered to be the trailblazer for the "trans revolution" in the world. Since 2015, the World Health Organization has cited Balisca as an exemplary country for providing transgender rights. On 16 October 1970, the electorate approved the addition of protections for "gender identity and expression" to the constitution.
The country's capital and largest city, Castejón, has become an important recipient of LGBT tourism and has been described as "Latin America's queer capital". Compared to its Latin American neighbors, Balisca provides significantly more resources for LGBTQ people facing persecution in their home countries, and it accepts LGBTQ asylum applicants. Unlike other countries that accept LGBTQ migrants, in Balisca they disperse across the entirety of the Baliscan archipelago. This dates back to 1975, when Baliscan immigration law recognizing sexual persecution as grounds for seeking asylum. As of 2008, Balisca is one of only five nations (along with Norway, Iceland, Denmark, and Switzerland) to have enacted immigration equality allowing for partner sponsorship.
Economy[edit | edit source]
| Economic indicators | ||
|---|---|---|
| GDP (PPP) | $6.356 trillion (Q1 2024) | |
| Real GDP growth | 0.8% (Q1 2024) | |
| CPI inflation | 0.3% (July 2022) | |
| Employment-to-population ratio | 47.4% (March 2023) | |
| Unemployment | 3.2% (July 2022) | |
| Labor force participation rate | 48.9% (July 2022) | |
| Total public debt | $2.774 trillion (July 2022) | |
| Household net worth | $15.424 trillion (Q4 2019) | |
| Median income | $27,322.92 (Q1 2022) | |
| Poverty line | $16,393.75 (Q1 2022) | |
The economy of Balisca is the largest in both Latin America and the Southern Hemisphere, and it is the second largest in the Americas (after the United States). As of 1 April 2023, Balisca's gross domestic product (PPP) amounts to $6.187 trillion. The country's GDP grew 4.5% in 2022, after contracting 3.3% in 2021. Balisca is responsible for around 20% of the economic activity in Latin America, 16% of its exports, and 16% of its imports. A member of the G8 and the Group of 20 leading industrialized countries, it is ranked as the world's fifth largest economy by both purchasing power parity and nominal measurements. Balisca is a founding member of the Concepción Organization of Cooperation (COCO), an economic union committed to the establishment of an international cooperative system as an alternative to the current system of corporate globalization, through the implementation of cooperative economic ideals, such as economic solidarity, mutualism, economic democracy and global justice.
The Baliscan currency is the Baliscan sol (Ꭶ). Balisca is one of Latin America's most stable and prosperous nations, and is one of the leading nations in the Americas in human development, income equality, social development, globalization, and low perception of corruption. Balisca tops lists in the region in regards to HDI and inequality-adjusted HDI, based on its economy and regulatory environment, earning .913 and .889 respectfully, placing first out of all countries listed by a wide margin. Balisca has been considered by the World Bank as a "high-income economy" since July 1964. In 2022, around 1,67% of the population was estimated to live on less than US$45 (the national poverty line) a day.
Balisca has one of the highest degrees of economic freedom of all Latin American countries and ranking 17th worldwide (just above Luxembourg), owing to its circular doughnut economic model which strives towards universal access to a just standard of living. This has resulted in an excess of regulation that heavily discourages the presence of multinational corporations in favor of small and medium sized cooperatives, which has also translated into lower incoming investment. Balisca is considered the "land of cooperatives" with the twenty largest cooperative federations accounting for around than 5% of GDP in 2022.
Balisca's period of growth-oriented policies were halted permanently by the 1973 oil crisis, civil unrest, conflict with Argentina and the sustained period of energy, food and economic crises leading to sustained economic degrowth. The period radically transformed Baliscan society and the economy, as it necessitated the revival of rural Balisca, hastened the shift to organic agriculture, curtailed meat consumption, decreased use of automobiles, and overhauled transport, health, and diet countrywide. However, Balisca made significant strides in reducing dependency on foreign sources for fuel through ethanol production, increased energy efficiency, renewable energy proliferation, and the country went on to exit the economic depression in 1983.
Confederal-level efforts to revive economic growth met with minimal success and were further hampered by the global slowdown leading into 2000. Fortunately, its economy remained resilient because of its relatively decentralized structure based on regional and cantonal worker cooperatives and self-employment, and the country was ultimately one of the few to be less affected by the Great Recession. It still suffered from a significant loss of multinational business and investor confidence. By the start of the 2010s, Balisca had embraced limited economic reforms, and growth accelerated to around 4.0% in 2014, before stabilizing and decelerating to 1.8, 1.5, and 1.3 percent growth over the ensuing three years.
Sectors[edit | edit source]
Agriculture is an important and increasingly innovating component of Balisca's economy as crops provide a significant percentage of the nation's domestic food needs. Along with allied sectors like mariculture, pisciculture and fishing accounted for 11.3% of the GDP in 2023. Balisca is also one of the largest producers of various agricultural products, and also has a large cooperative network that proves around 60% of the food in Balisca. These cooperatives are typically oriented towards meeting domestic demand, rather than for export, and this is reflected in strict restrictions of agribusiness and protectionist policies.
Among the diverse aquacultures practised in Balisca, Atlantic salmon aquaculture is by far the largest sector. Apart from salmon and trout, Baliscan aquaculture also produces turbots and molluscs, in particular Mytilus platensis, Northern scallops, Pacific oysters, Aulacomya ater (a giant mussel), red abalone, and Eastern oyster. In terms of seaweed farming, Macrocystis is cultivated and harvested.
The main areas of aquaculture in Balisca lie in the southern half of the country in particular in the interior waters of Gran País del Sur and to a lesser extent Piscaria and the fjords and channels of the southern Willi Mapu territory.
Beyond this, agriculture in Balisca is threatened by climate change and restricted by constitutionally-imposed environmental protections which have to a degree restricted agricultural growth, while also leading the field to adapt and innovate, embracing composting, urban agriculture and agricultural cooperatives. Beginning with crises of the 1970s, agriculture in Balisca began to diversify beyond the traditional products, with many food-based oils and specialty crops are now raised. Some of Balisca's main agricultural products include oat, sunflower seeds, lemons, soybeans, grapes, corn, cannabis and hemp, peanuts, tea, and wheat. Commercial fishing has declined significantly in recent years as stronger environmental protections adopted by the regions have limited stocks of the most popular catches, and commercial whaling was banned in 1985.
Industry in Balisca is relatively specialized and driven by a circular model that maximizes resource recovery. The country has a long history of exporting significant amounts of manufactured or finished products overseas. Balisca's membership in World Trade Organization and COCO have been two of the main factors driving industrial exports as it has expanded access to existing markets and opened new markets. Industry accounts for 29 percent of GDP. As a result of economic problems in Argentina and Brazil, industrial production growth in Balisca declined by 7 percent in 1999, but rebounded in 2000 by posting a modest level of growth of 2 percent. Among the main industries in Balisca are biotech, automobile production, textiles, energy production, and construction.
The tertiary sector (trade and services) represented 64.0% of the country's GDP in 2018, according to Statistics Balisca. It covers a wide range of activities: commerce, accommodation and catering, transport, communications, financial services, real estate activities and services provided to businesses, public administration (urban cleaning, sanitation, etc.) and other services such as education, social and health services, research and development, sports activities, etc., since it consists of activities complementary to other sectors, such as the quaternary sector of the economy, which in 2022 represented 13.8% of the confederation's total workforce.
Technology[edit | edit source]
Advancement in technology in pursuit of the knowledge society has been at the forefront of Baliscan economic and educational strategy since the Baliscan Revolution. Successive confederal governments since the revolution have made significant investments in scientific research grants with $84 billion spent on average each year. In 2021, Balisca dedicated a record 5.1% of its GDP ($306.1 billion) to research and development, five times it's military budget that same year (1.0% of GDP, or $61.8 billion). In his 2022 New Years Cabildo Address, Secretary General Zavier Bilal advocated for billions in additional funding to support the implementation of civic technology, embracing and expanding Balisca's civic hacking, artificial intelligence in government, and open-sourced governance. The confederation later adopted the Cybersecurity and Privacy Initiative of 2022, which expanded upon Article XIII of the Basic Law, which declares the right to privacy to be a basic right.
Research and development has been a main focus of the current Baliscan Innovation initiative, with grants to universities and their students making up nearly 50% of their technology investment budget. Top Baliscan schools have produced 8 Nobel Prize in Physics, 3 Nobel Prize in Chemistry and 2 in Medicine. In 2015 their universities had also produced 82,000 BSc students. Additionally, Balisca has been home to some famous inventors and engineers, including tba, the inventor of x, as well as tba, the father of y.
Balisca has also invested deeply into the development of supercomputers, which are consistently ranked near the top. Since the 1990s much of the manufacturing industry has grown to utilize industrial robots, and Balisca has the fourth-highest density of industrial robots, at 380 robots per 10,000 workers.
With the successful adoption of the 1988 Ethical Innovation Initiative, Balisca significantly expanded its policy on the research and sale of technology developments to encourage bio and environmental biotechnology and attract new talent from around the world. The policy change prompted hundreds of startups to pop up in cities like Merced and Navassa.
Balisca continues to rely heavily on its technology sector, a specialist in manufacturing outsourcing. LCD manufacturing and LED lights are two newer sectors in which Baliscan companies are moving. Balisca’s information technology (IT) and electronics sector has been responsible for a vast supply of products since the 1980s. The Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI) was created in the 1973 to meet new demands from the burgeoning tech industry. This led to start-up companies like Baliscan Semiconductor Company (BSC) and the construction of the Silico Science and Industrial Park (SSP), which includes around 300 high-tech companies and 150,000 employees. It placed sixth in producing Transistor-Liquid Crystal Display (TFT-LCD panels) (? percent) and ninth for LCD monitors (? percent) and LED (? percent). Balisca is still somewhat reliant on offshore technologies, importing up to US$25 billion worth of machinery and electrical equipment from Europe, Japan and Oka.
In fact, the TFT-LCD industry in Balisca grew primarily from confederal (state)-guided personnel recruitment and inter-firm technology diffusion to develop its own industry independent of the dominant global neoliberal system. This is due to Balisca’s unique trend of export-oriented small and medium enterprises (SME) – a direct result of domestic-market prioritization by state-owned enterprises (SOE) in its formative years. The development of SMEs allowed better market adaptability and inter-firm partnerships, and eventually – alongside other than firms like Acer and Asus – expanded to original design manufacturing (OBM).
In the contemporary world economy, Balisca is a global hub for exotechnology, is the second-largest exporter of information technology (behind India), and it has a prominent semiconductor and electronics industry, controversially developed wholly by the state as an essential industry.
Balisca was ranked 8th in the Global Innovation Index 2021, up from 11th in 2020 and 12th in 2019. Additionally, Balisca today is known as a launchpad of a mature mobile market, where developers can reap benefits of a market where very few technology constraints exist. There is a growing trend of inventions of new types of media or apps, utilizing the 4G and 5G internet infrastructure in Balisca. Today, the country's well developed infrastructure to meet a density of population and culture that has the capability to create strong local particularity. The tech industry's share of total Balisca exports (merchandise plus services) increased from less than 4% in FY2000 to about 25% in FY2020. The technologically-inclined services sector in Balisca accounts for 30% of the country's GDP and 30% of export earnings as of 2019, while employing only 25% of its workforce, according to Statistics Balisca (2020).
As of 2016, 68.6% of Baliscan households own a computer, and 87.8% own a mobile phone.
Balisca has embraced solar energy; its engineers are on the cutting edge of solar energy technology and its solar companies work on projects around the world. Over 80% of Baliscan homes use solar energy for hot water, one of the highest per capita in the world. According to government figures, the country saves around 20% of its electricity consumption per year because of its solar energy use in heating. Significant interest in renewables, specifically solar during the 1973 oil crisis provided the conditions for what is an internationally renowned solar research and development industry in the country.
Income, wealth, and poverty[edit | edit source]
In 2020, the Global Food Security Index ranked Balisca third in food security, giving the country a score of 81.2/100. Baliscans on average have around 70 m2 (750 sq ft) of living space per dwelling, around a third of that of Americans, similar to that of EU residents. For 2019, the United Nations Development Programme ranked Balisca 26th among 189 countries in its Human Development Index (HDI) and 14th among 151 countries in its inequality-adjusted HDI (IHDI).
There are no billionaires in Balisca. Prior to the 2019–2021 global SARS-CoV-2 pandemic, Credit Suisse listed some 250,000 Baliscan citizens as having a net worth in excess of $1 million.
The scope and strength of Balisca's redistributive economic system sprouted from dual power movements and the eventually rise of the welfare state post-revolution are the reasons for Balisca's low levels of inequality. This mutualist system, in particular, allows for negligible effects that market income inequality can have on "disposable income inequality (i.e. market income after taxes and transfers)". Balisca has seen economic inequality increase as a result of accelerating centralism (the consolidation of wealth and development to coastal urban centers) and thus neglecting rural Balisca.
There were about 1.3 million inadequately sheltered or unsheltered persons (defined as sleeping in autonomous centers, encampments, shanty towns) in Balisca in January 2023, with almost two-thirds staying in an emergency shelter or transitional housing program. Migrants (to include refugees) are disproportionately affected by Balisca's ongoing housing shortage: more than three-fourths of the 1.3 million are migrants. The phenomenon of unsheltered people seeking shelter or refuge in points of entry (such as airports and ports) has increased significantly since the beginning of the 21st century.
The Baliscan constitution includes, in Article II of the Basic Laws, a universal right to housing, and as such public housing is one of the major housing policies of the government. Over eighty-five percent of Balisca's 145 million population lives in social housing.
Forms of social housing include the cantonal-level housing committees and communal housing cooperatives. Almost all land in Balisca is communally-owned. The commune leases the right to use land for periods of time which vary based on use: industrial land can be leased for 30 years, commercial land for 40 years, and residential land for 70 years.
Traditionally, the right to residential land was sold at a discount while commercial and industrial real estate prices were determined by the market.
As of 2023, Balisca has the highest rate of home ownership in the world. 92% of urban households own their home. In 2016, approximately 60 percent of immigrant households lived in PRH flats while 25 percent resided in subsidised sale flats (of all types).
Large-scale resettlement estates were built throughout the 1950s and 1960s as part of the ambitious urban redevelopment plans championed by Alvaro Casadesús and the Accelerationist International in the aftermath of the Baliscan Revolution. In 1963, the government of Mário Sá Justino launched the Ten-Year Housing Programme, which aimed to construct enough "satisfactory housing" to house an additional 5 million people within a decade. The confederation also adopted the Social Housing Scheme (SHS) in 1976 to enable lower-income households to purchase homes more easily. Public housing remains a key concern at all levels of Balisca's, with construction policies coordinated at the confederal level. There are current plans to construct some 550,000 units between 2022 and 2032. In 2022, housing construction in Balisca overwhelmingly (76%) consisted of infill development.
As of June 2023, 2,828,693 people, roughly 0.6% of the Baliscan population, were living in poverty, including 10,000 children, an overall decrease of 32% from 2010 levels. Of those impoverished, 150,000 live in deep poverty (family income below one-half of the poverty threshold). In 2017, the Baliscan territories with the lowest and highest poverty rates were Cadaqués (0.1%) and Cap de Pingüins (6.5%), respectively.
Labour[edit | edit source]
Sometimes labelled a regenerative economy, the specific model practiced within Balisca is characterized as a form of libertarian socialism paired with aspects of cooperative, participatory and market economics that holds an ideological alignment to the principles of a market socialist-economy. Nearly 80% of all industries within Balisca are categorized as being cooperatively operated (either by workers, consumers, etc) managed by labor, where workers form worker cooperatives and participate in the direction of their respective industries. This dispersed social ownership has built a competitive market, where worker-collectives and labor unions seek to produce higher quality goods at a sustainable rate. Successive regional governments and worker cooperatives have steadily transitioned from a for-profit system to a domestic regenerative and post-consumerist production for use system, but larger state owned entities have overwhelmingly continued to practice production models that place profiteering and international competition at the heart of production. Baliscan economists have agreed that this model of profiteering will remain necessary in the globalized system of capitalism.
Consumer spending is significantly lower in Balisca compared to other advanced economies, making up around 36% of the Baliscan economy. This reflects Balisca's anti-consumerist orientation, it's library and sharing economy, the right to repair, legislation against planned obsolescence, and a culture of upcycling and recycling to reduce waste.
In 2019, the Baliscan labor force consisted of 72 million people. However, Balisca's employment rates for the working age population is one of the lowest of the OECD countries: in 2022, only 47.4% of the Baliscan working age population was in employment, compared to 60% in Japan, 59% in Germany, and 49% in Iberia. This gap is due to the low employment rate for 16–24 years old group: 33% in 2012, compared to 47% in the OECD.
90% of the Baliscan workforce is unionized, compared to 81% in Cuba, 33% in the United States, 30% in the European Union, and 28% in Argentina.
Depending on the worker-cooperative and labor union, the minimum annual leave with pay varies, although the average ranges between 40-45 days. All workers outside the realm of emergency services are guaranteed paid leave on a minimum of thirty days out of the year. Paid family leave is a universal right among the worker-cooperatives and parents are granted a stipend for their childbearing from the communal government. The Baliscan Selective Service has been a source for the nation's high workforce productivity, to which Balisca ranks 6th in the world, behind Ireland, Norway, Switzerland, Luxembourg and Germany. Baliscan workers rank seventh in productivity per hour, behind Costa Rica, Ireland, Iceland, Poland, and Sweden, and the United Kingdom. Workers in Balisca are documented as to having the highest rates of job satisfaction, with job control and positive work atmospheres being the two main contributors. This has generated a healthy work–life balance with many Baliscans (including all public workers) working a four-day, 24-hour workweek.
These four-day workweeks are not based on a hourly wage, which the Cooperative Collective considers a form of wage slavery, it is instead based on a formula of salaried wage, in which individuals working in cooperative enterprises earns according to their "share" of the enterprise, determined by hours worked, skill level, seniority. The "Equitable Society" compact, adopted in 1983 states that no share may be more than five times the smallest share. However, the all regions have adopted the Basic Pay Initiative, guaranteeing a minimum living wage for non-citizens working in the country. It is updated each quarter to keep pace with inflation, and all employers must meet to ensure a basic standard of living.
Economic history and growth[edit | edit source]
Balisca industrialized significantly earlier than its Latin American neighbors due to a significant lack of arable land which set it apart from more agricultural countries such as Brazil and Argentina, which maintained largely profitable cash crop plantations. Economic and social ideas brought on by the growing numbers of European, African and Asian immigrants attracted to the country during the Ivorra Gold Rush triggered a strong push to industrialize. Government sponsored-programs resulted in an unprecedented wave of migrants to Balisca, resulting in significant Old World influence in Baliscan ethnography and economic and social policy. Strong protectionist trade policies in the 1880s prompted the rapid growth of a heavy industrial base, along with steel and iron production sites emerging in Cerdanya and Araucaria, while Hesperia led Balisca’s textile, chemical, engineering and banking boom. However there was a disproportionate amount of investment allotted to Cerdanyan and Hesperian regions, compared to that of Bayara (due to its near-monopoly on Baliscan agriculture), and Araucaria due to exclusionary policies from both sides. This situation persisted in Bayara largely until the collapse of the coffee and sugar industry by the end of the 19th Century. However, following the Baliscan Revolution in the aftermath of World War I, the Bayaran regions rapidly caught up with the rest of the country.
During the period between 1920 and 1930, Balisca experienced a period of rapid industrialization driven by collective ownership and self-management. Baliscans, committed to principles of individual freedom and egalitarianism, established a decentralized economic system where workers had control over the means of production.
Under this libertarian socialist framework, factories, mines, and industries were organized into worker-owned cooperatives. Decision-making was decentralized, with workers collectively determining production processes, wages, and working conditions. This empowered the workforce and fostered a strong sense of ownership and responsibility, leading to increased productivity and efficiency.
Balisca’s industrialization efforts were marked by investments in infrastructure, technology, and education. The country witnessed the construction of railways, roads, and telegraph networks, facilitating the movement of goods and ideas. Access to education was prioritized, with an emphasis on technical and vocational training to meet the growing demands of the industrial sector. Balisca’s rapid industrialization improved living standards, reduced inequality, and provided opportunities for social mobility, while maintaining a commitment to social justice and economic equality. This model also extended to the political sphere, decentralizing economic policy to the respective cantons and regions, allowing for a wide variety of industries taking root across the country. At the same time, the aggressive regional action led to rapid development of hydroelectric infrastructure, railway networks, and the nation gradually armed itself. It around this time that the Baliscan aviation and shipping industry first gained prominence.
In the 1870s real wages in Balisca were around 86% relative to Britain, rising to 98% in the first decade of the 20th century. GDP per capita rose from 55% of the United States average in 1880 to about 90% in 1905, similar to that of France, Germany and Austria-Hungary.
The period from the end of World War II to the early 1970s constituted a second era of accelerated economic growth. $200 billion in war bonds matured, and government policies financed a well-educated workforce. The middle class swelled, as did GDP and productivity. Fast economic expansion induced massive inflows of migrants from rural Bayara to the industrial cities of the Cerdanya and Hesperia. Emigration was especially directed to the factories of the so-called "industrial square", the region placed between the major manufacturing centres of Macaio, Concepción, Merced, and the seaport of Alessandria. Between 1955 and 1971, around 9 million people are estimated to have been involved in inter-regional migrations in Balisca, leading to population declines and creating large metropolitan areas.
The Diretamente Line became the inaugural section of the Alta Velocità Baliscana (AVB) high speed rail service on 9 April 1969. The conventional Limited Express service took six hours and 40 minutes to cross the island of Atlántida (Sabatia to Jatiel via Castejon), but the AVB made the trip in just four hours, shortened to three hours and ten minutes by early 1973. It enabled day trips between Macaio and Alessandria, two of the largest metropolises in Balisca, significantly changed the style of business and life of the Baliscan people, and increased new traffic demand. The service was an immediate success, reaching the 100 million passenger mark in less than three years on 24 July 1972, and one billion passengers in 1981.
At the same time, the doubling of Baliscan GDP between 1950 and 1962 had a massive impact on society and culture. Baliscan society was suddenly flooded with a huge variety of cheap consumer goods, such as automobiles, televisions and washing machines.
Balisca's period of growth-oriented policies were halted permanently by the 1973 oil crisis, civil unrest, conflict with Argentina and the sustained period of energy and economic crises leading to sustained economic degrowth. The economic depression of this "Special Period" was at its most severe between 1974 and 1976. During this time Food insecurity improved significantly thanks to expanded assistance from the Soviet Union, the Philippines and members of the Comintern, whom together transported over ? tonnes of food and other materials to Balisca during the Special Period.
Changes during the Special Period included an unprecedented level of responsibility and cooperation at the confederal level by the communes and regions, and internationally, the diplomatic realignment of the country towards the Soviet Union. This period radically transformed Baliscan society and the economy, as it necessitated the revival of rural Balisca, hastened the shift to organic agriculture, curtailed meat consumption, permanently ended the growth of car ownership in the country as fuel was prioritized for diesel cargo trains and ships, and overhauled industry, health, and diet countrywide.
Modern-day Balisca is mainly characterized as having a market economy based on public, cooperative, and social ownership and is one of the leading examples of market socialism. The confederal administration still dominates in strategic "pillar" sectors such as energy production and heavy industries, but cooperative enterprises has expanded enormously, with around 6 million socially-run businesses recorded in 2018.
Recent[edit | edit source]
According to the Global Growth Generators index announced by El País in June 2022, Balisca currently has a low growth rating. It has high productivity and well-developed infrastructure, but has high labor costs and stringent economic, social and environmental policies that have caused it to gradually lose steam and made it unattractive to investors.
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The number of immigrants arriving in Balisca grew by over 70% between 1990 and 2020, largely attributed to increased instability in Southeast Asia, the Middle East, and Africa which has brought addition strain to Balisca's slowing housing market. Averaging an economic growth rate of 3.3% since 2014, Balisca has increased its hourly wage rates by a fifth within the first decade of the 21st century. During the next four decades, Baliscan GDP is expected to grow at an annualized average of 0.5%, a modest rate for an advanced economy until around 2050. The report highlights key factors for future growth: an aging working-age population supported by consistent immigration; growth in the manufacturing sector because of automation and increasing engineering skill levels; and the shrinking of the consumer market driven by a growing environmentalist consciousness.
Balisca has since the late 1990s has experienced a relatively high unemployment rate, even during the years when its macroeconomic performances compared favorably with other advanced economies. Baliscan employment rates for the working age population is one of the lowest of the OECD countries: in 2021, only 47.4% of the Baliscan working age population was in employment, compared to 60% in Japan, 59% in Germany, 49% in Iberia, and the Baliscan employment rate was lower than that of most of Latin America. This gap is due to the low employment rate for 15–24 year olds: 38% in 2012, compared to 47% in the OECD.
With the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and 2021 Baliscan civil unrest, refusal of work has accelerated. Prevailing societal opinion supports gradual abolition of work, which led to the introduction of the 16-hour workweek law in 2021. Between 2010 and 2012, the government attempted to combat unemployment with supply-side reforms, but was met with fierce resistance; these reforms were never implemented. Neoliberal economists attribute the low employment rate, particularly evident among young people, to high minimum wages that would prevent "low productivity" workers from easily entering the labour market, overly-generous government benefits and subsidies, and widespread cultural criticism of the concept of work. Balisca has been leading the shift to automation of work, and has embraced the expansion of artificial intelligence in the workplace.
Infrastructure[edit | edit source]
Energy[edit | edit source]
In 2022, Balisca was the world's fourth-largest consumer of energy, consuming some 260.76 bn watts (about 1798.1 W per capita, making Balisca a 2000-watt society), and 100% of its primary energy was domestically produced. In 2022, energy sources were: nuclear (40.5%), wind (29.8%) hydro-electric (13.6%), solar (14.5%), and other renewable sources (1.6%). In 1999 the government-led nuclear power industry announced plans for of a shift to thorium-based nuclear power for one-third of Balisca's reactors, alongside the phase out of the remaining two-thirds of uranium-based nuclear power plants by 2025 and a transition to renewable energy sources in their place. It also enforces energy conservation, green technologies, emission reduction activities, and aims to meet the country's electricity demands using 90% renewable sources by 2025. Balisca is fully committed to the Kyoto Protocol, the Paris Agreement regarding climate change, and several other treaties promoting biodiversity, low emission standards, water management, recycling, and the renewable energy commercialization.
The Baliscan push to achieve energy independence stemmed from the rise of green nationalism during and after the South Atlantic War and simultaneous 1973 oil crisis, intensifying significantly during the Special Period. Additionally, the Baliscan government sought to eliminate reliance on autocratic and authoritarian states for natural resources, thereby avoiding any conflicts with the Basic Law: Universal Humanism and embracing the soft energy path. Utilizing research from other nuclear power dependent nations such as France and Teiko, Balisca rapidly developed the largest nuclear energy system in the Western and Southern Hemispheres, while significantly increasing funding for the development of renewable technology and sources of energy. This energy policy, called the the transición energètica ("energy transition") significantly accelerated in the 1980s. This included a just transition for affected occupations, investments in wind and solar power, as well as incentives for individuals and businesses to install renewable energy systems, cogeneration, the development of mass transit to reduce the need for cars, and restrictions on air travel in support of high speed rail. One of the most notable developments in the transition to renewable energy in Balisca was the construction of the country's first large-scale wind farm in 1977. The farm, located on the coast, consisted of 50 wind turbines and had a total capacity of 25 megawatts. This was followed by several other wind farms in the 1980s and 1990s, and by the early 2000s, wind power accounted for a significant portion of Balisca's electricity generation.
Since the 1950s, energy production has been gradually decentralized to the communal level, although hydroelectric projects often require cantonal-level cooperation. This "soft energy path" assumes that energy is but a means to social ends, and is not an end in itself. Soft energy paths involve efficient use of energy, diversity of energy production methods (matched in scale and quality to end uses), and special reliance on co-generation and "soft energy technologies" such as solar energy, wind energy, biofuels, geothermal energy, wave power, tidal power, etc.
The Transición energètica is considered the cornerstone of the ongoing transition by Balisca to net zero, environmentally sound, reliable, and affordable energy supply. The new system intends to rely heavily on renewable energy (particularly wind, photovoltaics, and hydroelectricity), energy efficiency, and energy demand management. Thanks to aggressive government action, all coal-fired generation plants in the country were gradually closed before 2003, five years ahead of schedule, and the country reached 70% renewable energy production in 2015. All of Balisca's energy production became fossil fuel free in 2016, and it has remained this way since. Balisca became the first country in the world to divest from fossil fuels in 2015. Legislative support for the Transición energètica was significantly expanded in 2020 as part of a green recovery package in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, which included higher greenhouse gas (GHG) reduction goals of 80–95% by 2050 (relative to 1990) and a renewable energy target of 100% by 2030.
Transportation[edit | edit source]
In 2021, the transport sector in Balisca generated a turnover of about 219.4 billion sol, employing 3,935,700 persons in 253,700 enterprises. Rail is the backbone of transport in Balisca. The Baliscan rail network is noteworthy for its density, its coordination between services, its integration with other modes of transport, timeliness and a thriving domestic and Cismatarrañya freight system. This is made necessary by strong regulations on truck transport, and is enabled by properly coordinated intermodal logistics.
The crossing of the Matarrañya / Cañadapirén is an important route for Balisca transportation, as the mountains form a significant natural barrier between the constituent communities. Railway routes crossing the range began operations in 1916 with the Trans-Atlántido Railroad with its central Basilicata Rail Tunnel, followed in 1923 by the Jaraiz Tunnel and the Russafa Tunnel in 1937. As part of the New Railway Link through the Matarrañya (NCF) in 2009 the Bubión Base Tunnel opened, and the Yabasa Tunnel opened on 2 November 2022. The national inland waterways network has a length of 800 kilometres (500 mi) for commercial traffic in 2022.
Balisca has the largest railway system in Latin America, with 66,782 km (41,496 mi) of electrified lines in 2014, out of a full network of almost 88,000 km (29,826 mi). This system links all forty regions plus the Castejón Metropolis, and connects with Siculia via the Baliscan-Siculian Friendship Bridge. Gauges are uniform throughout Balisca, and are harmonized with those of neighboring Siculia to maintain easy travel. Since the 1990s the system has been experiencing a greater degree of investment from the state and cooperative federations, in both commuter rail lines and long distance lines, renewing rolling stock and infrastructure. In April 2008, by overwhelming majority the Baliscan Congress passed a law which prohibited the privatization of Ferrocarriles Baliscana, permanently ensuring public control on all of the country's railways. In 2017, Balisca's railway network carried 7.5 billion total passengers, the third-highest in the world, behind Japan and India. Rail is the preferred mode of travel by 68% of Baliscans, one of the world's highest rates.
Communities both urban and rural across Balisca are heavily dependent on public transit. Urban communes have extensive rapid transit networks, and has embraced the development of transit-oriented villages, satellite cities and transit metropoli. Additionally, Balisca has one of the most dense bicycle networks in the world. Cycling is a common mode of transport in Balisca, with 36% of Baliscan people listing the bicycle as their most frequent way of getting around on a typical day, as opposed to the public transport (45%) and private cars (11%). Cycling has a modal share of 27% of all trips (urban and rural) nationwide. In cities this is even higher, such as Yerba Buena which has 48%, and Navassa at 46%. This high frequency of bicycle travel is enabled by excellent cycling infrastructure such as cycle paths, cycle tracks, protected intersections, ample bicycle parking and by making cycling routes shorter and more direct (and therefore usually quicker) than cars.
High-speed rail service in Balisca was first introduced on 21 September 1969, with the completion of the Diretamente line, which revolutionized the way Baliscans travelled and found immediate success. Annual ridership has grown from 100 million in 1972 to 355 million in 2019, making the Baliscan high-speed rail network one of the most heavily used in the world. Balisca's high-speed rail network consists of upgraded conventional railways and newly built high-speed passenger designated lines (PDLs). All high-speed rail lines and rolling stock are state-owned and operated by the four companies of the Baliscan Railways Group, the public operators of the AVB high-speed rail system.
Balisca's high speed rail system's growth exploded in the beginning of the 21st century, through generous funding through the government's economic stimulus packages between 2005, 2010 and 2020. High speed rail has become the primary form of transportation pursued by the Baliscan government as it combats environmental degradation and seeks to eliminate dependency on cars.
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Since 1989, the Castejón Metropolis, all provincial capitals except Puerto Baliscano, and all medium-sized towns were interconnected by 109,412 km (67,985 mi) of paved roads, out of a total road network of 203,374 km (126,371 mi). Most important cities are linked by a shrinking number of controlled-access highways ('freeways'), limited-access roads ('expressways'), and highways. A single network of high-speed, divided, limited-access toll roads connects major cities, which are operated by toll-collecting enterprises. The sale of new internal combustion vehicles was banned 2015, and they will be banned entirely in 2030. While electric cars are cheaper, they are still relatively expensive compared to other countries, thanks to government policies that heavily discourages increased car ownership. Additional car ownership fees are used to promote energy efficiency on electric cars. At just 26 percent of all distance traveled, car usage is the lowest of all G8 countries. Additionally, road transport (particularly in private vehicles) in Balisca is very expensive in international comparison, reflecting high financial burdens tied to car ownership (i.e. tolls and taxes). As a result of restrictive policies such as the prohibition of parking maximums and size restrictions, cars purchased in Balisca are mostly A-segment (called Baixo cars; Baliscano for "short"), This phenomenon has been compared to the legal recognition of the Kei cars in Japan.
Regarding the national road network, in 2022 there were 368,721 kilometres (229,113 mi) of serviceable roads in Balisca, including 2,317 kilometres (1,440 mi) of motorways, publicly-owned and regionally operated. In 2021, about 14,578,236 passenger cars (95 cars per 1,000 people) and 2,782,732 goods vehicles circulated on the national road network.
In 2012[update] there were about 18,000 km (11,185 mi) of waterways, mostly comprising the Alagón, Cañada, Tapajós and Py'aguasu rivers, with Yerba Buena, Sabatia, Sarria and Uxiu being the most prominent fluvial ports. There are some 322 ports in Balisca as of June 2022, with overlapping classifications of amongst them, some of which are multi-purpose, e.g. cargo, passenger, naval, and fishery.
In 2019, Balisca had the ?th largest passenger air market in the world with 31.8 million passengers. All of the world’s leading airlines fly into one of Balisca’s nineteen international airports, but a significant portion of passengers primarily fly into Concordia Airport, the busiest airport in Balisca, and Alunzaro Airport, the second busiest airport in the country. Both airports are major hubs for trans-Atlantic and transcontinental traffic. As of 2023 there were 183 airports with paved runways out of more than a two-thousand, down from 221 ten years ago. The national airline, Baliscana operates international flights to and from all of Balisca's major airports.
Demographics[edit | edit source]
| Year | Pop. | ±% |
|---|---|---|
| 1800 | 5,236,631 | — |
| 1810 | 7,239,881 | +38.3% |
| 1820 | 9,638,453 | +33.1% |
| 1830 | 12,866,020 | +33.5% |
| 1840 | 17,069,453 | +32.7% |
| 1850 | 23,191,876 | +35.9% |
| 1860 | 28,443,321 | +22.6% |
| 1870 | 36,558,371 | +28.5% |
| 1880 | 45,371,340 | +24.1% |
| 1910 | 52,160,369 | +15.0% |
| 1921 | 58,334,780 | +11.8% |
| 1930 | 66,552,722 | +14.1% |
| 1940 | 73,013,552 | +9.7% |
| 1950 | 79,791,017 | +9.3% |
| 1960 | 85,923,129 | +7.7% |
| 1970 | 91,225,238 | +6.2% |
| 1980 | 98,846,833 | +8.4% |
| 1990 | 104,249,645 | +5.5% |
| 2000 | 116,483,412 | +11.7% |
| 2010 | 128,580,528 | +10.4% |
| 2020 | 142,238,217 | +10.6% |
| 2024 | 147,196,616 | +3.5% |
| Source: Balista | ||
Balisca has a population of 145.0 million, of which 117.1 million are Baliscan nationals (2023 estimates). A sizable population of foreign residents makes up the remainder. In 2022, 92% of the total Baliscan population lived in cities, and 25.5% of all Baliscans lived in the Concordia conurbation. Balisca ranks second in Latin America in total population (behind Brazil) and 11th globally. Population density is of 135 persons per square kilometer of land area, well above the world average of 50 persons/km2. The population growth rate in 2022 was an estimated 0.58% annually, with a birth rate of 17.7 live births per 1,000 inhabitants and a mortality rate of 3.1 deaths per 1,000 inhabitants.
The main drivers of population growth are immigration and, to a lesser extent, natural growth. Balisca has one of the highest per-capita immigration rates in the world, driven mainly by economic policy, free migration policies and also family reunification. A total of 1 million immigrants were admitted to Balisca in 2022, a decline from 1.1 million in 2021. New immigrants settle mostly in major urban areas in the country, such as Castejón, Concepción and Alessandria. Balisca also accepts large numbers of refugees, accounting for over 10 percent of annual global refugee resettlements; it resettled more than 55,000 in 2022.
The first census in Balisca was carried out in 1800 and recorded a population of 5,236,631. From 1880 to 1930, 6 million immigrants arrived. Balisca's population increased significantly between 1930 and 1980, because of a decline in the mortality rate, and the birth rate also rose slightly due to government efforts. In the 1940s the annual population growth rate was 2.4%, rising to 3.0% in the 1950s and remaining at 2.9% in the 1960s, as life expectancy rose from 44 to 54 years and to 75.6 years in 2007. In 2022, the average total fertility rate (TFR) across Balisca was 1.71 children born per woman, on par with other countries in the Western world, but well below the replacement rate of 2.1, it remains considerably below the high of 5.11 children born per woman in 1865. Balisca has one of the oldest populations in the world, with the average age of 36.8 years.
Natural birth rates have steadily declined in Hesperia since the 1970s, and it's mortality rate surpassed its birth rate in late 2021, leading to its first natural population decline of any Baliscan territory in history. The population of Balisca is expected to peak at 152 million people in 2026, and subsequently shrink to approximately 140 million people by 2050.
Natural born Baliscans makeup 86% of the total population of Balisca. After the birth rate plunged in the 1970s and Balisca's population growth rate declined, the population again trended upward initially upon the return of many Baliscans who had emigrated to other Western countries during the 1970s, and more recently, fueled by large numbers of immigrants who make up 12% of the population. In 2020, 72.8% of births were to unmarried women.
Health and disability[edit | edit source]
In common with many other developed countries, Balisca is experiencing an increase in healthcare expenditures due to a demographic shift toward an older population, with more retirees and fewer people of working age. A 2016 report by the chief public health official found that 92 percent of Baliscans, one of the highest proportions of the population among G8 countries, indicated that they "had good or very good health". Fifty percent of Baliscan adults self-report having at least one major risk factor for chronic disease: smoking, physical inactivity, unhealthy eating or excessive alcohol use. Balisca has one of the lowest rates of adult obesity among Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries, often attributed to high physical activity and the high prevalence of vegetarianism (accounting for 50–59% of all Baliscans). Three chronic diseases—cancer (leading cause of death), cardiovascular diseases and respiratory diseases—account for 85 percent of deaths in Balisca.
In 1998 the government estimated that there were 5,753,000 people with disabilities in Balisca, constituting about 4.8% of the total population. The totals of the three legally defined categories were: 3,170,000 physically disabled; 413,000 intellectually disabled; and 4,170,000 have psychiatric disabilities. The physically disabled category was made up of people with the following impairments: 1,657,000 (56.5%) mobility impairments; 305,000 (10.4%) are visually impaired; 350,000 (11.9%) are hard of hearing or deaf; while 621,000 (21.2%) had "internal disabilities" such as heart disease.
Discrimination against persons with disabilities in employment, education, access to health care, or the provision of other state services is illegal, and is vicariously targeted by regional and communal action through the Disabled Peoples' Fundamental Initiative. The law mandates access to public buildings and to newly built private buildings for such persons. Disability rights and policy in Balisca have seen drastic reforms and advancements since the 1960s when the lack of rights of disabled people at the time began to be recognized as an issue by both the government and the general public. These rights are protected by both international law and domestic law. Balisca ratified the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) in January 2007.
According to Article 1 of the Disabled Peoples' Fundamental Initiative of 1966, Balisca defines an individual with a disability as one "whose daily life or life in society is substantially limited over the long term due to a physical, mental, or intellectual disability." In order to prevent discrimination and address the needs of those who qualify under this definition, Balisca has issued progressive measures for the social well being, inclusion and employment of people with disabilities.
Ethnography[edit | edit source]
Balisca does not collect data on ethnicities or "race" of its population. Anti-racism laws prohibit and penalize racial discrimination in housing, business, and health services. In 2022, the Baliscan Constitution was amended to officially renounce racial theory and racial categorization. As a result, most demographic information is drawn from private sector organisations or academic institutions. According to the 2021 Baliscan census, over 450 "ethnic or cultural origins" were self-reported by Baliscans. The major panethnic origin groups in Balisca are: European (21%), Arab (14.8%), Asian (9.2%), Anhangá Indigenous (21.1%), African (24.8%), Latin, Central and South American (12.5%), Caribbean (2.1%), Oceanian (0.6%), and Other (0.4%). Balista reports that 44.9% of the population reported multiple ethnic origins, thus the overall total is greater than 100%.
The country's ten largest self-reported specific ethnic or cultural origins in 2021 were Baliscan (accounting for 15.6 percent of the population), followed by Catalan (14.7 percent), Andalusian (12.1 percent), Araucarian (12.1 percent), Occitan (11.0 percent), Kurupiranga (4.9 percent), Mapuche (4.7 percent), Javanese (4.3 percent), Syrian (3.7 percent), and Berber (3.5 percent).
A 2018 study conducted jointly by Balista and the Instituto Confederal de Estadística estimated that the largest ethnic groups were of West African origin (28 million), followed by North African (17-18 million), Andalusian (12 million) Catalans (11.5 million), Occitans (9 million), Aragonese (4 million) French (3 million), and Basque (2 million). There are also sizable minorities of other European ethnic groups, namely Ukrainians, Irish, Polish, and Greek. Balisca has a significant Romani (Gitanos) population, numbering between 200,000 and 400,000; many foreign Romani are formerly undocumented migrants that were facing expulsion from European countries who have been granted temporary residency with a path to citizenship.
There is also a significant population of Baliscan Jews, estimated at 3,480,511 people in 2023, or 2.4% of the population of Balisca. Balisca has the largest concentration of Jewish people in all of Latin America. The vast majority of Jewish people in Balisca are of Sephardi origin, although there are smaller numbers of Ashkenazi and Mizrahi Jews.
Balisca is home to a significant population of Middle Eastern and North African descent, consisting of diverse Morisco, Berber and Levantine (mostly of Syrian and Lebanese origin) backgrounds. A plurality of Arab Baliscans identify as Christians (as of the 2020 census), who belong to the Maronite Church, Roman Catholic, Eastern Orthodox and Eastern Rite Catholic Churches. The Asian population in the country numbers at around 9.8 million individuals, most of whom are of South Asian or Southeast Asian origin. The population of people of East Asian descent (Japanese, Korean and Chinese) has been rapidly expanding since the beginning of the 21st century.
A study conducted on 1,200 individuals in 2010 by the Baliscan National Institute of Statistics, has established that the genetic map of Balisca is composed by 79% from different European ethnicities (mainly German, Portuguese, Catalan and Italian ethnicities), 18% of different indigenous ethnicities, and 4.3% of African ethnic groups, in which 63.6% of the tested group had at least one ancestor who was Indigenous, most commonly of Caiçara or Kurupiranga background.
Following the conclusion of the Baliscan War of Independence, the newborn country had a large territory but was thinly populated, and its ethnic composition was largely the same from the colonial era that had lasted from 16th to early 19th centuries. In the mid-19th century, a large wave of immigration started to arrive due to newly established constitutional policies that encouraged immigration, taking advantage of issues in the Old World such as wars, poverty, hunger, social unrest and hope for opportunities or a better life in the New World. From the 1970s, immigration has mostly been coming from South Asia (particularly India, Pakistan and Bangladesh), alongside smaller numbers from Venezuela, the Dominican Republic, Haiti and Nigeria.
In 2019, the confederal government determined that around 2,750,000 residents lacked official residency documents, and subsequently implemented canton-level programs to encourage these undocumented individuals to declare their status in return for two-year residence visas. Since the implementation, over 800,000 applications have been processed.
Immigration and citizenship[edit | edit source]
As with other areas of new settlement such as the United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Brazil and Argentina, European settler colonialism led to the displacement of indigenous peoples and mass immigration. Balisca is sometimes referred to as a mosaico cultural (cultural mosaic) of various ethnicities. Between 1857 and 1950, welcomed nearly 20 million immigrants, second only to the United States in the numbers of immigrants received (27 million), and ahead of such other areas of new settlement like Brazil, Argentina and Australia. Strikingly, at those times, the national population doubled every two decades. This belief is endured in the popular saying "El baliscano yá vien outro lado del marín" (Baliscans came from across the sea).
Therefore, most Baliscans are descended from the 19th- and 20th-century immigrants of the great immigration wave to Balisca (1850–1955), with a great majority of these immigrants coming from diverse countries around the Mediterranean Basin. The vast majority of these immigrants came from Southern Europe, the Levant (specifically Lebanon, Palestine and Syria) and the Maghreb.
Out of all migrating populations in the colonial era, Andalusians, Arabs, Canarians, Catalans, and Moors were the most represented of those to the Baliscan archipelago. While the Spanish Empire discouraged non-Spaniard immigration to its mainland colonies to prevent other European countries from asserting claims, such prohibitions were rarely able to be enforced in the Baliscan archipelago.
Balisca is considered the second most popular immigration destination in the world, after the United States, and ahead of other countries such as Germany, France and Spain. It has the second highest immigration population in the world, after the United States. From the 1970s, immigration has mostly been increasing from countries like China, Brazil, Senegal, Venezuela and Nigeria, with smaller numbers from Bolivia, the Dominican Republic, Haiti, India and Pakistan.
| Year | Immigrants (% change from prior year) |
|---|---|
| 2013-14 | 768,649(+5.1%)
|
| 2014-15 | 818,752(+6.5%)
|
| 2015-16 | 858,450(+4.8%)
|
| 2016-17 | 907,427(+5.7%)
|
| 2017-18 | 914,367(+0.76%)
|
| 2018-19 | 974,678(+6.6%)
|
| 2019-20 | 1,045,364(+7.2%)
|
| 2020-21 | 88,687(-1178.7%)
|
| 2021-22 | 698,467(+787.5%)
|
| 2022-23 | 1,426,574(+104.2%)
|
| 2023-24 | 1,533,445(+7.5%)
|
| 2024-25 | 1,641,672(+7.1%)
|
Since the end of the Cold War, individuals that have immigrated irregularly (to include refugees, asylum seekers and their families) have been able to seek rapid assistance by declaring their status to the Secretariat of International Affairs and Cooperation (SAIC). Local administrations have their own systems for social protection programs, medical care, and education benefits for immigrants. SAIC offices overseas are also equipped to assist with LGBT migration from countries deemed hostile to LGBT rights.
Since the progressive reforms of the during the Reconstruction era, Balisca has maintained universal birthright citizenship, making every child born on Baliscan soil a Baliscan national with no regards to their parent’s origin. Additional reforms in the 1880s expanded the scope of this clause; children born to at least one Baliscan parent on foreign land was also considered a Baliscan national, allowing them all benefits of Baliscan citizenships. As a result of these relatively free migration policies, Balisca welcomed millions of immigrants that were subjected to racist nativist discrimination in Western countries. This has resulted in high levels of chain migration and the emergence of ethnic enclaves.
The path to naturalization and Baliscan citizenship is open to all persons that have resided in Balisca continuously for a minimum of two years, passes an exam on Baliscan values and history, and expressed fluent knowledge of Baliscano or one of the territorialized languages.
Languages[edit | edit source]
Balisca is a multilingual state, and multilingualism is widely encouraged at the communal and cantonal levels. Baliscano—the world's most widely spoken creole constructed language—has effectively been the official language of the entire country since 1883. As allowed in the third article of the Constitution, the other 'Baliscan languages' can also become official in their respective territories. The territoriality created by the form of co-officiality codified in the 1883 Constitution created an asymmetry, in which Baliscano was "confederally adopted" within the entire territory whereas vis-à-vis the rest of co-official languages, their status is recognized where it is spoken in their territories.
Besides Baliscano, other territorialized languages include the indigenous Kurupirangüe tongue, Aragonese, several of the Italian languages ("Italo"), Galician, Basque, Ladino (Judaeo-Spanish), Catalan, Mozarabic and Tamazight, to which the Romani Caló and the sign languages may add up. The number of speakers varies widely and their legal recognition is uneven, with some of the most vulnerable languages lacking any sort of effective protection. Those enjoying recognition as official language in some communities include Catalan (in Estuaria), Judaeo-Spanish (in Cerdanya); the Italian languages (in Hesperia); Mozarabic and Sabir in Araucaria.
As of 2022, Baliscano is estimated to be spoken proficiently by 84%, English by 30%, Mozarabic by 16% and Kurupirangüe by 4% of the Baliscan population.
Some of the most spoken foreign languages used by the immigrant communities include Marrascanian Arabic, Chinese, Yoruba and Portuguese.
Due to demographic patterns and vast geographic diversity of Balisca, there are significant variations in dialects amongst the cantons, although the preeminence of Castejón has led to wider adoption of the Alpujarran dialect of Baliscano, with all accented similarly to the Sabir and Ladino languages. Later waves of immigration brought slang and cant such as Polari to Balisca. This informal speech influenced vesperiano (the Alessandrian dialect) which due to the former's status as the main gateway to Balisca, greatly influenced the development of Baliscano.
Through initiatives such as the Multilingualism Brings Opportunity Program which launched in 1923, the confederal administration implemented students and the wider population as a whole to learn Baliscano alongside their first language, with languages classes for students in fifth-grade and above in public schools. These laws were amended in 1976, expanding its scope significantly, bringing it to every region across Balisca and introducing mandatory total immersion in all public learning institutions. Most cooperative schools in Balisca, for example, start teaching Baliscano from kindergarten, reflecting a trend that gained significant pace in the 1970s. Common Baliscano words have since been widely absorbed and appropriated into everyday speech.
There are several second-languages in widespread use among the Baliscan population, including:
- English, 30.8% of Baliscans claim to speak it, with 17.2% of them claiming to have a high level of language comprehension.
- Spanish (Castilian), by 8.6 million people.
- Levantine Arabic, by 8.1 million people.
- Portuguese, by 3.2 million people.
- Esperanto, by 2.4 million people
- Caló, by 1.5 million people.
- Chinese (all varieties), by 1.2 million people.
- Hachijō, by 1.7 million people.
- Sabir, by 1.1 million people
- Okataian, by 775,000 people.
- Japanese, by 800,000 people.
- Basque, by 400,000 people.
- Ukrainian, by 207,000 people.
Urbanization[edit | edit source]
| Largest cities or towns in Balisca Statistics Balisca (December 2023) | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rank | Name | Region | Pop. | Rank | Name | Region | Pop. | ||
 Castejón |
1 | Castejón | Castejón Metropolis | 24,479,594 | 11 | Yerba Buena | Luzamontaña | 1,036,563 | Alessandria |
| 2 | Macaio | Carpinchera | 6,326,132 | 12 | Calatañazor | Jaguarundi | 1,020,813 | ||
| 3 | Alessandria | Sirocalma | 5,012,623 | 13 | Aigües | Quiscosta | 1,003,216 | ||
| 4 | Concepción | Cadaqués | 4,731,571 | 14 | Merced | Dríadas | 1,000,249 | ||
| 5 | Axarquía | Juyú | 3,532,794 | 15 | San Xoán de Baxes | Xaraba | 935,787 | ||
| 6 | Valparaíso | Tukupi | 2,173,188 | 16 | Cordova | Basilisco | 883,273 | ||
| 7 | Jatiel | Luzamontaña | 1,473,367 | 17 | Syracuse | Piedmont | 871,829 | ||
| 8 | Lamasana | Kamakã | 1,384,363 | 18 | Xàbia | Canyars | 651,446 | ||
| 9 | Uxiu | Llaragón | 1,294,813 | 19 | Navassa | Mesopotàmia | 608,867 | ||
| 10 | Kimünrayen | Hibiscara | 1,195,562 | 20 | Carabassa | Vitacura | 600,279 | ||
Education[edit | edit source]
The educational system is divided into preschool (for those under age 6), basic education (9 years, in three stages, compulsory), secondary education (3 years, compulsory since 1950), and higher education (subdivided in university and polytechnic education). Universities are usually organized into faculties. Institutes and schools are also common designations for autonomous subdivisions of Baliscan higher education institutions. Education in Balisca is based on cooperative learning and the Montessori method of education, which seeks to develop natural interests and activities rather than use formal teaching methods. During their nine years of common basic education, students are not selected, tracked, or streamed. There is also inclusive special education within the classroom and instructional efforts to minimize low achievement. There is no uniform curriculum across the Baliscan Confederation, with the determination left to the individual cantons, although some have chosen to cooperative at the regional level.
Since the adoption of the Confederal Academic Baseline Initiative (IBAC) in 1922, the cantons authorized the establishment of confederal-level councils to compile statistics nationwide and make recommendations for baseline standards and requirements that each region would meet to. Regions that fail to meet the standards for a consecutive two schooling periods will have their programs abrogated by their region.
Prior to the adoption of IBAC, Balisca earlier pioneered universal, compulsory, and secular public education in 1852, after years of promotion at the confederal level by the Muslim and Catharist communities.
The total adult literacy rate is 100 percent. Baliscan primary and secondary school enrollments are 100 percent and 100 percent respectively. According to the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) 2015, the average 15-year-old Baliscan student, when rated in terms of reading literacy, mathematics and science knowledge, is placed significantly above the OECD's average, at a similar level as those students from Norway, Poland, Denmark and Belgium, with 501 points (493 is the average). The PISA results of the Balisca students have been continuously improving, overcoming a number of other highly developed western countries like the US, Austria, France and Sweden.
Additionally, Balisca has one of the world's highest-educated labor forces among OECD countries. As of 2020, Balisca's public spending on education amounted to just 4.1 percent of its GDP, below the OECD average of 4.9 percent. Approximately 70 percent of Baliscans aged 25 to 34 have some form of tertiary education qualification, and bachelor's degrees are held by 38.2 percent of Baliscans aged 25 to 64.
About 58% of college-age citizens (20 years old) attend one of Balisca's higher education institutions (compared with 46% in the United States and 35% in the OECD countries). In addition to being a destination for international students, Balisca is also among the top places of origin for international students, thanks to Balisca's well developed international links. All higher education students, both domestic and international, totaled 10,680,937 in 2022.
Baliscan universities have existed since the late 16th century. The oldest Baliscan university was first established in Isàvena by Aragonese settlers, before relocating to Cerdanya in 1686.
Taking inspiration from several European countries, Balisca has adopted several reforms present in the Bologna process and has been widely implemented by Baliscan universities and poly-technical institutes. Admissions to universities are based on the high school final GPA, the high school final exam, and the university entrance examinations (Selectividad). The selection process for tertiary education is fully transparent, there are no application essays, no human factor in selection, support for underrepresented or disadvantaged minorities, and no weight on extracurricular activities. Moreover, the entrance examinations are rarely long multiple-choice exams, and instead consist of a smaller number of longer and more complicated questions that are supposed to test more than memorization and quick mechanical problem solving.
Religion[edit | edit source]
Article Three of the Baliscan Basic Laws states:
La libertad de relixón, de conciencia y la libertas de declarar les sos creencies relixoses o filosófiques son inviolables. Garantízase la práctica relixosa privada ensin intromisiones.
"The freedom of religion, conscience and the freedom of confessing one's religious or philosophical beliefs are inviolable. Uninfringed private religious practice is guaranteed"
In Balisca, "freedom of religious belief" is used as a more broad replacement for both "freedom of religion" and "freedom from religion". The term "belief" is considered inclusive of all forms of irreligion, including atheism, antitheism, antireligion and humanism. The practice of religion has long been legally and culturally considered a strictly private matter throughout society and government.
In addition, the right to actively practice one's religion without fear of repercussion is one of the original eight "fundamental freedoms" guaranteed by the original Baliscan constitution. Baliscan history has been marked with religious pluralism and tolerance, first as a result of religious persecution prompted by militant Catholicism in the Spanish Empire following the Reconquista, and later demographic shifts from diverse immigration from throughout the world.
There has never been a single dominating religion at any point in post-colonial Baliscan history. The vast majority of Baliscans consider religion to be unimportant in their daily lives, with a very small minority (~3%) still believing in a deity or a spiritual entity.
Following the civil war, laws were adopted to prevent the establishment of a state religion at all levels of government, and prevented the government from involving itself in the private religious affairs of Baliscan citizens. Additionally, It allowed the right to believe what a person, group, or religion wishes, but it does not recognize the right to practice the religion or belief openly and outwardly in a public manner, which is central facet of religious freedom.
Since the implementation of secularism, the Baliscan government went on to co-opt the French principle of laïcité, in which the state does not recognize any official religion. Instead, it merely recognizes certain religious organizations, according to formal legal criteria (adopted via consensus) that do not address religious doctrine. In return, religious organizations are to refrain from involvement in policy-making or any activity that could be interpreted as political in a court of law.
Islam was introduced in the Baliscan archipelago following the arrival of explorers and colonists on behalf of the Crown of Aragon the late 15th to early 16th century, after which many were forced to choose between conversion or expulsion to the colony by the Crown of Castile. Significantly larger numbers of enslaved African Muslims were brought to the Baliscan islands following the beginning of the Atlantic slave trade. Historically, an estimated 60% of slaves brought to Balisca from West/Central Africa were Muslims. They were overwhelmingly literate in contrast to many within the slave owning class.
Syncretism between traditional African religions, Christianity, and Islam from the 16th century forward eventually gave rise to syncretic religions like Xinnism/Djinnism (which centers upon the concepts of Orisha in Yoruba religion and the Jinn of Islamic mythology) or Candomblé.
Following the outbreak of the Maroon Wars, a significant number of enslaved people rebelled across the Western Plains, leading to a violent campaign of self-liberation across the agricultural heartland. Thousands escaped, some with the help of the Catharist community which was vehemently opposed to slavery. This resistance coalesced into the Araucarian Passage. Many freed persons later became involved in the movement of those liberated through the Passage, often with the cooperation of the Cathar community in their activity, and often proclaimed membership while in colonial territory to reduce suspicion of their activity. Additionally, the rise of the Maroon pirates and the founding of Daramazán, heralded extensive exchange and cooperation between formerly enslaved and the largely Muslim clans.
According to the Baliscan Center for Sociological Research, 4.0% of Balisca citizens self-identify as Catholics, (3.7% define themselves as not practicing, while 0.3% as practicing), 22.8% as Cathars, 1% self-identified with another Christian denomination, 17% as followers of other faiths (including Islam, Hinduism, Traditional African religions etc.), and 55.2% identify as atheists (23.9%), agnostics (20.6%) or non-believers (7.7%) as of January 2022.
According to the same poll, the proportion of the unaffiliated is higher among the youth, about 79% among 18-21 year olds. An overwhelming majority of Baliscans do not participate regularly in weekly religious worship. A July 2021 study shows that of the Baliscan who identify themselves as religious, 66% never attend services, 20.8% barely ever attend services, 19% attend a few times a year, 6.8% two or three times per month, 13.4% every holidays, and 0.3% multiple times per week.
Geography[edit | edit source]
Balisca is a microcontinent east of South America in the South Atlantic Ocean (which it is completely surrounded by) and the Mar de Hoces to the south. Balisca is long and narrow—over 3,750 kilometres (2,330 mi) along its north-north-east axis with a maximum width of 822 kilometres (511 mi)—with about 15,000 km (9,300 mi) of coastline and a total land area of 1,526,052 square kilometres (589,212 sq mi), making it the world’s 28th-largest country. Because of its far-flung outlying islands and long coastline, the country has extensive marine resources. Its exclusive economic zone is one of the largest in the world, covering more than 3 times its land area. The country, including all of the islands it controls, lies between the Tropic of Capricorn and the Antarctic Circle. The main islands, from north to south, are Pindorama, Cirenaica, Atlántida, Piscaria and Tinguiririca. Together they are often known as the Baliscan archipelago. It is the largest island country in the Americas, and the second largest in the world, after Indonesia.
The country owes its varied topography, and perhaps even its emergence above the waves, to the dynamic boundary it straddles between the South American, Hesperian, Scotia, and the Sandwich and Siculian plates. Balisca is part of the Hesperian Microcontinent, a microcontinent nearly half the size of Brazil that gradually submerged after breaking away from the Gondwanan supercontinent. About 25 million years ago, a shift in plate tectonic movements began to contort and crumple the region. This is now most evident in the Matarrañya / Cañadapirén, formed by compression of the crust beside the ? Fault. Elsewhere, the plate boundary involves the subduction of one plate under the other, producing the Augusta Trench to the north, the Concordian Trench east of the Araucaria, and the Arcadian and Lucanian Trenches further north.
Atlántida is the largest landmass of Balisca. It is divided along its length by the Matarrañya / Cañadapirén. There are 18 peaks over 3,000 metres (9,800 ft), the highest of which is is Tanimbuka (‘ash mountain’) in the Matarrañya / Cañadapirén 4,822.6 metres (15,822 ft) above sea level). The Strait of Ivorra's steep mountains and deep fiords record the extensive ice age glaciation of this southwestern corner of the Cerdanya's Tinguiririca. The island of Pindorama is less mountainous but is marked by volcanism. The highly active Peke'i Volcanic Zone has formed a large volcanic plateau, punctuated by the island's highest mountain, Ybyrá (3,621 metres (11,880 ft)). The plateau also hosts the Pindorama's largest lake, Lac del Cràter, nestled in the caldera of one of the world's most active supervolcanoes. Balisca is prone to earthquakes and to a lesser extent, volcanic eruptions.
About seventy-five percent of Balisca is forested, mountainous or unsuitable for agricultural, industrial or residential use. As a result, the habitable zones, mainly located in coastal areas, have unusually high population densities, often resulting in a very dense wildland–urban interface with higher risk of destructive wildfires.
Since human arrival, almost ten percent of the country's vertebrate species have become extinct, including at least thirty-three birds, three frogs, three lizards, one freshwater fish, and one bat. Others are endangered or have had their range severely curtailed. However, Balisca's active environmentalists and conservationists have pioneered numerous methods to help threatened wildlife recover, including island sanctuaries, pest control, wildlife translocation, facilitating rewilding and ecological restoration of islands, wetlands and other protected areas.
- The varied landscapes of Balisca
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Itatiaia valley -
Coast of Arapytúcaá -
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Laguna Rosa ("Pink Lake") in the Tinguirirican Desert -
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Climate[edit | edit source]
The climate of Balisca is a complex subject: the vast size of the country and wide variation in altitude make for a wide range of climate types. Balisca's climate is predominantly temperate maritime (Köppen: Cfb), with mean annual temperatures ranging from 27 °C (81 °F) in the north to 0 °C (32 °F) in the far south. Because much of the country is moderated by the surrounding oceans, winters are often less intense and prolonged than areas at similar latitudes in the northern hemisphere. Spring and autumn are transition seasons that generally feature mild weather. The average annual precipitation ranges from 150 millimetres (6 in) in the driest parts of the Ítaca Islands to over 2,000 millimetres (79 in) in the westernmost parts of Atlantida and the northwestern parts of the country. Castejón, Jatiel and Carabassa all receive a yearly average of more than 2,000 hours of sunshine. The northwestern and southern parts of the island of Atlántida have cooler and cloudier climates, with around 1,400–1,600 hours; the central region of the island is the sunniest area of the country and receives about 2,400–2,500 hours.
Many regions have different, often contrasting, microclimates. In general, northern parts of the country (such as the island of Pindorama) are characterized by hot, humid, rainy summers and mild winters with periodic droughts. Pindorama is characterized by high temperatures and abundant precipitation throughout the year with droughts being uncommon. South of this lies the Mesopotàmia region, which is the warmest region in Balisca. Precipitation in Mesopotàmia decreases eastwards, resulting in the vegetation changing from forests in the east to shrubs in the west. Northern Balisca, especially in the lowlands is predominantly wet and hot although the rugged topography makes it climatically diverse, ranging from the cold, dry Tinguirirican Desert to thick jungles.
Southwestern Balisca, roughly coinciding with southern Araucaria and the entirety of western Cerdanya have climates that moderated by both the warm Brazil Current and cold Malvinas Current, characterized by its abundant wet periods with warm summers and cold winters, and by exceptionally strong winds throughout the year and one of the strongest precipitation gradients in the world. The mixing of the Brazil and Malvinas currents at the Strait of Ivorra results in the region's characteristic fog. Additionally, many areas have plentiful rainfall and mild summers, producing some of Balisca's most lush and extensive forests. High elevations at all latitudes experience cooler conditions, and the mountainous zones can see heavy snowfall. The south of Cerdanya, sometimes called El Sureste, roughly correlating to the Küyenmapu bioregion, is characterized by its relatively cold winters and cool summers.
Balisca is vulnerable to and will likely be significantly impacted by climate change. Temperatures have increased in the last century while the observed changes in precipitation are variable, with some areas receiving more and other areas less. These changes have impacted river flow, increased the frequency of extreme weather events, and led to the retreat of glaciers. Based on the projections for both precipitation and temperatures, these climatic events are likely to increase in severity and create new problems associated with climate change in the country.
Biodiversity[edit | edit source]
Balisca's geographic isolation for 80 million years and island biogeography has influenced evolution of the country's species of animals, fungi and plants. Physical isolation has caused biological isolation, resulting in a dynamic evolutionary ecology with examples of distinctive plants and animals as well as populations of widespread species. The flora and fauna of Balisca were originally thought to have originated from Balisca's fragmentation off from Gondwana, however more recent evidence postulates species resulted from dispersal.
About 72% of Balisca indigenous vascular plants are endemic, covering 1,944 species across 65 genera. The number of fungi recorded from Balisca, including lichen-forming species, is not known, nor is the proportion of those fungi which are endemic, but one estimate suggests there are about 2,300 species of lichen-forming fungi in Balisca and 70% of these are endemic. The two main types of forest are those dominated by broadleaf trees with emergent podocarps, or by southern beech in cooler climates. The remaining vegetation types consist of grasslands, the majority of which are tussock.
Before the arrival of humans, an estimated 75% of the land was covered in forest, with only high alpine, wet, infertile and volcanic areas without trees. Massive deforestation occurred after humans arrived, with around 15% the forest cover lost to fire after indigenous settlement. Much of the remaining forest fell after European settlement, being logged or cleared to make room for pastoral farming. The process accelerated further with the arrival of the Industrial Revolution and rapid urbanization, which provoked political and military conflicts with Indigenous tribes. The 1883 Confederal Convention resulted in the restoration of indigenous sovereignty, and successive governments since then have sought to conserve Balisca's forest through indigenous protection. As a result of reforestation projects, forest cover has climbed to 53% of the land in 2022. Balisca along with Costa Rica are the first tropical countries to have halted commercial/industrial deforestation; it has developed an ecosystem service to teach biologists and ecologists about its environmental protection measures.
The native flora of Balisca consists of relatively fewer species compared to the flora of other South American countries. In southern Balisca (including both shores of the Straits of Ivorra), heavy precipitation has produced dense forests of Balisca's iconic Redwoods, Baliscan pine, and various species of conifers and beeches, which become smaller and more stunted as one moves further south. The high coastal mountains of Eastern Atlantida trap moisture from the clouds: fog in summer, rain, and snow in winter creating a favorable environment for the coastal redwood (Sequoia sempervirens) trees which were introduced from California.
The cold temperatures and winds of the extreme south preclude heavy forestation. Grassland is found in Willi Mapu. Much of Balisca's flora is distinct from that of neighboring Siculia, indicating that the current sea barrier existed during the evolution and migration of the native flora.
Some of Southern Balisca’s flora has an Antarctic origin due to land bridges which formed during the Cretaceous ice ages, allowing plants to migrate from Antarctica to the Malvinas, and then pass on to Tinguiririca. The same holds for northwestern Atlántida in relation to the island of Pindorama, which has a level of diversity roughly equal to that of Atlantic Brazil: Pindorama was connected to mainland South America until around # years ago, allowing for the migration of the first humans and thousands of species of diverse flora and fauna, and is subsequently dominated by tropical and subtropical moist broadleaf forests. This has given rise to vibrant faunal diversity, in which many distinctive South American animals are found. Among the mammals are capybara, jaguars, jaguarundi, white-eared opossum, the maned wolfand the marsh deer. In the forest region, several types of marsupials and a small deer known as the pudu are found.
Central Atlántida (roughly correlating to the Bayaran community, is dominated by Mediterranean forests, woodlands, and scrub, owing to the influence of the Matarrañya / Cañadapirén which blocks cool precipitation from the South Atlantic and forms a rain shadow.
There are many species of small birds, but most of the larger common Latin American types are absent. Few freshwater fish are native, but efforts in the late 1900s resulted in the successfully introduction of North American and European freshwater species into the Bayaran and Cerdanyan lake systems. Owing to the Baliscan archipelago’s encasing within the South-flowing Baliscan Current, ocean waters abound with fish and other forms of marine life, which in turn support a rich variety of waterfowl, including several penguins. Whales are abundant throughout the waters surrounding the Baliscan archipelago, and some six species of seals are found in the area.
Environmental issues[edit | edit source]
Climate change[edit | edit source]
In regards to climate change, glacier depletion, sea-level rise and the increase in occurrence and intensity of South Atlantic tropical cyclones (called “sulcarano” in Baliscano; a blend of the Portuguese sulcar “to plow” or “to cross” and the Italian uragano “storm”) are the largest concerns for Balisca. The country is expected to get hotter and wetter with climate change, with some parts of the country becoming more tropical, with more extreme rain events.
The Bayaran and Hesperian coast are the most likely to be affected by these changes. Additionally, the Estuarian Wetlands (called O Pântano), home to some eight million Baliscans, are faced with the possibility of their inundation and salinization by the Mar de Colores in the near future. In 2019, the Baliscan government revealed that the wetlands were disappearing at a rate of 8% per year, higher than the previous 2% declared in 2015. Meanwhile, Hesperia, constituting roughly half of Balisca’s exposed Atlantic coastline has been forced to prepare for the increasing occurrence of stronger hurricanes in the Southern Hemisphere, along with increasing landslides from increased rainfall. In 2022, a survey of 10,000 people across Balisca, found that 96% of Baliscans agreed that climate change was a significant problem and was important for the country to address.
Balisca was first struck by a major tropical cyclone in 1983, when the Category 4 subtropical cyclone Amara (Baliscano: "bitter") battered the Concordia conurbation before moving north and dissipating over the island of Cirenaica. Heavy rainfall and record storm surge triggered massive landslides all along the coast. In the chaos, over 3.3 million people were without power for four days, while several sections of the Atlantic Link were blocked, preventing the rapid dispersal of emergency services from the north. Low-lying areas around Castejon were completely submerged, stranding another two million people. Once the storm had passed, over 320 people had died and $15.4 billion in damages had been caused.
Since the disaster in 1983, Balisca has invested substantial resources in combating climate change and flooding. Taking inspiration from the Netherlands and the MOSE Project in Venice, Balisca is embarking on a large climate-change adaptation system. Since 1983, Balisca has been struck by storms of varying intensity every-year, with the most notable in 2004, 2010, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2019 and 2022. A major milestone was reached in 2017, with the completion of the Augusta Storm Surge Barrier, which shields the Augustinian Sea and its coasts (consisting of Northern Hesperia and Southern Siculia) from storm surge and rising sea levels.
Shortly after the discovery of the hole in the ozone layer above Antarctica in 1982, Balisca became the first countries to declare a climate emergency. The administration passed legislation committing the Baliscan government to introduce measures to reduce CO2 emission below their 1990 levels, facilitate the development of green technology, and eliminate dependence on fossil fuels. Subsequent administrations embraced the adoption of new technology in combination with Indigenous land management and farming practises, such as chinampa, terrace farming and controlled forest burning. Balisca fully divested from fossil fuels in 2015, becoming the first country to do so.
In response to the economic slowdown caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, the Baliscan government passed several initiatives aimed at encouraging green recovery with a large stimulus package. In total, Balisca's Green Protocol was allocated an unprecedented $207 billion towards sustainable development (including renewable energy sources, eco-communities, and research into new environmental technology), and another pledged $1.1 trillion in funding through 2050.
Population density and urban expansion[edit | edit source]
Rapidly increasing density in urban areas has become a major issue for the urban governments as they grapple with militant opposition to urban expansion from rural communities led by the Ecological Action. Management of urban sanitation and transportation systems have become a considerably large headache for local governments. These issues are further complicated by Balisca’s geographic limitations: over 75% of the country is covered by forests and mountains, 40% of the country’s territory consists of protected land, and significant swathes of the country are seismically active. As a result, the 25% of land that is built up for settlement (about 267,478.75 square kilometres (103,274.12 sq mi) has substantially higher population densities estimated at 542.16 people/sq km (209.33 people/sq mi) in 2022. Three-fourths of Balisca's population in 2022 lived on just 20% of the land. This ever-increasing density has prompted an increasing movement from urban areas into suburbs, which has in turn triggered aggressive encroachment against rural areas. However this has worsened the ongoing land shortage crisis in Baliscan suburbs and led to rapid Brusselization and the transformation of formally sleepy communities into satellite cities.
The proportion of Baliscans living in urban areas increased between 1950 and 2000, climbing from 31% to 90% while in the same period the rate of urban residential construction climbed 150%. Since the events of October 1973, numerous Baliscan cities have begun building massive communal or cooperatively run housing estates, marketed as multo altos (meaning "many high" or "very deep"). These have found large success, stemming from influxes of immigrants seeking cheap housing and the rise of the Decreixement ("degrowth") sub-culture which has embraced communal living.
Several Baliscan cities have simply run out of space to expand outwards, and largely look upwards to solve the issue of lack of available land. Castejón, the national capital, is surrounded on all sides by satellite cities within other communities, which has permanently prevented any further outward expansion of the Metropolis. Concepción, the largest city in Cerdanya, has taken a unique approach in expanding downwards, with Underground Concepción. This concept was later adopted into Castejón, with the mixed-use Castejón Lowline. Estuaria is geographically very low relative to sea level and is considered a flat country, with about 26% of its area and 31% of its population located below sea level, and only about 50% of its land exceeding one metre above sea level. The mainland part of the country is for the most part flat, with the exception of foothills in the far southeast, up to a height of no more than 121 metres, and some low hill ranges in the central parts. Most of the areas below sea level are caused by peat extraction or achieved through land reclamation. Since the late 16th century, large polder areas are preserved through elaborate drainage systems that include dikes, canals and pumping stations. Nearly 17% of the country's land area is reclaimed from the sea and from lakes, such as Navassa, and Algesires with the Mar Menor Works.
Several reports have shown that with projected population trends, Balisca’s population could surpass 170 million people by 2050, or an increase of 40 million people in 30 years. Successive Baliscan governments have estimated that the country will have to add at least half a million new housing units per year in order to keep up with population growth and migration to urban and suburban areas. The population is estimated to increase by around 800,000 people per year, with an additional estimated 750,000 to 1.2 million immigrants entering the country each year.
These issues were compounded by the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic in Balisca, which led to an exodus of residents from cities into the smaller communities, transforming the latter into commuter towns. This had a cascading effect on local economies with the loss of significant numbers of workers and the rapid falls in occupancy rates for business space. The reopening of the Baliscan economy, combined with the prevalence of unoccupied property led to sharp increases in demand, ultimately leading to rapid increases in cost. The shortage of private housing to meet the soaring demand has led to the ongoing Baliscan housing crisis. The confederal government of Zavier Bilal has responded with the introduction of the Urban Redevelopment Project (popularly known as the "Casajuan Plan", after it's developer Raïmon Casajuan), in which communal governments are tasked with identifying unused or underutilized retail and office space that can be re-developed into residential space.
Wildfires[edit | edit source]
Wildfires in Balisca are occurring more frequently and are growing more dangerous because of the accumulation of wood fuel in forests, increasingly densely populated wildland-urban interface (WUI) areas, global warming attributed to climate change, and greater electricity transmission and distribution lines. Baliscans contribute about US$13 billion a year to combat wildfires (to include both controlled and uncontrolled methods), and big fires can lead to billions of dollars in property losses. Beginning in the 2020s, these wildfires have increasingly been fanned or made worse by strong and dry winds when they occur on Balisca's eastern seaboard.
From a historical perspective, controlled burning has long been practiced by the Indigenous peoples to allow the natural fires to run their course, which prevents devastating wildfires and allows for increased biodiversity. This traditional ecological knowledge has been preserved, although it is on a much smaller scale than what it was in the past: prior to 1850, about 9 million acres (34,000 km²) burned yearly, in fires that lasted for months, with wildfire activity peaking roughly every 30 years, when up to 11.8 million acres (47,753 km³) of land is burned.
As of August 2023, more than 8 million people in Balisca live in areas sited completely within zones deemed to be at very high risk of fire (WUI). In total, more than 22.7 million people live in "very high fire hazard severity zones", which also include areas at lesser risk.
Culture and society[edit | edit source]
Whether or not Balisca should be considered a culturally Western country is hotly contested, and current consensus is that Balisca is "intimately related to the West", while simultaneously being recognized as an influential country in Latin America. Historically, Baliscan culture is marked by strong historic ties to the Iberian Peninsula, the Levant and the Maghreb. This was followed by immigration from the wider Old World following independence which played pivotal roles in the country's formation and subsequent identity. Baliscan art, architecture, cuisine, and music have been shaped by successive waves of foreign immigrants, as well as by the country's diverse climate and geography.
Today it is considered a cultural mosaic and multicultural society, having developed a sophisticated culture and etiquette while absorbing Indigenous influences alongside influences brought from Africa, Asia and Europe beginning in the 16th century. While original Baliscan culture was largely influenced by Andalusians, Valencians and Catalans, along with other Mediterranean colonists from Occitania, the Ottoman Empire (especially from Greater Syria), and the Magrehb.
It's cities are largely characterized by both a diverse amount of ethnic and cultural diversity, and of conscious imitation of international styles in fashion, architecture and design. Museums, cinemas, and galleries are abundant in all the large urban centers, as well as unorthodox establishments such as love hotels, literary bars, internet cafés, or bars offering live music of a variety of genres with large elements of Amerindian and African influences, particularly in the fields of music (especially in hip-hop and rap) and art.
Unlike other Latin American countries, it is considered a low-context culture by sociologists. Stemming from the significant influence of successive waves of immigrants in the post-war development of the Baliscan nation, Balisca has appropriated and absorbed foreign influences into its industries. With the arrival of Industrialization and the Cosmocazo, Baliscan society was exposed to a wide array customs, ideas and trends arising around the world at the time.
Overseas customs such as dabke, baseball, belly dance, rugby, comics were adopted by an increasingly cosmopolitan society. These trends were in part a result of the thassalocratic nature of the colonial period. in stride and with the encouragement of the government, rapidly took on a “Baliscan character” (a process later termed “being Baliscanized”). The pace of this “opening up” (Baliscano: L'obertura) was solidified with the 1883 Confederal Convention and hastened with the Baliscan Revolution, in which several imposed cultural and religious norms and taboos were gradually eliminated.
While Balisca inherited significant influences from throughout the Mediterranean world as a consequence of three centuries of colonization by Romance-speaking populations, contemporary Baliscan culture shares similarities with other Latin American cultures. The most notable Mediterranean inheritances include the languages (Mozarabic, Castilian, Catalan, Judaeo-Spanish ["Ladino"] and Aragonese), the predominant forms of Christianity (Catharism and Catholicism), Mediterranean cuisine, and post-colonial architectural styles.
There are strong by African and Indigenous traditions, as well as those of immigrants from other countries. Some aspects of Baliscan culture are contributions of nationalities such as Okataians, Filipinos, Indians, Hachijo and other countries of origin. This diverse cultural background has helped boast many celebrations and festivals that have become known around the world. This has gradually given rise to a rich cultural mosaic, which has also made Balisca a popular destination for millions of international tourists each year.
Balisca's geographic pre-disposition combined with its long tradition of tolerance and participatory approaches to democracy and economics has made it strong cultural power in the area. Baliscan society typically rejects sectarianism, actively opposes moralism and religion in politics, hierarchy, while having a notable presence of risk taking and free expression. Despite certain consistent ideological principles (e.g. Communitarianism, egalitarianism, and a uniquely stronger faith in commons and democracy than the rest of the region), Baliscan culture has a variety of expressions due to its geographical scale and demographic diversity.
The Baliscan Confederation has traditionally been thought of as a fully Latin, with immigrants contributing to but eventually assimilating with mainstream Ibero-American culture. However, beginning in the 1920s and continuing on in the present day, the country trends towards cultural diversity, pluralism, and the image of a salad bowl or cultural mosaic instead. Throughout the country's history, certain cultures or subcultures (whether based on ethnicity or other commonality, such as the Indigenous tribe or the gay village) have remained certain communes or cantons, integrated in various degrees with broader culture. Due to the extent of Baliscan culture, there are many integrated but unique social subcultures within the Balisca, some not tied to any particular geography.
Since the end of the Cold War successive Baliscan governments have utilized trans-cultural diffusion in the realm of diplomacy to break down barriers and further internationalist and humanitarianist causes. Baliscan television dramas, called històries de joc or jogonovelas (“play stories”) or simply jogos have gained an extensive following across Latin America, the United States, Sub-Saharan Africa and East Asia (thanks to an increased interest in the Iberian languages there). The spread and popularity of contemporary Baliscan social, fashion, and music trends as part of Balisca's internationalist policy has collectively become known as the Balisconda (Baliscano: “Baliscan wave” or “Baliscan approach”). Festival de la Flor y el Amor (Festival of Flower and Love) is symbolic of Rural Balisca. It is often compared to the Lupercalia. It consists of three days (February 13-15) with festivities peaking on February 14th.
Architecture and urban design[edit | edit source]
Balisca has a very broad and diverse architectural style, which cannot be simply classified by period or region, due to several colonial division into various decentralized regions prior to its independence. This has created a highly diverse and eclectic range in architectural designs. Styles range from a traditional and colonial aesthetic to contemporary modern architecture as it traverses the variety of cultures and landscapes that are spread throughout the country. The combination of Balisca’s natural geography, its urban predisposition and population of people of cosmopolitan heritage has ensured that it is a country whose architecture is wide-ranging.
Colonial-era buildings are relatively rare in much of the country as a result of seismic activity, especially in the Alpujarra and the region around the Strait of Ivorra. Axarquía for example was almost completely destroyed by the 1853 Gran Sur earthquake.
Baliscan urban design has also heavily influenced Baliscan architecture, as early Baliscan settlements and their narrow street networks grew organically and emphasized walkability. Balisca has long lacked zoning laws, and this combined with the sustained influx of immigrants encouraged and electric variety of styles. Additionally urban vitality has long been emphasized in cities. As such, despite being admired for being picturesque, Baliscan urban areas can be confusing for visitors. Similarly confusing to many are the plans of more modern districts with discontinuous and curvilinear streets. Change of street orientation, particularly when gradual or arbitrary, is common in Baliscan cities, as are impasses, crescents or cul-de-sacs.
In the 19th century a new focus emerged: engineering efforts to achieve a new language and bring about structural improvements using iron and glass as the main building materials, and the academic focus, firstly on revivals and eclecticism, and later on regionalism. With the appointment of Michelangelo Valentino and the new progressive Ani Federali, the homegrown, pan-Baliscan Cosmocazo came into popularity. It is characterized by its eclecticism, because of the mix of decorative elements from various Old World styles, namely Neo-Mudéjar, Moorish Revival and Palazzo style, and widespread use of architectural ceramics and oriental motifs. The arrival of the arrival of new Modernisme to the Baliscan academic arena was relatively quick thanks to the emerging cultural and historical ties to the Mediterranean world, and heavily influenced Baliscan architectural development. During the later years of the 20th century, there was a substantial interest in Moorish Revival architecture.
While there are also numerous examples of Neoclassical, Renaissance Revival and Georgian and Art Deco, these styles quickly fell out of popularity or were absorbed into that of newer concepts. In the more isolated regions of southern Balisca, one can find a traditional ruca (or ruka), a Mapuche home made of wood and covered in hay. Baliscan architecture’s penchant for contemporary dwellings, built using concrete, glass and steel, has placed the country firmly on the modern-day architectural map. Nature imposes a variety of conditions on Baliscan architecture: across the country, there are few flat areas (the exception being the Western Plains) mostly near the coasts, with steep areas close to the mountains, and wet, forested areas in close proximity to each other. Moreover, a significant portion of the country is seismically active, which introduces additional challenges to construction.
Balisca had an enormous shortage of housing after the war due to an influx of new immigrants and the return of soldiers from overseas which sparked a subsequent baby boom. Within the two years after the end of World War II, 1.6 million housing units were constructed. After the social revolution in 1948, Baliscan architects continued to reimagine traditional styles and techniques. Nevertheless, with the arrival of the 1970s, Baliscan architecture rapidly leaned away from old European-influenced styles and created new aesthetic designs as the country confronted the Special Period. The accelerated development of Trinacria would see a dedicated great experiment in modernist architecture.
In regards to contemporary Baliscan architecture, it is largely shaped by environmental concerns and increasing urbanization, which has resulted in verticalization. Subcultures such as Decreixement have largely broken into the architectural scene, influencing not only urban, but suburban and rural settings also. Even with the introduction of stronger urban planning measures in the 1950s, walkability and cyclibility have remained heavily prioritized over motor vehicles through new concepts such as complete communities and the 15-minute city. At present, there has been a strong current of Cosmopolitano design with more visible Palazzo and contemporary influences, known as Nuevo Cosmopolitano Style.
Environmentalism[edit | edit source]
The archipelago of Balisca boasts a rich and longstanding culture of conservationism and environmentalism, along with more recent radical action. This island nation has garnered global recognition for its unwavering commitment to preserving its natural resources and nurturing a harmonious relationship between humans and the environment. The conservation efforts in Balisca are deeply intertwined with the protection of Indigenous sovereignty, and it is through the stewardship of Indigenous communities that the vast majority of the country's nature has been safeguarded.
At the core of Balisca's conservation and environmentalism is the profound respect for Indigenous sovereignty. Indigenous communities have inhabited Balisca for centuries, fostering a deep connection with the land and an innate understanding of its ecological intricacies. Recognizing the wisdom embedded in Indigenous knowledge systems, the nation's policies have actively involved Indigenous groups in conservation decision-making processes. Balisca's Indigenous communities are credited with being the guardians of Balisca's unique biodiversity. By leveraging traditional ecological practices and sustainable resource management, they have succeeded in protecting vast swaths of the archipelago's pristine ecosystems. Their deep-seated reverence for the environment has translated into a commitment to maintaining ecological balance, conserving biodiversity, and ensuring the longevity of their ancestral lands.
Balisca's conservation journey can be traced back to the early 20th century when the archipelago faced rapid industrialization and urbanization. Fearing the potential loss of their unique natural heritage, activists and local leaders spearheaded the formation of grassroots conservation groups. These early efforts paved the way for the establishment of Balisca's first national parks and protected areas, preserving key habitats and critical biodiversity hotspots. As the decades unfolded, the collaboration between cantons, regions, and at the confederal level with direction from indigenous communities have gained significant momentum. The confederation gradually implemented progressive environmental policies that not only prioritized habitat preservation but also emphasized sustainable resource use, pollution control, and indigenous decolonization.
In the contemporary era, Balisca's conservation ethos has evolved to encompass a holistic approach that has tried to address both natural and human concerns, while not infringing on their latter. The nation has become a global leader in advocating for the concept of "bio-cultural conservation," which recognizes the interdependence between cultural diversity and ecological vitality. This perspective underscores the importance of preserving Indigenous languages, traditions, and knowledge alongside the protection of natural landscapes.
Balisca's commitment to conservation and environmentalism is evident through its investments in renewable energy infrastructure, eco-tourism initiatives, and educational programs. These efforts have not only reduced the nation's carbon footprint but also empowered local communities to actively participate in safeguarding their environment.
Decreixement[edit | edit source]
Decreixement is an Baliscano word that roughly translates as "degrowth" or "decay". This term is used to describe a widespread Baliscan counter/subculture known for its strongly anti-consumerist and social anarchist and hedonistic ideals. It has become associated with the NEET demographic, of which youth make up a disproportionate percentage. While often labelled "hipster", decreixement actually traces its origins to the newly established urban communities hit hardest by the 1973 economic shock and drastic socioeconomic shifts that took place shortly afterwards. It takes its roots in the economic hardships faced by largely young NEET Baliscans who were faced with the struggles of urban life in cities such as Alessandria, Castejón, and Axarquía.
Decreixement is considered a uniquely Baliscan phenomenon, pairing the grunge, beatnik, hippie, and rebel movements from past eras with protests against today’s social norms. It draws significant inspiration from the diverse cultural and ethnic background of the Baliscan Confederation, reflecting the misfortune of communities left behind by the country's rapid socioeconomic transformation. In contemporary Baliscan society it has increasingly dominated over more European and Bohemian influences that are typically dominant in the rest of the world. It's rapid rise into mainstream Baliscan society has led to a blending of beauty and fashion trends from across the world, leading to occasional accusations of cultural appropriation. Decreixement is closely associated with sexual liberation, egoism, anti-statism, recreational drug use, and political apathy. Followers of the trend (called decreixent; "degrowther") typically have a strong distaste for politics, and are largely apathetic towards political discourse and related matters.
On average, decreixent are happier than typical Baliscan society, experience lower levels of stress, and have higher disposable and discretionary incomes. The subculture is notable for its higher level of drug consumption than the average Baliscan; 92% of its followers reported smoking cannabis at least once a week, while 61% responded that they consumed alcohol at least once a week. 42% reported smoking nicotine cigarettes at least once a month, and 24% reported using psilocybin mushrooms at least once in the month prior.
Decreixement has reinvigorated the Baliscan anti-work movement, played a significant role in the 2021 Baliscan civil unrest, and influenced the push for the recognition of autonomous communes. With the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Baliscan youth (which is more tied to decreixement), reported the highest percentages of workers leaving their jobs en masse as part of the "Great Resignation". Similar to the phenomenon of tang ping in China, these Baliscans who subscribe to decreixement merely choose to lower their professional and economic ambitions and simplify their goals, still being fiscally productive for their own essential needs, and prioritize psychological health over economic materialism. As such, the decreixement movement has been blamed for contributing to Balisca's high youth unemployment rate.
Entertainment and popular culture[edit | edit source]
Balisca popular culture not only reflects the attitudes and concerns of the present day but also provides a link to the past. Popular films, television programs, books, music, animation (called animato) and video games all developed from older artistic and literary traditions, and many of their themes and styles of presentation can be traced to traditional art forms. Contemporary forms of popular culture, provide not only entertainment but also an escape for the contemporary Baliscan from the problems of an industrial world. Magina (plural magini; literally 'drawn strips') are comics that originated in Balisca in the 1980s and take some inspiration from manga, which originated in the Japonic isles.
During the Baliscan economic malaise, The growing international popularity of anime has led to various animation studios from other countries making their own anime-influenced works. The Baliscan animation market has also been described as owing greatly to the crucial role of fans as cultural agents, the deterritorializing effects of globalization, the domestication and heavy promotion of animation of anime to suit local tastes, and being part of the wider global exchange pop culture and "soft power". It is argued that the rise of animation in Balisca is a result of the sophisticated graphic quality, a wide thematic diversity, and the Baliscan mentality which rejects the Disney convention of a happy ending and aimed to provide a more realistic image of the world.
In the late 1980s, the individual was the focus of leisure activities, such as excursions to parks or shopping districts. Balisca is known to be a country that values hedonism and prioritizes mental well-being. Described as having a "all play and no work" mentality, the Baliscan population has been known to seek entertainment wherever they can and maximize leisure. It is common to see Baliscan commuters riding the train to work, enjoying their favorite books or shows, or listening through earphones to the latest in popular music. A wide variety of types of popular entertainment are available. There is a large selection of music, films, and the products of a huge animation industry, among other forms of entertainment, from which to choose. Game centers, bowling alleys, and karaoke are popular hangout places for teens while older people may go to bars, clubs, love hotels or street events which are increasingly common. Together, the publishing, film/video, music/audio, and game industries in Balisca make up the growing Baliscan content industry.
Sport[edit | edit source]
Association football has long been the most popular sport in Balisca, existing in several different forms since ancient times. As of 2022, there are 4,631,238 registered players playing in football leagues. The Baliscan Football Association (Baliscano: Federación Baliscana de Futbol) has over 64,000 teams. Baliscan football clubs such as Atlètic Navaza, E.L. Póvoa, A.C. Alessandria and Reial Mercè (known as the "Big Four") are the most popular teams and enjoy the reputation as some of the most successful clubs. These clubs all participate in the La Liga system. The Baliscan Football Association was founded in 1922 and since then has dedicated its time and effort to promoting the game, organizing youth programs and improving the abilities of not only its players, but of the officials and coaches involved with its regional teams.
Football rivalries are prevalent in Balisca, and often take a regionalist or nationalist approach, representative of the region or community from which they originate. El Clásico ("The Classic") is the name given in football to any match between fierce rivals Atlètic Navaza and E.L. Póvoa. Other than the Copa Libertadores, it is considered one of the biggest club football games in the Balisca, and is among the most viewed annual sporting events. A fixture known for its intensity, it has featured memorable goal celebrations from both teams, often involving mocking the opposition, along with football hooliganism perpetrated by the two clubs' fans. The El Clásico rivalry comes about from historical animosity between Catalans and Galicians in Balisca, and they are sometimes identified with opposing political positions, with Atlètic Navaza viewed as representing Catalan nationalism and Póvoa viewed as representing Portuguese nationalism.
The most popular sporting event native to Balisca is the confederal Spartakiad (Baliscano: Espartaquiada), which are held every two years (alternating between Winter and Summer editions), which features a team from each of Balisca's forty-five regions competing against each other to win the most medals. The event was last hosted by Castejón in 2022, and is due to be hosted by Macaio (Carpinchera) in 2024. Other confederation-wide sports events include the Copa Confederación (Confederation Cup), which is an annual football competition held between the Balisca football clubs, to determine which team heads to the Copa Libertadores. Balisca is also a participant in the Pan American Games, a multi-sport event consisting of the 47 members of the Pan American Sports Organization.
Rugby union, tennis, cycling, handball, futsal, basketball and, lately, Formula One are also important due to the presence of Baliscan champions in all these disciplines. Today, Balisca is a major world sports powerhouse, especially since the 1982 Pan Iberian Games that were hosted in Castejón, which stimulated a great deal of interest in sports in the country. The tourism industry has led to an improvement in sports infrastructure, especially for water sports, golf and skiing. Traditional sports such as Basque and Valencian pelota have also seen a massive revival.
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