The New Country
The Idea of A New Country
A frequent thought of mine is how I would orgnise a new country, were it possible to establish one. What principles should it be run by? What political and economic models would offer a realistic improvement on those currently in use in our societies? What laws should be enacted? How would they be enforced? What would be the foreign and domestic policies, the dominant industry? What values should be held to be of utmost importance? What opportunities would the clean break of establishing a new nation state afford that we are unable to reach for presently?
This thought experiment is piecemeal and in its (relatively) early stages, and it is by no means unique – plenty of other people have thought along the same lines before me (a relatively light-hearted example was Danny Wallace’s BBC series How To Start Your Own Country). The content below describes some of the thoughts I have had so far on this topic. For the purposes of the experiment, I’ve taken the New Country to be an island not sharing direct borders with any other nation (this is arbitrary rather than calculated).
Laws
Environmental Laws
Animal Rights
1. Hunting and Fishing for Recreation would be prohibited. The hunting and fishing of endangered species for any reason would be prohibited.
2. Battery farming of any livestock would be prohibited.
3. The rearing of livestock for the fur trade would be prohibited.
4. The import and export of animal fur would be prohibited.
5. The deliberate torture or cruelty to animals of any kind would be prohibited.
Industry and Manufacturing
Arms Manufacturing
1. The manufacture of weapons would be permissible only in the case of weapons to be used by the New Country in a defensive capacity.
2. The manufacture of landmines would be prohibited.
3. The export of weapons would be prohibited, except to aid the defence of citizens of the New Country abroad.
Trade
1. The export and transfer of weapons (e.g. firearms, mines, tanks, missiles, military explosives…) through the territory of the New Country would be prohibited, including, for example, waters and land belonging to the New Country serving as a transport route for other countries’ weapons of that kind.
2. The import, export and trading in any animal fur would be prohibited, excepting where genuine scientific reasons exist (for example in the transfer of remains transfered for analysis).
Military
The Purpose of the Military
The primary purpose of the military would be the protection of the citizens of the New Country and their rights from foreign aggressors. The secondary role of the military would be to facilitate non-military humanitarian or charitable aid (e.g. relief associated with natural disasters), whether within the borders of the New Country or outside. The tertiary role of the military would be to facilitate military intervention abroad where such was consistent with the laws of the New Country and its commitments to international law.
Awards
Invitations to Citizenship:
The following is a list of people, who, on the basis of their contributions to society and culture, are in my estimation deserving of an invitation to become citizens of the New Country. The idea behind this is that there would be an open and indefinite invitation for the listed people to join the New Country should they so wish to. The list is by no means exhaustive and is likely generally to increase as time goes on. It is arranged alphabetically.
David Attenborough (naturalist, broadcaster), Banksy (artist), Nick Cave (musician), Noam Chomsky (linguist, philosopher, activist), Joel and Ethan Coen (film directors/producers), Leonard Cohen (musician), Robert Fisk (journalist), Seamus Heaney (poet), Armando Iannucci (comedian), Clive James (writer, commentator), Stewart Lee (comedian), Mary Midgley (philosopher), George Monbiot (journalist, activist), Stephen Pinker (linguist, neuroscientist), Zbigniew Preisner (composer), Vilanayur Ramachandran (neuroscienstist), Peter Singer (philosopher), William Vollmann (author), Thom Yorke (musician)
Posthumous Awards In Recognition of Outstanding Achievement:
Obviously, the dead cannot meaningfully become participants of the New Country’s society, but nonetheless there are those who deserve special recognition of their contributions to world culture in one way or another. They appear in alphabetical order below. Again, the list is not exhaustive.
Charles Darwin (scientists), Carl G. Jung (psychologist), Bertrand Russell (philosopher, activist) Robert Anton Wilson (writer)
