The Atlas Continent

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I’d like to join if it isn’t too late

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I’d like Country 9

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Name: New Surrey
Capitol: Green City
Largest City: North of the Delta
Official Languages: None, but de-facto English
Population: 30,000,000
Ethnic Groups: European (65%), Asian (25%), Hispanic (5%), Black (5%)
Overview/History: New Surrey was originally founded as an outpost for well-off Brits in 1690, and developed quite a very different history from other British New World colonial possessions. It functioned mainly as a holiday and/or retirement destination until 1800 when large scale agriculture began due to the country's climate. Cultivation focused primarily on warm-weather fruits such as oranges and bananas (think like Florida). The cultivation was originally meant just to sustain migrants and as such, it soon developed a permanent population, albeit a small one. The promise of a subtropical climate where cold temperatures were seldom soon attracted other Brits to the region, and established the first true municipality North of the Delta in 1835, named so for its location. The incorporation of said municipality brought with it the first introduction of politics and thus the first delineation of territory under the administration of this outpost (defined as Land 9 in the graphic). The establishment of a permanent settlement brought with it the attraction of even more settlers, who brought with them technology, setting the stage for the spread of the Industrial Revolution. By 1870, New Surrey had reached a population of 1 million people. The surge in population, in this case not all well off migrants, brought with it a new industry: agriculture in more continental crops such as rice, as well as logging in the nation's forests, which are not plentiful, but not in paucity either. In 1870, the first municipal elections were also held in North of the Delta as the city held most of the region's population and surely the overwhelming majority of its wealth and power. Politics polarized around two main parties: The Liberal Party, preaching a vision of classical liberalism and the Conservative Party, focused on conservatism and also promoting a move towards monarchical government, like in the UK, it also advocated for increased funding of logging. The skepticism of logging among the wealthy residents of North of the Delta led to a Liberal victory, but the introduction of politics as well as the growing population raised the question about what to do with the relationship with the UK, which had not attempted to claim what they viewed as "an unproductive playground of the rich" beyond initially promoting development, but the residents themselves had no animosity towards the UK either. As the population grew, New Surrey began to attract a new form of well off migrant, bankers, and banking would eventually become a major industry in the region. By 1900, banking was on the rise in the region and as the population approached 5 million and North of the Delta held 4.75 million of those, plans began for new settlements and also to better establish hold over a region which had been claimed since 1835, but said claims had never been administered. Politics also began to diverge as a non insignificant portion of middle class migrants also arrived to the region, and the old party system began to break down. By 1905, new settlements were established including a plan for a (at this point still) provincial capital in the nation's interior designed as a deliberate plan to shift some power away from the old money center. Further coastal cities were also planned, as well as a set aside land reserve for indigenous peoples (primarily in areas where logging operations had undergone, further highlighting the threat that many felt towards logging as a major industry). In 1907 (May), national elections were held under a parliamentary PR system, and with it came the introduction of a new party, the Social Democratic Labour Party was founded primarily as a left wing party committed to wealth redistribution. The elections ended with a hung parliament and the Conservatives, at this point still committed to monarchy and the Liberals, at this point starting to build a small independence wing and becoming slightly less classical liberal, struggled to reach an agreement. Snap elections were called and the November 1907 elections resulted in a surge for the Labour Party, as lower turnout occurred in North of the Delta due to disenchanted voters upset at the lack of progress. These elections led to a split in the Liberal Party, with the more progressive and pro-independence wing walking away and forming the Radical Liberal Party, which was open to cooperation with the Labour Party. The rump Liberals entered into a coalition with the Conservatives, but struggled to agree on much and even many in the upper classes agreed to the need for some progressive reforms. Thus, the government collapsed midterm and the Liberals entered into government with the Radical Liberals and the Labour Party passing a graduated income tax of 2%, universal voting rights (for all adults regardless of race, gender, etc.), and also a minimum wage. The agreement with the Labour Party was damaging to the Liberals and led to a Conservative majority in 1911. In the meantime, despite the political instability, the region continued to grow, reaching a population of 10 million people in 1920. World War I was relatively uneventful in the nation, though it provided aid and strategic supplies to Great Britain. The 1920s brought incredible prosperity as banking thrived and the population grew yet again. In politics, the Roaring Twenties also brought an end to the Labour Party which voted to merge with the Radical Liberals, following an abysmal 0.5% at the 1923 election and formed the Radical Left Party. The Conservative government of the time also moved on its signature issue of deregulating logging and in 1928, introduced a referendum to implement monarchy, which failed by a margin of 77-23. The Great Depression hit the region especially hard, given its dependence on banking. Conservative overtures to Great Britain for Depression aid were ignored, finally building the momentum for independence. The 1931 elections led to an overwhelming majority for the Liberal-Radical Left bloc (by now fully reconciled), which pushed for and successfully won independence for the new nation, ending its very long and ambiguous relationship with the issue. The Liberal bloc moved away from classical liberalism and began measures of regulation of the banks and provided banking subsidies to attempt to rescue the banking sector. The Depression era brought a pause to the new nation's growth, as the Depression destroyed much of the built-in wealth. The Liberals were also forced to increase taxation to keep the nation afloat. The nation's still not insignificant agricultural sector took over once again as the main engine of economic strength, however the nation would be mired in depression until World War II. It provided significant financial aid to Great Britain and the United States, but lacked much of an army on its own up to this point as it had never been seriously concerned with invasion. The Conservative Party would also slowly decline and eventually be dissolved, due to being discredited by destroying the nation's wealth during the Great Depression. Thus, post war politics evolved around a split in the split in the Liberal bloc once again with the Liberals once again returning to classical liberalism during the 1947-1951 term, leading to the Radical Left breaking with them and forming the core of the post-war political system, which persists to this day. After the interregnum in growth during the Great Depression, the nation did not immediately get back on its feet, but eventually prosperity returned in the 1950s. The nation's population which had been 11 million in 1945, had risen to 15 million by 1960. The post-war period brought the threat of the Cold War and thus for the first time, New Surrey established a military force, though the purpose was to be purely defensive. During the Cold War, it provided strategic and diplomatic support to the United States, though it never sent troops to conflict. Also during the 1960s and 1970s, the growth of other cities also took off, including the planned capital of Green City, so named because of the envision of a city with many green spaces where most of the population lived in space efficient tower blocks and the parliamentary house would be a grand concrete building painted green and surrounded by vast expanses of greenery on all sides. Green City in 1969 reached a population of 1 million making it the second city to reach 1 million people (behind North of the Delta (now at 9.5 million). With the increases in urban development, an increase in transportation also accompanied. A national highway network was created to facilitate transportation of people. Public transportation also took off during this period. The 1970s saw further developments in public transportation. New Surrey opened its first airports in Green City and North of the Delta, which would allow for immigration to rise further and also led to an increase in diversity. In 1970, the nation was 95% white, by 1990, it was 70% white. New Surrey's wealth and promise of opportunity made it an attractive location for migration, as it increasingly became centered on a service economy. Pro business policies in the 1980s and 1990s, also attracted new industries such as insurance to the nation. By 1990, the population had risen to 25 million and urban development commenced further. The government engaged in a serious of projects to develop planned cities along the northern coasts meant to serve as both residential communities and vacation destinations. The 1990s also brought a new set of political issues, environmentalism. The well developed transportation network of the country made this an especially pressing issue. The 1995 elections brought the first attempts to address the issue with the parties offering two different visions: the Radical Left proposed a limit on oil exports and a higher tax on oil companies, arguing that the costs of pollution should be beared by the oil companies, not the consumers. The Liberals proposed a conversion of all existing highways to toll roads, suggesting that people should pay for the cost of their own actions. The Radical Left won the elections and implemented their vision moving towards a greener New Surrey. The Radical Left government borrowed considerably to fund the research+development into green technology, and expanded solar and wind energies, but struggled to deal with the issue of cars and gasoline shortages ensued. At the same time, many did switch to public transport, but there was insufficient progress on the issue and the Radical Left lost the 2003 elections. Environmentalism would continue to remain a major issue in politics. The Liberals once again ran on their toll proposal and implemented it, but as the cost of driving surged, attempts to find an alternative were difficult. The Liberals chose to invest in an improved rail network to address the problem, but the solution was insufficient in the suburbs of the cities (by now several of those planned shore towns are cities in their own right). In 2010, the Liberals borrowed heavily, despite the slow recovery from the GFC, to begin the importation of electric cars, the sluggish economy however made this decision quite unpopular in the end and led to the Radical Left winning the 2011 election. The difficulty remained for the Radical Left to solve the "car issue" as the country lacked lithium, mining was not a solution and it could not import every possible car, but despite the voters' discontent with the rising cost of driving, emissions had fallen and neither party had attempted to reverse the measures taken, and thus the idea was sidelined, at least until the economy improved. The late 2010s, saw yet another surge in immigration due to the migrant crises, and the population reached right around 27 million. Today, the country has 30 million people, who are on average quite well off. The main industries remain services, especially banking and insurance, but the nation retains a mixed agricultural sector. Tourism has grown in recent years as the nation invested heavily in increasing the appeal to tourists. The political system remains parliamentary PR, as it has been in the past. The two main parties remain the Radical Left and the Liberals, and despite the parties' closeness to each other, voters tend to be satisfied with the current political situation. North of the Delta remains the center of economic power and influence and also remains by far the most populous city, even if it is no longer extremely aristocratic, as it was in its past. Its foreign policy is aligned with the West, though it remains defensive militarily. It has send financial aid to Ukraine.

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New Surrey is responding to the crisis with the government passing legislation to ensure that bank deposits remain protected. It is also willing to contribute funding to bank bailouts in the event of a global bank failure.

Meanwhile some brief political history, since it seems everyone else did this:

(The entirety of political history is in my first post, this is just an in-depth look at recent politics)

2011

Leader: Elizabeth Collins                            Josh Smith
Leader's Seat: North of the Delta                North of the Delta
Party: Radical Left                                     Liberals  
Percentage: 57%                                      43%
Swing +10%                                            -10%
Seats: 171                                               129
Seat Change: +30                                    -30

The fallout of the GFC was too much for the Liberal Party to handle. New Surrey's dominance of the banking sector meant it hit the country especially hard. The Liberal Party's problems were especially apparent in the wealthiest parts of North of the Delta, which had long favored the Liberal Party. The major financial newspapers in the country, including The Market Times and The Business Paper turned against the Liberals, rejecting their plans to expand the deficit. This led to a radical alignment in politics where the old moneyed wealthy interests, long the base of the Liberal Party delivered government to the Radical Left. For instance, in the neighborhood of Northern Heights, with an average income in excess of $550,000, the Liberals had won 70% in 2007, the Radical Left won the neighborhood for the first time with a vote percentage of 56%. The Radical Left also gained strongly in the car-dependent suburbs of North of the Delta. The "commuter belt" as it is often called objected strongly to the Liberal Party's plan to implement toll roads. The Radical Left kept its distance from the toll policy, though the Shadow Finance Minister, Mark Olson, acknowledged that the opposition may not shelve the policy, if elected. The Radical Left won swings as high as 20% in the "commuter belt." These swings were devastating to the Liberal Party, which was wiped out in an electoral landslide. The Radical Left had won a mandate for change, but many wondered just how Radical the change would be. Josh Smith's (2003-2011) government would leave with an impressive record: the implementation of toll roads across New Surrey, the completion of the plans for rail networks begun under the previous RL government (1995-2003), and the plan to begin the importation of electric cars. In the end, his government had been undone by factors including electoral fatigue, the financial crisis, and the botched implementation of the plan to import electric cars, the Prime Minister announced on Election Night that he would resign as leader once his defeat was projected at 10:30 PM.



2015:

Leader: Elizabeth Collins                 Jessica Turner
Leader's Seat: North of the Delta     North of the Delta
Party: Radical Left                          Liberals  
Percentage: 53%                           47%
Swing -4%                                   +4%
Seats: 159                                    141
Seat Change: -12                          +12

The Liberals under former Foreign Secretary Jessica Turner saw significant swings to them in. The Collins government had scrapped the Smith government's car importation plan noting it would seek other alternatives. The campaign lacked much of the intense partisan drama of 2011 with both parties largely agreeing on the major issues and with Turner elevated particularly to rescue the party's image. Turner noted in her speech following her election as leader by the party's MPs that "I know that we may not reach victory in 2015. I believe the goal of the Liberal Party is to rebuild itself, and that is my goal." The debates in this campaign were especially notable for Turner's dry delivery with the Radical Left at 51% in the polls prior to the debate and reaching 53% afterwards. On Election Night, the map looked much more like 2007, with the Liberals regaining the massive amount of ground they lost in 2011 in the affluent inner neighborhoods, but did not quite reach 2007 levels, with the party receiving 62% in the Northern Heights. The scrapping of the electric vehicle importation policy however alienated voters in the "commuter belt" who were left wondering what exactly was the alternative to more expensive driving. The Liberal Party gained swings as high as 30% in these parts of the country, doing better than 2007 in some of the neighborhoods. Green City and the rurals both held strong for the Radical Left, with Green City being home to government bureaucrats, who had long favored the Radical Left and the more deprived rurals opting for the slightly more redistributive politics of the Radical Left (the politics of the places not surrounding North of the Delta will not change substantially during this narrative). On Election Night, Turner did not announce whether or not she would step down as leader, but noted that "We have together rebuilt the Liberal Party into a viable force and all our party members and volunteers can be grateful for that."



2019:

Leader: Elizabeth Collins                 Ashok Kanvar
Leader's Seat: North of the Delta     North of the Delta
Party: Radical Left                          Liberals  
Percentage: 50.2%                         49.8%
Swing -2.8%                                  +2.8%
Seats: 151                                    149
Seat Change: -8                          +8

Collins' second term was almost immediately defined by the migrant crisis. Collins announced that New Surrey would accept as many migrants as was needed, in stark contrast to countries like the United States which capped the amount of refugees they would accept. Collins' leadership on the issue received praise from both parties. Jessica Turner stayed on as leader in the interim, but made it clear she would not accept another term. The 2017 locals provided a turning point, during the 2012 locals, the Liberal Party had suffered a total wipeout across the nation with the Radical Left enjoying a honeymoon from their already decisive 2011 victory. Perhaps the most damaging result was not just the loss of the North of the Delta council for the first time since   1927, and the margin with which it was lost. The Radical Left polled 56% and won 5 seats on the council as well as the tiebreaking mayoral position. The Radical Left Mayor, Matt Powell was a former financial executive and had run a moderate administration by all accounts and was widely expected to cruise to victory in 2017. His challenger was a 32 year old investment banker named Ashok Kanvar. Kanvar had been born in Rajasthan, India and immigrated to New Surrey when he was 10. The local members convinced that the race was gone, offered to give him a chance. Kanvar's energetic campaign and vision for change inspired voters. He talked about the need to move not just the country but the Liberal Party into the future. By Election Day, there was no doubt that the Liberal's Party crown jewel was no longer pink, but once again yellow, the Liberals polled 54% of the vote and Kanvar headed a council with a 6-5 composition in favor of the Liberals. Turner thought she had found her replacement. Turner was now nearly 75 and had already been a minister in two cabinets, she appointed Kanvar to be Shadow Finance Minister and two months later, announced her resignation. Kanvar was elected the leader at the age of 32, and his election signaled two major trends in New Surrey: the growth of the youth vote and the growth of New Surrey's minority population (around 30% of New Surrey was now nonwhite). The Liberals knew they still faced a tough battle to win back government in 2019, but were convinced the path existed to get close. Kanvar accepted the government's position on the migrant crisis, but attacked the government for low immigration levels. The 2019 Liberal campaign pledged to create the conditions in New Surrey to make skilled immigration, in particular, more desirable. The Liberals also continued to talk about the climate crisis, though Kanvar wisely kept his distance from the electric car issue, noting that while he would push to increase lithium exports, he found it unwise to discuss the specifics without knowing the situation the country was in. Everyone could agree the Liberals had run a good campaign, and Kanvar had not just won the debates, but received glowing endorsements from major newspapers such as the North of the Delta Herald and the Green City Evening Courier, newspapers which had traditionally endorsed the Radical Left Party. In the end, the Radical Left hung on to government, but just barely. The Liberal Party received large swings to it in North of the Delta, in some cases exceeding 10%, and finally was able to once again achieve 2007 margins in the well off quarters of it. The Liberal Party also did quite well in the middle class regions of the city, which traditionally voted for the Radical Left Party, and cut its margins there. But ultimately, the opposition had given the voters all the reasons to vote for it, but few for why the government had failed and a few cautious swing voters stuck with the government, getting it re-elected by the skin of its teeth.



2023:

After the close call in 2019, few expected the government to be returned to another term, but in early 2020, the government received a massive boost from the handling of the COVID pandemic. The government agreed to close the borders for 6 months and also implemented lockdowns. The government's policies stood in stark contrast to countries like the United States, where death tolls surged as states quickly reopened. In October 2020, the government began the process of reopening, while requiring masking and urging social distancing, at this time schools were also moved to a hybrid model. By the summer of 2021, COVID was largely over, and the nation had made it through with relatively few deaths (around 30,000). The government also reached its peak high of 57% in polls as the nation set out to enjoy the warm July soon for the first time in two years. The boost for the government did not last though, a combination of factors, including excessive stimulus, increased consumer spending, supply chain shortages, and dovish central banks helped to fuel worldwide inflation, and New Surrey was not an exception. By the end of 2021, the government's poll numbers had crashed to 48%. The Liberals particularly campaigned against the excessive stimulus and the dovish central banks. Kanvar pledged to make more hawkish appointments to the central bank. Bad news followed for the government in 2022 as economic growth slowed, and talk of recession increased. The central banks were forced to go for much more tighter monetary policy and the risk of overcorrection rose. The Credit Suisse crisis also greatly damaged the government's image as much of the country was dependent on banking, with the government dropping to 42% at the end of 2022. The SVB crisis and even greater presence of recession talk, once again dropped the government's poll numbers, and they sit at 39% today. Few expect the government to be re-elected with most noting the government was lucky to win in 2019, even if it may have been a poisoned chalice election. Few expect the government to change leaders as no potential successor wants to take responsibility for the ensuing cataclysmic wipeout that looks nearly assured. Thus most commentators suspect the Collins government will end as the Smith one did, a government in power for too long undone by financial problems.

Liberal Party Manifesto Pledges:

Abolish the Cap on Employment Visas
Cut Regulations on Business to Encourage Job Growth
Phase out COVID-era support
Cutting the Top Tax Rate to 25% by 2030
Pledge $400 billion for Research+Development

Radical Left Party Manifesto Pledges:

Continue to Provide COVID-era support
Increase Refugee Capacity by 200%
Freeze All Tax Rates for 5 Years
Introduce a Capital Gains Tax of 0.5% on Capital Gains above $2,500,000
Pledge $500 billion for Investment in Public Transport

On the note of the recent earthquake: The government of New Surrey is prepared to provide aid to the affected nations and will do all it can to contribute to humanitarian efforts.