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Glastieve, officially the Republic of Glastieve, is a micronation and self-declared sovereign state located on the British Isles in Western Europe. The country's territory is divided into two separate exclaves, each corresponding to a constituency and a cultural group, both of which are on moorland and enclaved entirely by the United Kingdom. Glastieve has no single administrative centre or official capital city, and due to the country's small size and rural nature, a minority of national institutions are headquartered in buildings owned or rented by the Government outside of the territory. Its economy is largely service-based and based on digital and creative industries, although there is also a growing agrarian sector and a market for the export of bespoke-produced products and souvenirs. Glastieve's culture, including Glastieven mythology and the cultures of Acteriendia and Chartersville before their independence as part of the republic, is an important and organic part of the country; the nation's cultural distinctness from the UK forms, along with the will of people, part of the country's basis for sovereignty. As a micronation, Glastieve is part of the MicroWiki Community, and identifies as New Secessionist. The state is organised in a unitary, hierarchical system with an emphasis on providing mechanisms to realistically govern its citizens.

Glastieve is a unitary republic without a single head of state. The country's government system combines direct and representative democracy and is designed for a micronational scale. The supreme legislative body of the republic is the Cabinet of Glastieve, which also retains some executive functions, such as the ability to declare war. Legislation passed by the Cabinet is referred to as primary legislation and is supreme over several types of secondary legislation. The Cabinet meets once a week and makes decisions through democracy, functioning as a single corporation aggregate when performing a legal role. The Cabinet is composed of eight cabinet ministers, who are the leaders of eight government departments. Collectively, these eight departments form the Government of Glastieve, which functions as the executive and employs the civil service. Government departments may also pass departmental legislation, which functions in the same way as primary legislation but must relate to one of that department's portfolios, and have several other legislative tools equivalent to statutory instruments. The Cabinet is elected once every three years at every third annual convention of the General Assembly of Glastieve. Any citizen can attend and speak at a convention of the General Assembly. The Assembly must vote to ratify reports from government departments, with ministers expected to make an annual speech to the Assembly, and can pass motions, which are non-binding and general requests to the Government that are expected to be turned into formal legislation. Some additional powers are also delegated to the Assembly as a safety net for the failures of other institutions. Its role has been compared to a company or charity Annual General Meeting or to the party conference of the incumbent administration in the British system of governance. Both the Army and the Judiciary are independent of these three primary apparatus of the state, and certain agencies, such as the GSS, also operate with a level of independence.

History
Glastieve's physical territories in both England and Scotland are rural moorland and have little history of human habitation. Acteriendia's territory has been uninhabited since a climate change from around 1000 BC, with the exception of Watchet Hill Cottage, a partially ruined stone cottage built in the late 1890s and last occupied by non-Glastievens in the mid-1960s. There is no evidence of post-prehistoric human occupation in Chartersville's territories before Glastieve. The history of Glastieven culture stretches back an uncertain length of time, although written records of Glastieven mythology have existed in Acteriendia since at least 2012. Both Acteriendia and Chartersville have their own distinct traditions, and Acteriendia's is usually seen as having emerged between 2012 and 2014, enjoying a pre-independence cultural golden age in mid to late 2015.

Glastieve Cultural Association (February to November 2017)
After Skovaji's demise, a gradual transition of power in Acteriendia saw two larger cultural groups led by a mixed-group unofficial council. Concerns over group cohesion, a growing political desire for independence and reintegration into micronationalism and a sense of cultural distinctness led to the idea of non-serious "independence" and serious self-governance both being discussed. In February 2017, over about a week, an organisation called the Glastieve Cultural Association (GCA) was created. The GCA was similar in nature to the American legal concept of a domestic dependent nation, but had no official legal relationship with the UK; instead, the GCA's role was to provide governance, conflict resolution and the economy to Acteriendia, which was then seen as the whole of Glastieve. The GCA was also active in the MicroWiki Community, claiming to be an independent nation called the Republic of Glastieve in a whitewash known as the Sovereignty Retcon, but left in a controversy and was briefly active in the Internmicronational Community before withdrawing from multilateral intermicronationalism.

Criticism over the way in which the GCA was portrayed in the community and the unofficial power afforded to Glastievens who participated in the community, questions over the morality and legitimacy of activities undertaken by the Glastieve Secret Service (GSS) as part of Operation Kingfisher and Operation Nightjar whilst creating the Intermicronational Community, and concerns over internal political struggles led to the Nightjar Inquiry in October 2017, which recommended a reorganisation of the GCA's internal structure in what would become Project Zeta in November 2017. Project Zeta drastically reduced the size of the Cabinet and Government, and was intended to encourage increased competitiveness for Government positions, counter inactivity and increase the Government's power over Acteriendia. After respected politician Michael Howe lost the initial election to former military general and less traditionally influential politician Genevieve Unak, Mark Kavanah accused Robert Catcheside of attempting to cause her to resign and of giving Howe undue power in Government, and resigned in protest. Unak and newly elected minister William Allen also resigned, forming a political party called Reform that intended to create a government not including any of the old guard, although Kavanah (who had been planning to resign anyway to focus on his newspaper The Glastieven) was their election strategist.

Glastieve Planning Board (November and December 2017)
After winning the election without McMillan or Catcheside even standing, the Reform-led Government held an independence referendum, in which a strong majority voted for independence. As a result, the GCA was disbanded and replaced by the Glastieve Planning Board. The Glastieve Planning Board spent just under two months recruiting, including Chartersville joining Glastieve, expanding the definition of Glastieve to include two distinct but related "cultural groups;" sourcing territory, including extensive research into English common land laws that ultimately concluded a terra nullius option was not possible or desirable; creating a new government structure; and sourcing infrastructure, buildings and equipment for the Government to use. Unlike with the GCA and the Republic of Glastieve, the Planning Board's history was not recorded in detail, and it was never a part of any micronational community. On 1 January 2018, the Glastieve Planning Board signed a declaration of independence and became the Republic of Glastieve.

Republic of Glastieve (January 2018 to date)
The Republic of Glastieve declared independence from the United Kingdom on 1 January 2018 at a special convention of the General Assembly. The Cabinet was formally elected at the same meeting, with Robert Catcheside elected as the Minister for National Identity and Culture; Daniel Carter as the Minister for Public Administration; Will Campbell as the Minister for Public Finance and Economics; Zac Murlock as the Minister for Business and Markets; Joe Bradstreet as the Minister for Health and Education; Isabella Wall as the Minister for Foreign and External Affairs; Michael Howe as the Minister for Infrastructure and Internal Affairs; and Genevieve Unak as the Minister for Constitutional Affairs and the Judiciary. At the same convention, the Assembly passed Motion #101, which requested that the Cabinet pass the Micronations Act 2017, which had been completed by the Planning Board; Motion #102, which requested that the Cabinet pass legislation to replace the GCA's law; and Motion #103, which requested that the Cabinet join the MicroWiki Community. The last motion was the most contentious, with over an hour-and-a-half of discussion taking place before the final vote, but Motions #101 and #102 passed unanimously. On the same day, the Cabinet met, and they voted to pass the Micronations Act 2017 into law, with "2017" retained in the title, and to vote under the same act to trigger Glastieve's ascension to the MicroWiki Community.

Politics
Glastieve has a unique system of governance that does not incorporate a single head of state and uses direct democracy to make some important decisions, although technically the right to make these decisions is vested in the General Assembly, an AGM-like body that convenes once a year and allows any citizen to speak and vote, and not the citizenry. Additionally, Glastieve has an uncodified constitution, with the declaration of independence stating that "the Republic of Glastieve shall have no singular constitutional document, and this Declaration of Independence shall not be taken to be a constitution for the new state." In Glastieven constitutive theory, the declaration of independence provides a mechanism by which the will of the people, the cultural distinctness of the Glastieven nation, and the traditions and observances of Acteriendia and Chartersville may be recognised as the three bases for the authority of the Cabinet of Glastieve, which as a corporation aggregate functions as a head of state and is the source of the power of the Government and Assembly. It is debatable whether the authority of the Cabinet stemming from the "will of the people" refers to the referendum result in November 2017 or to subsequent elections through the Assembly that determine the composition of the Cabinet; however, regardless of whether or not elections are necessary for this aspect of the governmental mandate, they can be considered a "tradition and observance" of the state, making them necessary for a complete mandate. Therefore, Glastieve is an elective democracy by its constitution.

The Cabinet of Glastieve is composed of eight cabinet ministers, who lead the eight government departments. It is the main legislative body of Glastieve, and its most important role is to pass primary legislation (referred to as "Acts," mirroring the Westminster system.) The Cabinet is also the ultimate decision-making body of the executive and retains some executive powers. These mostly relate to foreign affairs, such as the ability to declare war, although technically any powers not specifically delegated to the government remain the prerogative of the Cabinet. The Government of Glastieve is the executive and refers collectively to eight departments led by ministers and employing civil servants. It derives its powers from the Cabinet through portfolios, which are general briefs that give departments "areas of responsibility" within which they are allowed to pass secondary legislation named "departmental legislation;" for example, the Department for Public Finance and the Economy has a portfolio named "taxation," which allows the department to set taxation policy through departmental legislation without consulting the Cabinet. Departments may also be granted "legislative freedom," which allows them to pass "subordinate legislation" that functions in the same way as a statutory instrument under the Westminster system. Finally, departments can grant the right to exercise their powers to other bodies, through "public charters." In addition, both the Cabinet and departments can give the Assembly a vote on a matter; this is almost always used to give the Assembly a vote on legislation requested through a motion and is referred to as "handing back." The Cabinet is elected once every three years at every third annual convention of the Assembly. Any citizen can attend and speak at a convention of the General Assembly. The Assembly must vote to ratify reports from government departments, with ministers expected to make an annual speech to the Assembly, and can pass motions, which are non-binding and general requests to the Government that are expected to be turned into formal legislation. The Assembly can also pass a legally binding vote of no confidence in any Cabinet minister or senior civil servant.

There are no political parties in Glastieve. Partisan politics are viewed with suspicion, as previous attempts to establish political parties resulted in the Partisan Period, a period in the history of the GCA marked by political manoeuvring and scheming that resulted in the infamous Matthewsgate scandal, and the rise of Reform, which caused the GCA to "collapse" before the Glastieve Planning Board was established the next day by non-Reform loyalists in the wake of the referendum result. There is also a strong association between "communications" (used as a common euphemism for spin, sofa government and Machiavellianism) and political parties existing between elections. Summarising a lot of the negative feeling around a partisan system, Daniel Carter described the creation of political parties as "unnecessary to the size of our micronation, and therefore simulationist and pointless, and encouraging spin and bad behaviour." Glastieven political views are generally left-wing liberal, with a survey in early 2018 showing every minister being part of the bottom-left square on the political compass test, and two being within one square of both edges. However, other influences on Glastieve are more socially conservative in nature, such as Acteriendianism and Confucianism. The politics of modern-day Glastieve are, broadly, similar to those of the Egalitarian Party during the aforementioned Partisan Period. Elections are rarely competitive, and the second-place candidate is usually expected to become a senior member of the civil service in the same department, such as in the GCA DoGA election, April 2017. On the other hand, when Michael Howe was removed from the Cabinet in the GCA Cabinet election, November 2017, he became a political analyst for The Glastieven and was accused of attempting to use "communications" (in the euphemistic sense) to re-enter the Cabinet undemocratically.

The Army and Judiciary are independent of the Government, although as of January 2018, neither of them has any personnel. In the GCA, both the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court and the Field Marshal of the Armies were members of the Cabinet ex officio. The current system is based on the structure of the British armed forces: both the Judiciary and the Army should elect their own organising committees, similar to the British Armed Forces Council, and report to their respective ministers (the Minister for Constitutional Affairs and the Judiciary and the Minister for Infrastructure and Internal Affairs) for anything beyond day-to-day administration. Other public bodies' powers come from government departments, who can create public bodies to exercise their powers using public charters. These bodies are theoretically comparable to quangos or executive agencies in the American or British system of governance but are generally strongly attached to their department (and minister), making them more like civil service directorates or smaller committees. Glastieven political culture generally frowns upon individuals holding more than one title; this is known as the "duality of posts principle" and stems from its prohibition under the law in the GCA in order to avoid the ridiculous structure of government in Skovaji and many smaller micronations, where one or two people supposedly oversee a number of "departments." The principle is no longer enshrined in law, partially in order to allow the same group of people to function as different bodies or committees at different times in order to share out talent, but remains an important part of the political zeitgeist. The Glastieve Secret Service (GSS) is exempt from the usual restrictions on organisational structure, and dates from the early history of the GCA, operating in Glastieve with "special permission" and being directly accountable to the Cabinet. The Mythological Foundation, a charity dediacted to Glastieven mythology, also has "special permission" to exempt it from charity and business regulation.

Internationally, Glastieve has a policy of pursuing friendly relations and alliances as much as possible. Glastieve enjoys a close bilateral partnership with Delvera.

Geography
Glastieve's total territorial claim is around 240 km², which would make it the eighth-smallest sovereign state and the fifth-smallest sovereign state that is not an island country. Its territory is divided into two exclaves, one corresponding to Acteriendia (which is 181 km² in size) and one to Chartersville (which is 59 km² in size). As a New Secessionist nation, Glastieve's territorial claim is considered to be on a "separate and parallel" plane to the United Kingdom's, so the UK continue to provide services to Glastieven territory and Glastieve recognises the UK's territorial claim to the areas also claimed by Glastieve. Both of Glastieve's claims are rural moorland; Chartersville's territory composes the eastern, non-forested part of the Campsie Fells, considered by the UK to be part of Scotland, and Acteriendia's composes a large part of northern Dartmoor, considered by the UK to be part of Devon, England.

Glastieve's territory is generally high above sea level. The highest peak in Chartersville's territory is Earl's Seat, at 578 metres, and the highest peak in Acteriendia's territory and in Glastieve is High Willhays, at 621 metres. By the traditional English and Scottish definition of a mountain as being over 610 metres, Glastieve has two mountain peaks - High Willhays and Yes Tor (which is two metres lower than High Willhays), both of which are in Acteriendia. The lowest point in Glastieve is uncertain - the lowest point in Dartmoor National Park, Doghole Bridge, is to the east of Glastieve and is not on the high moor, and there is no recorded lowest point for the Campsie Fells. The lowest point recorded in Acteriendia's territory was 390 metres extremely near the border with the UK, but this was before the territory's borders had been finalised and the Glastieve Planning Board did not record the location precisely enough or explain the methodology used to calculate the height, so this cannot be verified; it has also not been compared to other points in Acteriendia's or Chartersville's territories.