[TREATY - PROPOSAL] The Second Convention of Lausanne

The Magisterium
, ,
1

This one’s a long time coming and has been in the works for a while. Some of you all remember the first Convention of Lausanne – founding document of the Consortium. While the bloc ultimately failed for its own reasons, it’s undeniable the bonds it created remained, culminating here.

This is what I meant by a higher tier of diplomatic relations, above regular allies. Ultimately we share the most similarities and interests with these three regions (with whom we’re already allied), while many of other our allies have already formed their own blocs in which we do not recognise ourselves.

Therefore I put forward the following Treaty:

Second Convention of Lausanne

The Parties to this Treaty reaffirm their faith in the purposes and principles of the former Consortium and their desire to continue on its legacy. They are determined to safeguard the freedom and independence outside powers have tried to infrige upon. They seek to promote another way in an increasingly more polarised landscape. They are resolved to unite their efforts for collective defence and everlasting cooperation. They therefore agree to the Second Convention of Lausanne:

Article 1 - Sovereignty and Mutual Recognition

(1) The Confederated East Pacific, as instituted by the Concordat of The East Pacific, and any legal successor to it, is hereby recognized as the legitimate government of The East Pacific by all signatories.

(2) The Government of Thaecia, as established by the Constitution of Thaecia, and any legal successor to it, is hereby recognized as the legitimate government of Thaecia by all signatories.

(3) The Government of The Free Nations Region, as established by the Constitution of The Free Nations Region, and any legal successor to it, is hereby recognized as the legitimate government of The Free Nations Region by all signatories.

(4) The Government of the Alstroemerian Commonwealths, as established by the populace of the same, and any legal successor to it, is hereby recognized as the legitimate government of the Alstroemerian Commonwealths by all signatories.

(5) All signatories will recognise only the legitimate governments of any future member states as established by the populace of the same.

(6) No Signatory may cede sovereign control of their territorial holdings to another entity.

  • (a) The territorial holdings of signatories shall include jump points, event regions, and colonies.
  • (b) Sovereign control does not encompass regions whose founder nation do not belong to any signatory in any capacity.

Article 2 - Diplomatic Relations

(1) The signatories shall establish and maintain in-game embassies with one another.

(2) The signatories shall maintain off-site embassies with one another, consistent with the facilities provided to other treatied allies.

(3) Each signatory shall strive to keep the others updated on their regional happenings.

Article 3 - Defence, Intelligence, and Security

(1) The signatories will not invade or assist in a third-party invasion of the other signatory’s home region or territories. The signatories also agree never to support, encourage or engage in any attempted subversion against the other. It is agreed upon that participating on the opposite sides of a battlefield in a third-party region will not constitute a violation of the treaty.

(2) Should any of the signatories come under military attack against their legitimate government, the other signatories must provide military assistance.

  • (a) Any signatory that does not maintain a standing army shall be exempt from the requirement of having to provide military assistance.

(3) The signatories must provide military assistance for one another in delegacy transitions, if requested by the transitioning signatory.

  • (a) Any signatory that does not maintain a standing army shall be exempt from the requirement of having to provide military assistance.

(4) The signatories agree never to engage in any form of espionage against each other. For the purposes of this treaty, “espionage” means engaging a person to act under false pretences in a signatory region without the authorisation of the legitimate government of that region.

(5) Any signatory with information regarding the security of another’s region, legitimate government, or community, shall share that information with said signatory.

  • (a) Related signatories shall keep any shared intelligence confidential within their governments and make public intelligence on terms mutually agreed upon by the other signatory.
  • (b) The above section and sub-section shall be ignored if following them would violate applicable laws, or the terms of service for NationStates or said Signatory’s forum provider, or unduly compromise said signatory’s sources of information.

(6) The signatories shall maintain a direct communication line between one another, and will communicate collectively if one of their securities is threatened.[/list]

Article 4 - Cooperation and Cultural Agreements

(1) The signatories will agree to encourage and support cultural exchanges and joint cultural events. The signatories agree to fully commit to promoting joint cultural events, and are encouraged to collaborate on the organisation of such events.

  • (a) The signatories will endeavour to host at least one major interregional event between each other every eight months.

(2) All signatories hereby declare intent to further cooperate and associate outside of the terms of this treaty.

(3) This treaty encourages the organization and execution of joint military operations where possible between signatories in order to further their regional interests and their common alignment.

(4) This treaty encourages the ratification of further treaties between signatories, where none exist, to further their diplomatic commitments with each other.

Article 5 - General Provisions

(1) This treaty shall enter into force on the date of its ratifications by the original signatories as listed within Article (1) Sections (1) through (4) in accordance with their respective procedures.

(2) This treaty may be amended when all parties agree to an amendment; at any time a signatory may propose amendments to this Treaty.

(3) Additional regions may apply to join the Treaty and then accede once they have a) been approved by all signatories, via their own internal processes, at the moment of their application to join; b) ratified this treaty in accordance with their respective procedures.

  • (a) Acceded regions shall join on an equal footing with the original member regions in all respects whatsoever.

(4) Any signatory may exit this treaty via their own internal processes; they shall endeavour to give a week’s notice before withdrawal and will make all reasonable efforts to seek a diplomatic solution before withdrawal.

(5) The repeal of this treaty shall not necessarily be seen as an act of hostility by any signatory, and shall not necessarily dictate closure of relations between the repealing party and any signatory, and shall not preclude cooperation between the repealing party and any of the remaining signatories.

2

Let’s start with this format. My firm belief is that this format is a worse failure than the first Convention of Lausanne. I don’t like it at all. First of all, bullet points and then parentheses with lowercase letters? No. Just…just no. Please. Please no. Second of all, everyone in the Magisterium has seemingly agreed that parentheses suck, so just in general, why. Third of all, the whole format goes against the conclusion of the recent formatting debate. That said, most of that can be granted some allowance because treaties are between regions of differing formatting ideas, so whatever. Uh just please remove the extra list command ending at the end of Article 3.

(1)(6) is weird to me. Why is this necessary? Why do we care if Thaecia gives its High Court region to someone else? Or if FNR gives away the FNDA’s basis of operations to another region because it doesn’t want/need it anymore? Or if AC decides to give Japan back to TCB/BOM because it has failed. Or worse yet, if Yggdrasil or some other AC region decides to become independent? This seems like a strange clause with no real manifest function, and quite a few latent dysfunctions.

(5)(3) doesn’t seem legal to me. It seems like it bypasses our legal process for changing treaties. Let’s say a rogue delegate wants a mutual defense treaty with a region hostile to TEP so they can justify their forces entering our region or whatever. All they have to do is get all the regions’ Executive governments to say “Yup” with no legislative oversight, and then the region can join. Even if that’s not the case, I think a process for going around the Magisterium with treaties is just lame/bad in general. Not to mention, I’m not sure if this clause can be legally binding at all given its Unconcordatial.

I understand I could have said all this earlier, before it was being considered for Magisterium approval, and I apologize for that, but I think these concerns are kind of important.

3

The format is just me copy and pasting the NS Dispatch so just disregard/give me the one we use here.

For Article 1 Section 6 it’s your standard sovereignty clause, though I might note Japan is excluded from this through subsection b.

For Article 5 Section 3 I’ve made an edit and sent it over to the other parties. The intent wasn’t for it to be illegal by bypassing the magisterium but writing wasn’t clear enough.

4

I’ve never seen a “standard sovereignty clause” nor do I remember including it in any of the like six treaties I helped write. I’m not going to vote against because of it, and at this point I don’t think it’s important enough to warrant making all other regions change it, especially since FNR seems to have already started voting, but I’d like an explanation of what it means and why it was included just to understand the treaty better.

5

(2) The signatories shall maintain off-site embassies with one another, consistent with the facilities provided to other treatied allies.

Is Discord sufficient? Seems to be, given the wording.

  • (a) The signatories will endeavour to host at least one major interregional event between each other every eight months.

That’s an odd schedule. Annually would be easier to keep track of.

Otherwise, unlike Aiv, I couldn’t possibly care less about the format of treaties - only the mechanisms. :clown_face: And this one looks pretty standard overall and includes all the military assistance clauses I’d expect of any worthwhile treaty.

6

It’s a standard clause coming from Thaecia, should’ve precised it. It’s essentially meant to prevent any region’s government to cease any sovereign “territory” that was at the time construed as part of the signatory. I believe the requirements are strict enough (the founder account must be owned by the signatory itself, and not like a random member they can’t force to hand over the account for example) for this to apply to only important holdings, especially the main regions.

It does. It’s basically a “do whatever fits you” clause.

We thought 6 months was too short and one year a bit of an easy commitment (ie NDay alone could qualify) so went for the middle ground.

7

That makes sense, but why is it important to include? Is it to ensure that major changes in the region’s operation null the treaty so it can be negotiated again? Also the “strict enough requirements” aren’t mentioned at all. I just don’t understand why we, as a foreign region, should care if ownership of signatories’ regions changed in a legal and peaceful way.

8

I motion to vote on this Treaty.

1 Like
9

I second the motion

1 Like
10

Motion to vote is not recognized.

@Altys as the Delegate/Sponsor of this proposal must motion or designate another Citizen as an additional Sponsor who can motion.

11

I motion to vote on this Treaty.

12

i second the motion

13

Acknowledged.

Vote here