Global politics in a.t.b. 2018?

[mjp.livejournal.com]

OK folks, discussion questions abound.

I'm doing a presentation at Otakon on politics in anime. The last one I did was in 2005 and the world and anime have changed enough to merit a near-complete reworking. I plan to spend a few slides talking about Code Geass and its allegory on world politics.

I want to get some opinions, facts (canon, fanon, or pure interpolation), and observations about political groups and their interplay on the world stage.

So here's your chance to expound; I'll keep an eye and ask clarification questions and such.

The Holy Empire of Britannia: We know the history of its founding, the suppression of the Revolution in the American colonies, and how the empire came to America after being semi-forced out. We know it's a pure aristocracy that treats colonial subjects poorly. But what is it like for Britannian citizens? Is there a parliament, and if so, is it a puppet for the Emperor or does it have some kind of post-Magna Carta legislative authority subject to Imperial approval? Can honorary Brittanians vote? What kind of health care is there? Taxes?

The European Union: Given that it formed in the 1800s, was there any kind of flux into socialism or even communism? What was the Industrial Revolution like? Did the various ethnic and national groups band together to oppose Britannia, or was there the same outflow of immigrants that the United States saw from the 1850s to the 1910s? Was there a spread of anti-Jewish or anti-Catholic sentiment? Was there a World War that created Hitler? Is there a unified European economic policy?

Potential spoilers for episode 3 indicate there's some military unity, but what bout the citizens?

The Chinese Federation: is it just mainland China? If there was a rise of communism, was there still Chairman Mao? Given that there's an imperial system of eunuchs, it seems that China is still back in the T'ang or Manchu-era system of government. Is China bigger than its current-era borders? Can they withstand Britannia militarily? What's their economy like? Does their emperor/head of state control power? Why hasn't Britannia outright invaded them?

Third parties: are there any major non-governmental organizations that help influence politics and policy (e.g. Greenpeace, Doctors Without Borders, Hamas, FARC, Hutu/Tutsi gangs, drug runners)?

Anything else? I want to get all the input I can, so feel free to bring up any points I might have missed.

I'll credit the community en masse for any info that goes into my panel. :-D

Comments

[spleener.livejournal.com]

I was always under the impression that Britannia is basically Briton that never got out of their 'absolute monarchy' and 'imperialism' phases, if you want to give them a tl;dr version to start off. One of the reasons why the EEU formed was probably that the individual countries in it realized that their choices were to consolidate or risk eventually becoming Area 42, I'm guessing. And because Sunrise thought things would be simpler if there were just three world powers to worry about in the story.

Of course, there are plenty of things in the history that make no sense (among other things, how Japan gets into a parliamentary system with a Prime Minister without America kicking its ass and making it do that in WW2) which can only be explained by the fact that it's a Sunrise show and Sunrise is practically defined by the fact that they'll pull the most retarded things out of their ass for the sake of things looking cool/fanservice/ease of writing.

[euphyi.livejournal.com]

Of course, there are plenty of things in the history that make no sense (among other things, how Japan gets into a parliamentary system with a Prime Minister without America kicking its ass and making it do that in WW2)

1. The Meiji restoration happened before WWII. This was a period where the Japanese actively, liberally, and voluntarily (albeit, motivated by political threat), sought to learn and incorporate elements from other cultures. It was also a period of great social upheaval. Is it so insensible that they might have tried to incorporate some form of constitutional monarchy under such circumstances? The Chinese republic in actual history (under Sun Yat Sen) was not forced upon them by the Americans, after all.

2. Among other things, Japanese history has always been very clannish. Personally, if you think about how clan systems work, I don't think it's such a big stretch for the Japanese to have switched to a Parliamentary system with a Prime Minister. It would just be institutionalizing something extant and organic.

I was always under the impression that Britannia is basically Briton that never got out of their 'absolute monarchy' and 'imperialism' phases, if you want to give them a tl;dr version to start off. One of the reasons why the EEU formed was probably that the individual countries in it realized that their choices were to consolidate or risk eventually becoming Area 42, I'm guessing. And because Sunrise thought things would be simpler if there were just three world powers to worry about in the story.

3. I'm not so sure about Area 42; I dunno about the founding of Britannia because I haven't been keeping up but given what I know of actual European history might it not be a Napoleonic legacy?

[spleener.livejournal.com]

I remember skimming through something on the history of the Geass world and that Napoleon was a big player in it all, I forget exactly what happened with him, though.

[wishmasterfuuma.livejournal.com]

He's the one that chased the Britannian royal family out of Britain and into America where they re-set up shop and became an empire. That was Napoleon's role.