Notes on San Marino
mattlakeman.org
mattlakeman.org
The map shown of 14th century Europe is doing better than most in that recognizes that several borders (but still too few) are fuzzy rather than lines on a map. The other problem you run into is that, in most non-state societies (in the Weberian sense of "monopoly on the legitimate use of force"), political linkages tend to be fragile and based more on personal ties so that a Big Man's successor may well repudiate the alliances and homages the Big Man makes. Which makes it hard to draw maps, because is Burgundy a part of France? The Duke of Burgundy is as often as not fighting the French king.
This is what makes adjudicating the "oldest continuous republic" hard, because at what point do we say that the homages San Marino is paying stops counting as being part of that country?
– country (geographically defined territory with something binding it)
– state (political entity with sovereign authority over a territory)
– nation-state (a state in which most people share some common identity)
Another reminder that boring is good.
In reality, of course, they produce a great deal more than cuckoo clocks; one of the most competitive pharmaceutical industries in the world, industrial chemicals, defence technology, agriculture, financial services, food processing, etc - up to a trillion or so per annum IIRC.
and nothing of note has happened in any of them since World War II.
Further again, that quote appears to address present era Switzerland 500 years after the infamous time of the House of Borgia.
2/ The OP is about San Marino; the quoted excerpt is referencing the European city states of San Marino, Liechtenstein, Monaco, and Andorra; hence the flow of comments you point at is not concerned with Switzerland per se.
3/ The referenced quote is nevertheless false, because cuckoo clocks were invented in the Dresden in early 1600s; only popular culture associate them to Switzerland.
https://www.laphamsquarterly.org/politics/miscellany/history...
Things would be very different in Switzerland if it bordered the Eastern Bloc or the Mediterranean Sea.
Switzerland had a civil war in 1847 (the Sonderbund War), between the Protestant-dominated liberal federal government and an alliance of conservative Catholic cantons (the “Sonderbund”), who were incensed by the federal government’s anti-Catholic policies. As wars go, it was relatively brief and bloodless - it lasted 3 weeks and less than 100 were killed on both sides - still, it does show that Swiss history is not all “peace” and “brotherly love”.
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/sanmarino/...
gives you a good picture. (Seems like he was incarcerated for domestic violence..)
Parliamentary republics do tend to form less stable governments, but it's also true that you can really govern by compromising both with your party, allies, and opposition.
In over 50 years not a single parliamentary republic has turned authoritarian, in fact only Sri Lanka in the 70s has done so since world war 2.
Presidential and semi-presidential republics? They are all just waiting for the right person at the right time, from Turkey to Nicaragua to the Philippines to Russia, etc, etc.
I don't think any modern country should aim at anything less than boring, albeit unstable, parliamentary republics, with presidents that are not elected by popular vote (like in Germany or Italy) and have no executive power.
If your country is doing good, you likely want minor/middle steer adjustements, not radical changes at each new vote.
In fact, I'd say that Ireland's (directly elected) presidency has been one of the most notably successful, particularly in the post-1990 period when it's taken on more of a "cultural" rather than "political" focus.
A political head of state is not good imho, just ends up vetoing and doing politics instead of acting as a guardian of the constitution and institutions.
It's just a matter of "elect president from government's opposition and he's now emboldened to veto and block anything because he has popular mandate to do so".
Politicians electing the president seems a better option because they need to compromise on an individual that will allow any party to govern and be checked.
> In over 50 years not a single parliamentary republic has turned authoritarian, in fact only Sri Lanka in the 70s has done so since world war 2.
Also I take issue with this stawnt as basically no Presidential Republic that had a functioning Presidential Republic prior to WW2 has gone authoritarian. What your pointing to has more to do with the overall legitimacy of governments themselves.
In addition your claim itself is false as we have plenty of parliamentary republics that devolve into authoritarian dictatorships including but not limited to - Mynamar - Nigeria - Ghana - Uganda - South Korea (Second Republic) - Syria - Pakistan experiencing various military coups.
And no, the numbers are very clear, presidential and semi presidential republics absolutely dominate the share of countries turning authoritarian.
Presidents do not need a majority trust of their parliament, support of their coalition nor party, as prime ministers need every single day. A PM is one vote away from having to resign, which is why those governments change much more often.
Presidents can claim popular mandate, prime ministers less so, you vote the party, which forms coalitions, not the candidate directly (albeit some parties change name to include the candidate name). This is incredibly important because it authorizes individual to do almost as they please and default to the fact that they were voted to do so.
Presidential and semi presidential republics naturally breed a personal cult that is difficult to replicate.
Mature developed countries have more to lose allowing individuals major adjustments testing their power boundaries nonstop (see this presidency in US) than to gain.
What about Turkey? (I consider it among the parliamentary republics as it was so until 2017, when the authoritarian shift was already ongoing. In other words, the sequence has been: parliamentary, then turned authoritarian, then changed to presidential.)
The whole of San Marino proper (the capital) was blanketed by fog, so my pictures were worthless, but the regent guard and their Christmas attire (Red and Green uniform) always made me chuckle.
TFA was a nice read, cheers!
There's really amazing hiking out there.
Not sure if these count.. they are an oddly specific subset of "washing machines"
https://www.lasplendor.sm/servizi/igiene-ambientale/tecnolog...
https://www.lintrepida.sm/noleggio-attrezzature-per-pulizia/
It makes sense that they each sell. I dunno, a dozen of those a year, as the largest part of the (industrial) GDP? the easiest places to find a citizen, though?
Evidence of others?
I thought the beach area was utterly uninteresting but the old town is very nice indeed. And lots to do, random wine festivals, amazing views, beautiful old architecture (incl a beautiful Roman bridge), etc.
Admittedly I went for the Italo Disco and found none (zero! zilch! in the birthplace of italo disco! wth guys!), so that was a disappointment.
It’s because I read it that I said this.