A Federal Politan Idea (FPI)
New-Politan-Article-1
Should a people-group that belong to a demographic, say characterised by culture-X, have the final say on how another group, say characterised by another culture-Y, do their business?
Let’s say the X-demographic is characterised by the French language. And say the Y-demographic is characterised by the Korean language. They both claim to belong to ‘one nation’, ‘one city’, ‘one kingdom’, or ‘one constitution’ of Ivory Coast. But the Koreans where brought there as slaves by another group, called Americans. Although some of the French already lived there, they also owned slaves and perpetuated the same after the American slave owners arrived.
How one would choose a government? If we use the marxist “oppressor/oppressed” principle, then we would have to let the Koreans decide for the French how to do their business. If we use some pseudo-facsist “colonizer/colonised” logic, then the French would have to make all the decisions. This, is exactly how most political theorists arrive at democracy as being the best form of government. It avoids a dictatorship by special interest groups.
But democracy will still not be able to address the issue of how each of these groups might decide on which policies or government they decide on. And this particular decision might be influenced by 1) religion, 2) language, 3) socio-economics, or 4) how one feels about the history of slavery or colonialism.
The resolution to this dilemma, for many, is a new-found “idealism”. Which is bound, almost certainly, to be along communist or fascist lines. But those “ideals” may not escape the prevailing ethnic division and may still appeal along the lines of cultural preference.
This is where, for most, the only solution remaining would be to absolve all categories, ideological, ethnic, racial, or religious, and submit to a more liberal status i.e. a new citizenship, a new identity. A New Ivory-Coastian.
But this is usually insufficient. I believe this is because if one is influenced by those around them, especially with language and cultural preferences attached, there is more likely to be a preference for “political stability” for some (e.g. the french) and “political revolution” for others (e.g. the koreans).
The federal politan idea is the following : 1) to form a federation of municipal states purely along cultural- or language-lines, 2) to ensure equal funds and infrastructure for schools, roads, services and business opportunities, 3) allow for cultural preferences in terms of religion, language, marriage and education to be self-determined by each state, 4) allow for clear conditions for naturalisation and denaturalisation (especially in cases of incitement to violence or discrimination against the other group).
