[ ACADEMY RP ] Eleanora di Arcadia :: Mother of the Republic

[Montedica]

Mother of the Most Serene Republic of Montedica

Eleanora Di Arcadia

Eleanora di Arcadia (born 19 November 1893 in Porcella, Montedica – 18 November 1979) was a prominent Montenzari politician, who is considered the Mother of the Republic due to her prominent efforts to modernize the State and strengthen the democratic institutions in the nation which had been under a dictatorship for over 16 years. She was elected as Dogeressa in 1918, 1922, and 1926, serving for 12 consecutive years before being re-elected in 1956 for another 4-year term.

She remains one of the most popular and successful doges of the history of the Republic of Montedica and is widely praised for her role as a social reformer and the introduction of the political system of "Oddonism" which dominated the Republic from 1920 to 1970 and still has great influence in the government and the Partito Democratic. During her government, many state policies were promoted that still remain in force in Montedica to this day, some of which even are considered central and indispensable in the way of thinking of the modern citizens of the Republic, such as the secularisation of the state, universal suffrage, free education, free healthcare and the implementation of various labor rights like the 8-hour workday and unemployment benefits.

In general, she is considered a great promoter of the welfare state model and state interventionism in basic aspects of the economy. Eleanora died on November 18, 1979, at the age of 85 after falling on her head during a Rally. She was quickly hospitalized and underwent surgery to stop a cerebral hemorrhage. While the operation succeeded, the trauma the fall induced on her head, unfortunately, made her pass away only one day before her 86th birthday. She remains rest in the Central Cemetery of Porcella in the Crypt of Honour of the Republic.

The First Dogeship

Eleanora's political career took a great leap forward when she managed to successfully negotiate with former dictator Armando Bartone to step down from his position, reestablishing democratic elections in the Republic in 1918, which, in part thanks to the support of Armando himself, she managed to win with a slight margin, defeating Tommaso Scalzitti, the candidate of the Partito Nazionale di Montedica.

Her first term as Dogeressa (1918 – 1922) was dedicated more than anything to the re-establishment of the democratic institutions of the Republic after the end of the dictatorship, the empowerment of the National Council as the only institution capable of creating laws, the creation of the Supreme Court of Justice as the maximum judiciary authority and total electoral reform, enabling universal suffrage allowing all of the citizens of the country, regardless of their sex, race, education or economic position, to exercise the right –and the obligation– to vote. Her reforms allowed the vote of every individual a secret, a key and important aspect in modern-day elections.

During her second term as Dogeressa (1922-1926), Eleanora began working on social reforms, among which was the secularisation of the state. In the early 20th century, Montedica endorsed Catholicism as its national religion due to its large presence in the Montenzari Demographics. However, with immigration on the rise, Eleanora urged the National Council to separate the church from the state and advised the secularisation of the government. It was first viewed as controversial, a view that only lasted a few months before many more began accepting it. In addition to her religious reforms, Eleanora pursued educational reforms. Eleanora amended the 1885 Constitution of Montedica in order to facilitate free, compulsory, and secular education for the rest of the population, in hopes of increasing the 52.8% literacy rate in the country.

Thanks to this reform, all educational institutions became under the control of the state, which had the responsibility to provide the right to education given at birth to all of its populace. This endeavor paved the way for the Public University of Porcella to witness a large increase in its budget and funds, allowing it to expand throughout the country, and develop its methods in teaching.

In the third term of Dogeressa Eleanora (1926-1930), she focused on economic reforms, highly transforming Montedica which had witnessed a struggle in its economy for a few decades, into an economic powerhouse. Some of the reforms included unemployment compensation (1927), and infrastructure development reforms (1929) — which facilitated more efficient spending on roads, airports, power grids, and education that help an economy grow more productive and made it easier for people to relocate from farms to cities — the criminalization of child labor (1928), and the implementation of eight-hour workdays (1926). 

In all of her First Dogeship, especially the third term, state interventionism in the economy was very common, which took over the areas of essential services (running water, telephone, electricity, etc) as she, despite being a publically-known capitalist, believed that private businesses will exploit such positions, and aren't fit to control such industries. This essentially created state-controlled monopolies, which mostly dissolved in 1982.

At the end of her third term, with the political reforms she implemented herself, she was not allowed to re-run and had to wait a period of 12 years until she can be re-elected. She gratefully took, however, the position of the First Councillor of the National Council, succeeding Fucino Roma in order to ensure the continuation of her policies.

The Second Dogeship

Eleanora's second dogeship was characterized by the continuation of the policies carried out during her first dogeship that had managed to survive until now (most of them due to the almost uninterrupted mandate of Partito Nazionale during these years). Some minor laws were also created during this period, such as the prohibition of animal abuse, several laws against discrimination of minorities by the state, minor laws against the discrimination of other religions by the populace, and various austerity measures. Eleanora was succeeded in 1960 by Pierre Spallo of the National Party.