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This article is a complete guide towards how 'Foreign Affairs' work; it will encompass what the ministry involved (MOFA - Ministry of Foreign Affairs) is responsible for, as well as a broader look into the world of country's relations outside of this too.

This information comes from the eRepublik Wiki as well as from personal experiences from current Government members. If you have any questions relating to foreign affairs, our current foreign policy, or ONE, you can contact our current Minister of Foreign Affairs or our current President (thats me!). Both will be more than happy to help.

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Basically, the first step in understanding the world of Foreign Affairs, involves an understanding of the current alliances or power blocs operating within the eWorld. As of writing, the world is essentially split across proONE or proEDEN terms. If you are unsure what this means, ONE is our alliance, and a more in depth account of who is involved, where it came from, etc is availablehere. A history and introduction to EDEN can also be found here.

These two blocs compromise 'feeder' alliances and seemingly unaligned nations. For the purpose of making things simple to understand, almost every country in existence on eRepublik is either affiliated to, or reliant upon support from, either ONE or EDEN.

The feeder groups are split along these lines, with ONE currently enjoying mutual dependence with two other, smaller, alliances:

ABC, or the Alliance of Baltic Countries currently comprises Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia. Whilst these nations are not directly involved in ONE; in that none are members; ABC as a whole and each individual country, is 'proONE'. That means, they forge in game alliances (commonly referred to as MPPs) with most ONE, and other proONE nations.

EPIC enjoys the same relationship; dependence upon and support of most ONE and other proONE nations. Their current members can be found on the link above. EPIC is seen as the official 'feeder' alliance towards ONE: with most seeing it as the precursor step towards officially joining the core members of ONE.




In terms of the proEDEN alliances, there are also two of those. However, one of those alliances, Terra was originally founded to be independent. With time, and some nudging from the leader of Terra at the time (jamesw), the alliance ultimately accepted it is wholly reliant on EDEN, and thus should be seen merely as an extension of EDEN.

Terra as an alliance is much smaller and weaker than it once was. Following some recent turmoil, it now only has 6 members, down from roughly 10-11 at its peak. The current members are: USA, France, Canada, Chile, Russia and Germany. Whilst it is inextricably linked to EDEN, Terra is not seen as a feeder alliance. Rather, its structures and organisation is to be seen as run in parallel with that of EDEN. Although, as EDEN has much more damage and organisation, its priorities, victories and/or losses are essentially dictated based on EDENs response to any given situation.

GEA, or the 'Garden of EDEN' is the official feeder alliance of EDEN. All of its members go through tests and trials to see if they are 'worthy' (ie; will fight where EDEN needs them to, and if they have enough damage) of full EDEN membership. The normal procedure is for countries to prove themselves in GEA, and then be considered for full membership of EDEN.


These alliances make up all of the important parts within the eWorld; they are entities which through their organisation of members, decides whether battles are won or lost; whether countries survive or die. Now that we know what the globe is like, we will finish this article by explaining the UK's relations with each of these blocs. I'll include a few specific references to countries, where there is a rivalry, or big friendship - as well as some history behind this.

However, its important to remember, that with alliances and friends, there are grudges and memories. The UK of today is hated throughout some alliances and countries, beacuse of the actions of Governments over a year ago; indeed some still hate the UK because it joined an old alliance called PEACE-GC before most of us (including me) were even playing the game. So whilst we may have 'bad relations' or 'grudges' with nations; these are on the most part, relations we have inherited.

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Our relations can be characterised in three groups. Those relations which are either great or good, ie, nations which either love us, or because of both countries allegiances to alliances, must like and support us. Below this, there are the bad. These are the nations which must fight against us because we are ONE, and their alliance is against ONE - it is not personal or vital for them that they defeat us; they simply fight against us because their allies are involved in wars against us. Finally, there are some nations which, quite frankly, would spend all their time trying to undo any progress we make, if they could. This group is 'the ugly' in terms of relations; its bitter, personal, and will probably never change.


THE GREAT.

Firstly, its important that I mention Serbia. For over a year, we have had the honour of a fantastic relationship with the serbs. They are seen by most as the most powerful nation in the game; yet despite our massively inferior power, both nations enjoy a certain privileged understanding between each other. This began when governments of old were hugely supportive both in our alliance at the time, PEACE-GC, and at a government to government level. Notable events include the UK loaning 3,000 gold so they could win the biggest battle in their history to date (you'll never guess who was president, some horrible jamesw fellow...), and the UK refusing Terra/EDEN demands to drop a Serbian MPP, despite being in Terra. The UK even fought for Serbia whilst being in Terra.

Secondly, over the course of this month, a country which has really done a lot in terms of communication and assistance, is Poland. Its no secret that Poland is probably the second strongest nation on the game; with an ever-increasing amount of soldiers. Despite UK-Poland relations starting not so long ago (when some horrible jamesw fellow organised an MPP or in game 'alliance' between the two), over the past few months, the assistance from Poland has without a doubt, ensured we have the country we do today.

Thirdly, it may seem odd, but we are currently enjoying a relatively good spell of relations with our Irish neighbours. They are in the opposing alliance, but we have maintained a lasting peace, after being at each others throats for nearly 18 solid months.

As well as this, history points to Lithuania and Macedonia - countries which have countless times prioritised our own survival and battles above their own, and gone above and beyond what any ally could ever ask of them. Luckily, we have (and hopefully always will) treat their battles in the same way, whenever we can.

THE GOOD

For this, these are countries which we are fond of; who we help, and who we are glad to help. However, these are nations which to be honest (but hopefully not insulting), we do not talk to every day, or enjoy deep governmental contact/communication. These countries (to name a few) are the remaining members of ONE and EPIC. For instance, Spain, Slovenia, New Zealand, etc. As well as this, the UK has managed to forge good relations with non-ONE members, with a good mutual understanding and military co-operation with Bulgaria (proONE, but not in any ONE alliance) and Chile (proONE, but not in any alliance) and finally Belgium. Belgium are a truly neutral nation; they have no allegiance to any alliance, and do not rely on either bloc of power for their survival.

THE BAD

This list is simple: it is all the members of EDEN and GEA who are not mentioned below. They are nations that will fight against us when ordered to, or when one of the countries listed below asks them to. It is not personal; we would do the same against them. It is just part of the game; the enemy of my ally is my enemy, so to speak.

THE UGLY

In no particular order, the UK is currently suffering from horrible relations with: France, Germany and Croatia.

For France and Germany: this is because we used to be allies, but then became proONE following the dissolution of our previous alliance (in which France and Germany were members) PHOENIX. You can read more about that old alliance here. It is simple to say that, once we became proONE, France and Germany were less than pleased that we had aligned ourselves with Poland and Hungary; nations which were occupying, or in the process of invading them. Thus, great friends became mortal enemies. Since that day, France has invaded and wiped us several times with other Terra and EDEN countries (USA, Canada and Ireland), and continues to this day, to hold us in high disdain. Previous President Kravenn was also hugely unpopular in France, and that term signalled a 'low point' when relations could not have got any worse.

For Croatia; their hatred of us stems back to long ago; before most of you (and I) even played eRepublik. Basically, we joined an alliance they did not like, and did some things they really didn't like to help our new allies. Since that day, they have made it their mission to fight tooth and nail to hurt, troll and undo anything that the UK tries to make. This is not helped by the fact the UK has great relations with Serbia (who are the 'mortal enemies' of Croatia, due to the RL situation in the Balkan region, and other issues which are too in depth, and long, to go into here).

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Thus endeth todays lesson. A follow up article to this will be published tomorrow - so tune in for a further investigation! Tomorrows article will explain how the Ministry of Foreign Affairs works; how our alliance is organised, and how the UK would go about declaring, and hopefully winning, a war under the ONE structures.

REMINDER: if you want to know more about anything this article mentions, or have any questions relating to ONE, or Foreign Affairs, you can contact our current Minister of Foreign Affairs or our current President (thats me!).


jamesw,
UK President








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