Cascadia’s government was organized as a Parliamentary Democracy nineteen years ago. The ruling faction is a bloc of political parties that have united to form a coalition government that elects a parliament. The Parliament of Cascadia consists of two houses, the National Council of Cascadia (upper house), and the National Assembly of Cascadia (lower house). National Assembly members hold their seats by the members of their electoral districts for two years, or until Parliament is dissolved, while National Council members serve for four years.
The leading coalition of political parties in the National Assembly select the Prime Minister of Cascadia and forms the ministers of the government. The President is elected every four years, along with every National Council election. The elected President of Cascadia appoints secretaries of the government, one for each ministry.
Cascadia’s fledgling democracy has steadily increased its contact with both Russia and China. Because of this, some of its neighbors, especially The United States, view it with growing suspicion. Cascadia’s foremost regional concern is the United States, who is displeased with its neighbor’s turn to the East and refuses to rule out use of state-of-the-art anti-access/area denial air defense systems and a possible preemptive first strike with tactical nuclear weapons.
The United States’ behavior also fuels tensions that ebb and flow according to a variety of domestic and regional issues that periodically come under public scrutiny. One such issue is ethnic militancy. The United States exploits ethnic demographic enclaves along the trace of its border with Cascadia and provides radical factions like the Greater Idahoan Movement (GIM) and the right-wing America’s Liberation Army (ALA) with direct and indirect support of insurgent activities aimed at undermining Cascadian sovereignty.
The perceived threat from the United States has resulted in closer ties with China and Russia. An offshoot of the longstanding bilateral relationship is the US-Cascadia Charter on Strategic Partnership, a document that codifies enhanced cooperation in defense, security, economics and trade, cultural exchanges, and other selected venues. These significant US investments in Cascadia’s market economy have gone far in addressing the historic deterioration of Cascadian-United States relations and tend to garner positive feelings among the Cascadian population toward the US.
Cascadia’s government is generally recognized as legitimate throughout the international community. Despite the necessity to maintain constant surveillance of the civilian population to safeguard against speech that is considered politically divisive, Cascadia continues to struggle with progress towards an end-state reflective of a stable, transparent democracy. This lack of progress, considered in the context of the country’s turbulent past, has earned Cascadia a reputation for corruption by most developed nations in the international community.