Foreign relations of Lovia

The Foreign relations of Lovia are the relations of Lovia with other nations worldwide. Lovia has a good to stable relationship with almost all other nation in the world. This is mainly due to the neutrality that Lovia maintains in major conflicts, only stressing human rights without picking sides. Since long the minimalist Lovian foreign policy has been determined by an isolationist attitude, but more recently some officials have been advocating a more involved attitude by tighter relations with other nations and giving more aid to third world countries. Recently, a Charter on Foreign Relations has been issued in which the core values that Lovia seeks to represent in the world are written down. The charter is in fact a reworked version of the Constitution.

Oversight
Because many Lovians are of American descent, including several Founding Fathers who played a most important role in early Lovian history, the relation between Lovia and the United States of America is a very cordial one. The same can be said for Great Britain, which has a fairly good relationship with Lovia too. The Lovian people speak English and consider Lovia to be a part of the western world. Several aspects of the Lovian foreign policy have been determined by this relationship to the Anglo-Saxon world; examples are the isolationist view, the liberal approach to world trade and the advocation of liberal and democratic values in general. These marks are often described as Lovia's 'American heritage'.

Lovia has remained isolationist for the bigger part of its history, only establishing big trade treaties after the Second World War and never directly interfere with another nation's policy. Most Lovians like to think global and consider themselves to be 'citizens of the world'. These views are an inherent part of the Lovian society which is a mixture of various cultural backgrounds. This attitude goes so far that Lovian diplomats often consider themselves to be more close to the host nation then to Lovia itself. Another early example of this way of thinking was Sir John Lashawn, who requested his ashes to be scattered across international waters after his death so that he would finally be 'a global human being'.

Importance of economy
Lovia has long had an isolationistic policy, and trusted on its own economy, mainly based on agriculture. Since the 1970s, this sector has decreased in importance, and nowadays Lovia searches for more cooperation with other countries in research and development. The main trade partners for Lovia are the United States, New Zealand and several states in Latin America. The Lovian government also has imposed boycotts on several products of which the profit is proven to be used to fund oppression, war or terrorism. Examples are Israeli goods, Iranian oil and honey from Yemen. The boycotts are however only partial, meaning that those products are still available on the market. They are however imported at higher tax rates and the public sector is forbidden to make use of them. Most of these boycotts came as a reaction on the public outcry after the Gaza war of late 2008, early 2009.

Notable is the fact that Lovia doesn't take part in the US boycott of the Cuban foreign trade. Lovian officials insist that the human right standards in Cuba are apart from the lack of democracy fairly good. Cuba has after all several large deals in the fair trade sector, which is heavily promoted in Lovia.

Importance of religion
Lovians are mainly atheist or Christian. However, Lovia respects in general Islamic, Hindu and Buddhist countries as well as many other, smaller religions. State and religion in Lovia is firmly devided in Lovia and the members of the royal family do not openly speak of their religious motivation, all this to insure religion does not interfere with the law. This attitude has a double effect on nations whose policy is heavily influenced by religion; Lovia is often praised for its freedom and understanding but on the other hand never regarded as a trusted partner. Some lobbies from the United States that have ties with religious affiliations have tried to infiltrate the Lovian politics in the past, but without much success.

United Sates
The relations between Lovia and the United States has always been good, although Lovia criticizes some aspects of the United States culture such as the gun lobby, the gun laws, the death penalty and the foreign policy of the United States. Culturally, however, Lovia is very much like the United States and the influence of American culture in Lovia is obvious. Lovians watch American movies, read American books and eat American dishes. The Lovian cuisine has borrowed many elements of the American cuisine. Founding father Stephen Robinson brougth the Lousiana creole kitchen to Lovia; Lovians to this consume the most shrimp of any nation in the world. The influence of the States on Lovian foreign policy is visible in various elements such as isolationism, anti-colonialism and international free trade.

In recent years the opposition towards the Lovian-US relationship has grown, portraying Lovia as a 'little USA' and attacking the core values of American society. The critique on US policy has however been around from the beginning, questioning the colonial relationship with the Philippines and the aggressive establishment of foreign markets in Asia and Latin America. Later on several Lovian officials commented on the betrayal of the isolationist views after the Second World War and the instrumentation of war for geopolitical and economic ends.

Benelux
The Benelux countries, and especially the Dutch-speaking parts, are of great importance to Lovia. There is a notable Dutch community in Lovia and the Lovian royal family shares a common Belgian ancestor. Dutch, though not an official language, is spoken often by important Lovians on informal occasions. Next to the American culture, the Belgian and Dutch ones certainly are the most influential. Due to this, the relation between Lovia and the Benelux countries has always been fine; Lovia and those nations are very like-minded. The only dispute was the anti-colonial stance of Lovia during the Dutch war with Indonesia (1949) and the criticism on the Belgian colonial policy in Congo.

A region deserving special attention is Limburg. Although not legally a country and divided over Belgium and the Netherlands, nonetheless its influence on the Lovian culture is noticeable. The Lovian state of Oceana, where a unique mixture of Limburgish, Slovak and English (with elements of Dutch) is spoken, is the most obvious example. Their cuisine has also greatly been influenced by the Limburgish one.

Russia
Since the break-up of the Soviet Union in 1991, the relationship between Russia and Lovia has been stable but nonetheless filled with tension. Lovia has a small Russian community in Novosevensk and cultural exchanges take place between the two countries every year. Prime Minister Yuri Medvedev is also of Russian descent. The diplomatic relationship with Russia has been eventful, with many incidents involving Lovian criticism on the corruption and the lack of respect for human rights. Specifically, the wars in Georgia and Chechnya have been the subject of debate.

The latest controversy in the Lovian-Russian relationship is the position of the powerful communist party in Lovia. Medvedev's rise to power has sparked off a large amount of debate in Russia. Some communists are happy that their ideology survives in the West, but non-communist Russians are generally alarmed at Lovia's political situation. Medvedev has himself responded that his program is miles distanced from the Bolshevist regime.

South Africa
Lovia has been known to criticize the South-African apartheid policy and currently criticizes the corruption of the government under president Jacob Zuma. Lovia also criticizes South-African polygamy (Zuma has several wives himself) which it sees as being 'degrading to women'. However, Lovia has a small population of South Africans (Afrikaners) living in Sofasi (Hessel Doorian being amongst the most famous). Several Lovian notables, including Prime Minister Yuri Medvedev, give however credit to the ANC for what they did and argue that the current failure is mainly the fault of the 'western countries' who issued economic pressure on the regime when it became too progressive.

Romania
The relationship between Romania and Lovia has always been stable. In general there is a cordial understanding between the two nations but this is mainly because of the Lovian population of Romanian descent. A lot of Lovians are of Romanian background and speak the Romanian language. The cultural influence of Romania is most noticable in Oceana. Though the cultural understanding between Lovia and Romania is strong, the diplomacy goes rather stiff when it comes to welfare issues or corruption.

Canada
In 1922 the first immigrants from Canada came to Lovia. Now-a-days there is a very small settlement in Malipa of Canadian-Lovians. In 1965 the nations talked for the first time, Canadian prime Minister Lester B. Pearson, a liberal who introduced Universal Health Care to Canada and created the "Maple Leaf" flag, and Lovia's King Arthur III of Lovia. The two talked about a possible peace treaty that would later be signed in 1977. Besides the Netherlands and Belgium, Canada is Lovia's closest ally. In Malipa there is a large statue with Pearson and Arthur shaking hands.

Nordic countries (Scandinavia)
The Nordic Countries are a large producer of Lovian items. In old Faroe Islands Mythology (Different From Nordic Mythology) told of a land called "Love" that was perfect. The Faroeians told the other Scandinavians and searched for the land but did not find it. In 1934 when technology grew the Faroeians and the rest of Scandinavia heard of Lovia. In 1935 they gathered 198 nordics from all over Scandinavia, from the countries of Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Finland, Iceland, Greenland, Åland Islands, and the Faroe Islands. Out of the 198 immigrants only 100 stayed. But when they returned they told about a beatiful land. In 1940, 200 Scandinavians came to Oceana. In 1977 the Nordic Council and Lovia signed a peace treaty but with tension in what would be put into it. In 1980 with more tension rising Norway pulled there name from the treaty and then Aland follwed, In the next year they would re-sign the treaty. Since then the Nordic Countries have been good friends with Lovia.

Baltic States
The Baltic States have always had a good realation with Lovia. Until 1960 there were no Lithuanians, Estoians, or Latvians in Lovia. In 1961 a small settlement in Southern Novosevensk of about 50 people. Even though the built homes they came over illegally, the deportation trial took five years with all four nations arguing. When the nations struck a deal in 1966 the trial has ended with the Baltic people staying in Lovia under certain condition still disclosed to today. On May 4th, 2006 King Arthur III of Lovia signed a peace treaty with all three of the Baltic States signing. Now every year since a special Lovian Dassie is given to each of the baltic states in return each state gives the King a Baltic Sprat.