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Lelouch declared the creation of the "United States of Japan". But why did he
add "United States"? Japan is not called this in the real world, nor in the
series before this moment. Why did he have this change of mind?

I am in the middle of R2 but I will not mind spoilers from manga or further
episode if necessary.


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2015-06-29T11:49:49.767
22863
2016-06-02T07:03:44.753
2016-06-02T07:03:44.753
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question
code-geass
Why did Lelouch call it the "United States of Japan"?


## **TL;DR:**

It is used as an artifact to show Lelouch's interest in freedom and democracy
and all that stuff we usually associate with the "United States" image. And I
am not talking about USA. In our world, there are/were a lot of countries that
used the term "United States" in their name.

* * *

## Long version:

In [Code Geass universe](http://codegeass.wikia.com/wiki/World_History), there
are no USA (now I am talking about THAT stars and stripes real world nation).

> the duke of Britannia bribed Benjamin Franklin to betray Washington, and the
> rebellion failed.

Then Britannia loses the british isles, and relocates to the New World.

> in 1807 AD, Elisabeth III is captured by a revolutionary militia and is
> forced to abdicate. She and her knights move Britannia into the new world.

But Japan has massive sources of Sakuradite, a scarce resource in the west.

> Sakuradite is known since the middle ages, but its too scarce in the west.
> Marco Polo in his travels learns that Japan has huge deposits, and this
> knowledge spreads in the west.

So in order to fuel the war machine, it is vital for Britannia to hold unto
Japan.

Since Britannia holds (at the time of R2) almost all of the world and it is a
monarchic Empire, Lelouch wants to declare at the same time his rejection of
the government system of his father, and his intent with building a free
nation.


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answer


Lelouch's intended style of government is unlike real-life Japan's central
government, in which all laws and decisions pass from the decision-makers down
to prefectures which do not make their own differing laws. To add the words
"United States of" is to communicate that, of all the types of government that
exist (such as confederation, empire, federation, hegemony, unitary state,
etc.), he wants to avoid Japan's [constitutional
monarchy](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Government_of_Japan) system and select
not only a [democracy](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Democracy) (of which many
varieties exist), but specifically
[**Federalism**](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Federalism): "a political
concept in which **a group of members** are bound together by covenant . . .
with a governing representative head. The term "federalism" is also used to
describe a system of government in which sovereignty is constitutionally
**divided** between a central governing authority and constituent political
units (such as states or provinces)." This fits with Lelouch's [action
principle](https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E3%83%AB%E3%83%AB%E3%83%BC%E3%82%B7%E3%83%A5%E3%83%BB%E3%83%A9%E3%83%B3%E3%83%9A%E3%83%AB%E3%83%BC%E3%82%B8#.E8.A1.8C.E5.8B.95.E5.8E.9F.E7.90.86)
that the king should consider himself like only one piece on the board of a
chess game and that the other pawns are also valuable.

In the real world, Japan is a **constitutional monarchy** (formerly an empire)
comprised of
**[prefectures](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Government_of_Japan#Local_Government),
which are administrative divisions** called
[unitaries](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unitary_state) ("governed as one
single power in which **the central government is ultimately supreme** and any
administrative divisions [subnational units] exercise **only powers that their
central government chooses to delegate** "). Since prefectures directly follow
the decisions of the nation's central government, this differs in nature from
a federated union of states.

The real-life United States of America is a [**federal
government**](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Federation#Federal_governments),
meaning " **two or more** levels of government that exist within an
established territory and govern through common institutions with
**overlapping** or shared powers as prescribed by a constitution." The word
"federal" refers to a [federation or group that retain individual
rights](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Federation): "entity characterized by a
union of **partially self-governing** states or regions under a central
(federal) government." It was designed in such a way that federal power is
supposed to be balanced by states' individual powers and the will of
individual citizens (an actual union of colonies that started out with
differing charters and laws but which decided of their own will to become a
team against the British Empire). The USA's "founding fathers" were very keen
to make sure that a federal government of the union of states would not easily
be able to make top-down decisions, and made provisions so that state laws are
still in many ways independent of each other ("created to **limit the federal
government from exerting power** over the states by enumerating **only
specific powers** "). Nowadays, many people rattle off the phrase "United
States of America" without thinking about the meaning, but the name was chosen
intentionally, to enduringly show that it is **not a single entity nation**
like many others but rather **a conscious, willful union (banding of)
individual states that largely intend to maintain their autonomy** even while
forming a team. This is the message that Lelouch wants to convey, and
therefore the United States of Japan is referred to as a [Unitary
Parliamentary
Democracy](http://codegeass.wikia.com/wiki/United_States_of_Japan) (not a
real-life phrase).


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2015-06-30T01:19:26.937
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