One country. Different governments.
The Shared Country
One river. Three unequal clinic budgets. An applicant caught between authorities. Take the governments’ perspectives and find out what sharing power actually requires.
You make the choices. The rules decide what follows. Begin with one perspective, then read the others. In each decision, enter a plausible position for National, Coast, Plain and Ridge, using their priorities. You are constructing a scenario, not predicting how real people vote.
The app applies Aven’s constitutional rules to those positions. No classmates, facilitator or live negotiation are needed. The Residents’ Advocate and Constitution Clerk offer additional ways to question your choices; neither has a government vote or veto.
Your work starts in memory only. It stays here until you close this page unless you explicitly save it on this device or download a backup. No account, student data upload or automatic submission.
A · Your country and your role
Start with a priority.
Aven has National and three regional governments: Coast, Plain and Ridge. A river links Plain farms to downstream Coast homes. Ridge uses a regional language in schooling. Every region contains people with different interests.
Read all six perspectives
The starting constitution
| Institution | Protected authority and participation |
|---|---|
| Regional governments | School curricula; clinic budgets, staffing and care delivery |
| National government | Foreign affairs and teacher licensing |
| Council of Regions | Guaranteed regional delegates participate in national lawmaking |
Ordinary National law cannot remove protected regional powers. Constitutional change follows an agreed process. Equal citizenship, fair review and independent appeals bind both levels.
Before choosing: if National wanted to take over regional school decisions, why might regions want constitutional protection?
Use your starting perspective to explain a priority. Then consider what the other governments would protect. Several positions can be defensible; the rules still constrain which changes can take effect.
B · Constitutional convention
Who decides about the river?
First choose who makes binding river decisions. Regional is the current rule. Regional crews operate the gates under every option; the decision-making authority is what changes.
| Option | Who makes the final decision? |
|---|---|
| 1 · National | National |
| 2 · Regional (current) | Each region for its own gates; cooperation is voluntary |
| 3 · Joint | National and at least two regions |
Put four perspectives into one decision. Read National, Coast, Plain and Ridge’s priorities. Choose a plausible river-rule position for each government. They may favor a compromise, or they may fail to agree. Your preferred rule need not win.
Only National and the three regions vote. Abstention does not support a change. These are choices you construct for a fictional scenario; the app does not generate other players or infer their motives.
C · Apply the rule you adopted
A flood. An actual rule.
The relief channel is in Plain. Your recorded B rule now controls its use. Evacuation removes immediate injury risk. There is no compensation fund.
Open
20 Plain farm plots flood.
80 Coast homes stay dry.
Hold
Plain farm plots stay dry.
80 Coast homes flood.
Homes and farm plots are different losses. Their counts do not establish a complete welfare comparison.
Keep the governments’ priorities in view and enter a plausible Open or Hold position for each authorized actor. Use the rule you already adopted: this is a flood decision, not a chance to rewrite the constitution.
D · Resources and control
Same money. Different authority.
Equal populations. Similar basic clinic needs. At the same tax rate, different tax bases raise 8 units in Coast, 5 in Plain and 2 in Ridge. The basic-budget benchmark is 5 per region; it is not a legal minimum or a guarantee of care.
| Package | Coast / Plain / Ridge | Budget and staffing authority |
|---|---|---|
| 1 · Local (current) | 8 / 5 / 2 | Regions |
| 2 · Pool | 5 / 5 / 5 | National |
| 3 · Equalize | 5 / 5 / 5 | Regions, with public reports |
Equalize includes a binding three-unit transfer from Coast to Ridge. Once adopted, it needs no later donor permission. All care delivery stays regional under every package.
The total is fixed at 15. No extra money, tax changes, borrowing, compensation or side deals. Flood losses do not alter these clinic resources.
Consider the tradeoff for each government: Coast gives up resources under redistribution, Ridge gains them, and Pool and Equalize locate budget control differently. Construct a plausible position for each government.
Equal budgets do not prove equal care. Explain ymy recorded package, even if you preferred another one.
E · Licensing and fair assessment
An office. An applicant.
Ridge seeks protected teacher-licensing authority because National’s standard exam fits Ridge-language training poorly. Mina is part of Ridge’s Plain-speaking minority. She trained in Plain and wants to teach in Ridge. Her professional and job-language qualifications are unknown.
| Recommendation | Office in Ridge | Office elsewhere |
|---|---|---|
| Same | National | National |
| Ridge only | Ridge | National |
| All regions | Ridge | Coast and Plain |
Recheck your map against the office table. If you revise it, add your revision below; your first version remains in your report.
Question two · a concrete fair review
Your recommended office now receives Mina’s application. Identify one specific action it should take, and why that action helps.
Before the independent transfer
Give the rules their names.
Federalism combines constitutionally protected authority at national and regional levels with regional participation in common government.
Self-rule
Protected regional authority in specified fields. Aven’s regional school-curriculum power is an example.
Shared rule
A regional role in common decisions. Guaranteed regional delegates in the Council participate in national lawmaking.
Delegation: ordinary National law can withdraw the authority. Doing work locally does not by itself establish protected regional policy authority.
| Symmetric powers | Asymmetric powers |
|---|---|
| Regions have the same formal powers. Giving licensing to All regions is symmetric decentralization. | A region has a different formal power. Giving licensing to Ridge only is asymmetric. |
Unequal clinic budgets alone do not establish constitutional asymmetry. Giving National one field does not erase Aven’s other protected regional powers.
Canada and India · comparisons, not copies
Canada: constitutionally assigned provincial education authority, with constitutional qualifications and specified minority-language education rights.
India: Article 371A gives Nagaland’s legislature a resolution role before parliamentary laws on specified Naga practices, customary law and related justice, and land/resources apply there. It is not a veto over every national law.
Ask: which authority is protected, and whose participation matters? Neither example means regional independence.
Official sources for the real cases
These are source links, not services that receive your responses. Open only if you want to leave this activity.
Canada: consolidated Constitution Acts, section 93 and Charter section 23
F · Independent transfer
Now try Pelar.
Try a new case before opening the feedback. Identify the decisive facts, keep your first answers and then check your reasoning.
Pelar now
Elected island councils run clinics. Parliament can remove those powers by ordinary law. No other regional powers or common-government seats are protected.
Pelar’s reform
The constitution protects island control of health policy.
Every island elects delegates with guaranteed seats in a common lawmaking council.
Only North Island gains protected fishing-license authority.
Ready to check? Explain the fact behind each classification, not just the word you chose. In For class mode, keep your first answers before revealing the check.
The feedback is here in the activity. No instructor cue is needed.
Check the distinctions
Current: delegated. Ordinary law can withdraw the clinic powers.
Reform: asymmetric. Only North gains protected fishing authority.
Self-rule: protected island health authority; North’s protected fishing authority is another valid example. Shared rule: guaranteed island delegates in common lawmaking.
Opening judgment: elections alone are insufficient when every regional power can be withdrawn by ordinary law. Elections choose officeholders; they do not by themselves protect regional authority.
G · Debrief and final finding
Explain what your country did.
Review your scenario’s recorded river result and clinic package. Who could authorize action? Whose consent mattered? Who gained resources or lost control? Which residents might regional power overlook?
Different constructed scenarios do not prove that one arrangement always works better. Explain a benefit and a cost through the rule that produced them. Your own preference can differ from the scenario’s result.
Keep your work. Submit it yourself.
Use Print / save PDF and choose your browser’s Save as PDF option, or download a readable HTML or text report. Open the file and check it before uploading it to Canvas or your instructor’s system. Nothing here submits automatically.
A report is a readable assignment, not a resumable save. Download a JSON progress backup if you want to restore or move this record.
Changing device or website? Browser saves belong to this browser, device and website address. Export a JSON backup here and restore it there. Reports cannot restore your game.
Finishing the fields is not a grade for the quality of your reasoning.
Start another attempt
Restarting clears this record, including locked ballots, and removes this activity’s saved browser copy. Download a backup or report first if you want to keep it. Your instructor may ask you to preserve your original attempt.