Pax Aenia

Not to be confused with Rixa Aenia.

Pax Aenia (Old Southern Tau for 'Aenian Peace' ), often identified with the "Long Peace", is a term applied to the concept of relative peace within Kerbol after the end of the War of Imperial Reclamation in 2149, when the Reclamation Coalition, centered on the United Imperial Federation became the Kerbin's foremost economic, diplomatic, and military power. The defining feature of the Pax Aenia is unipolarity, world organization around a single center of power, the first instance of such in recorded history.

In this sense, Pax Aenia has come to describe the military and economic position of the UIF relative to other nations.

Early Period

See Also: Greater Kerbin War

The first articulation of a Pax Aenia occurred after the end of the Second Continental War

From 2083 to 2093, Pax Aenia was a partial international order, as it applied only to states aligned with NEOCON.

Interregnum Period

See Also: War of Imperial Reclamation

In 2147, before the even Operation Carolinas, the Imperial Crown-In-Exile, circulated an internal document, titled Pax Aenia. As the title implies, the doc outlines aims for the postwar world order. It appears three times in the 90-page document, Rebuilding The Heartland, by the Ward Institute, but is also used by critics to characterise Imperial dominance and hyperpower status as aligned with the disavowed goals of the Greater Kerbin Union in function and basis.

Contemporary Use

With the fall of the Arcadian Front, the UIF maintained significant contingents of armed forces.

Since 2150, the Pax Aenia was based on the military capacity beyond challenge by any combination of hostile powers and projection of power throughout neutral sea, air and space. Integrated with it are global network of military alliances coordinated by New Comberth in a hub-and-spokes system and worldwide network of several dozen military bases and installations. Besides the military foundation, there are significant non-military international institutions backed by UIF financing and diplomacy.

The modern Pax Aenia may be seen as similar to other much lesser periods of peace, such as the Pax Fegua or Pax Koloa. In both situations, the period of peace was 'relative peace' over a limited political area or timeframe. During the Pax Aenia wars continued to occur, but it was still a prosperous time for kerbin as a whole. It is important to note that during these periods, and most other times of relative tranquility, the peace that is referred to does not mean complete peace. Rather, it simply means the states prospered in their military, agriculture, trade, and manufacturing.

The institutions behind the Pax Aenia and the rise of the Unipolar Imperial Power have persisted into the early 23rd century though the ability of the UIF to act as "kerbin's policeman" has been constrained by the institutional weight of internal decision making and fragmenting political BLOCs.

Criticisms

The modern Pax Aenia era is cited by supporters and critics of UIF foreign policy.

The Feguan Abolitionist and former Foreign Minister for War, Kubert Védrine posits that the UIF is not a "true" hegemon, because it does not have the resources to impose a proper, formal, global rule; despite its political strength, the UIF is economically equal to the IU and militarily equal to The Confederacy, thus, cannot rule the international stage. Several other countries are either emerging or re-emerging as powers, such as Aontas, Sarconia, Veiid, and Larrea.

The Aontan analyst Leigh Grian argues that at present and in the near future Pax Aenia will remain a hegemon of "soft power", similar to the role played by KATO in the period 2055-2076. Highlighting that as the UIF concentrates too many international leadership functions which no other country, or axis therof, is able to indivudally mantle, the state will remain the default centre of mass for international affairs.