[C22] France in the late 2130s
Aug. 25th, 2005 04:54 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
rfmcdonaldSo far, Century 22 PBEM has proceeded without exceptional bloodletting. There has been a recent civil war in Indonesia, fought by the incoming secular-minded junta against the chaotic falling theocracy with some acts of nuclear terror. There has not been a Fourth World War, fortunately, while the sentient velociraptors with a worryingly high infant mortality rate remain safely at bay, and humanity's spread to nearby planetary systems (82 Eridani on top of the list, followed closely by Alpha Centauri, then by Procyon, 36 Ophiuchi, Tau Ceti, 40 Eridani and the rest). The world economy is growing strongly, the hyperpowers--now, it seems, including Mexico--aren't threatening apocalypse, and things are well.
On the grand scale, things are going nicely for France. Almost a hundred thousand people living in French colonies outside of the Solar System, and the French stations in Earth orbit easily rank among the most productive. The incumbent government decided to concentrate on space, to the exclusion of the needs of the 95% of the French population still living on Earth. This, it turns out, has consequences. In his 1983 book The Europeans, Luigi Barzini argued that the French are conscious both of their small size relative to the superpowers and needing to keep up regardless. France has the colonies, but now the French want a standard of living that's rising. Unfortunately, perhaps, this means that France will have to accept the principles of globalization as they are articulated in the mid-22nd century: cut taxes, decrease bureaucracy, become more permeable to trade. This will bite.
On the grand scale, things are going nicely for France. Almost a hundred thousand people living in French colonies outside of the Solar System, and the French stations in Earth orbit easily rank among the most productive. The incumbent government decided to concentrate on space, to the exclusion of the needs of the 95% of the French population still living on Earth. This, it turns out, has consequences. In his 1983 book The Europeans, Luigi Barzini argued that the French are conscious both of their small size relative to the superpowers and needing to keep up regardless. France has the colonies, but now the French want a standard of living that's rising. Unfortunately, perhaps, this means that France will have to accept the principles of globalization as they are articulated in the mid-22nd century: cut taxes, decrease bureaucracy, become more permeable to trade. This will bite.
