2018/08/15
Tamora: OPEN's weakest link
Not much time has passed since OPEN was founded and we already see signs indicating that one of its founding members, Tamora, has a hard time implementing its obligations assumed at OPEN.
In the Emirate of Seleucid, the other founding member of OPEN, compliance with the quotas productions seems easy as the ruling royal family is also the main share holder in some of the largest oil companies and the government has the bureaucratic apparatus to impose the quotas. The ultra conservative Empire of Tamora is a whole different story. Much of the resources of the country as well as all of their extraction are in private hands, with dozens of family owned companies (colloquially called "corporate nobles") owning much of the market and being in a constant competition with each other as well as companies aboard. So the Tamoran government will now have to impose quotas on them as well as limit their ability to adjust prices. That in it of itself would not be that big of a challenge in any regular Mundus country. However, because of their peculiar religion, Tamora is still missing most of the features of a modern state and lacks the bureaucratic apparatus for regulating and controlling businesses that most countries have, for example : in Tamora people pay no income tax, there's no such thing as corporate tax, there are no regulations of the labor market, no antitrust laws, there's no institution, federal or otherwise, even remotely similar to the ministry of economy or industry etc. Tamoran businesses, unless very large or dealing with foreign countries, don't even have a compliance department since there's no need for one in the very little government regulation environment they operate in. And here is problem number one: their businesses aren't used to government telling them how to operate, let alone how much to sell and at what price. When the news came through of OPEN being founded, there was almost unanimity in the business world of Tamora that such restrictions are unTamoran. No corporate noble said anything public in support or positive about OPEN which in the very formal Tamora means there was serious disagreement with the organization.
But the issues facing Tamora do not stop there. The country, despite what many assume, has a federal system where the Emperor handles mostly defense with all responsibilities retained by the kingdoms. And here comes the next problem. The Emperor has issued a decree instructing the kingdoms to implement the quotas and price limitations. Of the six kingdoms, only two have oil and gas worth mentioning: West Seleucid and Attica, with the latter having the lion's share of the market. So the royals of the two kingdoms will have to come to an agreement on how to allocate the quotas. It's not hard to imagine the immense pressure the corporate nobles from each kingdom will put on their royals to ask for a bigger share. The negotiations between the two kingdoms have already been extremely heated with little progress made so far.
But that's not all, as mentioned before, much or the oil and gas resources are in Attica, which is the most problematic kingdom of Tamora. There have been rumors that the Queen of Attica will try to use point eight of the treaty ("members agree to establish internationally approved safety practices") to impose a covert ban on oil and gas companies from using any form of slave labor. While it's unlikely that she will be able to resist pressure from Manist imams to not pass such a ban, it does show the problems OPEN has created for Tamora at all levels government.
And last but not least, there's the problem of enforcement of fines and penalties for non compliance with the quotas and price limitations required by OPEN. As you probably know, in Tamora there's no limited liability for shareholders of companies, so when a company goes bankrupt the owners are liable with their assets. And if the owners can't pay their obligations they end up in slavery as we have recently seen with
Karapetyan family. As i said before, oil and gas is in private hands and while a couple of dozen families own most of the oil and gas industry, they don't own all of it. The other minor players are mostly Manist religious organizations that have small operations across the two kingdoms (West Seleucid and Attica). Anyone that knows even a little about how things work in Tamora, knows that the Tamoran kings will be very weary of fining religious organization for non compliance with something so inconsequential as not lowering production or selling outside the required price limitations and there's no chance they'll ever seize their assets or enslave them because they did not comply. Religious organizations in Tamora (especially Manist ones) are very influential as they own and operate most of the educational institutions and a large part of the media in Tamora. The only one that would have the power to go against them is the Emperor himself but the thought of the Emperor, an orthodox Manist himself, and the Manist temples not working together, let alone him punishing them for not respecting something so benign as quotas, is unfathomable.
So does that mean Tamora will not be able to comply with OPEN's requirements? As long OPEN does not ask Tamora to lower its production levels, I have little doubt it will be able to comply. But sources say the main reason why the Tamoran Emperor has joined OPEN is to keep prices high which, at times, will require to lower production. The same sources also say that OPEN is a means for him to achieve leverage against foreign powers that have sanctioned Tamora so far. So when OPEN does eventually decide to lower production (with the Tamoran Emperor voting in favor no doubt) we will see how long can Tamora comply before cracks begin to appear.