Location: Snopesean Archipelago

Overview • People • Government • Economy • Trend • Analysis

The Post-Apocalyptic Wasteland of Baikalistan is a gargantuan, socially progressive nation, ruled by Grand Border Collie Steve with an iron fist, and remarkable for its compulsory military service. Its hard-nosed, hard-working, cynical population of 18.369 billion enjoy great individual freedoms in everything except elections, which, where they exist at all, are populist shams for a dictatorship government that has no intention of ever giving up power.

It is difficult to tell where the omnipresent, corrupt, pro-business government stops and the rest of society begins, but it is effectively ruled by the Department of Defence, with areas such as Religion & Spirituality and Social Welfare receiving almost no funds by comparison. It meets every day to discuss matters of state in the capital city of Baikalistan City. Citizens pay a flat income tax of 27%. A powerhouse of a private sector is led by the Arms Manufacturing industry, followed by Information Technology and Gambling.

Religion is strictly forbidden within school grounds, cyber-crime and tin-foil hat sales are both increasing at record rates, rag-wearing teachers are often mistaken for homeless people, and teenagers stay out into the wee hours of the morning "stargazing". Crime is a problem. Baikalistan's national animal is the border collie, which teeters on the brink of extinction due to widespread deforestation, its national religion is Border Collieism, and its currency is the Green M and M.

Baikalistan is ranked 1st in Snopesean Archipelago and 826th in the world for Largest Insurance Industry, scoring 12 on the Risk Expulsion Effectiveness Rating.

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NationStates by Max Barry, author of and