The Écrivain of Gustave Flaubert is a gargantuan, genial nation, ruled by Charles Bovary with an iron fist, and notable for its infamous sell-swords, ubiquitous missile silos, and otherworldly petting zoo. The compassionate, cynical, humorless, devout population of 24.014 billion French Realists are ruled by a mostly-benevolent dictator, who grants the populace the freedom to live their own lives but watches carefully for anyone to slip up.

The medium-sized, corrupt, well-organized government juggles the competing demands of Defense, Law & Order, and Industry. It meets to discuss matters of state in the capital city of Yonville-l'Abbaye. The average income tax rate is 48.9%.

The frighteningly efficient French Realist economy, worth a remarkable 3,956 trillion Salammbôs a year, is fairly diversified and led by the Arms Manufacturing industry, with significant contributions from Information Technology, Tourism, and Beef-Based Agriculture. Black market activity is rampant. State-owned companies are common. Average income is an impressive 164,762 Salammbôs, and evenly distributed, with the richest citizens earning only 3.3 times as much as the poorest.

Wearing a daisy chain is a fast-track ticket to unemployment, spoiler warnings are now given out before political speeches, space shuttles regularly launch rubbish into space, and pitchforks and torches are coming back into fashion. Crime, especially youth-related, is totally unknown, thanks to a capable police force and progressive social policies in education and welfare. Gustave Flaubert's national animal is the club foot, which frolics freely in the nation's many lush forests, and its national religion is the mediocrity of daily life.

Gustave Flaubert is ranked 169,722^nd in the world and 26^th in Seinfeld for Highest Foreign Aid Spending, scoring 58.32 on the Clooney Contribution Index.