Breaking Countries into Smaller Ones?

Question

I recently encountered the idea of breaking countries into smaller ones to alleviate polarisation, concentration of power, and military buildup.I&rsquo;ve heard of utopian scenarios where there&rsquo;s lots of large communities that each live in line with their values. Perhaps it&rsquo;s a similar line or thinking.Anyway, to an uneducated mind this sounded interesting (not that any powerful nation would allow it).Theoretically, if it were possible what would be the pros and cons? I&rsquo;m guessing something like WW3 becomes less likely?

not2b · Accepted Answer

It's rare that it's achieved without bloodshed: consider the partition of India for the worst example, or the war in Kosovo, or the wars between Ethiopia and Eritrea. It's true that the breakup of Czechoslovakia into two countries was peaceful and smooth, but that's an exception. The problem is that how to divide or even whether to divide is a complex and controversial question and people tend to fight about it.I think your guess is backwards: attempting to split up countries makes war more likely if you look at the record, at least, a local war.

beebeepka · Answer

Breaking countries into smaller ones is just another tentacle of divide and conquer. You can read on Balkanization and check for yourself how it usually turns out.
Hint: not great for the small entities. Usually great for the big ones. Not exactly shocking
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Balkanization
Liv

beardyw · Answer

One worldwide country would be more successful in bringing peace. Discuss.