Okay, earlier in this thread I wrote at length about my own highly decentralist and diverse ideal regarding Europe and her borders. At one point, it was suggested that I actually make a map of that ideal. Well, here it is. Note that this is utterly ASB. This would never actually happen. (Also, note that the cultural/linguistic/ethnic borders shown here are based on a historical situation, not on modern realities: the vague POD for all this
must by definition precede the French revolution, since avoiding its centralist legacy is a key goal. If I had to re-draw the borders of Europe today, I'd make some different choices.)
(M-BAM Europe used as basemap. And obviously, the colour key is SUCK.)
Backstory
In another thread, it was suggested that my kind of ideal was nice, but would only work if there could ever exist an almighty and benevolent figure keeping the system in place (i.e. stopping the various regions from trying to conquer each other, and stopping foreign powers from invading.) Basically, there would have to be some almighty "wizard" who could magically keep everything peaceful and orderly.
Well, that's an idea that stuck around. Therefore, the ludicrous ASB backstory for this map is that somewhere around 1770 AD (before the Age of Revolutions really let loose), the interdimensional wizard Wilhelmus von Außerirdischerstein-Raumfledermausberg arrives on Earth and promptly sets himself up as Wizard-Emperor of Europe. He magically transfers all political leaders, monarchs and other such bothersome figures of power who are inclined to disagree with his vision to a previously uninhabited but otherwise pleasant island in the Pacific Ocean, and begins dividing Europe into new political units. In this effort, he bases himself on such matters as language, religion, cultural distinctiveness and what collective identities may be held by the populace at large. (Also, being a bit of a philhellene, he also uses his magic to transfer all Turks in Europe to Anatolia, and all Greeks in Anatolia to Greece— which suddenly stretches to the Bosporus again.)
Of course, considering the timeframe, most people primarily identify as "locals" of the region they happen to inhabit. The European Empire, as such, is at hear organised extremely locally. The basic political units are the towns and (in urban locales) the borough / quarter / arrondissement. So in the political structure of the Empire, that's where the greater share of political life takes place. Most day-to-day
regulations and political decisions are made on this level. The towns are grouped together into shires, boroughs/quarters/arrondissements obviously make up cities. Most of the political process that does not take place on an even more local level instead occur on the shire-and-city level. The greater share of the actual
laws are made on this level. (Yes, each shire and each city has its own legal code... usually based on customary law. None of that Enlightenment-era "Code Napoléon"-codification nonsense in the Empire of Wilhelmus!)
Ironically, none of the above are actually shown on the map. The divisions are basically endless, after all.
The countless shires and cities are united into various Counties, Margravates and Lordships. Most of these are based on the borders of local languages and dialects. Where not based on language, borders are based on religious or cultural divides. These divisions
are shown on the map: basically all internal borders shown on the map denote such areas. Politically, Counties, Margravates and Lordships are tasked with little other than education (typically in the local language) and local infrastructure.
The Counties, Margravates and Lordships of the Empire are united into various Duchies and Kingdoms. These are also shown on the map, and are in fact very obviously marked by different colours. This might lead some to believe that the Duchies and Kingdoms are the main political units, but they are not. They merely group together various more local polities that share closely related languages. The Duchies and Kingdoms are chiefly tasked with preserving cultural heritage (registration and maintenance of monuments etc.) and the construction and upkeep of the main infrastructure.
There are also some smaller areas that are culturally distinct
and culturally unified. These regions are organised as Grand Duchies. Luxemburg is a prime example. Grand Duchies are directly divided into shires and cities, without an intermediate stage. Furthermore, there are three Principalities (Andorra, Monaco and Liechtenstein), which are
very small, and are directly divided into municipal areas (and in the case of Monaco, into urban arrondissements).
Finally, there are the republican regions within the Empire. There are two tiny Republics Principalities (Andorra, Monaco, Liechtenstein) which are directly divided into municipal areas, and there are two larger (Romandie and the Alemannische Schweiz), which are both successor states to Switzerland. Those are divided into cantons, which are in turn divided into municipalities.
On the Imperial level, there is barely a government at all. The main Empire-wide institution is the military. To accommodate the extreme multilingual nature of the Empire, the language of the Imperial government and of the armed forces is
Latin. There is an Imperial a "constitution" of sorts, resembling something like the Magna Carta— except that it guarantees rights to
all inhabitants, not just to the elite. Emperor Wilhelmus himself is rarely seen, unless someone tries to do something very stupid, like conquer a neighbouring area or something.
Then the Wizard-Emperor suddenly appears, and makes the guilty party wish he'd never been so foolish. But as long as nobody makes trouble, it's as if the Imperial government only exists in theory.
Since his appearance, up to the present day, there has only ever been one Emperor. Since he's so rarely seen, it took a while for people to catch on, but after the first hundred year or so, it became pretty clear that Wilhelmus wasn't actually planning to ever die or anything. Ever since his conquest, Europe has been very diverse, and very peaceful. The armed forces of the Empire rarely do any fighting, and mostly exist to ensure nobody ever tries to invade, and to aid in disaster relief where and when needed. There is no draft, but ever since the reforms of 1850, a year of military service has been a requirement to gain the right to vote. (The reforms made it so that the various Dukes, Counts etc. became elected titles, or ceremonial figureheads to rubber-stamp the decisions made by elected Chancellors or such figures.)
After centuries of peace and tranquility, the vast majority of the Europeans wouldn't have it any other way.
(Now, isn't that a
completely sensible system? Too bad that the only way it could ever have been established is quite literally "a wizard did it".)