alternatehistory.com

As of 2012, there are about 200 (207, to be exact, according to wikipedia) sovereign states, the vast majority of which are internationally recognized. The goal of this thought experiment is to double that number so that —using PODs post-1900— as of 2012 in this alternate world, there exist some 400-or-so independent states.

Although plausibility is valuable, I'm mostly just posting to see what the board comes up with. Inventing over 200 plausible states might seem daunting, it's actually a lot easier if you give it some thought, it's easy enough. For instance, how many more states could have been granted independence during the partition of India? Or how many more could have been created in a messier decolonization of Africa? (Or conversely, a decolonization movement that took took careful measures to create ethnic-based nation-states, rather lumping dozens of different peoples and cultures together?) What if more states had broken off from RSFSR during the collapse of the Soviet Union? Or what if more states resulted from Cold War political divisions (i.e. the Germanies and the Koreas).

- No nuclear war or other Doomsday-type events

- No ASB dissolution of stable, modern states (i.e. France, US, UK)

- In order to move this thought experiment along: assume a POD in the mid-1930s, beginning with increased regionalism in the Indian National Congress and in various local elites in Africa. Butterflies are initially localized enough to allow the Tripartite Pact (or something very similar) to form and a conflict that could be recognized as OTL's WWII to come about, with an inevitable Allied victory. (Though what the borders look like afterwards is up to your imaginations!)

I'll start with the first few. Separated from India in a different partition:

1. Hyderabad
2. Travancore
3. Mysore (based off of the historical kingdom, Kannada-speaking)
3. Orissa
4. Assam
5. Khalistan
6. Jammu and Kashmir
7. Sindh (no Pakistan, at least as we know it)
8. Maharashtra (a union of Marathi-speaking peoples in western India)
9. Gujarat (an ethnically Gujarat, Gujarati-speaking state)
10. Tamil Nadu (Tamil-speaking nation-state in South India)

I used these language maps for reference, by the way. [1] [2] ATL's India (maybe called "Bharat" instead?) might cover the Hindi Belt shown in Link #1.

As for others that might have come about...

11. Quebec (votes to secede from Canada -- IIRC, it was a very close call.)
12. Wallonia (and Flanders, too) assuming a dissolution of Belgium.
13. East Germany (a highly totalitarian version of OTL's state which kept Silesia/Pomerania, then survived the fall of the USSR, and radicalized once it became an international pariah, basically becoming "North Korea in the heart of Europe" -- the idea is out-there, admittedly, but sort of fun!)
14. A successful Biafra.
15. Shan (an ethnically-Shan state in the mountains of northeast Burma, probably backed by a foreign powers, possibly the Chinese)
Top