Those aren't exclusive alternatives. At the present time there is a very large number of nations, but most of them are microstates. Let's just look at the New World. Would it be more or less "balkanized" if Canada, the U.S.A, and Brazil were each two or three nations (adding 3-6), but Grenada, Barbados, Dominica, St. Lucia, Antigua, Anguilla, St. Kitts-Nevis, and St. Vincent formed an "Antilles Federation" (consolidating 8 into 1)?