How do countries remain together, and why do they split apart?

Definitions:  Centripetal Force: Ways to pull a country together.  Centrifugal Force: Ways that a country is pulled apart.

Centripetal Forces:  Raison d’ Etre (Reason for existence).  Nationalism—a strong belief in the greatness of the nation.  Shared ideology, culture and/or religion.  Popular national hero or leader (Lincoln, Gandhi, Mandela).  Common outside threat.  Transportation networks.  Physical geography.

Examples of states with strong centripetal forces:  United States—strong national identity and strong raison d’ etre.  Russia—recent events with the Crimean annexation have caused strong feelings of

Centrifugal Forces:  Religion.  Language.  Culture.  Ethnic groups.  Multinational nation.  Immigration.  Physical geography.  Fragmented or elongated state.

Types of fragmentation:  Balkanization: Fragmentation into smaller, often hostile, units.  Named for the Balkan Peninsula in Europe.  Why are the Balkans so diverse?  Trade brought a huge diversity of languages, cultures and religions.

 Devolution:  A section of a nation demands and receives increased autonomy.  The major difference between devolution and Balkanization is that a devolved region still remains a part of the state.

 Irredentism:  Extension of national policy to a national group living in another country.  Often stirs up desires of fragmentation in another state.

Examples of Centrifugal Fragmentation:

Sources:  “Cultural Geography: Cultural Conflicts,” ec/intro/clt/cltcon/cltconfr.htm ec/intro/clt/cltcon/cltconfr.htm