"As revolutionaries, we don't have the right to say that we're tired of explaining. We must never stop explaining. We also know that when the people understand, they cannot but follow us. In any case, we, the people, have no enemies when it comes to peoples. Our only enemies are the imperialist regimes and organizations." Thomas Sankara, 1985
International Anti-Capitalist podcast run by an American, a Slav and an Arab.
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I feel like every map I've seen is basically a variation of the second American Civil War in the Kaiserreich HOI4 mod.
What do you think a balkanized United States would actually look like?
(I'm new to this platform so sorry if this isn't the right place to post this.)
Well first it's not going to happen so long as the federal government retains its current military power projection & political legitimacy so the union at this point will either have to not exist at all or is effectively ceremonial and optional.
It also won't be neatly divided up along current state lines. If the U.S. balkanizes the existing social, cultural, and economic ties between areas are going to be directly clashing with military & political objectives so there will be a shift of borders at the start of balkanization. Current state boundaries were drawn up with the existing federal structure in mind; when the federation is gone so goes the reason to preserve those boundaries. Expect to see expansionism at the onset of balkanization. Some of it will come through secession, others through conquest, others through pact, others through cessation. Entirely new territories may end being created.
Once these issues are mostly settled is when things get really spicy and the power blocs start forming. The new polities will either fully assert themselves or gravitate toward political projects they fill will benefit them. One thing I can guarantee you is that there will be a lot less US successor states than is often assumed as many states are heavily dependent on others for their survival and without them things get dicey. The most developed states will very likely be the strongest players in the former USA; so mostly the East Coast & West Coast, and to a lesser extent the Gulf Coast and the Great Lakes.
There will be a lot of instability and violence in the first couple of years/decades before the borders finally settle and the conflicts die down. Beyond that I can't really predict what the geopolitical situation will look like.