History Main / OneFederationLimit

* WorldBuilding web game ''NationStates'' averted this at the beginning, by giving you a list of about twenty possible state types to choose from. Once you reached a high enough level, though, you could make up your own. Unsurprisingly, aiming to be as unique as possible was a popular consideration.

* Averted in ''GundamSeed'' and ''SeedDestiny''. The two dominating superstates of the Earth Alliance are the Atlantic Federation and the Eurasian Federation. The Republic of East Asia is a 'junior' partner and the United States of South America was invaded and forces to fight against ZAFT.

* ''MassEffect'' is an {{egregious}} offender. The main factions are the Asari Republics, the Systems Alliance, the Turian Hierarchy, the Batarian Hegemony, the Vol Protectorate, the Salarian Union and the Illuminated Primacy.
** On closer examination, this is likely averted because of the turian foreign policy: There are stated to be more 'client races' besides the volus. So, more than one Protectorate.

*** There was one major canonical self-proclaimed emperor in the setting's history - [[CompleteMonster Stefan Amaris the Usurper]], whose treachery started a war that killed 100 million people and led to the end of the [[GoldenAge Star League]]. After that wonderfulness, calling yourself "Emperor" in that setting would probably be equivalent to calling yourself [[{{ptitle7vljslfu}} "Führer"]] in postwar Europe.

* ''AvatarTheLastAirbender'' [[strike:has]] had [[SpaceFillingEmpire only four countries]]: [[TheEmpire The Fire Nation]], [[TheKingdom the Earth Kingdom]], [[TheFederation the Water Tribes]] and [[ThrowAwayCountry the Air Nomads]]. The last one was [[{{Understatement}} severely]] [[LastOfHisKind reduced]] and in the present basically nonexistent.

** ZAFT is also an alliance, just like the rival Earth Alliance; the name is an acronym. While little attention is paid to that fact within the show itself, the twelve colony clusters are akin to nations within ZAFT. LikewisDefied. In the post-WW2 world, the three superpowers are the Franco-British Union, the Union of American Socialist Republics, and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. And that's just the three top dogs.e, Orb and the other other independent nation of any note (a unified Scandinavia) are both kingdoms.

** ZAFT is also an alliance, just like the rival Earth Alliance; the name is an acronym. While little attention is paid to that fact within the show itself, the twelve colony clusters are akin to nations within ZAFT. Likewise, Orb and the other other independent nation of any note (a unified Scandinavia) are both kingdoms.

* ''StarTrek'', which gave us ''the'' [[TheFederation Federation]], uses the "more empires for bad guys" exception. The Romulans, Klingons, Kelvans ("By Any Other Name") and one planet in star system 892 ("Bread and Circuses") had empires, and that's just from ''StarTrekTheOriginalSeries''. The Empire of the "Mirror, Mirror" universe doesn't really count because it's in an AlternateUniverse.

*** It might have to do with the fact that the major canonical self-proclaimed empire in the setting's history belonged to [[CompleteMonster Stefan Amaris the Usurper]], whose treachery lead to the end of the [[GoldenAge Star League]]. Calling yourself "Emperor" in that setting would probably be equivalent to calling yourself [[{{ptitle7vljslfu}} "Führer"]] in postwar Europe.

* ''AvatarTheLastAirbender'' [[strike:has]] had [[SpaceFillingEmpire only four countries]]: [[TheEmpire The Fire Nation]], [[TheFederation the Earth Kingdom]], [[TheKingdom the Water Tribes]] and [[ThrowAwayCountry the Air Nomads]]. The last one was [[{{Understatement}} severely]] [[LastOfHisKind reduced]] and in the present basically nonexistent.

* MassEffect is an [[TVTropesDrinkingGame egregious]] offender. The main factions are the Asari Republics, the Systems Alliance, the Turian Hierarchy, the Batarian Hegemony, the Vol Protectorate, the Salarian Union and the Illuminated Primacy.

** Between all the series and the modern continuity of the StarTrekExpandedUniverse novels, there are a few duplicates, but also a ''lot'' of variety. Here goes: United Federation of Planets, United Planets of Tellar, United Rigel Colonies, United Earth, First Federation, Klingon Empire, Andorian Empire, Danteri Empire, Romulan Star Empire, Cardassian Union, Deltan Union, Breen Confederacy, Confederacy of Vulcan, Regnancy of the Carnelian Throne, Gorn Hegemony, Tholian Assembly, Tzenkethi Coalition, Ferengi Alliance, Nyberrite Alliance, Metron Consortium, Sheliak Corporate, Talarian Republic, People's Republic of Coridan, Republic of Bajor, Magisterial Cheka Kingdom, Plutocracy of Ardana, Ubarrak Primacy, Devore Imperium, Krenim Imperium, Karemma Foundation, Kazon Collective, Borg Collective, Vidiian Sodality, B'omar Sovereignty, Hierarchial Order of Voth, Haakonian Order, Hermat Directorate, New Thallonian Protectorate, the Dominion, the Hierarchy.
*** The StarTrekExpandedUniverse has also brought us the Typhon Pact, a coalition of the "main" Romulan Empire, the Gorn, the Tholians, the Breen, the Tzenkethi, and the Kinshaya. They banded together for mutual protection, just like the Federation, making them a different kind of adversary than the UFP usually faces.

* ''AvatarTheLastAirbender'' [[strike:has]] had [[SpaceFillingEmpire only four countries]]: [[TheEmpire The Fire Nation]], [[TheFederation the Earth Kingdom]], [[TheKingdom the Water Tribes]] and [[ThrowAwayCountry the Air Nomads]]. The last one was [[{{Understatement}} severely]] [[LastOfHisKind reduced]] and in the present basically non-existant.

*** The sourthern tribe is on the brink of extinction (at least at the start of the series), it's possible there was more political cohesion before the war. The Foggy Swamp Tribe seems to be legally part of the Earth Kingdom, regardless of ancestry (the other water tribes don't even know it exists).

** Averted in ''StarWarsLegacy'' where the evil Sith-ruled Empire is fought by the TheRemnant of the Galactic Alliance and ''another'' Empire, the benevolent Fel-Empire, which is itself arguably TheRemnant of the Empire proper.

*** Actually actually, at the time the First Federation is [[http://memory-alpha.org/en/wiki/The_Corbomite_Maneuver_%28episode%29 mentioned]], the writers had not come up with the [[TheFederation United Federation of Planets]] yet. Kirk calls the Enterprise a "United Earth ship", implying the name of his government.

In most fiction there is [[OneSteveLimit only one guy named Steve]] to avoid confusion. Similar to that, each state type seems to be uniqe in some works of fiction. There is only one [[TheFederation federation]], one [[TheRepublic republic]], etc.

Definetly not TruthInTelevision.

** The ExpandedUniverse has The Empire and The New Republic fighting each other and later brings in more Empires.

** Between all the series and the modern continuity of the StarTrekExpandedUniverse novels, there are a few duplicates, but also a ''lot'' of variety. Here goes: United Federation of Planets, United Planets of Tellar, United Rigel Colonies, United Earth, First Federation, Klingon Empire, Andorian Empire, Danteri Empire, Romulan Star Empire, Cardassian Union, Deltan Union, Breen Confederacy, Confederacy of Vulcan, Regnancy of the Carnelian Throne, Gorn Hegemony, Tholian Assembly, Tzenkethi Coalition, Ferengi Alliance, Nyberrite Alliance, Metron Consortium, Sheliak Corporate, Talarian Republic, People's Republic of Coridan, Republic of Bajor, Magisterial Cheka Kingdom, Plutocracy of Ardana, Devore Imperium, Krenim Imperium, Karemma Foundation, Kazon Collective, Borg Collective, Vidiian Sodality, B'omar Sovereignty, Hierarchial Order of Voth, Haakonian Order, Hermat Directorate, New Thallonian Protectorate, the Dominion, the Hierarchy.

[[AC:RealLife]]
* Absolutly not the case in RealLife with the large number of states calling themselves ''Republic'' alone. TheOtherWiki [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_republics provides a list]]. There is also a fair number of Kingdoms and two countries with "United States of" in their name right now ([[spoiler:The other one is Mexico]]).
** Not exactly, [[spoiler:Mexico's complete name ("Estados Unidos Mexicanos") translates better as "United Mexican States", but yeah, both names basically describe federated republics composed of individual states]].
*** Of course, there is only one Grand Duchy left: Luxembourg.
** Out of topic, that article about republics probably has one of the highest ratios of "[[CitationNeeded citation needed]]" ever seen on TheOtherWiki.
** Also note that the Democratic People's Republic of Korea has a hereditary monarch. Which means it's even less of a republic than a normal PeoplesRepublicOfTyranny.
** "Commonwealth" isn't exactly rare either. And it's used at multiple levels: part of a nation (e.g. the Commonwealth of Massachusetts), an entire nation (e.g. the Commonwealth of Australia), and an international organisation (the Commonwealth of Nations).
**And even in different ways for the same nation. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania is not the same as the Commonwealth called Puerto Rico. Also, Commonwealth is derived from the same root as Republic. It's a translation of res publica rather than a derivative.
* It's not necessary for a country to include a form of government in it's official title. The initial R of "republic of Ireland" shouldn't be capitalised, because although it is a republic, the official name of the country is just "Ireland". The omission of a form of government was a deliberate political statement until 1998, and is now traditional. Not sure why Romania is just "Romania" though. Did they just not bother to come up with a new name after the 1989 revolution?
* The five UN Security Council members are the United States, the United Kingdom, the Federation, the Republic and the People's Republic

* ''{{Babylon 5}}'' has the Earth Alliance, the Minbari Ferderation, the Centauri Republic ([[PeoplesRepublicOfTyranny which is actually a monarchy like the late Roman republic]]), the Narn Regime and the Vorlon [[AllThereInTheManual Empire]]. Some races (like the Dilgar, Shadows, and Drakh) have no stated governmental body, while the others have ones only stated offhand or in the background material (Drazi Freehold, Brakiri Syndicracy, etc)

** And if you count the entire ExpandedUniverse and all the series every state type probably appers at least twice.
** Let's see, there's the Ferengi Alliance, the Cardassian Union, the Breen Confederacy, the Gorn Hegemony, the Borg Collective, the Kazon Order, the Dominion, and the Vidiian Sodality, among others.