Basic Trope: The United States goes the way of the Soviet Union and dissolves into two or more nations.
- Straight: The US has divided into the Western American Union (Flyover Country to the Pacific coast), the New Confederacy (the Deep South), and the American Dominion (the rest).
- Exaggerated:
- The US has split into tens, if not hundreds of different nations.
- The US divides into thousands of city-states.
- Each State is now an Independent Country.
- Every American household is now an independent country.
- Each and every American household's rooms are now independent countries.
- Downplayed:
- The US has divided into two nations.
- A couple of states, or a tiny region of the US, has broken off.
- The division is an amicable, trivial, bureaucratic move where Puerto Rico,Guam, or other territories are granted independence.
- Even though the US has divided into several nations, the new nations still meet in an international organization called "United States" analogous to The European Union.
- The division is mentioned in the work, however...
A) It is a footnote in history (Alice studies the Second American Civil War in class, or the historical Civil War is referred to as the First American Civil War, hinting there were more conflicts than the historical one).
B) The work is mainly set outside the United States and the new nations that came from it.
C) The work is mainly set in a part of the US (or one of the new nations) where there is little or no fighting.
- Justified:
- The US fell on hard times, and the states left the nation, thinking rightly or wrongly that they would have an easier time if they just seceded.
- There was another civil war and the secessionist won.
- The story takes places in an alternate timeline where the south won the civil war.
- Inverted:
- The federal government becomes even more powerful, assuming complete control over the US, destroying the state system, and changing the name to Unitary State of America.
- Other nations want to join the US.
- Expanded States of America
- Every federated country except the US has undergone a division of this nature.
- Subverted: The US now has regional governments on a level between their state and federal counterparts with more autonomous rule than before, but they are still one nation, at least on paper.
- Doubly Subverted: The autonomous regions become more and more powerful, to the point that they literally become their own nations, and the US ceases to exist as one nation.
- Parodied:
- The modern divide between supporters of the Democratic and Republican Parties reaches its logical conclusion. When this trope is parodied, it is usually a satire against divisions in the US.
- The US uses math division before being divided into many nations.
- Zig-Zagged:
- Part of the US is autonomous, but still part of the US on paper; one part of the US continues to function as it does today; and another part is its own independent nation.
- The United States of America goes through several periods of division and reunifications over the courses of history. There are even times where it is (or parts of it are), just a loose alliances of states, an European Union like organization, or a part of one or more other countries.
- Averted: The US is still one nation with 50 (or more) states.
- Enforced: This trope was invoked as a scare tactic for real-life partisan or sectionalism problems in the real US.
- Lampshaded: "Once, this area was part of a bigger country called 'the United States of America.' It isn't anymore."
- Invoked: People try to break away from the US due to political reasons, or outside influences try to break up the US to control it better.
- Exploited: Inequalities between the former American states come to the front and each uses its "comparative advantages" over the others (as do other polities) to harm the others.
- Defied: The Union faction of the US will stop at nothing to prevent other factions from breaking off.
- Discussed: "It is a new Civil War ... a shattered Union ..."
- Conversed: A debate over the merits of the secessionist movement versus remaining loyal.
- Implied:
- Bob is handed a map of what we call the United States today, but he's told it's "out of date."
- A politican worldmap/map of UUEE shows that the United States is divided.
- In school the Second Civil War and subsequent dissolution of the United States are studied.
- Deconstructed:
- After the separation, each individual country struggles with loss of political and economic power, thus the states consider rejoining.
- The different states start to make wars with each other for the prize of the whole North American continent.
- Since USA is no longer an united nation, its enemies have very little problems invading the divided states.
- Reconstructed:
- However, their newfound differences are too big for them to be a unified nation.
- The other states, though they are no longer formally part of the same country, realize the danger of the outside threat and come to the assistance of the state under attack.
- Played for Laughs: The US split up due to differences because of sports rivalries, PC vs. Mac fanboyism, people disagreeing what flavor Dr. Pepper is, Coke vs. Pepsi fanboyism, or any other minor or trivial reason.
- Played for Drama: Siblings who align with different factions during the division fights are forced to kill one another, showing the horror and tragedy of American fighting American (indeed, people fighting people).
- Played for Horror: The Second American Civil War is not only full of great (if dramatically hellish) battles but there're other horrors like people being lynched on the streets and branded traitors just for having different accents and license plates on their cars.
- Plotted a Good Waste: There's a Writer on Board, either to extoll the perceived good or denounce the perceived ill of this happening.
Back to Divided States of America.
