History Main / AllowedInternalWar

* In other cases, the central ruler may not want their subjects to go to war with each other, but cannot stop them. This tends to be a sign that the central authority is weak or failing, and as its control over its subjects slip these become and more independent and more likely to actively war against each other instead of going through official channels to resolve grievances. These conflicts are far more likely to be destructive and unregulated. Typically, over the course of a story the central authority will either be able to bring its subjects back into heel, or else it will fall apart entirely and the country will fully fragment into truly independent states.

* ''Franchise/StarWars'': By the time of ''Film/ThePhantomMenace'', the Galactic Republic has become so mired in political corruption (not to mention the fact they abolished their regular military after the end of the last Sith Wars, leaving the Judicial Forces to basically bring SpacePolice cars to a {{Battlestar}} fight) that {{megacorp}}orations like the Trade Federation and Intergalactic Banking Clan are able to control vast armies of droids and mercenaries, which they wield in CorporateWarfare against planetary governments that displease them. The plot of the film series is set off when Senator Sheev "Darth Sidious" Palpatine covertly pushes the Trade Federation to escalate this to using its droid army to extort policy changes from the Republic Senate itself, in order to create a political crisis he can exploit to get himself elected Supreme Chancellor.

* For most of Japan's recorded history, the royal family has theoretically been the divinely ordained heads of state, but during the shogunates [[AuthorityInNameOnly the emperor didn't have any real authority]], so the lords of the various domains frequently warred with each other for power. The UsefulNotes/SengokuPeriod is arguably the most famous of these. This ended with the UsefulNotes/MeijiRestoration, which saw the emperor take back the reins of power from the Tokugawa Shogunate ([[CivilWar over the shogun's strenuous objections]]); Emperor Meiji abolished the traditional caste system and reformed Japan into a Western-style parliament-supported monarchy.

* ''TabletopGame/{{Traveller}}'': The Third Imperium is so loosely confederated that subject planets are allowed to have internal wars so long as they don't spill onto other worlds, attempt to secede from the Imperium, or use nukes. [[CorporateWarfare "Trade Wars"]] are also allowed as a method for preventing market saturation, in which case {{Mega Corp}}s can fight on multiple planets so long as damage is limited to their employees and property.

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* ''VideoGame/GameOfThronesTelltale'': As with the source material, noble houses within a realm are allowed to settle their difference violently as long as their overlord doesn't interfere. However, at the start of the game, the Forresters and the Whitehills are waging an illegal war, as their overlord has already decreed that the former must submit to the latter. After much bloodshed, however, said overlord grows sick of policing the whole thing and just grants tacit approval for the Forresters to fight the Whitehills however they can, with the caveat being that they have to do it on their own without any support from other houses.

* ''TabletopGame/{{Exalted}}'': Not ''quite'' at the level of war, but the Scarlet Empress built the entire dynasty of the Realm around constant internecine conflict between the various Houses descended from her bloodline, with the idea that she would be the only force with actual power who could resolve all disputes. This worked just fine until the Empress suddenly vanished...

** ''Nemesis'' DLC allows to reform the [[FictionalUnitedNations Galactic Community]] into a Galactic Imperium. One law the Emperor can then institute is a "Pax Galactica", which forbids the imperial subjects from making war against one another, unless the "Trial of Advancement" resolution is also passed, in which subject nations without a seat on the Imperial Council can challenge a Council member for their seat.

** The "Nemesis" DLC allows player empires to reform the [[FictionalUnitedNations Galactic Community]] into a Galactic Imperium. One law the Emperor can then institute is a Pax Galactica forbidding imperial subjects from making war against one another, unless the Trial of Advancement resolution is also passed in which subject nations without a seat on the imperial council can challenge a council member for their seat.

* ''TabletopGame/Warhammer40000'' has small internal wars ''happen all the time'' usually between factions on a single planet, while many worlds fight a local insurgency as well. Due to the inefficient communications, these planetary civil wars may be over before the wider Imperium leans of them (if ever) and as long as the taxes keep being paid by the new regime, they don't care.

** In the 200-year TimeSkip between the events of ''[[VideoGame/TheElderScrollsIVOblivion Oblivion]]'' and ''[[VideoGame/TheElderScrollsVSkyrim Skyrim]]'', the Empire was severely weakened by the fall of the ruling Septim dynasty, making it unable to stop several wars between its vassal states. With Morrowind trashed by the eruption of Red Mountain, Argonia invaded the Dunmer in revenge for centuries of slave-trafficking and reconquered areas that had historically belonged to them (the Empire's inaction in all of this led to Morrowind's government seceding altogether after House Redoran halted the Argonian advance). Meanwhile the Bretons of High Rock and Redguards of Hammerfell sacked Orsinium, the city-state homeland of the [[OurOrcsAreDifferent Orcs]]. Eventually, immediately prior to the events of ''Skyrim'', the Skyrim Civil War erupts between the Nords who support the Empire and those who seek independence behind [[RebelLeader Ulfric Stormcloak]]. At least here, the Cyrodiilic Empire attempts to avert the trope by sending Imperial reinforcements, but not until the entire eastern half of Skyrim has seceded to the side of the rebellion.