Basically, that's how things worked in pre-modern societies. You could have dozens if not hundreds of "races" divided into tribes and petty-kingdoms in just one country.
Plus, most people have the USA splinter into different countries in many post-apocalyptic works anyway, so an alternate counterpart to the USA might never manage to solidify in the first place. Modern-day government, communication, and travel are probably the three main things keeping the US a solidified nation, and we're STILL divided into a fuckton of different regions: The Midwest, the East Coast, the West Coast, the South, the Deep South, the Canadian border, the Mexican border... North California and South California aren't even officially separate states, but people will still know what you're talking about because of the vast cultural differences.
edited 23rd Jul '15 2:38:53 PM by Sharysa
last i heard racism in europe for a lot of its history was based more on where you came from than what you looked like. where you come from mainly mattering in the sense of "they dont come from here" or "they come from the country of an old enemy"
in some places, i hear that hasnt actually changed today, either.
but on topic, yeah im fairly sure a lot of european countries did not consider themselves the same race as another country, despite having the same skin color. id argue thats only really changed recently because of an increasing emphasis on umbrella terms like white, black, asian, etc.
edited 23rd Jul '15 4:14:38 PM by Tarsen
Campeador
OP: I think you mean "ethnicity" instead of "race". They may seem similar, but they're quite different. I leave you a link marking the differences between both terms.
It is quite possible to have conflict (or not) based entirely on ethnicity, and not race. Just remember that, in this case, the source of conflict is not because of how they look (e.g. "He's black!", "She's got blonde hair!", "They've got epicanthic folds!"), but in how they act (e.g. "She doesn't work on saturdays!", "He's too polite!", "They're sacrificing a million virgins!").
Another World Building project I'm doing takes place mostly in one country where there's a lot of regionalism. It's a fantasy counterpart culture of modern North America. The country is divided by regions, city states and decades of civil wars. Government does exist on federal scale but it has little to no power. There is a lot of intermixing by our world's standards. (Black, White, Hispanic, Asian, etc.) However, race is based what part of the country you're from and nothing else.
You think I can make this work? If so what do you think?