i hadn't looked at it that way before, but it makes sense. 

i'm Canadian (i think maybe you are too?) and there is (at least) one province that seem to have had a good case for secession for a long time and haven't gotten away with it. while it might be better if we had more as opposed to fewer, you might be right. 

unschooled

AskSN

How Many Countries Will Exist in 100 Years?

I'm leaning towards fewer countries, but I'm not sure.

It seems like on the company level, we've seen waves of consolidation everywhere, and industries that were once powered by dozens of players are now dominated by 2 or 3.

Wouldn't be shocked to see something similar play out on a global scale... a few "global power" countries making deals to take smaller nations under their wing amidst rising uncertainty.