Very interesting idea for a thread, OP. The Vdare article, in particular, warrants its own thread.
You begin the discussion by stating that the media/academic/corporate elites are increasingly insular. That may be the case, but for long time now the international political configurations has not followed this trend. One of the main aspects of late Middle Ages was the centralization of power in the hands of the monarch. Before that, the king was primarily the suzerain over all the lords in the land, while also exerting a religious function as a representative of god’s will on earth. Before this process of centralization the countries (if they could even be called that) were a collection of fiefs, their lords involved in several different types of relations between themselves, including (obviously) suzerainty and violent rivalry. During this period each lord was free to use his own currency and measurement systems, and language was also influenced more by local traditions than a unified system. As this situation slowly evolved into the one we know today, so was formed the cultural identity of the nation, e.g. the French started seeing themselves as French, and so on. I would argue that this trend (the political one, not the cultural one) continues to this day, in the form of economic blocs, international organizations and alliances (such as NATO). As it happens with all groups, despite the de jure equal status of the members, the tendency is for the general policy and actions of the collective to reflect the will of the most powerful and/or influential member. What is this of not a process of centralization of political power?
Another point made in your images is the supposed correlation between the size of a country (in this case the U.S.A.) and the fracturing of the national identity into many sub-groups. This is not necessarily correct, as matters of group identity happen in groups of all sizes, from countries to classrooms. The most obvious example of this would be the dismantling of Yugoslavia, which was not a large country to begin with.
>Is there similar phenomena in other nations any non-American /32/ers could inform us about?
I am a Brazilian who has always resided in Brazil and secessionist feelings are definitely present here, and have been for a long time. The reason why Portuguese colonial America remained unified after independence while the Spanish one fractured into several countries wasn’t a matter of feelings of unified cultural identity. Our history is filled with revolts and civil wars.
The southernmost states have a movement called “The South is My Country”, which can’t officially assume it’s secessionist intent because that would make it unconstitutional. One of the main motivators for this is the fact that the South is the most socially developed area of the country, and it is constantly receiving migrants from the poorest and less developed areas, such as the Northeast. Another is the fact that all three states give more money to the federal government than they receive, and this is perceived as unfair because these states tend to be more right-oriented and the money is seen as going to the wealth redistribution programs of the generally left-oriented government.
There are other movements like this, but this is the most relevant.
Both slavery and immigration are significant aspects of our population, ethnically and culturally. Brazil is home to some of the largest European settlements, including Ukrainian, Polish, Italian, and Portuguese (in no particular order). Given our large land mass (we’re the fourth largest country) it is understandable that significant cultural differences arise, as each of our 26 states is the size of an European country. Each region has its own accent, vocabulary, dishes and other cultural characteristics.
I can’t see how our situation differs greatly from that of any other country, but if you have any questions I will be happy to answer them.
picture shows the amount of money given and received by each state to the federal government, highlighted states form The South, and the red numbers shows the deficit in the balance.