Strange Maps has been having fun with the maps of philosopher Leopold Kohr, who argued for smaller states in his seminal 1957 work, The Breakdown of Nations. An appendix to that book contained maps hypothesizing successful and unsuccessful federations in the U.S. and Europe: his thesis was that the U.S. was successful, because no one state could dominate the other, whereas Europe was unsuccessful because one state could. He turned both examples (as well as Switzerland) on their heads — a Europe of many small states, a U.S. of a few large states dominating smaller ones — to make his point.

See previous entry: Pearcy’s 38 States; Question: What-If Political Boundaries?