Quote Originally Posted by Marshal Murat
The difference?
Yugoslavia split up, the United States didn't, and those in former Yugoslavia have independent traditions and languages. While the United States may have different ethnic groups and languages, Americans identify each other first as 'Americans', then as 'Irish-American', or 'Italian'.
For the US there is a precedence (Civil War) if the South had of won then there would have been a precedence for it to continue to splinter.

The fact that the North won sets a precedence that in the US you cannot quietly leave. I think though if the US broke up into its member states (much like USSR and the satellite states within the iron curtain) then those states would probably fracture again.

On the whole around the world we generally see a trend of nations getting larger. They might fracture and then reform, but actual nations with the same Prime Minister / President have a tendency to form either greater nations or blocs or trading communities. Now when most nations gain independence they do tend to fracture (India and Pakistan) but given time and economic prosperity (the gravity in nation building) states tend to grow together.

I think the best thing for K and S are to go forth, become more democratic, play nicely and in about 15 to 25 years as they both gain in economic prosperity they will probably reunite in some sort of trading bloc.