Districts of a World Federation

[Vosem]

Since the thread Lewis started is getting cluttered, I'll start my own. Each district is to have a population of about ~6 million. I'm a horrid mapmaker, so if someone could help me, that would be a greatly appreciated. I'll do the countries (mostly) in backwards alphabetical order, although some regions have countries with a low population, so those will likely be skipped.

Zimbabwe (2 districts):

Greater Matabeleland:
Bulawayo
Matabeleland North
Matabeleland South
Midlands
Masvingo (Chiredzi, Zaka, Bikita, and Gutu)

Manicaland-Mashonaland-Masvingo:
Harare
Mashonaland East
Mashonaland West
Mashonaland Central
Manicaland
Masvingo (Mwenezi, Chivi, and Masvingo)

[Vosem]

Zambia (2 districts):

East Zambia:
Eastern
Luapula
Lusaka (Chongwe & Luangwa)
Muchinga
Northern

West Zambia:
Central
Copperbelt
Lusaka (Kafue & Lusaka)
Northwestern
Southern
Western

[Vosem]

Yemen (3 districts):

Al Hudaydah-Hajjah-Ibb:
'Amran
Al Hudaydah
Al-Mahwit
Ibb
Hajjah
Raymah
Sa'dah

Greater Sana'a:
Ad-Dali'
Al Bayda'
Al Jawf
Amanat Al-Asemah
Dhamar
Ma'rib
Sana'a

South Yemen & Taiz
'Aden
Abyan
Al-Mahrah
Hadhramaut
Lahij
Shabwah
Taiz

[Vosem]

Vietnam (15 districts):

Vietnam is administratively divided into 63 provinces. However, these provinces are grouped into 8 regions (the Red River Delta, the North Central Coast, the Northeast, the Northwest, the Central Highlands, the South Central Coast, the Southeast, and the Mekong River Delta) -- which will be subdivided separately.

Central Highlands (1 district):
the district will be called Tay Nguyen

Mekong River Delta (3 districts):

An Giang:
An Giang
Ca Mau
Can Tho
Hau Giang
Kien Giang

Dong Bang Song Cu'u Long:
Bac Lieu
Ben Tre
Soc Trang
Tra Vinh
Vinh Long

My Tho:
Dong Thap
Long An
Tien Giang

North Central Coast (1 district):
the district will be called Bac Trung Bo

[Redalgo]

Though I am very much interested in the implementation of world federalism, I am inclined not to speculate in regards to what sub-administrative units to create or with which borders. "Tyranny of the map" can cause nasty problems for people over the course of many generations. In my opinion, it is important to choose political boundaries that respect humanity's many nations. And by "nation," I mean to say an ethnic or otherwise cultural group - not necessarily one of the current countries or their respective districts. Though I imagine there may be instances where having districts with similar populations would be very useful, that should not be as important as making sure people are not torn apart by arbitrary lines drawn by outsiders, or forced to be considered one with other major groups which between them have little or no past feelings of shared interest, cultural unity, or inter-group solidarity.

Ethnic nationalism in general is something I hope will gradually dissolve over time. Still, for the time being there are parts of the world where it remains quite strong. For the many nations of humanity to peaceably collaborate they will need a sense of self-determination and partial autonomy within the larger framework of the federalist system. To reduce the threat of intra-district oppression, tension, and conflict it may be prudent to avoid creating any districts where one cultural or ethnic faction is well-positioned to become dominant over and perhaps even disrespect and subjugate the interests other sizable groups when we can. In the States we have a civic flavor of nationalism which I think makes many of us underestimate the extent to which billions of folk will opt (at least for the first few several generations of a world federation) to identify far more strongly with people based on their traditions, customs, and shared experiences than with humanity (or other divisions of people based on their continent, civilization, or some other grouping) in general.

When deciding on these sub-administrative districts, Vosem, are you taking into account past and present conflicts of interest among diverse peoples and then responding to them in such a way as to mitigate the risks - or at least the severity - of those which may begin or continue in the future? If not, that is perfectly alright. It’s very interesting to see which districts you decide to create. If you did, please accept my apologies for rushing to conclusions! Nevertheless, in such a diverse world I believe it is imperative for architects of such a federalist system to examine thousands of cultures, and carefully decide how to arrange the districts so as to help governments moderate, if not preemptively defuse some of the conditions which give rise to war, hate, strife, inter-group misunderstandings, etc.

Setting aside the rambliness and poor writing of this post, have you any thoughts on this all?

[Hatman 🍁]

I'm doing ~7 million because the world has 7 billion people now.

[The Mikado]

Are you going to, for example, group the Guyanas together as one district?

Will be very curious to see what you do with areas that have historical reasons for being a separate community but don't have the population to meet your criteria (a great example would be Iceland).

[Hatman 🍁]

I've put the Guyanas in with much of the Amazon basin.