[_7fvc]

The US is a federation of states. It has already fallen apart in some ways in this crisis. Power and decision making are shifting to local states. I think the trend will intensify. The biggest threat to the US is probably secession. That has not happened since the Civil War. Since then, it has become even more unified. It's hard to see how states can leave the Union now. Being able to shift power between local and federal is a strength of the US political system. At international level, the US alliance may fade away.

I guess China would fall apart next. It's a country that's stitched together by force and propaganda. It doesn't seem to have the ability to shift its internal borders. So its collapse would be more dramatic than the US.

[theandrewbailey]

In the first 100 years or so, the power in the US was more with states than the federal government. In the past 100 years, there has been an incredible accumulation of federal power. The balance is creeping back the original norm, with a long way to go before secession.