Balkanization
Splintering
Example
Do you think the balkanization of the EU will go any further?
No, I think everyone else learned their lesson watching the Brexit mess
Balkanization definition by Slang.net
This page explains what the slang term "Balkanization" means. The definition, example, and related terms listed above have been written and compiled by the Slang.net team.
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Most often, people use balkanization to describe the division of a country or region into several smaller states. This process is typically occasioned by ethnic and/or cultural differences between the region's peoples. (In some cases, these differences result in the newly-created states being hostile to one another.)
Increasingly, however, people have been using balkanization to describe the splintering of any group or entity. For example, a pop culture critic might say "the balkanization of MCU fans continues, as Marvel pushes the franchise in different directions." Or, a technology pundit might say "the internet is balkanizing along several fault lines, producing unhealthy splinternets that stir up hate toward other groups."
Origin of balkanization
The term balkanization was coined to describe the many new states that appeared on the Balkan peninsula in the early 19th and 20th centuries, as the Ottoman Empire lost control of the region. The word became popular, and genericized to describe the division of any country or region, in the wake of World War I, as many new nations appeared from within the former Ottoman and Austro-Hungarian Empires.