In core, '34 non-aligned nations' are mentioned as being part of the Cascade States, but none are really named.
1) Who are the Cascade States?
2) What would classify a region as a Cascade State?
Reading through it, I'm a bit confused.
2a) Is a Cascade State an ethnic group within a region that doesn't want to be part of a world government?
In this instance, South Africa could agree to be part of the UEN. However, the Boers in the Transvaal, Bloemfontein and Orange Free State regions (all as part of a common White African, Afrikaans ethnic enclave), disagree with the SA state and form a new ethnic nation state (e.g.: New Transvaal), which becomes a Cascade State.
Similar 'ethnic enclave' arguments could be made for Zimbabwe (with the resurgence of Rhodesia), the Congo (with a return to Zaire, Leopoldville, Congo Brasserville and Congo Free State as separate national entities), Serbia, Croatia, Kosovo, and Kashmir as Cascade States.
2b) Is a Cascade State an existing nation state that doesn't want to be part of the world government?
In this scenario, would it be feasible for Russia to go to non-aligned status? Would India stay in the UEN with the split in China between Guangdong and China? Would the ASEAN nations opt for Cascade State status?
3) Is the Cascade States movement similar to the Non-Aligned movement from the Cold War era?
In the formation of the Cascade States, the balkanization of North America is implied, with several former states from the Pacific NW comprising the Cascades. By contrast, Eastern America, New Texas and California are UEN members.
4) What was the vision for the breakup (and breakdown) of the United States?
5) Was the Cascade States movement an American only thing?
The answers to 1 and 3 are intentionally left blank, to allow creative GMs (like you) to fill in the gaps with whatever works best for your campaign :) I don't see anything amiss in your list of non-aligned nations, it works pretty well as a list.
Regarding #2, most of them won't have their own space programs, no. However, commercial spaceflight companies (the likes of today's SpaceX and Blue Origin) are available options for such nations, so they aren't completely cut off from space. In fact, commercial spaceflight programs outnumber state-run programs considerably, with only Guangdong and the UEN having their own - and even those gradually shift towards almost exclusively military use, with civilian needs being fulfilled by the private sector.
Thanks for the America map, it really clarifies how that all went down. I also learnt about the whole Cascadia movement, so that's also cool.
I'll make a distinction now between the American Cascade States (Cascadia + the 11 non-aligned states) and a broader Cascade State movement (i.e.: the movement towards non-alignment, or not participating in world government under the UEN). It answers a lot of my original questions and poses a whole heap more.
1) Who are the 34 nations that comprise the Cascade State movement?
2) Would the Cascade State movement have its own space launch capacity and space programme?
3) What impact would the Occupation experience have for African and South American states (Equatorial slaves) in relation to whether or not they become part of the Cascade State movement?
I'd propose a list that looks something like this:
* The American Cascade States (Cascadia +11 non-aligned per the map)
* ASEAN nations (10): Philippines, Malaysia, Singapore, Vietnam, Burma, Thailand, Brunei, Cambodia, Laos and Indonesia.
You've suggested that after the Guangdong split and during the Occupation that the Philippines remains untouched. This then leads Philippines to become non-aligned (so, part of the Cascade States movement). That's great.
With the Philippines joining the Cascade State movement, I've then added the rest of the ASEAN states to the Cascade list. So, Malaysia, Singapore, Vietnam, Burma, Thailand, Brunei, Cambodia, Laos and Indonesia. (https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2017/05/what-is-asean-explainer/). That'd give the movement a huge bump in economic credibility. It'd establish a solid SE Asian and Pacific trade bloc, which could keep the American Cascade States viable (Pacific trade based out of Cascadia). It'd also open the potential for space launch facilities from Indonesia. With the inclusion of Malaysia, Singapore and Indonesia, it'd also put a potential lock on maritime traffic through the Straits of Malacca (making things awkward for India and China).
* The former Yugoslavia (Bosnia, Serbia, Croatia, Montenegro, Kosovo), using the 'ethnic enclaves' argument from my original post (2a). In the scheme of the Cascade State Union, these states would be fairly inconsequential when compared to other states, but they couldn't be denied entry.
* A split in South Africa to form a new Boer state, OFS Transvaal, a combination of Orange Free State (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orange_Free_State) and the district of Transvaal (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transvaal_Colony). This is another use of the 'ethnic enclaves' argument from my original post (2a).
* Republic of the Congo (Congo Brazzaville): This would give the Cascade States a second space launch facility on the equator.
* The Russian Federation: Mostly because they're big enough in their own right, with economic strength, petrochemicals and mineral wealth to opt out of a world government system.
* Iran: This is more in line with the Non-Alignment movement from my original post (3). It'd also add petro-dollars to the Cascade States.
* Venezuela: This would add more oil capacity to the Cascade States and potentially add a trade outlet for the two non-aligned American Cascades on the Gulf of Mexico (Alabama and Mississippi?) into South America. It could also serve as a maritime trade route into Africa (and Congo Brazzaville).
* Lesotho: Included under the ethnic enclaves argument (2a). As an otherwise landlocked nation in the middle of South Africa, Lesotho's inclusion in the Cascade list could also bolster viability for the OFS Transvaal.
*Kashmir: Perhaps one of the most precarious Cascade States, formed out of the chaos of Occupation India, Pakistan and the disintegration of China after the Guangdong split. Included in the Cascade States list as part of the 'ethnic enclave' argument from my original post (2a).
With that list of 32 nations, it'd make for a diverse ethnic and language mix within the Cascade States, across multiple continents. It would also allow for potentially 2 sites for the Cascades to develop a space programme (Indonesia and Congo Brazzaville), with a possible third space site in southern Venezuela.
The Guangdong Exception
I haven't included Guangdong in the Cascade States list (though it technically meets all the requirements). My reasoning for that is that Guangdong is its own separate and special case as an independent nation.
I see the Guangdong secession serving as the potential blueprint for what made the Cascade States possible under the UEN. In part, how Guangdong was able to secede from China under the PCEG (and its later refusal, as a new sovereign state, to join the UEN), opened the way for the Cascade State movement.
The Guangdong secession, potentially forced the UEN to include an 'opt out' clause in its charter. The UEN would also then need to include something like the ethnic enclave clause, to justify how Guangdong was able to secede from an otherwise sovereign Chinese state in the first place. The irony is that the UEN probably never intended for either of those clauses and exceptions to ever be used. Then the Cascade States happened.
(I've got to get to my day job, I'll return for your other question later today. Thanks for the thought-provoking questions!)
1/2/5) For clarity, the line "Most of the remaining 34 non-aligned nations..." line are non-aligned nations which are NOT the Cascade States, that is, the Cascade States is the largest non-aligned state and there are 34 other smaller ones. The Cascade States are based mostly on the idea of Cascadia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cascadia_(independence_movement) ) and contain some bits from western US and Canada.
This is actually a good opportunity to break out a map of American I made a while back as my own reference material but never had a good spot to put in the book:
Looking at this map, California, New Texas, and Eastern America are all members of the UEN (all three are formed more or less from the enforcement zones defined during the Bactaran Occupation). There are 11 total non-aligned states here (Cascade States being one of them), the others being elsewhere in the world.
3) That's probably accurate, albeit with different motivations, which vary by region and across time.
4) While the US gradually became more and more polarized over time (as we've seen IRL throughout the 2010s), it wasn't enough to actually break it apart by 2050. The Bactarans during the occupation took advantage of the ideological divides to drive a wedge between parts of America, and further helped the divide by redefining the state borders. Combined with the dissolution of the federal government during the Occupation itself, there wasn't much left holding the US together.