4.10 Consequences of Centrifugal and Centripetal Forces

• Uneven development: when investment, jobs and services concentrate in the capital or one region, other regions fall behind, and resentment grows.
• Stateless nations and ethnic nationalist movements: groups that feel excluded may push for autonomy or independence, like Kurdish movements in several countries.
• Failed states: when divisions become extreme, a government may lose control of its territory and stop providing basic security and services. Somalia's central government collapsed in 1991, and rival clans and armed groups controlled different areas for years. Civil war in South Sudan, from 2013 to 2018, devastated the new country.
• Civil war and breakup: Yugoslavia's ethnic divisions ended in war and the creation of several new states.

• Cultural cohesion: shared language, religion, history and symbols build a sense of one nation. After independence, Tanzania's first president, Julius Nyerere, promoted Swahili as a national language across more than 100 ethnic groups, and Tanzania has had less ethnic conflict than many neighbors.
• More equitable infrastructure: roads, railways, power and internet that reach every region tie the country together economically and help people feel included. The U.S. Interstate Highway System, authorized in 1956, linked regions and markets.
• National institutions and symbols: flags, anthems, holidays, national schools, the military and sports teams build loyalty to the state.
• Ethnonationalism: strong loyalty to one's ethnic nation. Where most people share that identity, it can unite the state, but it can also push minority groups to the margins and become a centrifugal force for them.

Some countries move their capitals to build unity or develop neglected regions. A capital moved to promote national goals is sometimes called a forward capital. Brazil moved its capital from coastal Rio de Janeiro to Brasília in 1960 to draw development into the interior. Nigeria moved its capital from Lagos to Abuja in 1991, choosing a central location that wasn't the home territory of any one of the largest ethnic groups. Indonesia has been building a new planned capital, Nusantara, on Borneo, away from crowded Java, though the move from Jakarta is going more slowly than first planned.

Whether a trait unites or divides depends on who shares it. A national language unites people who speak it but can alienate minority-language speakers. Infrastructure unites when it's spread fairly, but divides when one region gets it all. When you explain a consequence, identify the force, the group affected and the result.