Balkanization
Etymology
From the Balkan Peninsula, which shattered into numerous small and often antagonistic states as the Ottoman Empire withdrew, culminating in the Balkan Wars of the early twentieth century. The term was coined around the time of the First World War to name that pattern of hostile fragmentation.
noun · /bawl-kuh-nih-ZAY-shun/
The fragmentation of a region, state, or group into smaller, mutually hostile units.
What it names
A vivid handle for the process of splintering — useful well beyond geopolitics, from fractured internet platforms to a company breaking into warring fiefdoms.
Example
Analysts warned that competing national firewalls were driving a balkanization of the internet into isolated, incompatible zones.
Related idea
The near-opposite of consolidation, and distinct from mere secession, the departure of a single part; balkanization implies a whole dissolving into many rival fragments rather than one clean break.