History Main / UngovernableGalaxy

* In [[{{Literature/Voidskipper}} Voidskipper ]] even with less than a tenth of the galaxy actually settled, people's tendency to politic keeps them from unifying on any scale larger than a few star systems. Even an actual hive mind has a major problem with schisming.

* The Third Imperium of ''TabletopGame/{{Traveller}}'' can best be described as a "feudal confederation", individual planets are typically left to their own devices so long as they don't attempt to secede, withhold taxes, interfere with interstellar trade, or make war with other planets. Wars between factions on the same planet are allowed if they don't use nukes or violate any of the other rules. The Imperial Nobility primarily administrate the Imperial Ministries operating within their domains, and have hereditary posts because the Imperium is too large to advance upwards within one lifetime. And the Imperium doesn't govern anywhere near the entire galaxy, or even all of Humaniti, they're bordered by five other empires that are similarly decentralized (save for the K'kree, whose system of government was so inflexible they had to stop at 2,000 worlds).

** ''Trek'' is probably one of the best examples of a ''governable'' galaxy, TheFederation and all that jazz, but ''Series/StarTrekEnterprise'' takes place before the Federation appears leaving Earth unable to control anything outside of the Sol System with even cargo-ships ignoring the authority of Starfleet. (And even once the Federation is established, it only governs a portion of one quadrant of the galaxy.[[note]]The Alpha Quadrant is dominated by three great powers (the United Federation of Planets, Klingon Empire, and Romulan Star Empire), six lesser powers (the Cardassian Union/Empire, the Breen Confederacy, Ferengi Alliance, Tholian Assembly, Gorn Hegemony and Orion Syndicate/Orion Union) and many dozens of smaller nations and independent planets, some of which despite lacking in size had the military strength to stand up to the great powers.[[/note]])

* In ''FanFic/{{Fractured}}'', a ''Franchise/MassEffect''[=/=]''Franchise/StarWars''[[spoiler:[=/=]''[=Borderlands=]'']] [[MassiveMultiplayerCrossover crossover]] and its sequel ''[[FanFic/SovereignGFCOrigins Origins]]'', the galaxy surrounding Pandora fits this trope, being that the "government" is a sham and the strongest actors are [[NGOSuperpower corporations]]. Downplayed with the Trans-Galactic Republic, though it may be a bureaucratic nightmare, it still functions as a legitimate-if-incompetent state unlike the Economic Development Group.

* As touched on in Film above, The Alliance in ''Series/{{Firefly}}'' either can't or won't do much more than collect taxes and suppress dissent in the poorer and less populated planets on the outer edges of its territory. Various wealthy industrialists and landowners are effectively a law unto themselves, and attacks by homicidally-insane cannibal Reavers are hushed up and officially denied. [[spoiler: Though the last one is justified by the fact the Alliance ''created'' the Reavers with a botched GovernmentDrugEnforcement trial, and is going to enormous lengths to keep this fact on the down-low.]]
* ''Franchise/StarTrek'' is probably one of the best examples of a governable galaxy, TheFederation and all that jazz, but ''Series/StarTrekEnterprise'' takes place before the Federation appears leaving Earth unable to control anything outside of the Sol System with even cargo-ships ignoring the authority of Starfleet. (And even once the Federation is established, it only governs a portion of one quadrant of the galaxy.[[note]]The Alpha Quadrant is dominated by four great powers (the United Federation of Planets, Klingon Empire, Romulan Star Empire and Cardassian Union, with all but the Cardassians also having spread into the Beta Quadrant), five lesser powers (the Breen Confederacy, Ferengi Alliance, Tholian Assembly, Gorn Hegemony and Orion Syndicate/Orion Union) and many dozens of smaller nations and independent planets, some of which despite lacking in size had the military strength to stand up to the great powers.[[/note]]) In ''Series/StarTrekVoyager'', huge swaths of the Delta Quadrant appear to be lawless or contested territory, beset by interstellar plagues, within-species tribal feuds, extra-dimensional incursions or sheer chaos (which is probably mostly due to the Borg assimilating any polity in the area that could approach the size and power of the Alpha/Beta Quadrant nations or [[Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine the Dominion]]).
** In ''Series/StarTrekPicard'', the Romulan Star Empire lost its home systems to a supernova and its government collapsed. At the same time, the destruction of Mars and its shipyards, severely crippled the Federation and Starfleet. The new Romulan government lost control of many of its systems to anarchy and the Federation is too week politically and militarily to step in and take advantage of the situation. Many of the systems of the old Romulan Neutral Zone are lawless and run by warlords and crime syndicates.

* ZigZagged in ''Literature/{{Aeon 14}}''. At the beginning of the series each star system is an independent polity since FasterThanLightTravel has yet to be invented. After the TimeDilation-induced TimeSkip to ''Destiny Lost'', humanity has been embroiled in near-constant infighting since the onset of the FTL Wars a couple thousand years ago, especially in the Inner Stars (approximately a 1,500 light-year radius of Sol), with many, many expansionist polities and shifting alliances. In ''The Scipio Alliance'', Empress Diana remarks that her own Scipio Empire of roughly a thousand stars is probably already as big as it can get without undergoing {{Balkanization}}. However, the Transcend and Orion Guard nominally control swathes of space on the coreward perimeter of the Inner Stars that are each about as large as the entire central region (though their areas are much less densely populated). [[spoiler:That the two {{terraform}}er factions have [[CoolGate jump gates]] they can use in place of dark layer travel, which is relatively slow, probably contributes.]]

* ''Franchise/{{Halo}}'': As humanity expanded, insurgents began to spring up on colony worlds away from the central government, prompting the UNSC to take action and eventually leading to the creation of the [[SuperSoldier Spartans]].

* ''Franchise/MassEffect'': The galaxy is, [[AllThereInTheManual according to the Codex]], barely 1% explored, let alone governed. Even among the settled worlds, there are territories that the Citadel Council has no authority over, such as the Terminus Systems, and others where there is no law at all.
** Even in the regions it controls, the Systems Alliance is, well, [[TheAlliance an alliance]] rather than a federation; colonies can choose to opt out of the Alliance, and many do. Those who stay do so as much or more for the economic and military benefits as any particular loyalty to Earth. The Salarian Union is implied to have a similar arrangement, and the Asari Republics are even more chaotic (they are the only major species whose homeworld lacks even a ''de facto'' unified government). Only the turians exert any real control over their colonies, and they have the fewest of anyone, despite having no competition (only the quarians can compete with them for dextro-based worlds, and they have severe limitations on where they can colonize).

* Played straight and {{Discussed|Trope}} in the Creator/DouglasAdams short story "The Man from P.I.G." Since every linear increase in the range of starship engines creates a ''cubic'' increase in the volume of space that needs to be governed, lawmakers are far overtaxed and are pushed to unorthodox means of managing their bailiwicks -- such as a hokey rancher-sheriff with a herd of genetically enhanced pigs.

* ''Franchise/StarTrek'' is probably one of the best examples of a governable galaxy, TheFederation and all that jazz, but ''Series/StarTrekEnterprise'' takes place before the Federation appears leaving Earth unable to control anything outside of the Sol System with even cargo-ships ignoring the authority of Starfleet. (And even once the Federation is established, it only governs a portion of one quadrant of the galaxy.) In ''Series/StarTrekVoyager'', huge swaths of the Delta Quadrant appear to be lawless or contested territory, beset by interstellar plagues, within-species tribal feuds, extra-dimensional incursions or sheer chaos (which is probably mostly due to the Borg assimilating any polity in the area that could approach the size and power of the Alpha/Beta Quadrant nations or [[Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine the Dominion]]).

* In ''[[Literature/ZonesOfThought A Deepness in the Sky]]'', there is no FasterThanLightTravel or FTL communication, so solar systems are effectively isolated. Coupled with the extreme cost and next to zero returns from constructing the RamScoop interstellar spacecraft, there are only two interstellar societies - the largely fragmented Qeng Ho traders, and the Emergents (who have only been around for a short time). Most societies break down after a few hundred years from stagnation courtesy of the [[EnforcedTechnologyLevels physics of the inner Milky Way preventing high-tech equipment]] like nanotechnology, faster than light travel or true artificial intelligence from working - all of which make interstellar empires possible in the ''A Fire Upon The Deep'' which is set near intergalactic space, where physics are more forgiving.

* In ''FanFic/{{Fractured}}'', a ''MassEffect''[=/=]''StarWars''[[spoiler:[=/=]''[=Borderlands=]'']] [[MassiveMultiplayerCrossover crossover]] and its sequel ''[[FanFic/SovereignGFCOrigins Origins]]'', the galaxy surrounding Pandora fits this trope, being that the "government" is a sham and the strongest actors are [[NGOSuperpower corporations]]. Downplayed with the Trans-Galactic Republic, though it may be a bureaucratic nightmare, it still functions as a legitimate-if-incompetent state unlike the Economic Development Group.

Worse yet, mix in aliens with their alien thought paths -- but it would be impossible even with a wholly human galaxy, or a substantial portion of it, or even a solar system well filled up with inhabitable locations.

* In the [[Literature/HonorHarrington Honorverse]] the exodus from Earth led to the creation of several star nations, most prominently Manticore and Haven. The oldest and largest is the Solarian League, which eventually becomes so large and bureaucratic that it begins to collapse under its own weight.

* Most star nations in the [[Literature/HonorHarrington Honorverse]] are small enough that neither size nor distance are insurmountable obstacles to good governance as long as their infrastructure remains intact. The glaring exception is the Solarian League, an immense and ever-expanding mass of systems, centered on Sol, whose population is probably at least an order of magnitude larger than the rest of human civilization combined. Can such an enormous union truly be managed? Ostensibly, yes, but its poorly-written constitution makes federal legislation virtually impossible, with the consequence that the League is run mostly by out-of-control, corrupt bureaucracies that no one can possibly keep in check.

* A major plot point in ''Literature/TheLongEarth''. After the invention of Steppers, inter-dimensional travel becomes not only easy but convenient. Datum Earth suffers massive depopulation as people emigrate en-masse to other Earths.

* ''Franchise/StarTrek'' is probably one of the best examples of a governable galaxy, TheFederation and all that jazz, but ''Series/StarTrekEnterprise'' takes place before the Federation appears leaving Earth unable to control anything outside of the Sol System with even cargo-ships ignoring the authority of Star Fleet. In ''Series/StarTrekVoyager'', huge swaths of the Delta Quadrant appear to be lawless or contested territory, beset by interstellar plagues, within-species tribal feuds, extra-dimensional incursions or sheer chaos (which is probably mostly due to the Borg assimilating any polity in the area that could approach the size and power of the Alpha/Beta Quadrant nations or [[Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine the Dominion]]).

* ''Franchise/StarTrek'' is probably one of the best examples of a governable galaxy, TheFederation and all that jazz, but ''Series/StarTrekEnterprise'' takes place before the Federation appears leaving Earth unable to control anything outside of the Sol System with even cargo-ships ignoring the authority of Star Fleet. In ''Series/StarTrekVoyager'', huge swaths of the Delta Quadrant appear to be lawless or contested territory, beset by interstellar plagues, within-species tribal feuds, extra-dimensional incursions or sheer chaos.

* ''Literature/TheFourHorsemenUniverse'': In theory there's a galactic Union that provides some measure of law and order, a successor state to TheFederation which collapsed in a civil war thousands of years ago. In practice this purported FictionalUnitedNations is little more than a weak guild system and wars over planets and resources are near-constant.