Scenarios about 'territorial autonomy'

Territorial autonomy refers to the legal and political arrangement where a region within a sovereign state exercises significant self-governance while remaining part of the larger country. Throughout history, autonomous territories have emerged as solutions to ethnic, cultural, or geographic distinctiveness, often serving as compromises between full independence and complete integration. In alternate history scenarios, different configurations of territorial autonomy frequently represent critical divergence points, illustrating how varying degrees of self-rule might reshape regional stability, cultural preservation, and geopolitical boundaries.