Economic Advantages

• The primary economic advantages of fragmented states are diversity of resources and intra-regional economic competition. Because these types of states are geographically separate, each separate territory offers distinct natural resources. For example, one territory might offer rubber while another territory offers natural gas. Moreover, because the distinct territories of fragmented states are often separated by water, many such states offer substantial aquatic resources as well. Separate territories can work together or against each other for economic benefits. Territories can work cooperatively to pool resources or work competitively to lower costs.
  
  

Military Advantages

• The primary military advantage of fragmented states is their resistance to outside invasion. It can be difficult to invade and occupy a fragmented state because the concentration of power is diffused across many areas. Each territory has its own power center that must be conquered and controlled. To invade a fragmented state requires the invading force to capture all of the power centers at once, which requires considerable manpower and planning, or to capture each power center one at a time, which can create a lengthy war of attrition. Either way is difficult, making fragmented states a significant military challenge.
  
  

Social Advantages

• Because transportation among the separate territories of a fragmented state can be lengthy or expensive, interaction between the separate territories is often minimal. The minimization of interaction allows each territory to develop its own cultural and ethnic customs in relative isolation from the other territories. This path of cultural development often creates a diversity of cultural and ethnic customs, giving each territory distinct regional traditions. If each territory can freely develop, a social harmony also emerges in which each cultural region corresponds to a specific territory, which in turn can help to lessen ethnic tensions.
  
  

Political Advantages

• Much like the distinct regional customs, each territory in a fragmented state often has distinct political traditions. Fragmented states are often strongly subsidiarian. Subsidiarity is a principle, much like federalism, that each part of a whole ought to be governed by the least centralized or most local authority. In fragmented states, then, the principle of subsidiarity often enables each territory to govern itself largely without interference from a central authority. Not all fragmented states are subsidiarian, but fragmented states are particularly suited to subsidiarity and those fragmented states that are subsidiarian are often the most politically harmonious.