Skip to main content

Are there other governments in The Hunger Games world?


We know that Panem exists in a post-apocalyptic North America but are there other established governments on other continents?



Answer



None that we know of. Panem is, as far as anyone else in the story knows, the last human civilization on Earth. The events preceding the creation of Panem (a combination of natural disasters and man-made war and disease), some 200 years ago, have rendered most of the rest of the world, including most of North America itself, uninhabitable, and dangerously depleted the world's population.


Now, from a purely realistic perspective, it seems unlikely that Panem's people are the only humans left on Earth. There are plenty of people living in plenty of places that would neither be very susceptible to a major natural disaster, nor worth the effort of deploying a WMD. So, there is every chance of the other major landmasses (Africa, Eurasia, South America and Australia) harbouring some remaining human populations, probably mainly nomads moving from place to place hunting what animals are left.


However, those countries and their people are few and far between. Mongolia, for instance, is not real high on anyone's target list, but it has the bad fortune of being landlocked in between two of the world's foremost military and nuclear powers. Similarly, the Himalayan nations are no real threat to anyone, but lie in the middle of a trifecta of conflict (China, India, Pakistan). Pretty much every nation in Europe, South and Central America, the Middle East, and Africa are on SOMEONE's hit list. Australia is too close to Western power factions to escape unscathed, and the most habitable areas are the ones with the major cities (and close to the ocean, meaning a rise in sea levels would submerge a large part of the habitable land).



North America is of course on many hit lists; the primary reason any of it would survive is probably due to the United States having invested relatively early in a missile defence system. That at least prevents or reduces the nuclear attacks from sovereign nations. We'd still be subject to global warming, epidemic, and terrorist attack rendering large swaths of the most densely-populated areas inhospitable. What's left are small tracts of land in between what used to be dense population centres, that have some remaining economic value: farming (11), ranching (10), fishing (4), mining (12 & 2), textiles (8), lumber (7), and what's left of the tech and consumer goods industries (1,3,9).


But, the basic idea is that while the Capitol has advanced technology significantly in many areas, in others they are woefully limited compared to today. For instance, they have "hovercraft", the exact nature of which is not detailed in the books but is probably based on ducted-fan propulsion much like the craft in Avatar. These craft are short-to-medium range, probably using a battery charged at the home base. Fossil fuels of many kinds are in such short supply that air planes as we know them today are infeasible (though not unknown to the more educated people of Panem). So too are large ocean ships. So, trans-oceanic travel is generally considered impossible by Panem's residents (none of which would have any knowledge of sailing ships), and thus even if people were still scraping out a living elsewhere on the planet, Panem has neither the will nor the resources to go find out.


Comments

Popular posts from this blog

futurama - How much time is lost in 'Time Keeps on Slippin''

In time Keeps on Slippin' , Farnsworth creates a basketball team which he matures by abusing Chronitons. This leads to time skipping forward by random, but ever increasing amounts. How much time was skipped in this way? Answer Unfortunately, I don't think a good estimate can be made for this, for two reasons: Many of the time skips move forward by an indeterminate amount of time. At one point, the Professor mentions localized regions of space skipping forward much more than others. We then see two young boys on the street below complaining about having to pay social security, only to suddenly become senior citizens and start complaining about wanting their money. Thus, each individual could have experienced a different amount of time skippage.

harry potter - How could Expelliarmus beat Avada Kedavra?

I want to be very careful about how I ask this question – I am not asking How did Voldemort die? [CLOSED] Below the text is the relevant passages from Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows if anyone wants to review them (I'm sorry for the amount of text). How did Expelliarmus beat Avada Kedavra and kill Voldemort? I feel the reason Harry's Expelliarmus overpowered Voldemort's Avada Kedavra curse has to do with who was master of the Elder Wand and how the Elder Wand works. I've always had trouble understanding fully how the Elder Wand works, though. How much did the fact that Voldemort never truly won or mastered the Elder Wand factor into how Expelliarmus reacted to Avada Kedavra and caused Avada Kedavra to rebound and kill Voldemort? An answer based in book canon would be especially welcome, but any canon source really is fine. Harry heard the high voice shriek as he, too, yelled his best hope to the heavens, pointing Draco’s wand: ‘ Avada Kedavra !’ ‘ Expelliarmus !...

game of thrones - Is Syrio Forel dead?

In the episode 'The Pointy End' (Season 1 Episode 8) when Arya runs from the Lannister guards you hear the sound of a sword being dropped (around 4:56): [embedded content] After that neither Syrio or Ser Meryn Trant is never mentioned or seen in the show again, except when Arya mentions to the Hound that Ser Meryn Trant killed Syrio. Is there any mention in the books that Syrio actually dies?

tolkiens legendarium - Difference between elves and dwarves blacksmithing in the Lord of the Rings

Both the elves and the dwarves were famous for their metal work in the Lord of the Rings trilogy, but what is the difference between what they made, and which one had the better skill of making amours and swords? Answer James Christopher's answer sums up the second part of your question well, but as to the difference in what they made, a little more detail is needed. Once the Elves learned to forge with steel, the shape of the sword changed, now being able to take on the form of a great broadsword or a light and agile curved sword. Additionally, they took great pride in decorating their swords. As we see in the Lord of the Rings , some swords like Sting had magical properties such as glowing blue when orcs are near. As far as the use of Mithril, lotr.wikia has two contradictory passages: Thus, Elven blades became renowned as great weapons, capable of performing deeds beyond the skill of their handlers and were even more glorious when the use of Mithril was allowed to the Elves. ...