User blog comment:GrandMethuselah67/Lore Sheet: The United Republic of Humankind/@comment-4867780-20150705091736/@comment-26322734-20150709200056

Yep, completely united by two things: representation and nationalism.

Though the population of the U.R.H (the human population, that is) easily reaches into the hundreds of billions, each faction has a representative that's in the United Senate. The government of the U.R.H has a federalist government much like American government: three branches, none more powerful than the other. Checks and balances. There's a law-making body, a presidential body, and a judicial body.

Anyway, back to how they stay united. The advanced technology of the 41st Century definitely allows communication across the galaxy easily, so keeping tabs on a colony at the edge of U.R.H. territory from, say, Earth isn't that difficult. Any attempts to scede from the Union (the U.R.H.) will either be punished (assuming that you were an important part of the U.R.H to begin with) or simply ignored (if you're, say, a small agricultural colony in some obscure solar system).

Next is Nationalism. You see, the citizens of the U.R.H. LOVE it there. There's virtual reality, the ability to become anything you want, and the lifestyle that comes with a lack of a need for money, the availability of everything you want for free, and the virtual lack of conflict within the U.R.H. In the Milky Way, your other alternatives are Kazzack (and THAT is not an option), or the smaller, less advanced civilizations in the Galaxy (places where resources and energy are too scarce to keep up the "human lifestyle", where you'd need money, where you're susceptible to attacks by space pirates, thieves, and any variety of alien conqueror). Life in the U.R.H. has led to a sense of nationalism, in a belief of cultural superiority of humans over other alien societies. If you've already got the best, then why leave?