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It all started in the late twentieth century. The pieces had been set up much earlier than that, of course, but that's when it all came down. The corporations were the ones who set it into motion. They'd always been jockeying for power and monopolies, but up until then laws on the national level had kept them in check satisfactorily. However, with the shrinking world and increasing global awareness and communication ability, the corporations jumped on the chance to become multinational. It happened gradually, but soon most corporations were set up over national borders, so that no one nation could force them to comply with trade laws. Something needed to be done. To combat the problem, the United Nations in 2005 was given limited legislative power over its member nations.
At the same time, the Earth was fast running out of fossil fuels. After using its new might to curb the corporations, the UN looked into the power source problem. By 2010, after spending several years developing various alternatives to fossil fuel, nuclear power plants came to the forefront as the most economical source of energy, especially as cold fusion began to look like a definite possibility. The advent of cold fusion in 2017, and its subsequent miniaturization, revitalized the failing space programs.
Humanity exploded into the solar system. Metals were mined from the Asteroid Belt to build space stations which, along with planet-side cities protected by atmosphere shells, helped curb the growing population problem. By 2030, planet-side colonies were active on Venus, Mars, and Luna. Space stations in the Belt and around Earth had been running smoothly for several years. Colonies were under construction on the moons of Jupiter, and colonies on Mercury and in Jupiter itself were under consideration. All seemed well, but it was only to be a temporary lull.
The Committee on Foreign Relations had long controlled the world international scene as well as the United States, and, through them, it controlled the United Nations as well. Now, in 2041, they began their gambit to gain total control. The UN was viewed as something of a hero in the public eye, for its handling of the corporation and energy problems and for bringing humanity into space, and so, with the CFR manipulating events behind the scenes, the people eventually granted to the UN in 2045 full legislative power, as well as a great deal of executive and judicial power.
However, there were those among the member nations who opposed such power in the hands of the UN. The European Union, particularly, already had a unified economic and political system, much like that of the UN. They of all nations did not appreciate UN interference, and in the fall of 2047, seceded. This was followed by the standard political posturings and threats, but for a short time it appeared as though the UN would forbear to retaliate. The United Nations, though, had grown slowly but steadily more arrogant and greedy, almost abusive of its power, in the years since it was granted control.
At 4:00 AM, March 14, 2049, United Nation soldiers invaded the European Union with intent to seize control. The EU fought valiantly, but its troops could not stand against those of the UN. In imminent danger of losing the war, for such it had become, the EU launched an attack in December of 2050 utilizing a new biological-nuclear weapon. Theoretically, this weapon would use the force of the nuclear blast, slightly more powerful than that of conventional atomic weaponry, to spread a certain specialized chemical agent called Proselityr over an area corresponding to the fallout region, also greater than that of conventional nuclear weaponry. The chemical, with highly contagious properties almost like a man-made bacterium or virus, would wrack the very DNA of its victims. Unfortunately, the UN also possessed such weapons, and also used them. The following nuclear exchange wiped out New York, Washington DC, Moscow, Tokyo, Beijing, London, Paris, Madrid, Berlin, Rome, and the surrounding areas.
Those who could, fled to the safety of the space stations. In the mass exodus, the Space Navigators' Guild, an already-powerful union, assumed and retained even greater strength, such as that it possessed an exclusive contract with the UN, to the point where only Guild-approved universities could even train space pilots. A hasty armistice was drawn up, leaving the inner planets to the UN and ceding Jupiter and the Belt to the EU, who had certainly fared the worst in the recent war. Both sides agreed that atomic weaponry, and even genetic research -- which had contributed in great part to the recent holocaust -- should be utterly banned. In 2053, a faction of scientist-pirates sprang up in the Belt, harassing the Nav-Guild and the UN. The EU on Jupiter has disavowed all knowledge and approbation of them, claiming not to inhabit the Belt at all. Because this faction makes frequent runs down to Earth to supply the remaining natives with contraband, they have been dubbed the Smugglers by the UN.
The date is 2073. Mercury is a poor mining colony nominally independent of but actually controlled by the UN. Venus is a standard colony of little note, where lives mostly working class families. Earth is the slum of the system, full of the poor, the unfortunate, the criminals and the political exiles. Unsubstantiated rumors persist of mutants inhabiting the Hot Spots -- those areas which still contain pockets of deadly radiation and the chemical Proselityr. The stations above Earth house the seat of government of the UN, while the colonies on Luna support the well-off. Mars is a pleasure planet where the rich and powerful dwell. The Smugglers still inhabit the Belt, despite frequent attempts by Nav-Guild and the UN to destroy them or ferret them out. Colonies on Europa, Ganymede, and Callisto -- three moons of Jupiter -- eke out a bare living. Events are only now settling down as people acclimate to the new socio-political climate. And time turns ever on.