It's...complicated. Right now is different than...even a few months ago. We're kind of in the middle of an attempted extermination. [ He blazes through that, and keeps going. Chances of anyone being alive in any parts of the planet are slim to none. ]

But, ah, the Systems Alliance is over our colonies, and our collective military, but there are still sovereign nations. Japan's one of them, just like the European Union, and the Chinese People's Federation. But it's just...Earth. Most people are going offworld, which means the Alliance has more power as a whole, even if they answer to the Earth Parliament.

[ Mass Effect just didn't give us much, because who cares about Earth when you can have an alien dating sim instead. ]