Collecting some examples

[kilroy]

 I'm building a list for analysis. I need twenty or so good universes of any fictional variety that have a bunch of persistent, politically relevant factions with different cultures and/or goals. Help me out?

Things that are good examples:
Avatar: the Last Airbender
Babylon 5
City of Heroes
Defiance
Discworld
Dune
Most well-constructed Dungeons and Dragons universes
Erfworld
Feng Shui
Game of Thrones
Star Trek: Deep Space Nine
Any White Wolf universe (including Trinityverse)
The Wire

Things that probably aren't good examples:
Star Wars-- it basically boils down to Rebels, Imperials, and Criminals. There are a bunch of alien races, but they all more or less fall into one of those categories. See also Firefly.
Doctor Who-- you get to see a lot of different cultures and factions, but the ones that show up multiple times are usually just villains or backdrops. Designed as an exploration/showcase rather than an integrated universe. See also TOS and to an extent TNG. 
Harry Potter-- the universe has some breadth and depth, but the story as told essentially boils down to everyone-versus-the-bad-guys. The different strengths of the good guy alliance are largely irrelevant. See also Lord of the Rings. 
Fables-- this actually goes too far into motivational territory, where every individual character has an agenda and even people nominally in the same group have only surface-level common ground. See also most superhero universes, Justified, Once Upon a Time, and Amber. 

Comments

[kilroy]

Also, just to address two other obvious possibilities: I believe both Dresden and Farscape probably qualify here, but I haven't read enough Dresden to know for sure and I don't remember Farscape well enough to know if it broke out of the Star Wars mold sufficiently. Willing to take advisement on either.

ETA: Also also, L5R and 7th Sea. Both universes I've meant to explore for a while but can't vouch for.

[grammarwoman]

Farscape is a maybe, because they certainly come across a variety of cultures and politics. I would offer as a stronger example (because they actually dive deeply into the notion of politics and culture) Lois McMaster Bujold's Vorkosigan books. (SO GOOD! If you haven't read them, you totally should.)

Or (and I feel sheepish mentioning this) the Stargate collection of TV series.

[kayote]

Darkover by MZ Bradley.

Usagi Yojimbo

Girl Genius (maybe--not sure there are enough with enough definition and differentiation, though I think there are in the world. There are at least 4 big ones.)

(Also, while trying to come up with the name of one more, I suddenly realized I was thinking of Saga.)

[james]

Maybe Walter Hunt's the Dark Wing series, though I don't know that it's all that widely read? It has two species, human and alien, but both sides are treated with both positive and negative, insider and outsider views.

[korafox]

How about The Wire? Not technically a fictional universe, I know, but I suspect your reason for asking is less "what are some fictional cultures that interweave in balance" and more "how do I construct a narrative that balances these different groups". It's certainly a show that manages to keep from giving outright moral superiority to any one group.

I may come up with more later, because brain is failing me.