Live data from Hacker News

Are cities the new countries?

bbc.com

11–20 of 103 posts

Re: Are cities the new countries?

#11
post #3

I wish we can have real city states as I think they have a lot of advantages over large-central states. Easier accountability of the governments, easier mobility and probably less trade restrictions.

What evidence do we have that any of those things would occur? The pre-modern city states really did not have better accountability or less trade restrictions, as far as I know they were characterized by kings and tariffs, and were at war almost all the time.

Re: Are cities the new countries?

#12
post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

When you think that the New York Metropolitan Area has a bigger GDP than Russia, what you are suggesting (real city states) starts to actually make sense.

Why so?

Don't you think that an economy greater than Russia deserves to govern itself, or at least have much greater autonomy?

Re: Are cities the new countries?

#13
post #9
post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Perhaps not a federation of city states, but I would definitely be in favour of a federation of England/Scotland/Wales/NI/Dependencies - perhaps even with London as a separate federal part

Certainly, that alone would be a move in the right direction. > London as a separate federal part Not the first time I've heard the suggestion of ejecting London from the Union :)

I always view London as a 'world capital' that just happens to reside in England.

Re: Are cities the new countries?

#14
post #4

Interesting. My group of friends seem to routinely come back to the topic of the UK becoming a federation of city-states. Seems we're not the only ones thinking that way.

Most libertarians/classical liberals believe in that concept. It used to be like that in the middle ages, especially in Germany and Italy.

Look for instance these two articles: http://www.wsj.com/articles/SB100014240527023039195045775226... https://mises.org/library/politics-johann-wolfgang-goethe

Re: Are cities the new countries?

#15
post #8
post #4

Interesting. My group of friends seem to routinely come back to the topic of the UK becoming a federation of city-states. Seems we're not the only ones thinking that way.

Perhaps not a federation of city states, but I would definitely be in favour of a federation of England/Scotland/Wales/NI/Dependencies - perhaps even with London as a separate federal part

Arguably the UK already has a pretty "federal" structure - just that the whole thing is dominated, naturally enough by England and London.

Any attempt to balance things out would require devolving powers to the English regions, which nobody seems to want.

Re: Are cities the new countries?

#17
post #10
post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Certainly, that alone would be a move in the right direction. > London as a separate federal part Not the first time I've heard the suggestion of ejecting London from the Union :)

My first real introduction to UK politics was listening to an only mildly tipsy ex-London mayor rant about how if he could, he'd gladly "pay the rest of the UK £10 billion to go fuck itself, and get us towed out into the mid-Atlantic and declared an independent city state." This impressed me on several levels. :-)

Boris Johnson then?

Re: Are cities the new countries?

#18
post #3

I wish we can have real city states as I think they have a lot of advantages over large-central states. Easier accountability of the governments, easier mobility and probably less trade restrictions.

When you think that the New York Metropolitan Area has a bigger GDP than Russia, what you are suggesting (real city states) starts to actually make sense.

Where are you seeing this? I got California > Russia > New York State: http://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=new+york+gdp%2C+califor...

Re: Are cities the new countries?

#19
Cities grow by drawing in people from around them. They can exist only thanks to the unproductive rural regions.

If we separate cities from their region - it just means the money generated in cities won't be used (among other things) for fixing problems in the countryside. It's just hiding the externalities.

Also from history I know of at least 3 unifications of small states and it was beneficial in all cases (at least for the people involved) - see Polish, German, and Italian unification. Why do we think it's different now?

Re: Are cities the new countries?

#20
post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why so?

Don't you think that an economy greater than Russia deserves to govern itself, or at least have much greater autonomy?

Wouldn't that argument work in reverse too? How much autonomy does Vermont (lowest gdp) need anyway?
Post reply on HN