Are cities the new countries? • Hacker News Board

Re: Are cities the new countries?

#101

Post by m_mueller » Tue, Jan 19, 2016, 4:34 AM UTC

mxfh wrote: post #43

m_mueller wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm not saying it would be a particularly good system to copy, but the old Swiss confederacy is probably the prime example of self governed city states bound only in an alliance, i.e not through a monarchy. What came out of it (after some Republicanism was forcefully infuced by Napoleon) is something most Swiss are very fond of - a federal Republic with a very modest central government and checks and balances on ster…

Effectively Switzerland is pretty much a one-dimensional (only 30 to 70 km in width) multi or triple center city-(cluster) state due to it's economically usable geography wedged in between the Jura and alpine Mountain ranges. This 300 km long plateau only covers about 30% of the Swiss total land area. Geneva plus Lac Léman region (Lausanne, Montreux) on the one end. Seperated by the "Röstigraben" from the German part…

Agreed, up to one point: I'd argue that looking at it as a triple city cluster is too much of a simplification - these centers are simply not large enough to render the others insignificant. I.e. the Berne, Lugano, St. Gallen and Lucerne urban und cultural areas aren't totally insignificant compared to Zurich, Geneva/Lausanne or Basel. Switzerland is simply too multifaceted to reduce it like that.

Re: Are cities the new countries?

#102

Post by m_mueller » Tue, Jan 19, 2016, 3:10 PM UTC

hobs wrote: post #34

m_mueller wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm not saying it would be a particularly good system to copy, but the old Swiss confederacy is probably the prime example of self governed city states bound only in an alliance, i.e not through a monarchy. What came out of it (after some Republicanism was forcefully infuced by Napoleon) is something most Swiss are very fond of - a federal Republic with a very modest central government and checks and balances on ster…

Fair point, forgot about those sensible Swiss.

Well, if you look at the Old Confederacy, you were only really wrong in one account: the assumption that it needs to be a monarchy. These fellas were rather fond of going into battle, it's just that all out war has somehow been avoided since the mid 17th century.

Re: Are cities the new countries?

#103

Post by afsina » Wed, Jan 20, 2016, 6:42 AM UTC

smcl wrote: post #58

afsina wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I doubt that. Singapore, Monaco and Luxembourg are doing just fine without the blessing of a big state.

I'm not so sure these are very good examples. Monaco is effectively a tiny gated community of France for the super rich that produces little-to-no goods or services. Luxembourg is heavily dependent on support and the existance of the EU (receiving approximately €3,000 per person, the highest in the entire EU). Singapore is probably the best example of a city-state succeeding outside the framework of a larger state, b…

There are also Andorra, Lichtenstein and probably Macao and Hong Kong (They could be just fine without England and China).