It seems hard to imagine a world without countries, but with the rising level of political and economic anxiety, there are talks of demanding independence for major cities. Perhaps the city-state is the future?
The nation-state with its border, centralized governments, and sovereign authorities is becoming increasingly obsolete in the new digital world. The Internet heralded a new borderless, free, and identity-less era. The birth of globalization stripped away the nation-state’s sole power to enforce change.
Companies and organizations are international, and challenges like climate change, immigration, pandemic, and international crime all seemed beyond the nation-state’s abilities.
And with the waning power of the nation-state, it looks like the city-state is making a comeback. Unlike nation-states, city-states have the conditions to thrive in an international, highly connected world.
Cities are centres of commerce, growth, innovation, technology, and finance. They also have more political flexibility to adapt to global challenges than nations.
On the issue of climate change, for example, since 2006, 60 cities have signed to promote partnerships and technologies to reduce carbon emissions.
In 2016, just one week after Britain voted to leave the European Union, 50,000 people in London signed up for a protest against Brexit and demanded the city to be independent. Around the same time, more than 180,000 Londoners signed a petition asking for London Mayor Sadiq Khan to declare London independent.
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