Conversation

How come there are so few actual city-states? Singapore, Monaco, Vatican… that’s it I think. UAE if you relax definition a bit. And the Vatican doesn’t really count. And Monaco is just a wealthy tax shelter, not a real thing. So really just Singapore.
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I don’t think they’re a stable concept except in very weird geographies. Cities need too many resources and are too attractive to hinterlands to leave alone.
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I think we like city states for the same reason we like toys. Especially adult ones like complex model railroads. It’s like full-scale sim city.
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Also there are zero “hinterland states” with no cities. Those are even less stable. Only chocolate chip cookie topologies work.
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Is economic viability a big barrier? Singapore and Hong Kong have thrived as financial and shipping hubs but only so many cities can fill that niche. A lot of would-be city states would be able to export to rural areas more easily as part of the same nation
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Yep. Singapore solved water by striking a deal with Malaysia & invested in water treatment facilities so much of domestic wastewater can be filtered and recycled. You need friendly neighbors to pull off a city-state. Singapore invested a lot in ASEAN diplomacy.
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Worth noting that Singapore in fact joined Malaysia for a couple of years (1963-65) but was kicked out after refusing to pony up more revenues to KL. And the hinterlands point is exactly right: for decades there were big questions about how Singapore would get enough water.
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Singapore is actually already fully independent water wise but it is quite expensive for it to be so. They have a lot of desalination but the real differentiator is water recycling