National Borders Fading: City States Make a Comeback

The government has imposed rises in a tax called the foreign-worker levy. Paid by the employer, it is charged on every foreign worker” explains an Economist article. The levies are an attempt to transition markets from low wage and low skill to high tech and high skill. Although the endeavour is essential to remaining competitive and innovative on a global scale, the policies are hurting small to medium sized enterprises. Moreover, the rises in costs of operation are simply being passed on to the consumers resulting in inflation. These problems are very real and need to be addressed seriously, but if Singapore and other cities are as innovative as the Solidiance study shows, the problems will prove to be a mere stepping stone to further success.

City States in Canada?

The regional differences addressed by Dr. Nighman regarding Italy are not unique to that nation. These types of variations can be seen within Southern Ontario quite readily. Although part of a province and larger nation, the region that boasts most of Canada’s population is home to a variety of cities with very unique identities. Areas like Kitchener-Waterloo are home to two universities and a polytechnic college. As well as post-secondary education there are establishments such as the Perimeter Institute (a facility for the study of theoretical physics) and the Center for International Governance Innovation. Moreover Blackberry, the one-time dominator of the smart phone market is based in the modestly sized city. All of these institutions brought the title of ‘The Smartest City in the World’ to Waterloo in 2007. Whether you agree with this ranking or not is irrelevant, the fact is that the city has been granted a special place in the minds of people who monitor progress on a city level. This subsequently leads to a unique regional identity that as Dr. Nighman points out, are very long lived and significant forces.

Moving west to the shores of Lake Huron you find Sarnia, a decidedly different city. Home not to world renowned universities or governance think tanks, it is known for its large proportion of fossil fuel refining and storage facilities. Although these are not nearly as desirable as universities, they serve to form unique identities and roles for their respective cities. Regional differences are also evident when comparing cities such as Toronto and Vancouver, where the former is the financial hub of Canada and Vancouver serves as a crucial port city among other things. These differences seem obvious when pointed out, but the prevailing mindset is to think of Canada as a single entity with a unique identity. Should North America experience deterioration in national governments in the future, it is quite plausible for these regionalisms to become much more evident. Thus it follows that evaluating the city instead of the nation is becoming a more wise approach in determining where to live or do business.

Hypothetically speaking, should national and provincial borders and governments become obsolete it is easy to see how cities will become the seats of regional power blocks, much as in Renaissance Italy. City states do indeed sound like a desirable route to take on a global scale, but this affirmation should not be seen as a definitive decision to do away with nations in a hasty manner. If and when the transition occurs it will be a lengthy process with many stumbling points. This article does not attempt to give answers as to how this transition will be made. More so it illustrates that city states of past and present have been very successful due to their small size and cooperation with neighbouring nations.