Capital cities are unique, in large part, because they are seen as an important symbol of the whole country. This symbolism has special meaning for federal countries, which tend to be diverse or large, or both. Consequently, in federal countries the choice of a capital city, its location, its monuments, and its governance arrangements have to reflect this diversity while also being as neutral as possible with respect to individual states or provinces.¹ Not surprisingly, therefore, several capital cities discussed in this book, including Washington, DC, Ottawa, Canberra, and Abuja, are all located on historic regional, linguistic, or ethnic borders....

The Australian federation was created in 1901. It comprises a federal (a.k.a. Commonwealth or Australian) government, six states (New South Wales, Victoria, Queensland, South Australia, Western Australia, and Tasmania), and two semi-autonomous federal territories (Northern Territory and Australian Capital Territory). Australia covers a continent with an area of 7.7 million square kilometres but has a population of only 21.2 million. Population growth is currently around 1.5% per annum. In 2006 gross domestic product (GDP) was approximately US$760 billion, or US$36,300 per capita.¹

The capital city, Canberra, lies within the Australian Capital Territory (ACT). The territory covers an area of some...

In recent times Brussels has become synonymous with the European Union (EU) both in the press and in the larger public perception. However, Brussels is a historical city. Although Belgium was established in 1830, Brussels’ importance as an administrative and commercial centre long predates the founding of the Belgian state. The city’s status as an administrative centre through succeeding periods of Burgundian, Austrian, Spanish, and Dutch rule ensured that Brussels would house the institutions of state when Belgium was founded in 1830. This role has never been questioned. Brussels’ location at the commercial and cultural crossroads of Europe made it...

The formal capital of Canada is the City of Ottawa in the province of Ontario. Geographically, the National Capital Region (NCR) also includes the Municipalité du Gatineau, located across the Ottawa River. The river also forms the boundary between the provinces of Ontario and Quebec.

Ottawa is unique as a federal capital for a variety of reasons. There is no official capital district similar to the District of Columbia or the Australian Capital Territory. The city itself is a municipality like others in the province of Ontario and is governed in accordance with rules that have general application throughout Ontario...

The federal-district model in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, which was established after the 1995 Constitution, albeit after a series of legal/constitutional reforms, seems a step in the right direction. It guarantees the residents of Addis Ababa some level of self-rule and representation in the federal Parliament while ensuring that the capital city is not under one state’s legal and cultural dominance. This model also guarantees that the federal government will have some influence over its own seat of government in terms of planning and development, thus maintaining the federal capital’s symbolic role. Yet Addis Ababa seems to be suffering from a...

Berlin from 1200 to 1991For a long time it was assumed that Berlin had first been mentioned in 1237 and therefore that it formally dated from that year. Just a few months before the conference held in preparation for this volume in Delhi in March 2008, however, Berlin turned out to be fifty years older.¹ Recent excavations had turned up an old beam that through dendrochronology could be dated to fifty years earlier than 1237.

Later, Berlin had for a very long time been the capital of Prussia. In 1871 after the French-German War it became the capital of...

India’s federal structure¹ consists of three tiers of government: the Union government, generally referred to as the central government; state governments; and local governments.² The functions and powers of the Union government and state governments are laid out in Schedule 7 of the Constitution of India in two discrete lists: a Union List and a State List.³ In addition, there is a concurrent list of functions for which the two tiers of government have joint responsibility. However, in the event of a conflict, the Union government has overriding powers in respect of subjects on the concurrent list. The functions of...

The history of the area containing Mexico City reaches back 3,000 years, to a time when great Mesoamerican cultures developed on the same lands. In 1521, in the heart of America, the Spaniards conquered Great Tenochtitlan, and on its ruins they built the centre of what today is Mexico City.

Historically, Mexico City became the nation’s capital because it was the centre of Aztec culture, which dominated other neighbouring cultures and assumed the position of the centre of power in that era. Thus this area has played a centralist role since the time of the Conquest, and this geographic space...

A former British colony, Nigeria attained independence on 1 October 1960 and became a republic in 1963. Nigeria is a multicultural, multiethnic, and multi-religious country, with over 400 lingo-cultural groups. Nigeria has three main religions: African traditional religions (ATRs), Christianity, and Islam. The 2006 census exercise put Nigeria’s population at 140,003,542,¹ even though many Nigerians believe that Nigeria’s population is a little over 200 million. Nigeria has a geographical area of 923,768 square kilometres.

Nigeria is a federation of thirty-six states and 774 local government councils (also called “area councils”) (see figure 8.1). The 1999 Constitution recognizes three tiers of...

South Africa has, constitutionally speaking, no capital. The executive branch of the national government is situated in the city of Pretoria, which is located in a metropolitan municipality called the City of Tshwane, one of the three metropolitan municipalities in the province of Gauteng. The national Parliament is located 1,400 kilometres south of Petoria in the City of Cape Town, the metropolitan municipality in the province of the Western Cape. The “judicial capital” was located between Pretoria and Cape Town in Bloemfontein, Free State, when it was the seat of the highest court in the land, the Appellate Division. That...

In many respects, Bern represents a number of symbols that are, justly or unjustly but quite commonly, associated with Switzerland and the Swiss as a whole.¹ The picturesque sandstone buildings of the old town are witnesses of Middle Age glory, continuing political stability, and present but understated wealth. The breathtaking views of Eiger, Mönch, and Jungfrau announce the impressive mountain scenery of the Swiss Alps at a few kilometres distance. By their fellow citizens, the inhabitants of Bern are considered to be slow, not only when walking on the sidewalks but also mentally and especially in making decisions. With international...

The District of Columbia is the only entity in the United States that functions as both a state and a municipality. This unique situation is due partly to the fiscal rules that govern the US and partly to the historical characteristics of the country’s capital city. Following a period of unsound fiscal practices that led to the city’s insolvency, the federal government took over the district’s finances in 1995 and established the independent chief financial officer (CFO). This type of arrangement, where the guardian of the budget is separate from the executive branch, is unique to the district. The arrangement...

Capital cities, like other cities, are places where people live and work, use local services, and engage in political activity. Yet capital cities are different from other cities. Not only do they host the national government and principal national institutions, but they also play a unique cultural and symbolic role in the country. The national capital role and the local role sometimes come into conflict with each other. This conflict can be exacerbated in federal countries, where, if the capital is treated like any other city, it normally falls under the jurisdiction of a state or province¹ and leaves a...