Point of Departure
Global and world city theories as well as new approaches to metropolitanization challenge the traditional role and centrality of capital cities. More specifically, capital cities that are not the dominant economic centers of their nations – so-called secondary capital cities – tend to be overlooked in the fields of economic geography and political science and there is a lack of research and resulting theory describing their political economy. Yet, capital cities play an important role in shaping the political, economic, social and cultural identity of a nation. As the seat of power and decision making, capital cities represent a nation's identity not only through their symbolic architecture but also through their economies and through the ways in which they position themselves in national networks. Yet, the decline of the nation state, the rise of transnational institutions, the ascendance of global or world cities, and the increasing concentration of the knowledge economy in a few dominant metropolitan areas has challenged the traditional role and centrality of capital cities. Secondary capital cities are struggling with these trends in particular, because they lack the economic functions of more established commercial cities or multi-functional capitals such as London, Paris or Tokyo.
Economic geography and political science research, however, has marginalized capital cities. As a consequence, there is no cohesive theory about secondary capital cities. This project will add to our understanding of the political economy of secondary capital cities in federalist nations. From a more theoretical point of view, understanding the role of capital cities lies at the core of contemporary theories of urbanization and globalization. The significance of global and world cities has long been observed by social scientists, but the role of capital cities has largely been neglected. Particularly in a time when contemporary globalization has had a great impact on the way urban economies relate and interact, and when economic crises have revealed the significance of political regulation and intervention, it is important to examine the capital city as the seat of power and decision making.