City-state

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A city-state is an independent sovereign city which serves as the center of political, economic, and cultural life over its contiguous territory.^[1] They have existed in many parts of the world throughout history, including cities such as Rome, Carthage, Athens and Sparta and the Italian city-states during the Middle Ages and Renaissance, such as Florence, Venice, Genoa and Milan.

With the rise of nation states worldwide, there remains some disagreement on the number of modern city-states that still exist; Singapore, Monaco and Vatican City are the candidates most commonly discussed. Out of these, Singapore is the largest and most populous, and is generally considered to be the last real city-state left in the world, with full sovereignty, international borders, its own currency, a robust military, and substantial international influence in its own right.^[2] The Economist refers to it as the "world's only fully functioning city-state".^[3]

Several non-sovereign cities enjoy a high degree of autonomy and are often considered as city-states. Hong Kong, Macau,^[4][5] However, cities of the United Arab Emirates—most notably Dubai are often cited as such as well.^[6][7][8] Some non sovereign overseas territories of countries such as Gibraltar are also sometimes called city states.^[9]