Historically cities were places where the non-elites were able to defy the elites. Cities had walls. Walls meant that people with limited training could stand up to the professional soldiers of the king and nobles. It was hard for a knight covered with armor and riding a massive horse to take on a shopkeeper on top of a wall and armed with a crossbow. If they had some food stored and a source of water they could often write their own ticket.
Cities were instrumental in building the idea of the nation state. Historically the Roman Empire was replaced by strong local chiefs and tribal divisions that developed into the medieval feudal system. A nobility developed based on who had the biggest muscles and the sharpest swords. A social contract was developed in which the soldier class promised to provide protection while the farmers agreed to grow food. It had many variations but it meant that a small elite began to run things. When kings would come along they had to bargain with these nobles in order to get their cooperation. Kings could only give orders to the soldiers from their personal lands. Everyone else had the option of ignoring them. Cities came into it because they bought charters from the king giving them the right to build their walls and thumb their noses at the local nobles. Thus the common people would often develop more of a tie with the king than they had with the local castle.
Eventually you had cities and the common people gaining enough wealth and power that democratic forms began to develop. In England the king originally had a council of nobles to give him advice and approve taxes. This lead to the breakthrough of the Magna Carta. Eventually that became the House of Nobles. In time the ordinary people got enough clout that there was a House of Commons. The English Civil War gave the non-nobles real power.
Powerful cities once stood for freedom from local lords. In modern times they have become the local lords. Maybe their power needs to be abridged.
To be continued...
homo unius libri
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