Quote:
Originally Posted by Chadillaccc
The countries with the most similar level of decentralization to Canada are probably Brazil, Spain, and Australia.
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The other country that is about the same in terms of decentralization is Switzerland*.
Germany is one of the only countries I can think of where there is even
less of a claim to a single primate city. Berlin, while fun and the seat of government, is not particularly important economically. Even before the war, Berlin was not that much of a juggernaut, given the size of Germany. Its surrounded by one of the least densely-populated and poorest parts of Germany, as if Toronto were located in northern New Brunswick.
*Zurich and Toronto are very different cities, but Zurich kind of plays a Toronto-esque role, both within Switzerland and within the larger German-speaking world. In Switzerland, it's the centre for the German-speaking majority, but Geneva (Montreal) is the centre for the French-speaking minority and is no slouch. Zurich is a major world financial capital and a centre of Germanic culture (as Toronto is in the Anglosphere), but it's not necessarily more important than half a dozen cities in Germany (Toronto vs. half a dozen cities in the US), and is not a big, ancient city of a former empire like Vienna (London).