One, two and three national capitals

TheMike · Jul 22, 2010

Bolivia has two national capitals. They are La Paz(seat of government) and Sucre(constitutional). South Africa has three. They are Cape Town(legislative), Pretoria(executive) and Bloemfontein(judicial). Most countries have only one, where the three powers(legislative, executive and judicial) are located.

What are the pros and cons for these cases(one, two and three national capitals)? Which one may be the best choice? Discuss.

Dragoon Fighter · Jul 22, 2010

Well if one branch gets destroyed the other ones still work though if terrorist/super villains are bent on destroying a building it is pretty hard to stop them.

Sieguest · Jul 25, 2010

Each have their advantages and disadvantages.

One Capitol Pros: Everything is in one coherent bunch. Communication between each branch is easily performed. If the country has a checks and balances system then the checks each branch has over one another is easily asserted to keep power equal.

One Capitol Cons: A hostile group can target that one building and cripple a government. Corruption can spread easily into all the branches.

Two Capitol Pros: More difficult to cripple the government since having two buildings provides sort of a buffer if one goes down. Units are semi coherent in themselves. Corruption is more likely to be localized and easier to deal with.

Two Capitols Cons: As a whole, the government is less coherent and as a result, less efficient. A checks and balances system to keep one branch from over powering the other would be hard to enforce.

Three Capitols Pros: Even more difficult to cripple the government since there are two other buildings to take over it's roles. Corruption is more likely to be localized and as such, much easier to resolve.

Three Capitols Cons: Extremely incoherent compared to a country with one capitol building, and because of this incoherence the government is much more inefficient. Communication is much less secure. A checks and balances system would be near impossible to accomplish. Regions where the capitols are located may engage in conflict causing much more trouble for the country.

As to which one is the best, I honestly believe it depends on the geography of the country. More compact countries may be able to operate a three capitol government while larger countries use one and other such factors.

#HBC | Dark Horse · Jul 25, 2010

Nacl hit the nail here, except for one fact that i disagree with.

Shouldn't larger countries have more than one capitol, as having one capitol could hinder connection with other parts of the country?

BOB SAGET! · Jul 25, 2010

Dark Horse said:
Nacl hit the nail here, except for one fact that i disagree with.

Shouldn't larger countries have more than one capital, as having one capital could hinder connection with other parts of the country?

*fixed

What Nacl meant was that the cities in a small country wouldn't be so far a part. So communication between capitals would be easier.

Sieguest · Jul 25, 2010

Dark Horse said:
Nacl hit the nail here, except for one fact that i disagree with.

Shouldn't larger countries have more than one capitol, as having one capitol could hinder connection with other parts of the country?

It's kind of a trade off. You could have more than one capitol in larger countries but depending on their placement secure communication between the capitols becomes inefficient. (Yes there is email but it's becoming easier and easier to break encryption keys to get to stuff like that.) And regional conflicts may be more likely to develop if the branches in each capitol clash with each other.

Having one capitol would solve these problems but you have the dangers I listed earlier. In my own opinion I believe that governments in larger countries should have efficient means of secure communications so that they can come to decisions and make these decision known to the people quickly.

@BOB SAGET!- Bingo.
But, Dark Horse was using the right capitol.

Capitol refers to any legislative building.
Capital refers to any accumulated stock, monies etc.
See here.

EDIT: Well actually, it still may be a bit confusing.
The city in which the capitol is located is the capital. But most times we are referring to the capitol building itself.

#HBC | Dark Horse · Jul 25, 2010

@Bob saget

I was talking about communication between the capitol/capital(s) and regular people.

Cap·i·tol [kap-i-tl]
-noun
1. the building in Washington, D.C., used by the Congress of the U.S. for its sessions.
2. (often lowercase) a building occupied by a state legislature.
3. the ancient temple of Jupiter at Rome, on the Capitoline.
4. the Capitoline.

Gimme a sec, I'll find capital.

Edit:

cap·i·tal1 [kap-i-tl]
-noun
1. the city or town that is the official seat of government in a country, state, etc.: Tokyo is the capital of Japan.
2. a city regarded as being of special eminence in some field of activity: New York is the dance capital of the world.

It's capital.

One, two and three national capitals

TheMike

Smash Lord

Dragoon Fighter

Smash Lord

Sieguest

Smash Master

#HBC | Dark Horse

Mach-Hommy x Murakami

BOB SAGET!

Smash Lord

Sieguest

Smash Master

#HBC | Dark Horse

Mach-Hommy x Murakami

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