Oliver Garner
London is the capital city of the United Kingdom. This unitary state is composed of four constituent nations under the ‘devolution’ arrangements, that may be regarded as ‘asymmetric federalism’. This unorthodox constitutional structure results from the centuries of development from separate feudal autocracies, through imperial expansion, and into a modern constitutional monarchy. The last decade has seen these arrangements challenged by the irruptions caused by ‘Brexit’, the United Kingdom’s withdrawal from the European Union. This article traces the past, present, and potential future of London’s role as the geographic and symbolic seat of power in the United Kingdom’s hybrid aristocratic-democratic constitutional system.
