Standing in the way of corporate or city-state primacy is the hyper-efficiency of the modern global economy. Bearing the cost of ones own defense and foreign p

Standing in the way of corporate or city-state primacy is the hyper-efficiency of the modern global economy. Bearing the cost of ones own defense and foreign policy, instead of outsourcing it to your host government, is incredibly inefficient and leaves you open to price competition from your government-sheltered peers. That's the entire reason the global economy of politcal-economic alliances and trade policies was created: to benefit from global, lower-cost manufacturing while still retaining the benefit of government protection. It seems more likely we'll revert to a multi-polar late-Cold War state of affairs, with global supply chains much more influenced by current military alliances.