Competing Claims and Nationalist Narratives: A City/State Debate in a Globalising World

This paper contributes to ongoing discussions about international urban entrepreneurialism, place marketing efforts, and city/state relations through an empirical analysis of a controversial state-sponsored prestige project, Galicia's ‘City of Culture’ museum. The protracted intra-regional debate surrounding the construction of the museum is informative in that it offers a scenario in which two rival cities are competing with each other within the same state. The story of their conflict adds a new and complicating dimension to the discussion by highlighting how city identity may intersect with national identity in relation to the politics of the state. The results show how the actual politics of city/state relations can be one of contestation between a range of political interests that extend beyond a simple, bipolar city/state relationship.