Seat of government

Theseat of governmentis (as defined byBrewer's Politics) "the building, complex of buildings or the city from which agovernmentexercises itsauthority".^[1]

In most countries, the nation'scapitalis also seat of its government, thus that city is appropriately referred to as the national seat of government. The terms are not however, completely synonymous, assome countries' seat of government differs from the capital. TheNetherlands,for example, hasAmsterdamas its capital butThe Hagueis the seat of government; and thePhilippines,withManilaas its capital but themetropolitan area of the same name(Metro Manila; also known as National Capital Region (NCR)), is the seat of government.

Local seats of government

Local and regional authorities usually have a seat, called anadministrative centre,as well. Terms for seats of local government of various levels and in various countries include:

Buildings as seats of government

Examples of seats of government include:

Canada:The suite of buildings onParliament HillinOttawa,Ontario,where theCanadian Parliamentmeets.
India:Three sites inRaisina Hill,New Delhi:theNew Parliament House(legislative seat), theRashtrapati Bhavan,7, Lok Kalyan Marg(executive seat),Supreme Court of India(judicial seat).
Philippines:Four buildings inNational Capital Region (NCR)/Metro Manila,Philippines: theGSIS BuildinginPasay(Senate of the Philippines) andBatasang PambansainQuezon City:House of Representatives of the Philippines(legislative seat), theMalacañang Palace(executive seat), andSupreme Court of the Philippines(judicial seat) inManila.
United Kingdom:ThePalace of Westminsterin theCity of Westminster,inCentral London,where theBritish Parliamentmeets.
United States:Three sites inWashington, D.C.:theUnited States Capitol(legislative seat), theWhite House(executive seat), and theUnited States Supreme Court building(judicial seat).

List of seats of country government which are not country capitals

There are several countries where, for various reasons, the official capital and de facto seat of government are separated:

Benin:Porto-Novois the official capital, butCotonouis the seat of government.
Bolivia:Sucreis theconstitutionalcapital, and thesupreme tribunal of justiceis located in Sucre, making it the judicial capital. ThePalacio Quemado,thenational congressandnational electoral courtare located inLa Paz,making it the seat of government.
Eswatini(Swaziland):Lobambais the traditional, spiritual, andlegislative capitalcity of Eswatini, seat of theParliament,^[2]while the capital isMbabane.
IsraelandPalestine:Jerusalemis considered to be the national capital of Israel since 1950 but was fully declared the undivided capital of the nation from 1980 according to theJerusalem Law,though most government offices are located inWest Jerusalem.This move is not recognized by the international community but majority of the embassies are located inTel Aviv.In addition, the State of Palestine also declaresEast Jerusalemor the entirety of Jerusalem to be its capital but the seat of government resides inRamallahas with thePalestinian National Authority.(For more details see:Status of Jerusalem.)
Ivory Coast:Yamoussoukrowas designated the national capital in 1983, but most government offices and embassies are still located inAbidjan.
Malaysia:Putrajayathe federal administrative centre of the Malaysia. The seat of government was shifted in 1999 fromKuala Lumpurto Putrajaya because of overcrowding and congestion in the former.
Montserrat:Its official capital isPlymouth,but it was permanently abandoned in 1997 after it was completely destroyed by the eruptions of theSoufrière Hills volcano.Since 1998 thede factocapital isBrades.^[3]The move was initially intended to be temporary, but it has remained the island'sde factocapital ever since.^[4]Several names have been suggested for the new official capital now being constructed in the Little Bay area.
Netherlands:Amsterdamis the constitutional national capital even though theDutch government,theparliament,thesupreme court,theCouncil of State,and thework palaceof theKingare all located inThe Hague,as are almost all the embassies. (For more details see:Capital of the Netherlands.)
Sri Lanka:Sri Jayawardenepura Kotte,commonly known as Kotte is the official administrative capital ofSri Lanka.^[5]It is a satellite city of and located within the urban area of Sri Lanka's de facto economic and legislative capital,Colombo.
Tanzania:Until 1974,Dar es Salaamserved as Tanzania's capital city, at which point the capital city commenced transferring toDodoma,by order of then-president Julius Nyerere,^[6]which was officially completed in 1996. However, as of 2018^[update],it remained focus of central government bureaucracy, although this is in the process of fully moving to Dodoma.

Countries with no official capital

Nauru:Yaren District(in earlier times Makwa/Moqua), is thede factocapital ofNauru;the republic does not have an official capital.^[7]^[8]
Switzerland:As of 2020^[update],no Swiss city holds an official status of national capital. In 1848, theFederal Assemblyvoted to locate the seat of government inBern,but no official status was granted to the city. The city has since been informally referred to as "Federal City".
Republic of China (Taiwan):Since 7 December 1949,Taipeihas been theprovisional capitaland the seat of government of the Republic of China after losing theChinese Civil War.AlthoughNanjinghad been claimed as the nominal capital of the country, its claims were downplayed in the 1990s.^[9]^[10]

Historical examples

Federal Republic of Germany:SinceGerman reunificationin 1990 at the end of theCold Warand until 1999,Berlinwas its capital andBonnwas the seat of government. However, theBerlin-Bonn Actspecifies that many federal government institutions are to maintain a seat in Bonn indefinitely. Prior to reunification, the question as to what was thede jurecapital was complicated by questions regarding the status of Berlin.
Kingdom of England:The traditional capital was theCity of London,whileWestminster,outside of the boundaries of the City of London, was the seat of government. They are both today part of the urban core ofGreater London.
Kingdom of France:The traditional capital wasParis,though in the periods 1682–1789 and 1871–1879 the seat of government was at thePalace of Versailles,located southwest of Paris.

References

^Comfort, N. (1993) Brewer's Politics. A phrase and fable dictionary. London: Cassell.
^"The Parliament of Swaziland"Archived4 March 2016 at theWayback Machine.Commonwealth Parliamentary Association. Accessed 7 April 2014.
^Leonard, T. M. (2005).Encyclopedia of the Developing World.Routledge. pp.1083.ISBN 978-1-57958-388-0
^Jonnard, M. Jonnard Claude M.; Jonnard, Claude M. (November 2009).Islands in the Wind: The Political Economy of the English East Caribbean.iUniverse.ISBN 978-1-4401-9426-9.
^"The Administrative Capital of Sri Lanka since 1982 is Sri Jayewardenepura Kotte".Official Sri Lanka government website.Archived fromthe originalon 20 December 2014.Retrieved7 January2015.
^"This Tanzanian city may soon be one of the world's most populous. Is it ready?".Environment.5 April 2019. Archived fromthe originalon 8 April 2019.Retrieved11 February2020.
^Constituencies of Nauru(naurugov.nr)
^"Yaren | district, Nauru".Encyclopedia Britannica.Retrieved2 September2019.
^"Since the implementation of the Act Governing Principles for Editing Geographical Educational Texts ( địa lý giáo khoa thư biên thẩm nguyên tắc ) in 1997, the guiding principle for all maps in geographical textbooks was that Taipei was to be marked as the capital with a label stating:" Location of the Central Government "".4 December 2013.Archivedfrom the original on 1 November 2019.Retrieved1 November2019.
^"Interior minister reaffirms Taipei is ROC's capital".Taipei Times.5 December 2013.Retrieved7 December2013.

[1] Comfort, N. (1993) Brewer's Politics. A phrase and fable dictionary. London: Cassell.

[CPA-2] "The Parliament of Swaziland"Archived4 March 2016 at theWayback Machine.Commonwealth Parliamentary Association. Accessed 7 April 2014.

[3] Leonard, T. M. (2005).Encyclopedia of the Developing World.Routledge. pp.1083.ISBN 978-1-57958-388-0

[JonnardJonnard2009-4] Jonnard, M. Jonnard Claude M.; Jonnard, Claude M. (November 2009).Islands in the Wind: The Political Economy of the English East Caribbean.iUniverse.ISBN 978-1-4401-9426-9.

[5] "The Administrative Capital of Sri Lanka since 1982 is Sri Jayewardenepura Kotte".Official Sri Lanka government website.Archived fromthe originalon 20 December 2014.Retrieved7 January2015.

[6] "This Tanzanian city may soon be one of the world's most populous. Is it ready?".Environment.5 April 2019. Archived fromthe originalon 8 April 2019.Retrieved11 February2020.

[naurugov-7] Constituencies of Nauru(naurugov.nr)

[8] "Yaren | district, Nauru".Encyclopedia Britannica.Retrieved2 September2019.

[9] "Since the implementation of the Act Governing Principles for Editing Geographical Educational Texts ( địa lý giáo khoa thư biên thẩm nguyên tắc ) in 1997, the guiding principle for all maps in geographical textbooks was that Taipei was to be marked as the capital with a label stating:" Location of the Central Government "".4 December 2013.Archivedfrom the original on 1 November 2019.Retrieved1 November2019.

[capital-10] "Interior minister reaffirms Taipei is ROC's capital".Taipei Times.5 December 2013.Retrieved7 December2013.

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