Invisibility of Cities in Classical International Law

It is undisputed that cities as entities ‘superiorem non recognoscentes’ played an essential role at the origins of the international community. The mainstream narrative explains their position in terms of disappearance, as international persons: they were absorbed by the State as the primary subject of international law. Therefore, cities have become visible once they have been treated as separate from a State: for instance, when they fell within the category of ‘internationalized territories’. On a wider perspective, cities have remained invisible also as object of international regulation, to the extent that the administrative and constitutional architecture of the State belonged to the sphere of the matters that remained under the domain réservé. One might wonder whether the contemporary re-appearance of the cities is related to the long-term process of opening up the State, or whether this is the result of an autonomous initiative of the cities.