Earth Federation Capital

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Koshernova
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Earth Federation Capital

SPOILER WARNING: Mild spoilers for Zeta Gundam, big spoilers for ZZ, Char's Counterattack and possibly Unicorn.

Okay, so Unicorn has me all confused about the Earth Federation's capital.

In 0079, I don't think there was a mention of which was the capital city of the Federation. All we know is that the EFSF HQ was in Jaburo.

In Zeta, we are given more information: The EFSF HQ is moved to Kilimanjaro Base (while the Titans are headquartered at Gryps), and the Federation Capital, with the congress/parliament, is located in Dakar. It is here that Char gives the famous Dakar speech.

In Double Zeta there is no specified capital, although I had been under the impression Dublin was the capital, hence why it was targetted by Neo Zeon. Was this incorrect?

In Char's Counterattack, the 2nd Neo Zeon target Lhasa, in Tibet, and drop an asteroid on it.

Then in Unicorn the capital is... Dakar again? Why? Possibly because it wasn't destroyed during the battle of Dakar in Zeta?

So, to recap, the Earth Federation capital (on Earth, in space it's always one of the Side 1 colonies) has been in:

-??? (0079)
-Dakar (0087)
-[Dublin? (0088)]
-Lhasa (0093)
-Dakar (0096)

I guess the question is, is this correct, or was the 'federation capital' actually meant to have different meanings each time? As in 'financial capital' rather than 'political capital', etc?
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Dendrobium Stamen
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Re: Earth Federation Capital

In lieu of an official answer (which will no doubt appear, and inform us that I'm entirely wrong :roll:) It's possible that the Federation has multiple capitals, following the same model as South Africa, where each branch of the government has its own: the executive are based in Pretoria; the judicial in Bloemfontein; and the legislative in Cape Town.

It could be the case, then, that Dakar is merely the legislative capital (where the Federation Senate meets), with Lhasa and Dublin filling in for the other two branches. Of course, by UC 0096, this means that all three Federation capital cities have been subject to successful Zeon attacks, with two of them having large objects dropped on them from space, and the third semi-demolished by a giant mobile armour - as if we didn't have enough proof the Federation Forces were underfunded in the post-Stardust years :roll:

If not, it could follow the European Union model, where the European Parliament spends half its time in Brussels, and the other half in Strasbourg, just because they can... :wink:
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Ceiling_Squid
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Re: Earth Federation Capital

Don't forget Adelaide, Australia in U.C. 0105. Then again, that's Hathaway's Flash, so canonicity is dubious at best.

Dublin wasn't one of the capitals. If I remember correctly (and I've only seen ZZ once here), Dakar was attacked and occupied during the series as well, and Karaba fought NZ there. Dublin was the site of the colony drop because it was probably a convenient target and a population center. A number of factors unknown to the viewer probably featured into that decision. But Dakar was definitely still the Federation capital in ZZ.

I can't speculate with any accuracy exactly why all the moving. I used to think they were moving the capital in response to military threats...in which case, curious why they moved it back to Dakar, which was already proven to be vulnerable. I'm more inclined to believe that the parliament moves around from place to place, probably for political reasons. Huh...every three years, going by the timeline so far.

But that's only Dakar to Lhasa and back. Not sure why. Perhaps it's as dendrobium said, it's like the EU moving it's parliament around. Would make sense, if it's a WORLD government, why tie it down to one place all the time? Either the assembly-members want a change of scenery, or it's simply a political statement about the global nature of the EF.

But this is all unsupported speculation. I'm sure someone will come around with better credentials and a better answer.
toysdream
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Re: Earth Federation Capital

In Zeta, the Federation Forces no longer seem to have a single military HQ. Instead, Jaburo is cleared out and its functions are relocated to Kilimanjaro and New Guinea. (This actually gives the Federation three major bases equally spaced around the equator; it's no surprise that these are the same locations used for ZAFT's equatorial bases in Seed, and the three orbital elevators in 00).

According to Tomino's Zeta novels, the Federation's political capital was relocated to Dakar after the One Year War, as a gesture of multicultural inclusiveness. It's not clear where the pre-war capital was; it's possible that it could have been New Yark. In any case, Dakar is still the capital in ZZ, when the Axis forces occupy it for a big chunk of the series. During the occupation, Dublin serves as a temporary HQ for the Federation Forces leadership in exile.

In CCA, it's not obvious whether the entire Federation government is centralized in Lhasa, or just the military headquarters. As I recall, the Unicorn novels indicate that Lhasa was indeed the main capital, and that they moved the government back to Dakar afterwards because it already had the necessary facilities. I never felt that was the most convincing plot point in the novels, but the anime version doesn't address it at all.

-- Mark
Ceiling_Squid
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Re: Earth Federation Capital

Thanks for the input, Mark. That does sum things up nicely.

There's a part of me that really wishes that they had chosen to move the capital to Adelaide in Unicorn...would have made a nice tie-in to early 2nd century UC material, at least what little bit we actually have for reference. On top of that, the notion of having the capital in Australia would have meant that the location hopping would be a little less-severe in the anime adaptation.
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