Antony ButtsDocumentary filmmaker, camera operator and futuristLet’s talk
Original speculative world

Country by Subscription

Choose your police, courts and public services like a phone contract.

Everyone expects

Digital citizenship helps people move.

What I found

Switch countries without moving house.

What if membership providers bundled the services associated with a country across territorial boundaries? Neighbours on the same street could belong to different systems, and customers could switch when a service disappointed them.

Competition reshapes protection, public services and belonging. Providers acquire citizens without acquiring a conventional territory.

Build the world and the unbundling creates further questions: which rules apply between neighbours, who provides the territorial defence and what happens to the people who can afford only the weakest package?

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