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A unitary state is a sovereign state governed as a single entity in which the central government is the supreme authority. The central government may create or abolish administrative divisions (sub-national units). Such units exercise only the powers that the central government chooses to delegate.
- Sovereign States
A sovereign state is a state that has the highest authority...
- Federation
History. Several ancient chiefdoms and kingdoms, such as the...
- Sovereign States
unitary state, a system of political organization in which most or all of the governing power resides in a centralized government, in contrast to a federal state. A brief treatment of the unitary state follows. For additional discussion, see Political system: Unitary nation-states; federation; confederation.
- The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica
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- Examples of Unitary States
- Unitary States vs. Federations
- Unitary States vs. Authoritarian States
- Pros and Cons
Of the 193 member countries of the United Nations, 165 are unitary states. The United Kingdom and France are two well-recognized examples.
The opposite of a unitary state is a federation. A federation is a constitutionally organized union or alliance of partially self-governing states or other regions under a central federal government. Unlike the largely powerless local governments in a unitary state, the states of a federation enjoy some degree of independence in their internal affa...
Unitary states should not be confused with authoritarian states. In an authoritarian state, all governing and political power is vested in a single individual leader or small, elite group of individuals. The leader or leaders of an authoritarian state are not chosen by the people, nor are they constitutionally responsible to the people. Authoritari...
The unitary state is the most common form of government in the world. This system of government has its benefits, but as with all schemes of dividing power between government and the people, it also has drawbacks.
The U.S. federal government, sometimes simply referred to as "Washington", is composed of three distinct branches: legislative, executive, and judicial, whose powers are vested by the U.S. Constitution in the Congress, the president, and the federal courts, respectively.
- 1789; 234 years ago
- United States Constitution
- United States of America
- Congress
Federalism is marked by a sharing of power between the central government and state, provincial, or local governing bodies. The United States is one example of a federal republic. The U.S. Constitution grants specific powers to the national government while retaining other powers for the states.
Mar 10, 2024 · There are three general systems of government—unitary systems, federations, and confederations—each of which allocates power differently. In a confederation, authority is decentralized, and the central government’s ability to act depends on the consent of the subnational governments.
Federal and semifederal states. Classifying a particular state as federal or unitary is usually straightforward, though in some cases it can be more difficult. The United States and Switzerland are clearly federal states; all of the above-mentioned characteristics of the federal state are present in their constitutional systems.