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Sep 1, 2024 · A unitary state, or unitary government, is a governing system in which a single central government has total power over all of its other political subdivisions. A unitary state is the opposite of a federation, where governmental powers and responsibilities are divided.
- Robert Longley
Unitary state, a system of political organization in which most or all of the governing power resides in a centralized government. In a unitary state, the central government commonly delegates authority to subnational units and channels policy decisions down to them for implementation.
- The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica
A unitary system is a form of government where all the powers are held by a single, central authority, leaving little or no authority to political subdivisions. In this system, any powers that regional governments have are delegated to them by the central government.
There is no difference between federal and state government policies in a unitary system. All power rests within the central government, and there isn’t much room for debate or discussion because all power is concentrated in one place. Hence, making it relatively easy to make and implement laws.
The U.S. Constitution grants specific powers to the national government while retaining other powers for the states. For example, the federal government can negotiate treaties with other countries while state and local authorities cannot.
Figure 3.2 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.
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Sep 3, 2024 · Depending on how a constitution organizes power between the central and subnational governments, a country may be said to possess either a unitary or a federal system (see also federalism). In a unitary system the only level of government besides the central is the local or municipal government.
