Unitary state

Also known as a unitary government, a unitary state is a polity structured to concentrate ultimate governing power in the hands of a single national authority. It is the world’s most widely used government system; the United Nations has 193 members, of which 165 have unitary government structures. These states are usually centralized under a strong national government, but some constitutional frameworks support decentralized unitary structures. France offers a well-known example of a centralized unitary state, while the Netherlands features a decentralized style.

Federalism is the opposite of unitary styles of government. In federalist systems, internal political subdivisions like states and provinces retain extensive political power and sole decision-making authority over certain matters of governance. The United States, Canada, and Germany feature these structures, which have certain advantages and certain drawbacks when compared against unitary systems.

Background

Unitary states are independent nations united under one central government, which maintains supreme authority over internal political subdivisions if they exist within the country. For example, France is a unitary state divided into eighteen administrative subsectors called regions and hundreds of smaller subdivisions called departments. In France, regional and departmental governments function solely to support, implement, and administer the policies and authority of the country’s central government.

Like France, the United Kingdom features a centralized unitary structure. Four different countries make up the United Kingdom, but none of these countries has the ability to unilaterally pass laws that affect any of the other three constituents. Such action can only be undertaken by the nation’s London-based Parliament, and if the Parliament passes a law, no member country can legally refuse to implement it.

The Netherlands uses an alternative, decentralized type of unitary system that grants extensive decision-making powers to provincial and municipal governments. According to the nation’s constitution, provinces and municipalities retain the legal authority to pass and implement their own statutes, which apply only within that jurisdiction, so long as the law does not violate any constitutionally protected principles. While this system appears to be more closely aligned with a federalist structure, it is technically unitary because the Dutch constitution permits the country’s central government to intervene on the provincial or local level at any time. It also grants the central government the authority to override provincial and local laws and impose national policies if deemed necessary.

Unitary states are sometimes confused with authoritarian states. While authoritarian states are necessarily unitary, unitary states are not necessarily authoritarian. An authoritarian state is a country led by one or a very small group of individuals who retain sole executive power over all government matters. Unitary states can be authoritarian, but they can also be democratic. The difference lies in how the government’s leadership obtains and retains power. In authoritarian states, leaders are not elected, and they are not constitutionally obligated to serve the citizenry. In democratic states, the people elect the government, and the government is accountable to the electorate.

Topic Today

Though a significant majority of the world’s nations feature unitary governments, experts continue to debate the relative merits of unitary and federalist systems. While there is no consensus as to which government structure is more advantageous, political scientists generally agree that both systems have advantages and shortcomings.

Because supreme authority rests in the hands of a national government, unitary states are more agile and better able to react to emergencies, crisis situations, and unexpected developments. They do not have to wrangle with internal governments on matters of national importance that fall into constitutional gray areas and can instead act unilaterally, both domestically and with regard to international affairs. Unitary governments also tend to be smaller, and as such, they can be streamlined for efficiency with much greater ease since their structure removes a level of bureaucracy that inherently exists in federalist systems. This, in turn, can reduce public spending requirements on governance, leaving more taxpayer funding available for other uses.

Unitary governments also support simpler legal systems. In federalist governments, laws can differ from one internal subdivision to the next. For example, in the United States, some states use capital punishment while others do not. Complex legal problems can arise from these discrepancies, and federalist systems can also make it difficult for federal governments to pass new nationally applicable laws if there is sufficient opposition among internal governments. Costly political stalemates can result from such situations, potentially leaving pressing problems without effective solutions.

However, some political scientists argue that federalist systems introduce important limitations on government authority and offer an effective buffer against the passage and implementation of unpopular or contentious statutes. According to this viewpoint, federalism also inhibits the abuse of power by preventing too much authority from being concentrated in too few hands.

Federalist governments also tend to do a better job of addressing the needs of localized populations. Because a federalist country’s internal divisions retain more decision-making and constitutional authority, they can ensure their own needs are not overlooked by a centralized government. This, in turn, can prevent regionalist tensions from arising within a country over the uneven distribution of wealth and resources; such situations can easily arise in unitary states, especially if they have developing or lesser-developed status. However, this advantage can be undermined in federalist systems that give the federal government most or all the decision-making power regarding the distribution of funding to the country’s respective internal divisions. When such funding allocations are not carefully managed, federalist systems can develop similar levels of wealth and resource inequality to which unitary states are prone.

Similar debates exist around the relative advantages and drawbacks of centralized and decentralized unitary states. Many political science experts suggest that decentralized unitary structures function particularly well in lesser-developed and developing nations, and in countries transitioning from authoritarianism to democracy. When structured and administered effectively, decentralized unitary governments can help spread and entrench democratic principles across a national population and ensure that overlooked or underdeveloped areas receive the resources they need.

Bibliography

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Cooray, N.S. and Sirimal Abeyratne. Decentralization and Development of Sri Lanka within a Unitary State. Springer, 2017.

Follesdal, Andreas. “Federalism.” The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, 2 Nov. 2022, plato.stanford.edu/entries/federalism. Accessed 24 Dec. 2024.

Longley, Robert. “What Is a Unitary State?” ThoughtCo., 1 Sept. 2024, www.thoughtco.com/unitary-state-government-pros-cons-examples-4184826. Accessed 24 Dec. 2024.

Patrick, John. “Unitary State.” Annenberg Classroom, www.annenbergclassroom.org/glossary‗term/unitary-state. Accessed 24 Dec. 2024.

Toonen, Theo A.J. "The Netherlands: A Decentralized Unitary State in a Welfare Society." West European Politics, vol. 10, no. 4, 1987, pp. 108-129.

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