Unitary and federal systems of government
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In the majority of nations, the public government contains multiple governments within itself, each of which have their own jurisdiction and laws. There are several systems of government, the unitary system, the federal system, and the confederate system. However for purpose of this article the confederate system is ignored. These systems of government include a central core government that is spread nationally, along with governments of smaller divisions of the country such as state, province, district, and city, among others. All of the said governments function according to a certain structured plan. Most countries have a government that uses either a unitary or a federal system, although some countries use a system with federal and unitary characteristics, such as a federacy.
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[edit] Unitary system
The unitary system gives the main powers to the central government. State, provincial, and local governments are all created by the central government. The non-central governments have only the powers that are appointed by the central government. Countries such as France, Italy, Japan, and the United Kingdom, along with other democratic nations use the unitary system of government, although not every country uses the same rules in the centralization and decentralization of powers. China, Vietnam, North Korea, Cuba, and other communist-based governments have unitary systems too.
[edit] Federal system
Unlike the unitary system, the federal system develops when a number of states or provinces federate, or form a union, eventually in order to establish a nation. In a government using the federal system, the powers of the governments are jointly shared between the central government and the more local or regional governments (state, provincial, district, etc.) Both of the national and regional governments are directly tied to the people, who are the source of a democratic government’s authority. The United States and Canada have federal systems. Other countries that use the federal plan include Argentina, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Germany, India, Mexico, and Switzerland. It is more difficult for nation-wide communism or totalitarianism to exist in a Federation, for true federalism requires decentralization and cannot coexist with totalitarianism, although the Soviet Union and Nazi Germany formally were federations as well.
[edit] Differences and similarities
Federal governments differ from unitary governments in the way political power is spread. In unitary governments, power radiates from the center of government; in a federal system, certain powers are allocated to state or local governments. In a federal system, the balance of power is usually codified as a constitution that allows local government direct authority over the people. In a unitary government, people are strongly concerned with gaining control whereas in a federal government, people focus on national and state issues.
[edit] Similarities
The problem with both unitary and federal governments is that, no matter what system the government uses, it tends to have little or no effect on what type of government the nation has. Besides totalitarian and authoritative governments, one may still have a country that is a democracy that could be in either systems of government. For example, the United Kingdom has a unitary system, but is much like Australia and Canada (which are both federal governments) in its type of government. A type of government being how the government is structured, for example by judicial, legislative, executive. Both the unitary and federal systems can also have political parties, local and regional governments, and a constitution.
