- Information
- AI Chat
Unitary system Definition, Examples, Conclusion
Introduction to Politics and Governance
Multimedia University
Preview text
A unitary state is one in which all the sovereign power resides in the central or national government. There are smaller units of government such as states or provinces but they do not have the authority to make independent decisions. Hence, all units of government below the national level are merely its subdivisions. According to Britannica, it is the system of political organization in the course of majority or all of the regulating power or authority resides in the central government. This shows that the central government has the wholly power. Robert Hazell, a British researcher said that “highly centralized system of government”. This also means that the central government is the main and all powers resides in them. Xu Chongde, a well-known legal expert and professor, political scientist in China said that “A unitary state is rather simple in its form and the whole country has only one constitution and one central government. In international relations, this state is the single subject and the central government represents the sovereign state.” This means that unitary system only has one constitution and central government and the provinces or states are represented by the central government. In brief, unitary system has central government that has the power and authority to decide everything and the power can be delegated to the provinces and states if they wish to.
The first features is Formal power and authority is located at the national centre and sub- national government and other local units do not exercise any political powers independently of the central authority. This also means that the powers are centralized on the central government and there are no distribution of power. Unlike Malaysia, Federal Constitution stated down the authority for federation and states to enact law. The subject matter are under schedule 9 and have federal list, state list and concurrent list. In unitary there is no list of distribution of powers in the constitution as all powers belong to the central government However, the powers or authority can be delegated to the provinces and states by the central government. Since there is no division of powers, some countries do not have written constitution. An example is UK that have unwritten constitution. The parliamentary sovereignty is commonly regarded as the defining principle of the British Constitution. It also governs partly by statues and by common law and practice.
Secondly, the local or regional units of government exercise powers and authority that are delegated to them by the centre and may also be withdrawn by it. They can grant powers to local government by a legislative process called ‘devolution’. For example, British Prime Minister David Cameron announced plans to devolve additional powers to the Scottish
government. Another example is Wales, in October 2011, a Commission on Devolution in Wales was set up to consider further devolution of powers from London.
Thirdly, the central government may at any time re-draw or abolish the boundaries of local or regional units. In addition, the consent or agreement by the local or regional units are not required. In France, local political subdivisions are called Department. Each region of continental France is made up of at least 4 departments. Overall, continent France is divided into 94 administrative departments. If France Assembly wanted to redraw the boundaries of local governments or change their forms of government, they can do it anytime. There has been calls to reform the administrative divisions and levels of China as well. The ultimate goals is to reduce the difference administration levels from five to three which are Provincial, County and Village. China abolished the district public office in order to remove an extra level of administration from between the county and township levels to reduce the corruption and reduce the cost of government. This caused the towns and townships being enlarged to partially fill the place.
Fourthly, the actions and policies of the central government control and override the policies and actions of sub-national levels of government. Since, the powers of sub- national government are delegated and granted by the central government, the policies or anything by the sub-national government can be overridden whenever the central government wants. For example, the concurrent list that provides both central and states to make the laws or policies, however, whenever there is inconsistency, the central governments’ policies and laws are upheld.
The advantages of using unitary system are the uniformity of laws. This creates a less and low confusion on the policies and laws for the citizens. The people know which laws to follow exactly and this prevent confusion and unnecessary problem from happening. For example, the unified government of Columbia legalizes the possession of recreational marijuana for personal, medical or scientific purpose. Hence, there is no conflict of authority between different levels of government. Besides, it is simple, easy and cheap to run. This is because there are fewer administrative and bureaucracy layers that can cost a lot of money. The smaller structure of administration also help to reduce the tax burden on households but in the same time, the people can still access to the department or services they need. This can increases the efficiency too. In addition, the central government can respond to emergency
Unitary system Definition, Examples, Conclusion
Course: Introduction to Politics and Governance
University: Multimedia University
