According to the form of administrative-territorial division, a federation and a unitary state are distinguished. In a unitary form of government, territorial units do not have state status.
Instructions
Step 1
Distinctive features of a unitary state are a unified legal system, government bodies, and a constitution. As a rule, large states are federations, which is caused by the need to take into account the interests of various social groups. Historically, it was the unitary state that emerged first. Today, most of the states in the world are unitary.
Step 2
Unitary states have a number of key features. These are unified normative acts for the entire territory of the country, unified supreme authorities, the system of citizenship, monetary units, language, parts of the state do not have signs of sovereignty. A unitary state is a single entity, the authorities of which should not coordinate their domestic and foreign policies with territorial units. It presupposes the existence of unified executive, legislative and judicial bodies.
Step 3
Most of the unitary states have a political and administrative division. Such territorial units have their own specialized state bodies. The key trend in recent years is the enlargement of units and regionalization.
Step 4
The unitary state has its own advantages over the federation. So, it allows you to avoid duplication of functions and conflicts in the organization of public authority. The unitary form is the most optimal in a small, ethnically and culturally homogeneous territory. It is considered to be more sustainable.
Step 5
The main disadvantages of the unitary form are manifested in culturally heterogeneous states, in which individual territories have different value attitudes, views on political development, linguistic, and religious affiliation. Such a state may face a split, or the emergence of acute territorial contradictions. The situation is aggravated if regions in the past were annexed to the country by violent (or unnatural) methods, or the population is dissatisfied with their standard of living. This strengthens the belief in the population that it will be easier for them to live in a separate state and makes the separatist movements influential.
Step 6
Unitary states are very heterogeneous. Distinguish between centralized and decentralized states. They differ in the scope of powers that are granted to territorial units. In decentralized states, the population can independently choose local self-government bodies and have a fairly high degree of independence in resolving local issues. Spain is an example of this. Distinguish between unitary states with one, several or multi-level autonomies (for example, the PRC).
