Systems of Government

Unitary State

Also Known As Unitary System

A unitary state is a system of political organisation in which most or all governing power resides in a centralised national government, which may delegate some authority to subnational units, in contrast to a federal state.

Facts

Founding Context

The unitary form is the default and historically oldest structure of the sovereign state, in which a single central government holds ultimate authority and may create, alter or abolish subordinate administrative units at will; France's post-revolutionary centralization under Napoleon is a frequently cited modern example of unitary administrative design imposed deliberately rather than inherited. 1

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The Unitary State: One Center, Many Delegates

A unitary state concentrates governing authority in a single national government, which may delegate administrative power to provinces, regions or local councils but can alter or withdraw that delegation through ordinary national law. That distinguishes it from a federal system, where subnational governments hold constitutionally guaranteed powers the national government cannot simply take back.

Most of the world's states are unitary rather than federal, and the arrangement predates any theory written to justify it: a single crown or central government simply extended its authority outward from a capital as the state itself formed, rather than uniting previously separate, self-governing territories the way a federation does. France is the paradigm case, its highly centralized administrative tradition tracing through the Revolution and Napoleon's reorganization of the country into departments answerable to Paris.

Decentralization within a unitary state is a matter of policy rather than constitutional guarantee, and it varies enormously in practice: a unitary state can devolve extensive day to day authority to local government, as the United Kingdom has done with Scotland and Wales, without ceasing to be unitary, because the central Parliament retains the legal power to reverse that devolution.

Connections

Associated With

China

China is named as a unitary state.

Source WorldAtlas: What is a Unitary State?

France

WorldAtlas calls France "the classic example of a centralized administrative system."

Source WorldAtlas: What is a Unitary State?

Japan

Japan is named as a unitary state alongside China and Italy.

Source WorldAtlas: What is a Unitary State?

United Kingdom

The UK is unitary: Parliament retains supreme, revocable authority even where powers are devolved to Northern Ireland, Wales and Scotland.

Source WorldAtlas: What is a Unitary State?

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The Unitary State: One Center, Many Delegates

Open Questions

Which historical instance of centralized single-authority rule should count as the origin of the unitary state as a system of government?

This question is about the unitary state's origin year specifically, not about whether unitary states exist or how the form is defined.

Practiced By

Afghanistan

Source Afghanistan (Wikipedia)

Algeria

Source Algeria (Wikipedia)

Bangladesh

Source Bangladesh (Wikipedia)

Chile

Source Chile (Wikipedia)

China

Colombia

Source Colombia (Wikipedia)

Costa Rica

Source Costa Rica (Wikipedia)

Czechia

Source Czech Republic (Wikipedia)

Democratic Republic of the Congo

Source Democratic Republic of the Congo (Wikipedia)

Denmark

Source Denmark (Wikipedia)

Egypt

Source Egypt (Britannica)

Estonia

Source Estonia (Wikipedia)

Finland

Source Finland (Wikipedia)

France

Ghana

Greece

Source Greece (Wikipedia)

Hungary

Source Hungary (Wikipedia)

Iceland

Source Iceland (Wikipedia)

Indonesia

Source Indonesia (Wikipedia)

Iran

Source Unitary State (Britannica)

Ireland

Source Republic of Ireland (Wikipedia)

Israel

Source Israel (Wikipedia)

Kenya

Source Kenya (Wikipedia)

Kosovo

Source Kosovo (Wikipedia)Wikipedia contributors

Latvia

Source Latvia (Wikipedia)

Lithuania

Source Lithuania (Wikipedia)

Luxembourg

Source Luxembourg (Wikipedia)

Myanmar

Source Myanmar (Wikipedia)

Netherlands

Source Netherlands (Wikipedia)

New Zealand

Source New Zealand (Wikipedia)

North Korea

Source North Korea (Wikipedia)

Norway

Source Norway (Wikipedia)

Palestine

Source State of Palestine (Wikipedia)Wikipedia contributors

Philippines

Source Philippines (Wikipedia)

Poland

Source Poland (Wikipedia)

Portugal

Source Portugal (Wikipedia)

Singapore

Source Singapore (Wikipedia)

Slovakia

Source Slovakia (Wikipedia)

Slovenia

Source Slovenia (Wikipedia)

South Africa

South Korea

Source South Korea (Wikipedia)

Spain

Source Spain (Wikipedia)

Sweden

Source Sweden (Wikipedia)

Taiwan

Source Taiwan (Wikipedia)Wikipedia contributors

Tanzania

Source Tanzania (Wikipedia)

Thailand

Source Thailand (Wikipedia)

Tunisia

Source Tunisia (Britannica)

Turkey

Source Turkey (Britannica)

Uganda

Source Uganda (Wikipedia)

Ukraine

Source Ukraine (Wikipedia)

Showing 1 to 50 of 53 in Practiced By, page 1 of 2.

Sources

1. Unitary State (Britannica)

Encyclopaedia BritannicaView the Source

WorldAtlas: What is a Unitary State?

WorldAtlasopening definition

Quote, opening definition

A unitary state refers to a country that has one supreme authority which rules over all other delegations.