Unitary state

Unitary state

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Unitary state

A map showing the unitary states.

A unitary state is a state whose three organs of state are governed constitutionally as one single unit, with one constitutionally created legislature. The political power of government in such states may well be transferred to lower levels, to national, regional or local elected assemblies, governors and mayors (devolved government), but the central government retains the principal right to recall such delegated power (e.g. the period when Farum Municipality was ruled by the Danish Government for a time, or the era of direct rule in Northern Ireland by the United Kingdom's central government in London from 1973 to 2007).

In a unitary state, any sub-governmental units can be created or abolished, and have their powers varied, by the central government. The process in which sub-government units and/or national or regional parliaments are created by a central government is known as devolution. A unitary state can broaden and narrow the functions of such devolved governments without formal agreement from the affected bodies. In federal systems, by contrast, assemblies in those states composing the federation have a constitutional existence and a set of constitutional functions which cannot be unilaterally changed by the central government. In some such cases, such as in the United States, it is the federal government that has only those powers expressly delegated to it.

Most federal states also have unitary lower levels of government. Thus while the United States itself is federal, the U.S. states are themselves unitary, with counties and other municipalities having only the authority given (devolved) to them by the state constitution or legislature.

The devolved powers and laws of the subnational entity may be overridden, or the entity's law-making power curtailed, by an ordinary law of the national government, or by a simple decision of the head of government. The United Kingdom is a good example of this: Scotland has a wide degree of autonomous law-making power, but there is no right for Scotland to challenge the constitutionality of UK national legislation, and laws of Scotland can be overridden, and the powers of the Scottish parliament revoked or reduced, by an act of the national parliament or a decision of the Prime Minister. In the case of Northern Ireland, the devolved powers of the region have been suspended by a simple government decision on several occasions. Thus, the UK is still a unitary state, despite superficially appearing somewhat like a federal state in practice.

Devolution (like federation) may be symmetrical (all regions having the same powers and status) or asymmetric (regions varying in their powers and status). UK devolution is asymmetric.

List of unitary states

References

Decentralizing the Civil Service: From Unitary State to Differentiated Polity in the United Kingdom
Changing Patterns of Governance in the United Kingdom
Open University - UK & Unitary state
Open University - The UK model of devolution
Open University - Devolution in Scotland

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Unitary state

List of unitary states

See also

References