Unitary state
A unitary state is a (sovereign) state governed as a single entity in which the central government is the supreme authority. The central government may create or abolish administrative divisions (sub-national or sub-state units). Such units exercise only the powers that the central government chooses to delegate. Although political power may be delegated through devolution to regional or local governments by statute, the central government may alter the statute, to override the decisions of devolved governments or expand their powers.
The modern unitary state concept originated in France; in the aftermath of the Hundred Years' War, national feelings that emerged from the war unified France. The war accelerated the process of transforming France from a feudal monarchy to a unitary state. The French then later spread unitary states by conquests, throughout Europe during and after the Napoleonic Wars, and to the world through the vast French colonial empire.[1] Presently, prefects remain an illustration of the French unitary state system, as the representatives of the State in each department, tasked with upholding central government policies.
Unitary states stand in contrast to federations, also known as federal states. A large majority of the UN member countries, 166 out of 193, have a unitary system of government, while significant population and land mass is under some kind of federation.[2]
Devolution compared with federalism
A unitary system of government can be considered to be the opposite of federalism. In federations, the provincial/regional governments share powers with the central government as equal actors through a written constitution, to which the consent of both is required to make amendments. This means that the sub-national units have a right to existence and powers that cannot be unilaterally changed by the central government.[3]
List of current unitary sovereign states
Italics: States with limited recognition from other sovereign states or intergovernmental organizations.
Unitary republics
- Template:Country data Abkhazia
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- Template:Country data Bangladesh[4]
- Template:Country data Barbados[5]
- Template:Country data Belarus
- Template:Country data Benin
- Template:Country data Bolivia
- Template:Country data Botswana
- Template:Country data Bulgaria
- Template:Country data Burkina Faso
- Template:Country data Burundi
- Template:Country data Cameroon
- Template:Country data Cape Verde
- Template:Country data Central African Republic
- Template:Country data Chad
- Template:Country data Chile
- Template:Country data People's Republic of China
- Template:Country data Colombia
- Template:Country data Comoros
- Template:Country data Democratic Republic of the Congo[4]
- Template:Country data Republic of the Congo
- Template:Country data Costa Rica
- Template:Country data Croatia
- Template:Country data Cuba
- Template:Country data Cyprus
- Template:Country data North Cyprus
- Template:Country data Czech Republic
- Template:Country data Djibouti
- Template:Country data Dominica
- Template:Country data Dominican Republic
- Template:Country data East Timor
- Template:Country data Ecuador
- Template:Country data Egypt
- Template:Country data El Salvador
- Template:Country data Equatorial Guinea
- Template:Country data Eritrea
- Template:Country data Estonia
- Template:Country data Fiji
- Template:Country data Finland
- Template:Country data France
- Template:Country data Gabon
- Template:Country data Gambia
- Template:Country data Georgia
- Template:Country data Ghana
- Template:Country data Greece
- Template:Country data Guatemala[4]
- Template:Country data Guinea
- Template:Country data Guinea-Bissau
- Template:Country data Guyana
- Template:Country data Haiti[4]
- Template:Country data Honduras
- Template:Country data Hungary
- Template:Country data Iceland[4]
- Template:Country data Indonesia[4]
- Template:Country data Iran
- Template:Country data Ireland
- Template:Country data Israel
- Template:Country data Italy[4]
- Template:Country data Ivory Coast
- Template:Country data Kazakhstan[4]
- Template:Country data Kenya[4]
- Template:Country data Kiribati
- Template:Country data North Korea
- Template:Country data South Korea
- Template:Country data Kosovo
- Template:Country data Kyrgyzstan
- Template:Country data Laos
- Template:Country data Latvia
- Template:Country data Lebanon
- Template:Country data Liberia
- Template:Country data Libya
- Template:Country data Lithuania
- Template:Country data Madagascar
- Template:Country data Malawi
- Template:Country data Maldives
- Template:Country data Mali
- Template:Country data Malta
- Template:Country data Marshall Islands
- Template:Country data Mauritania
- Template:Country data Mauritius
- Template:Country data Moldova
- Template:Country data Mongolia
- Template:Country data Montenegro
- Template:Country data Mozambique
- Template:Country data Myanmar
- Template:Country data Namibia
- Template:Country data Nauru
- Template:Country data Nicaragua
- Template:Country data Niger
- Template:Country data North Macedonia
- Template:Country data Palau
- Template:Country data Palestine
- Template:Country data Panama
- Template:Country data Paraguay
- Template:Country data Peru
- Template:Country data Philippines[4]
- Template:Country data Poland
- Template:Country data Portugal
- Template:Country data Romania
- Template:Country data Rwanda
- Template:Country data Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic
- Template:Country data Samoa
- Template:Country data San Marino
- Template:Country data São Tomé and Príncipe
- Template:Country data Senegal
- Template:Country data Serbia
- Template:Country data Seychelles
- Template:Country data Sierra Leone
- Template:Country data Singapore
- Template:Country data Slovakia
- Template:Country data Slovenia
- Template:Country data South Africa
- Template:Country data South Ossetia
- Template:Country data Sri Lanka
- Template:Country data Suriname
- Template:Country data Syria
- Template:Country data Republic of China (Taiwan)[6]
- Template:Country data Tajikistan
- Template:Country data Tanzania
- Template:Country data Togo
- Template:Country data Transnistria
- Template:Country data Trinidad and Tobago
- Template:Country data Tunisia
- Template:Country data Turkey
- Template:Country data Turkmenistan
- Template:Country data Uganda[4]
- Template:Country data Ukraine
- Template:Country data Uruguay
- Template:Country data Uzbekistan
- Template:Country data Vanuatu
- Template:Country data Vietnam
- Template:Country data Yemen
- Template:Country data Zambia
- Template:Country data Zimbabwe
Unitary monarchies
The United Kingdom is an example of a unitary state. Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland have a degree of autonomous devolved power, but such power is delegated by the Parliament of the United Kingdom, which may enact laws unilaterally altering or abolishing devolution. Similarly in Spain, the devolved powers are delegated through the central government.
- Template:Country data Andorra
- Template:Country data Antigua and Barbuda
- Template:Country data Bahamas
- Template:Country data Bahrain
- Template:Country data Belize
- Template:Country data Bhutan
- Template:Country data Brunei Darussalam
- Template:Country data Cambodia
- Template:Country data Kingdom of Denmark[4]
- Template:Country data Eswatini
- Template:Country data Grenada
- Template:Country data Jamaica
- Template:Country data Japan[4]
- Template:Country data Jordan
- Template:Country data Kuwait
- Template:Country data Lesotho
- Template:Country data Liechtenstein
- Template:Country data Luxembourg
- Template:Country data Monaco
- Template:Country data Morocco[4]
- Template:Country data Kingdom of the Netherlands
- Template:Country data New Zealand[7]
- Template:Country data Kingdom of Norway
- Template:Country data Oman
- Template:Country data Papua New Guinea[3]
- Template:Country data Qatar
- Template:Country data Saint Lucia
- Template:Country data Saint Vincent and the Grenadines
- Template:Country data Saudi Arabia
- Template:Country data Solomon Islands
- Template:Country data Spain
- Template:Country data Kingdom of Sweden
- Template:Country data Thailand
- Template:Country data Tonga
- Template:Country data Tuvalu
- Template:Country data United Kingdom[8][4]
- Template:Country data Vatican City
Unitary states with a unique form of government
List of former unitary states
- Template:Flagicon/Template:Country data Belgium (1830–1993)
- Template:Flagicon/Template:Country data Brazil (1822–1889)
- Template:Country data Bosnia and Herzegovina (1992–1995)
- Template:Flagicon/Template:Country data Comoros (1975–1978)
- Template:Flagicon/Template:Flagicon/Template:Flagicon/Template:Country data Ethiopia (1270–1995)
- Template:Flagicon/Template:Flagicon/Template:Flagicon/Template:Flagicon/Template:Country data Iraq (1932–2005)
- Template:Flagicon/Template:Flagicon/Template:Country data Nepal (1768–2008)
- Template:Country data Somalia (1960–2004)
See also
- Centralized government
- Constitutional economics
- Political economy
- Regional state
- Rule according to higher law
- Unicameralism
- Unitary authority
References
External links
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- ↑ See also Political status of Taiwan, two Chinas and Cross-Strait relations.
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