Confederal, Federal and Unitary Government

1. INTRODUCTION

Confederal, federal and unitary governments are the three labels used to describe the relationship between a countrywide (national) government and more numerous regional (or state) governments.

2. CONFEDERAL SYSTEM OF GOVERNMENT

i. WHAT IS CONFEDERAL SYSTEM

In a confederal system, power is extremely diffuse -- there is little central political: control. Regional governments (such as states) can set fiscal and trade policy (e.g., set tariffs and taxes): and the like. The states might adopt a common currency in a confederation to ease interstate trade. The states also levy their own militias, although they cannot wage war independently. In a. confederacy (or confederation), the role of a national government is primarily one of foreign policy, providing a collective front to increase the bargaining power of the states.

For example

Rhode Island by itself might not be able to get a beneficial trade agreement with France, but working in concert with the other states, it can get a better deal, since the confederation as a whole is a larger player.

ii. EFFECTS OF CONFEDERAL GOVERNMENT

Confederal government can affect some aspects of internal policy as it relates -to trade between the states, and other areas of interstate interaction, but the bulk of power is devolved -- that is, the legislature of any one state can set its own laws independently of any other state. Also, the states collectively decide national policy (in the USA's confederal era, each state had one member in' the confederal legislature who voted on behalf of the state's interest). Confederal systems are rare. The USA was a confederation until the adoption of the Constitution. The CSA (the South) was a confederation in the Civil War, although its confederal government consistently sought increased control over policies). Germany was a confederation before it adopted a federal system (many nations undergo this transformation). The Commonwealth of Independent States (11 members of the former Soviet Union) is sometimes judged to be a weak confederation.

3. FEDERAL SYSTEM OF GOVERNMENT

The second option, more centralized than the first, is the federal system.

(I) WHAT IS FEDERAL SYSTEM

In a federal system, the central (or federal) government has much more authority than in a confederal system. .The central 1 government controls more trade policy, and makes decisions about policy areas that involve interactions between states (such as highway systems). It usually has the power to tax independently of the states and to control the money supply. A federal government also usually has its own mechanisms for enforcement. For example, in the USA, the FBI is the primary agency for investigating federal crimes and crimes that occur between or among multiple states. The Royal Canadian Mounted Police have a similar function in Canada.

(II) EFFECTS OF FEDERAL SYSTEM

States (or provinces or regions) still set a great deal of policy and laW on their own in federal systems, but these policy areas are somewhat more restricted, and the federal government has its own areas of policy in which states cannot intrude. In a federal system, federal laws usually trump state laws when the two are in conflict.

For example

a number of states had laws against homosexual acts, but once the United State Supreme Court (a part of the federal government) ruled that such laws violated an assumed right to privacy in the US (federal) Constitution, the state laws became invalid, because they ran afoul of federal protections of citizens. The same thing occurred when civil rights legislation was passed by the Congress, which overruled "Jim Crow" laws in the South. So, some areas of policy are under the sole control of the federal government, some areas are under the control of state governments (state transportation, health/welfare services, criminal law), and some areas overlap. In the US federal system, a state can give its citizens more rights than are guaranteed by the US Constitution, but it never give fewer rights than the document promises.

(III) FEDERAL SYSTEM IS MORE COMMON THAN CONFEDERAL SYSTEM

Federal systems (or federations) are more common than confederal governments today. The USA is federal, as is Canada. Germany is federal, and Russia is a rather centralized federation. Federal systems differ in how much power they give to the federal, as opposed to the regional, governments, but they are all alike in that some powers are reserved to each level of government in a balancing act.

4. UNITARY SYSTEM OF GOVERNMENT

The third system is unitary.

(I) WHAT IS UNITARY SYSTEM

In a unitary government, power is almost entirely centralize in a national government. Power devolves to local governments only for the sake of convenience (such as garbage collection times or issuing parking tickets). Any local governments that exist hold power only with permission from the national government, and they cannot ever conflict with national policy.

For example

Thus, in the UK, the counties into which England is divided have their own bureaucracies and regulations, but only in areas where the national Parliament has given them permission to set up those systems. In smaller countries, there may be no regional governments at all; instead, there would a national government, and the next level would be local councils, who could set city policies, but only if those policies never conflicted with existing national law.

(II) EFFECTS OF UNITARY SYSTEM

Unlike a federal system, there are no reserved powers for states or provinces: local power may be granted by the national legislature, but it can be modified or revoked. Unitary nation-states might set up regional governments, but only to handle regulations that might be too burdensome to control entirely from a nationwide bureaucracy. Unitary governments are relatively common. Most European countries are unitary, including the United Kingdom (although that country has devolved some specific powers to local governments in Scotland and Wales). Unitary government is especially common in smaller states, but the most populous country in the world, China, is also a unitary government.

5. DISTINGUISH / DIFFERENCE    BETWEEN CONFEDRATION, FEDERAL AND UNITARY GOVERNMENTS

i. Confederation system of government

A confederation sets up the minimum limits of a nation-state: it defines a border, it sets rules for passage through the territory within that border, and it sets foreign policy of treaties, war, and peace.

ii. Federal system of government

A federal system expands on this, giving the national government more power to regulate internal affairs that cross state boundaries, and setting minimum guidelines for how government operates within and among the states.

iii. Unitary system of government

A unitary government takes the principle of centralization even further, and either eliminates regional governments completely, or restricts them to an administrative role that is subject to control from the national government at any time.

6. DISTINGUISH / DIFFERENCE BETWEEN FEDERAL AND UNITARY GOVERNMENT

Salient feature of federal government and unitary government is that a unitary government is differs from federal type in its organization and many other features which are given below.

i. CONSTITUTIONAL DIVISION OF POWER

i-1. In the federal form of government there is a constitutional division of powers between the central and unit-governments.

i-2. In unitary form there is not such constitutional division of powers, except that there may be the delegation of authority by the central government to the local one.

ii. SUPREMACY OF CONSTITUTION

ii-1. In a federal government the constitution is the supreme. It determine the powers between the two sets of government, both of which are equal before the constitution.

ii-2. But in the unitary government the central government may be the supreme authority.

iii. INDEPENDENCY OF UNITS

iii-1. In the federation the units are independent of center in their own spheres.

iii-2. In unitary system local government are subordinate to the center.

iv. DIFFERENCE OF MEANING

iv-1. Federalism means the distribution of the force among the number of coordinate bodies each originating in and controlled by the constitution.

iv-2. Unitarianism in short, means the concentration of the strength of the state in the hands of one visible sovereign be that power parliament are czar.

(v) DIFFERENCE OF SOVEREIGN

v-1. The sovereign in federal state in not like the English parliament an ever wake full legislator. But like a monarch who slumber and sleeps.

v-2. And monarch who slimbars for years is like a monarch who does not exist.

vi. DIFFERENCE OF CONSTITUTION

vi-1. A federal government cannot work successful) unless it posses a written and rigid constitution.

vi-2. A unitary government may have unwritten are flexile constitution.

vii. DIFFERENCE OF ROLE OF JUDICIARY

vii-1. In a federal government, generally the judiciary plays a vital part in administration. It decides the disputes that may crop up between the central and provincial governments or between one unit and other. Interprets the constitution and may declare on act of any government or between one unit and the other. It interprets the constitution and may declare an act of any government an ultra vires.

vii-2. The judiciary in the unitary form does not possesses any such powers. There is no need to have an authority to decide conflicts of jurisdiction between the center and local authority. There the central government is supreme over the local government.

(VIII) DIFFERENCE OF HIERARCHY

viii-1. A federal Govt. has multiple hierarchy levels with both the central authority and states (or provinces) both being sovereign. In federal government the central (national) rules over ride the state rules.

viii-2. In confederate government the state rules override the national rulers.

viii-3. In a unitary government, there is hierarchy of sovereign powers. State have no authority to pass their own laws, and the central (National) government can order the states to do anything....just like a state can order a town to do anything because the town is not sovereign.

7. CONCLUSION

To conclude that in a unitary government, the central government possesses much authority and decision-making power. Local governing bodies simply serve as administrative arms of the central government. Great Britain is a familiar example of a unitary government; individual British counties have little of the power commonly exercised by American states. France, with 90 departments grouped into 36 provinces, also has a unitary form of government. It is important, however, to note that unitary governments are not inherently less democratic than other forms.

Power is distributed completely opposite of a unitary government in a confederate government. Local governments protect and preserve their own authority by forming a weak central government. The United States has briefly employed confederate systems of government, in the Articles of Confederation, whose weaknesses led to the current federal system, and in the southern states' attempts to form the Confederate States of America.

In a federal government, power is split between a central government authority and its constituent states. Usually, an overriding law of the land, known as a constitution, allocates duties, rights, and privileges to each level of government. The constitution usually defines how power is shared between national, state, and local governments; the power to amend this constitution is usually granted to the citizens or their governmental representatives.

A second way by which governments may be classified is according to decision-making power. There are two basic categories in which governments are classified. In a totalitarian government, the power of rulers is not limited by outside forces, such as elections or public pillion. Totalitarian systems also restrict personal freedom in most cases.

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