In this article you will learn about the Difference Between Unitary and Federal State in Political Science.
Difference Between Unitary and Federal State
Unitary states and Federal states are two alternative models of organisation of governments in various states of the world. The features of a unitary state are quite different from the Federal state and yet these are not mutually exclusive forms of states. India provides the best example in support of this view. The Indian Constitution provides for a mixture of Federalism and Unitarianism. The Constitution of India describes the country as “A Union of States” which combines the features of both Federal States (Eg. Division of Powers between the centre and states of India and dual administration) and Unitarian state (Eg. single constitution, single citizenship, strong position of the centre vis-a-vis states. Indian Constitution is described by several scholars as a Federation with a Unitarian spirit or as a Federation with subsidiary unitarian features of Indian Constitution is federal in structure and unitary in spirit.)
Thus there can be a mixture of the features of both the federal state and the unitary state, as has been visible in India.
However, this fact is also true that Unitary Form and Federal Form are two alternative forms of origination of the government of a state. The UK is a Unitary State and so are France, Japan, Italy, Egypt, China, Bangladesh and several other Asian, African, Latin American and European States. The USA is a Federal State and so are Switzerland, Canada, Australia, Brazil, Germany, Malaysia, Russia, Nigeria and several others.
We can easily compare the Federal and Unitary States by comparing their basic features.
A Federal State is characterised by a division of powers between one central government and several state governments, presence of written, rigid and supreme constitution, a judiciary - with a special role as the defender of federal constitution, dual citizenship and dual administration. One central government and several state governments use their respective powers as stand divided defined by the Constitution of the Federal State.
A unitary state does not need a division of powers and a written and rigid constitution. It is a government by an all powerful single central government with the local governments working as its agencies. A unitary state is characterised by single centrally controlled uniform administration of the whole state. It is characterised by a single legislature, single executive and single judiciary for the whole country.
Thus the Federal and Unitary states are two alternative forms of state. Mostly a state is either a federal and or a unitary state.
This article on Difference Between Unitary and Federal State in Political Science is contributed by Dipshikha Anand. If you like LawStudyPoint.com do follow us on our Twitter handle.