Government is among one of the major elements of state. The purpose of government is to formulate interpret and implement state laws through its major organizations in order to sustain peace and order — satisfy citizen needs — ensure economic growth and stability — and protect the constitutional rights of citizens. In order to understand how do government regulate these activities through its major institutions or organizations? We must analyze two distinct types of government systems these include, unitary and federal system. The choice of each government system in a given state grants differential of power and authority to the major government organization to carry out administrative activities.
Unitary system is highly centralized structure of government that grants entire authority to national institutions to conduct state business however, in rare cases it grants very little authority of governance to local or provincial institutions. Therefore, in this system governance entire state territory radiate from state capital. Whereas, federal system provide complete autonomy to its subdivision or provinces which allow local institutions to conduct administrative within respective province.
Unitary system
Unitary governments regulate local authorities as well as citizens’ lives more than federal governments. In unitary state national government hold the authority to formulate judicial, legislative, education economic policies for the entire state. Such state has national police force and a single court or judicial system whereby officers are also appointed by the national government.
However, in 1970 the uneven distribution of authority, economic opportunities and resources among provinces or subdivisions gave rise to regionalism in many countries. At that time nationalists of unitary states claimed that their region has been given less importance compare to other regions by the central government therefore, their region remained poorer and has not progressed over decades. In some unitary states people from different regions wanted to preserve their respective language and culture. For the reason that many nationalist political parties came into being in different subdivision of multiple countries and the objective of these nationalist organization was to obtain provincial autonomy. When these political parties won some seats they presented devolution bill in parliament. Devolution refer to the transfer of some power from central to provincial or local government for instance, in 1977 the devolution bill was passed in Britain parliament by labor party which gave autonomy to Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales.
Moreover, historically the government of France of much more centralized than Britain. All the administrative power were held by central government of France in Paris. The government system of absolutism was initiated by the monarch of France Louis XI in fifteenth century. The centralized governance continued in France until mid-twentieth century.
Different regions of France was composed of distinct ethnic groups. The people within each region wanted to preserve their culture — language or economic interest which they believed was not possible to achieve without obtaining administrative power. Therefore, the people of these region started agitation and sometime used violence to claim administrative power from central government. As a result the process of decentralization began in France. “Decentralization” refers to transfer of administrative power from central government to local or provincial government but the power transferred is much less than devolution. The process of decentralization was initiated by two prominent French leaders “President De Gaulle” and “President Mitterrand” from 1960 to 1981 which grated certain power of economic planning to the provinces for the betterment of economic development.
Pros and Cons of Unitary System
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Advantages and Disadvantages of Unitary System
Unitary state has highly centralized administrative authority because of which provincial or local government cannot even make a small administrative decisions. Each and every decision is made by central government in the capital of state. Local government have to take permission from central government even for installing a traffic light. This system sometimes hider the progress of some regions within a state. Which could further give rise to separatist movements, mutiny and violent demonstrations. Moreover, in unitary state the strategic administrative decision can be made promptly because there is no bickering in decision making among different government units.
Federal system
Federal state grants much autonomy to local government units whereas, unitary state does not give administrative authority to provincial or local government. Different regions of federal state can make equal progress due to provincial autonomy but sometimes it is hard for state to maintain balance of authority among provinces which could lead to unrest. Moreover, in some country federal government system may lead to progressive change but whereas in some it may not work. The effectiveness of either systems depend on the social condition of country. America is the first state which adopted federalism and this administrative system brought progressive change within the country. Therefore, America has compelled or is compelling other countries to adopt federal system as well without considering the possibility that the system might not work for them for instance, Iraq is among one of the state which was compelled by America to adopt federalism but the system did not worked there due to the hostility among Iraqi Shia, Sunni and Kurds.
In federal state central government cannot take the power of local or provincial government. The power which are obtained by local government cannot be easily overridden by federal government. However, federal government have absolute authority to formulate foreign, defense and monetary policy. Whereas, local government has the authority to make educational, health and development policies.
Pros and Cons of Federal System
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Advantages and Disadvantages of Federal System
It is easy for citizens to reach the concerned local authority in order to address their problems and influence them to resolve them promptly. Moreover local government can make suitable or effective policies for the province because locals authorities can coordinate with local more frequently and can closely observe the social conditions of a given region. On the other hand, local government might not have enough budget to implement their policies and the official of local government might be incompetent or corrupt. In such cases the federalism is not suitable choice of government for a state.
Written by; Khushdil Khan Kasi