Geopolitics 411
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Unitary State vs Federation by Croix Fenton

What are the benefits of being a unitary state or a federation?

What is a federation?

In a federation, the units of a federal state have partial sovereignty, with the units of a federal state having some rights and powers that a federal government would not have. However, what differentiates a federation from a grouping of independent states (like the European Union for example) is that a federal government often handles defense and foreign policy. For example, in the United States, while U.S. states often maintain significant rights, they cannot control their own foreign affairs, however, unlike many other federations, all U.S. states maintain a National Guard, which can be federalized by an order of the U.S. president, and, some states maintain a “state militia” which is completely under the control of the U.S. states’ government.

A federation also differs from a confederation. In a confederation, the units of a confederation often maintain a right to secede from the country, and often, the constituent units have more autonomy. Canada and Switzerland often refer to themselves as a Confederation in the Canadian constitution, however, they no longer meet the actual definition of one.

What is a unitary state?

In a unitary state, the units of that country do not share powers with the central government, and, the central government of a unitary state does not require the consent of the units of a country to amend the constitution for example. The units of a unitary state also do not maintain the right to exist, the government of a unitary state could remove and create units as they wish. In some unitary states, the constituent units do not even have governments, and are simply used for statistical purposes. And in some countries, mostly really small countries like Vatican City for example, do not have any administrative divisions, either because the government wants to centralize power, there aren't enough people, or, the country is too small.

What are the benefits and caveats of being a unitary state?

In a unitary state, the central government is able to enforce their rules more easily, and oftentimes, changes brought by the central government can be implemented quicker. This is also very positive if you happen to support the government of your unitary state, as no subnational government would be able to interfere with or ignore the central government's policies. However, mostly in larger countries, considering the people governing you probably only live in the capital city, when dividing up or creating administrative divisions for example, it is likely that the central government will focus less on you, and more on what is convenient for the central government.  So, the central government is able to enforce their rules easily, implement rules quicker, but it may be harder to engage with the central government.

What are the benefits and caveats of being a federation?

In a federation, the subnational governments are often able to have more autonomy, and, allows your voice to be heard, as the subnational government of your country will be able to focus more on you, and, the people governing you will be able to identify with you, and solve problems that only relate to your region. However, it will be harder to identify with your country, and legislation may also take longer to be passed, as the subnational governments may challenge the legislation. Subnational governments and federal governments may also have conflicting ideologies, which could create political tensions. Also in federations, the subnational governments may also have to cede their territories to the federal government, to create a federal territory, which may house a capital city or another area of interest to the federal government. So, in federations, indubitably you are able to engage with the government more, but the central government will have a harder time enforcing and passing legislation, which could halt or delay the progress of the country as a whole.

Image attribution: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:The_pathway_of_regional_integration_or_separation.png