A system of government distributes power among different parts
and levels of the state. Political scientists study the uses of power, including how
power is distributed within a state. The amount of power held by the central
government determines the system of government a state has. There are three main
systems of government used today: unitary systems, federal systems, and confederate
systems.
THREE SYSTEMS OF GOVERNMENT
|
System
|
Level of Centralization
|
Strength
|
Weakness
|
| Unitary (e.g., China, France, Japan, United
Kingdom) | High | Sets uniform policies that direct the entire
nation | Disregards local differences |
| Federal (e.g., United States, Germany, Australia,
Canada) | Medium | Gives local governments more power | Sacrifices national uniformity on some
issues |
| Confederate (e.g., Confederate States of America,
Belgium) | Low | Gives local/regional governments almost complete
control | Sets no significant uniform national
policies |
Unitary Systems
A unitary system has the highest degree of centralization. In
a unitary state, the central government holds all the power. Lower-level
governments, if they exist at all, do nothing but implement the policies of the
national government. In a purely unitary state, the same set of laws applies
throughout the nation, without variation. Unitary states create national policy,
which is then applied uniformly. This uniformity sometimes serves as an
advantage because people and businesses know exactly what to expect from the
laws, regardless of geographical location. At the same time, to maintain its
uniformity, a unitary government must overlook local differences that might call
for different rules or policies.
Example: Most absolute monarchies and
tyrannies operate under unitary systems. But democratic unitary states exist
as well. In France, for example, the central government makes virtually all
of the decisions.
Federal Systems
A federal system has a mix of national and state or local
gov- ernments. The federal government usually trumps local governments in
matters of defense and foreign policy, but local governments have a great deal
of say over most other policy areas. Sometimes local governments administer
national policies, which means that, in practice, the “national” policy varies a
great deal from place to place.
Example: In the United States, state
governments administered Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC)
throughout the length of the program, 1935–1997. Although the federal
government set certain rules for how the money was to be spent, state
governments had the power to administer it as they saw fit. Some states,
therefore, gave little money through AFDC, whereas others were much more
generous.
Often, the boundary between national and local power is blurred. Federal
systems have the opposite strengths and weaknesses of unitary systems: They
excel at factoring in local circumstances but often fail to have a coherent
national policy.
Example: The United States, Mexico,
and Canada operate under federal systems. These states have a mix of
national and state governments that share power and policymaking
responsibilities.
Confederate Systems
A confederate system sits at the other extreme in terms of centralization.
A confederacy is a loose relationship among a number of smaller political units.
The vast majority of political power rests with the local governments; the
central federal government has very little power. Local governments have a great
deal of freedom to act as they wish, but this freedom often leads to conflicts
between states and the federal government. In some cases, a confederacy is
little more than an alliance between independent states.
Example: For Americans, the
Confederate States of America—which governed the South during the Civil
War—is the best-known example of a confederacy, but there have been others.
In fact, the first government of the United States, created by the Articles
of Confederation (finished in 1777), was this type of system. Today, Belgium
is basically a confederacy between two largely independent states, Flanders
in the north and Wallonia in the south.
