Unitary State

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The following article is from The Great Soviet Encyclopedia (1979). It might be outdated or ideologically biased.

Unitary State

In contrast to a federation, which is composed of federative units, such as states or Länder, a unitary state is divided into administrative and territorial units, such as departments, regions, and districts. The unitary state has a single constitution for the entire state, a general system of laws, and a unified system of bodies of state power. These attributes of the unitary state provide the necessary organizational and legal bases for the centralized guidance of social processes and for the maintenance of strong central authority in the state. All socialist states are unitary states, with the exceptions of the USSR, Czechoslovakia, and Yugoslavia, which are socialist federations.

Most contemporary bourgeois states—including Great Britain, France, Italy, and Japan—are unitary states. In contemporary bourgeois federations—such as the USA, the Federal Republic of Germany, and Canada—the processes of economic and political centralization, which are characteristic of the period of statemonopoly capitalism, lead to the dominance of unitary tendencies; in these countries the role and influence of federal bodies of state power are constantly growing.

References in periodicals archive ?

Presidential hopeful Sajith Premadasa says his policy is for maximum devolution within a unitary state. Premadasa said that maximum devolution within a unitary Sri Lanka was the policy stand taken by the current Government in 2015 and that policy still remains.

Sajith backs maximum devolution within a unitary state

A unitary state - the Republic of Indonesia - was the practical solution for the nationalist movements.

Federalist questions

'Namibia being a unitary state where harmony between the local and national development priorities and the relationship between central and sub-national government must naturally be characterised by the spirit of cooperation and common purpose,' the minister said.

Second decentralisation consultative forum held in the capital

THE unprecedented scale of conflict experienced during World Wars I and II cemented the UK unitary state's cohesion, strengthening the administrative reach of London.

These islands need a new consensus for partnership; Glyndwr Cennydd Jones argues that we need greater agreement between the nations which make up our state as we head towards an uncertain future

The sovereign state of Bolivia is a constitutionally unitary state, divided into nine departments.

Kyrgyzstan wants to establish diplomatic ties with Bolivia

According to the current Sri lankan Constitution, the country is a unitary state in its nature, but the new proposed draft proposes administrative decentralization and more power to the local bodies.

COLOMBO - Constitutional Conundrum

She added that until Pakistan decided between being a federation or some sort of unitary state, it could never be constitutionally strong, she added.

Pakistan, India, US all 'trapped in uber-man image'

"Is there anyone of us who will say yes to the unitary state structure which will make the Turkish Cypriots a minority?

Akinci: Turkish Cypriots the main victims of the status quo

Read together, Articles 4, 5, and 6 of the Constitution are unambiguous, that Kenya is a unitary state with government at two levels national and county.The two levels are both distinct and interdependent, and the functions of each level of government are enumerated in the Fourth Schedule.

Regional economic blocs are doomed to fail

'We affirm the historical commitment to Pancasila, the 1945 Constitution, Bhinneka Tunggal Ika, and the Unitary State of the Republic of Indonesia to cling to the national pillars.

Youth Across Archipelago and Diaspora Formulate Indonesian Vision 2045

Otherwise, a unitary state - one nation, plus the Bangsamoro entity - would present a better model.

The Duterte administration after two years: Assessing prospects for higher growth