In the form of administrative-territorial division distinguish between a federation and a unitary state. In the unitary form of government, territorial units do not have state status.
Instruction manual
1
Distinctive features of a unitary state is a single legal system, state authorities, as well as the constitution. As a rule, large states are federations, which is caused by the need to take into account the interests of various social groups. Historically, a unitary state appeared first. Today, most states in the world are unitary.
2
Unitary states have a number of key attributes. These are unified normative acts for the entire territory of the country, unified supreme authorities, citizenship system, monetary units, language, parts of the state do not have signs of sovereignty. A unitary state is a single entity whose authorities should not coordinate their domestic and foreign policies with territorial units. It presupposes the existence of uniform executive, legislative and judicial bodies.
3
Most of the unitary states have a political-administrative division. Such territorial units have their own specialized state bodies. The key trend of recent years is the enlargement of units and regionalization.
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A unitary state has its own advantages over the federation. So, it avoids duplication of functions and conflicts in the organization of public authority. The unitary form is the most optimal in a small, ethnically and culturally homogeneous territory. It is considered more sustainable.
5
The main disadvantages of the unitary form are manifested in culturally heterogeneous states in which certain territories have different value orientations, views on political development, linguistic, religious affiliation. Such a state may face a split, or the emergence of acute territorial contradictions. The situation is aggravated if regions in the past were annexed to the country by violent (or unnatural) methods, or if the population is dissatisfied with their standard of living. This strengthens the belief in the population that it will be easier for them to live in a separate state and makes separatist movements influential.
6
Unitary states are very heterogeneous. Distinguish between centralized and decentralized states. They differ in the amount of authority granted to territorial units. In decentralized states, the population can independently choose local governments and has a fairly high independence in resolving local issues. Their example is Spain. Unitary states are distinguished with one, several, or multilevel autonomies (for example, China).
