Unit State

A State is known as unit when the Souveraineté belongs only in one State. He is opposed conceptually to the Federal state, composed of federated States, where sovereignty is shared between the federate Federal state and States.

A unit State can be centralized.

There exist however situations where separation between Federal state and unit State is not so clear:

  • at the higher level, the unit States can gather within a confederation. There is not creation of an entity higher than the States which compose it and which would be equipped with a Constitution, because the confederation is only a treated;
  • at the lower level, the unit States can leave a share of their Compétence S (but not of their sovereignty, because it would not then act more unit States) with entities which they create. This division of competences can go more or less far:
    • Decentralization
    • Regionalization (renunciation of competences so much so that the State is almost federal).

The difference between transfer of competence and transfer in sovereignty is however sometimes thin. Juridically, sovereign being, it is to have the competence of competence : that means in practice that it is that which defines which has a competence which is sovereign; consequently, State will remain unit if it preserves the capacity to revoke competences which it transferred (juridically speaking, even if politically speaking, it would not be possible), but will become federal if it makes a final transfer of competence, because one will then regard the transfer as a transfer of sovereignty.

Examples

  • decentralized States:
    • the France is a unit State because the laws and the legal system are the same ones on the territory. It is moderately decentralized; decentralization being especially divided between territorial decentralization (areas, departments, communes primarily) and functional calculus (public corporations);
    • the Irish Republic is a unit State little decentralized, composed of counties and cities.

  • States with regional autonomy:

    • the Indonesia is a unit State in which the areas (provinces, departments and cities) are equipped with some autonomy.

  • regionalized States:

    • the Italy is a unit State subjected to a strong regionalization just like the Spain, where one speaks about autonomous communities ;
    • the China, according to its constitution, is a “multinational unified State”, i.e. a unit State though composed of provinces.

Characteristics

  • the Australia is a particular case. It is a Federal state with respect to six entities (States of News-Wales of the South, Queensland, southernmost Australia, Tasmanie, Victoria and Western Australia), which lays out each one of a clean constitutional existence, but it is a unit State with respect to the two other entities (the Territories of north and the capital ) which although enjoying capacities similar to those of the States, have them only by delegation of the national government.

  • the Swiss , even if it carries, for historical reasons, the Swiss name of Confédération , is a Federal state.

  • the European Union is halfway between the confederation and the federation. Though there is an entity higher than the States which was created, this one does not have a constitution and is not a State. The States which compose it are always unit (unless being already federal like the Germany), but it has such competences in the first pillar, which one can speak about true transfers of sovereignty.

See too

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