A map showing the unitary states.

A unitary state is a state or country whose three organs of state are governed constitutionally as one single unit, with one constitutionally created legislature. The political power of government in such states may well be transferred to lower levels, to regionally or locally elected assemblies, governors and mayors ("devolved government"), but the central government retains the principal right to recall such delegated power. Image File history File links Map_of_unitary_states. ... Image File history File links Map_of_unitary_states. ... For other uses, see State (disambiguation). ... For other uses, see Country (disambiguation). ... This article is about constitutional concepts. ... This article is about constitutional concepts. ... A legislatureis a type of representative deliberative assembly with the power to ratify laws. ... This article needs additional references or sources for verification. ... It has been suggested that this article or section be merged into Devolution. ... Central government or the national government (or, in federal states, the federal government) is the government at the level of the nation-state. ...

In a unitary state, any sub-governmental units can be created or abolished, and have their powers varied, by the central government. The process in which sub-government units and/or regional parliaments are created by a central government is known as devolution. A unitary state can broaden and narrow the functions of such devolved (sub-)governments without formal agreement from the affected bodies. In federal systems, by contrast, assemblies in those states composing the federation have a constitutional existence and a set of constitutional functions which cannot be unilaterally changed by the central government. In some such cases, such as in the United States, it is the federal government that has only those powers expressly delegated to it. Look up Devolution in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... A map displaying todays federations. ... Most countries with a federal constitution are made up of a number of entities called states. ...

Most federal states also have unitary lower levels of government. Thus while the United States itself is federal, the U.S. states are themselves unitary, with counties and other municipalities having only the authority given (devolved) to them by the state constitution or legislature. Federal courts Supreme Court Circuit Courts of Appeal District Courts Elections Presidential elections Midterm elections Political Parties Democratic Republican Third parties State & Local government Governors Legislatures (List) State Courts Local Government Other countries Atlas  US Government Portal      A U.S. state is any one of the fifty subnational entities of... Originally, a county was the land under the jurisdiction of a count (in Great Britain, an earl, though the original earldoms covered larger areas) by reason of that office. ... A municipality or general-purpose district (compare with: special-purpose district) is an administrative local area generally composed of a clearly defined territory and commonly referring to a city, town, or village government. ... Federal courts Supreme Court Chief Justice Associate Justices Elections Presidential elections Midterm elections Political Parties Democratic Republican Third parties State & Local government Governors Legislatures State Courts Counties, Cities, and Towns Other countries Politics Portal      In the United States of America, a state legislature is a generic term referring to the...

The majority of the world's countries are unitary states mainly because most of them are not large enough to warrant a separation into distinct internal territories. Thus many of the non-unitary states of the world are very large in size, particularly Russia, Canada, United States, Brazil, India and Australia. This does not imply that large size will invariably result in non-unitary government; China, for instance, due to its political and socio-cultural history, has not seen the rise of a non-unitary arrangement, though certain economists argue that the current political and economic situation in mainland China constitute a unique form of Chinese federalism. Other counter-examples are Belgium and Switzerland, which despite a small territory have developed a complex federal system. Chinese federalism refers to political theories which argue that the Peoples Republic of China central government does or should devolve large amounts of power to local entities. ...

Notable examples

The United Kingdom is a state with a series of parliament-created devolved assemblies, for Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, all of which were created between 1998 and 1999. The Republic of Ireland is a unitary state without subnational governments. This article is about the country. ... This article is about the country. ... Northern Ireland (Irish: , Ulster Scots: Norlin Airlann) is a constituent country of the United Kingdom lying in the northeast of the island of Ireland, covering 5,459 square miles (14,139 km², about a sixth of the islands total area). ... Subnational entity is a generic term for an administrative region within a country — on an arbitrary level below that of the sovereign state — typically with a local government encompassing multiple municipalities, counties, or provinces with a certain degree of autonomy in a varying number of matters. ...

China is principally a unitary state formed with the central government having direct authority over the provinces and delegating authority to provincial governments. However the status of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (SAR) is open to debate, depending on one's interpretation of the Hong Kong Basic Law. Most Chinese legal scholars argue that the Basic Law is purely domestic legislation deriving its authority from the Constitution of the People's Republic of China, in which case the SAR is a devolved government entirely consistent with the view of China as a unitary state. However others argue that the Basic Law derives its authority directly from the Sino-British Joint Declaration, in which case it is possible to regard it as a constitution, implying a federal relationship between China and Hong Kong and placing China in the hybrid category. Similar considerations affect the Macau SAR. Special administrative region may be: Peoples Republic of China Special administrative regions, present-day administrative divisions (as of 2006) set up by the Peoples Republic of China to administer Hong Kong (since 1997) and Macau (since 1999) Republic of China Special administrative regions, also translated as special administrative... Cover of Index to the Basic Law The Basic Law of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the Peoples Republic of China (中華人民共和國香港特別行政區基本法; or in short 香港基本法 or 基本法) serves as the constitutional document of Hong Kong. ... The Constitution of the Peoples Republic of China (中华人民共和国宪法; pinyin: Zhōnghuá Rénmín Gònghéguó Xiànfǎ) is the highest law within the Peoples Republic of China. ... The Sino-British Joint Declaration, formally known as the Joint Declaration of the Government of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and the Government of the Peoples Republic of China on the Question of Hong Kong, was signed by the Prime Ministers of the Peoples... SAR may stand for: (in pharmacology and computational chemistry) structure-activity relationship In plant disease resistance Systemic acquired resistance Salanter Akiba Riverdale, a modern Orthodox yeshiva in Riverdale, New York Saudi riyal (ISO 4217 currency code SAR) Search and rescue IPCC Second Assessment Report Segmentation and Reassembly of data packets...

India is mostly a federal state but under the controversial Article 356 of the Indian Constitution, a President can dismiss a state government. Article 356 is a controversial constitutional section included in the India. ... The Constitution of India, the worlds lengthiest written constitution (with 395 articles and 8 schedules) was passed by the Constituent Assembly on November 26, 1949. ...

Devolved state

A "devolved state" is an increasingly common form of unitary state which allows regions extensive powers, but the central government reserves the right to withdraw those powers at will, regions having no actual right to any powers. The powers of regions are therefore held entirely at the pleasure of the central government.

In the devolved state model, the regional entities have their own governments and may have their own laws, and typically practice a large degree of autonomous decision making. In this way, they are similar to the federal model. However, the state is still unitary, and the subnational entities (unlike in a federation) do not have any constitutional rights to challenge national legislation or preserve their powers. Depending on the exact legal status of the devolved powers, the laws of the subnational entity may be overridden, or the entity's law-making power curtailed, by an ordinary law of the national government, or by a simple decision of the head of government. The United Kingdom is a good example of this: Scotland has a wide degree of autonomous law-making power, however, there is no right for Scotland to challenge the constitutionality of UK national legislation, and laws of Scotland can be overridden, and the powers of the Scottish parliament revoked or reduced, by an act of the national parliament or a decision of the Prime Minister. In the case of Northern Ireland, the devolved powers of the region have been suspended by a simple government decision on several occasions. Thus, the UK is still a unitary state, despite superficially appearing somewhat like a federal state in practice. This article is about the country. ... For the national legislative body up to 1707, see Parliament of Scotland. ... Northern Ireland (Irish: , Ulster Scots: Norlin Airlann) is a constituent country of the United Kingdom lying in the northeast of the island of Ireland, covering 5,459 square miles (14,139 km², about a sixth of the islands total area). ...

Devolution (like federation) may be symmetrical (all regions having the same powers and status) or asymmetric (regions varying in their powers and status). UK devolution is asymmetric.

List of unitary states

This article is about the country in Europe. ... For the Chinese civilization, see China. ...

See also

• Regional state