Talk:Unitary state

Why isn't India listed as a jjdbhajdbbunitary state? While it may be a Union of states , the "Central" gevernment has much authority over the states, it appoints the governors, can split, merge or eradicate the states and change their status at will. Note the automatic inclusion of the princely states into the Union at Independence. Was this a foregone conclusion or a fait accompli? --68.80.223.233 22:12, 1 Oct 2004 (UTC)

I'm not sure that it's right to describe the Scottish parliament as an assembly. I wonder if it's also of interest that Scotland is a different jurisdiction from the rest of the UK. I wonder if Scotland's parliament and the jurisdiction make the UK, in some respects at least, a federation. www.danon.co.uk

No because the Scottish parliament can be suspended at any time by the national government. Mindstar 16:54, 14 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

Spain and Portugal

In the map Spain and Portugal appear as unitary states but in the list they are not mentioned. Why does this happen? Are they or not unitary states? Sorry for my english (I am learning) --Robotico 12:30, 26 February 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Spain is de jure unitary but de facto federal. In other words, its constitution and laws say it's a unitary state, but in practice some subnational governments have so much power that they can be compared to similar entities in real federal states. As far as I know, of course. Wouter Lievens 09:49, 2 June 2006 (UTC)[reply]

I don't think it's appropriate that Spain be on the list at all. From what I can tell Spain's constitution talks about the unity of Spain, but expressly refers to "self-government" for "autonomous communities." In fact, isn't Spain famous for being one of the least centralized states in Europe? 71.182.110.213 (talk) 16:48, 18 June 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Suggest merge of Unitary System into Unitary state

Suggest merge of Unitary System into Unitary state. Roughly the same content in both. --John Nagle 15:26, 4 April 2006 (UTC)[reply]

I'm removing the line saying that China is the "greatest unitary state in the world". Don't know if this is meant to mean most populus, largest land size, or what... No need for it even if the meaning is this.

about to delete claim that Australia is a hybrid

The article says

Some countries are hybrids between the federal and unitary models. An example of this would be Australia, which is federal with respect to the six states (New South Wales, Queensland, South Australia, Tasmania, Victoria and Western Australia) that have their own constitutional existence, but unitary with respect to the two mainland territories (the Northern Territory and the Australian Capital Territory), whose governments exercise similar powers to the states but by virtue of delegation of powers from the national government.

However, especially historically but today as well, its not uncommon for federations to have some territories under the direct control of the federal government. Witness the US and Canada for example. The main reasons for this are: external territories, e.g. islands, with limited population (e.g. Australia-yes, e.g. Norfolk Island, but US-yes as well, e.g. Guam, American Samoa); districts that host the national capital (Australia-yes:ACT,US-yes:DC); areas of the country that are sparsely populated and/or developed (Australia-yes:Northern Territory,Canada-yes:Yukon,Nunavut;US-historically, the continental US territories). So, if Australia is a hybrid, it is no more of a hybrid than Canada, or the US, or in fact I'd say most federations. Which means its not really a hybrid at all. So, I will delete this paragraph. --SJK 12:47, 15 August 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Norway

I'm sorry but my English is that good, but after what I've read and understood, I'm not sure that Norway is a Unitary state. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by T.Stokke (talk • contribs) 23:10, 16 March 2007 (UTC).[reply]

About to delete reference to Myanmar

"Myanmar claimed to adopt Federation,but in fact Unitary System under military dictatorship"

I am sympathetic to the sentiment but I don't think it is factually accurate. Myanmar is indeed a miliatary dictatorship with a high degree of centralisation. I don't think there is a claim of a being a Federation. It does claim to be a Union.

Myanmar does not have an active constitution since the military takeover of 1988. The constitution that existed before was the 1974 Constitution of the Socialist Republic of the Union of Burma. This constitution stated a 'Union'. This was clearly a unitary state in the same way as the Union of South Africa was (when it was a Commonwealth Realm within the British Commonwealth).

The military-led goverment of Ne Win, which promulgated the 1974 constitution was not Federalist. In fact the 1962 coup that brought Ne Win to power was in part to pre-empt a Federation.

There never was a claim by either the Ne Win-led socialist regime or the current military junta to be a Federation.

Mo Aye 16:12, 3 June 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Angola and Belarus

Are Angola and Belarus unitary or federal states? Currently they feathure in neither list. /Lokal _Profil 13:14, 9 September 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Azerbaijan and Belize also aren't in either list. /Lokal _Profil 13:18, 9 September 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Saint Kitts and Nevis

Saint Kitts and Nevis is both on the federation list and the unitary states list. /Lokal _Profil 01:51, 14 September 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Fixed, now removed (together with Iraq) from the federation list. /Lokal _Profil 11:40, 14 September 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Serbia

...is not a unitary state. --PaxEquilibrium 09:30, 31 October 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Sweden

The Swedish SAP (Social Democratic Workers' Party, the dominant political party in Sweden) likes to proclaim that Sweden is a unitary state, but the Swedish constitution actually guarantees self-rule (självstyre) to Sweden's several hundred municipalities (kommuner). These municipalities have their own elected parliaments (kommunfullmäktige) with 31-101 members depending on population.

Furthermore, the municipalities can delegate powers upward to the county governments, which likewise have their own parliaments (except Gotland, which only consists of a single municipality.) —Preceding unsigned comment added by Hpa (talk • contribs) 06:02, 15 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Sweden remains a unitary state since the state can dissolve, merge etc. any of the municipalities. Also apart from local taxes and education the municipalities don't really have that much power. Same thing goes for the county governments who handle healthcare and communications (i.e. busses, trains) but apart from that not much else. As before the state can move municipalities from one county to another and even merge two counties. /Lokal _Profil 15:58, 15 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]

South Africa

I thought South Africa was a federal republic? Josh (talk) 23:37, 18 January 2008 (UTC)[reply]

South Africa is a Parlementry republic and is subdivided into provinces but the provinces don't have any rights to existence in much the same way as the UK's devolved assemballies, that is to say the central goverment can create and remove them as it sees fit.(Morcus (talk) 01:41, 24 June 2008 (UTC))[reply]

Not really. To change the provinces requires a constitutional amendment. I suspect that pushes it more towards a federal state than a unitary one. - htonl (talk) 19:35, 12 October 2008 (UTC)[reply]

United Kingdom and Northern Ireland

The distinction between unitary and non-unitary seems very fine, but if it is based on absolute power then I would have thought the United Kingdom was not unitary since its rule in Northern Ireland is subject to the Belfast Agreement which the Republic of Ireland is a guarantor of. Anyway why is Russia not considered unitary when Georgia and the Ukraine are? They all have autonomous republics within them. Dmcq (talk) 12:30, 11 August 2008 (UTC)[reply]

That's odd.The map shows Russia as not unitary but the text says it is. Dmcq (talk) 12:40, 11 August 2008 (UTC)[reply]