Political unitarism designates various theories, concepts or policies that advocate or enforce a fully unified and centralized system of government, with ultimate goal in creating a

unitary state A unitary state is a (Sovereign state, sovereign) State (polity), state governed as a single entity in which the central government is the supreme authority. The central government may create or abolish administrative divisions (sub-national or ...

. In practice, unitarism is often manifested as a political doctrine or movement within complex

political entities Politics () is the set of activities that are associated with decision-making, making decisions in social group, groups, or other forms of power (social and political), power relations among individuals, such as the distribution of Social sta ...

(confederations, federations, and other political unions), advocating for the highest degree of political integration and unification, beyond mere administrative

centralization Centralisation or centralization (American English) is the process by which the activities of an organisation, particularly those regarding planning, decision-making, and framing strategies and policies, become concentrated within a particular ...

. One of the main goals of political unitarists (proponents of unitarism) is to abolish or substantially suppress all forms of regional self-government and autonomy, by transferring powers of confederated states, federal units, autonomous regions or cantons directly to the

central government A central government is the government that is a controlling power over a unitary state. Another distinct but sovereign political entity is a federal government, which may have distinct powers at various levels of government, authorized or deleg ...

. Unitarization and regionalization are often confused with

and

decentralization Decentralization or decentralisation is the process by which the activities of an organization, particularly those related to planning and decision-making, are distributed or delegated away from a central, authoritative location or group and gi ...

, respectively.

History

Articles of Union between England and Scotland 28 Jan 1707

Historically, complex processes of political unitarization were often accompanied by political struggle between proponents of unitarism and radical centralization, and their opponents, advocating

and regionalism. In political history, that kind of political struggle was very frequent, even from ancient times. One of the most famous examples of local resistance to political unitarism in classical times was the internal conflict between ancient

Athens Athens ( ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Greece, largest city of Greece. A significant coastal urban area in the Mediterranean, Athens is also the capital of the Attica (region), Attica region and is the southe ...

and other federated

city-state A city-state is an independent sovereign city which serves as the center of political, economic, and cultural life over its contiguous territory. They have existed in many parts of the world throughout history, including cities such as Rome, ...

s within the

Delian League The Delian League was a confederacy of Polis, Greek city-states, numbering between 150 and 330, founded in 478 BC under the leadership (hegemony) of Classical Athens, Athens, whose purpose was to continue fighting the Achaemenid Empire, Persian ...

. In modern history, one of the most notable examples of political unitarization was the creation of

Kingdom of Great Britain Great Britain, also known as the Kingdom of Great Britain, was a sovereign state in Western Europe from 1707 to the end of 1800. The state was created by the 1706 Treaty of Union and ratified by the Acts of Union 1707, which united the Kingd ...

by the Acts of Union in 1701, and subsequently the creation of

United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland was the union of the Kingdom of Great Britain and the Kingdom of Ireland into one sovereign state, established by the Acts of Union 1800, Acts of Union in 1801. It continued in this form until ...

by the Acts of Union in 1800. One of practical goals of political unitarism is to create a singular

legislature A legislature (, ) is a deliberative assembly with the legal authority to make laws for a political entity such as a country, nation or city on behalf of the people therein. They are often contrasted with the executive and judicial power ...

, with exclusive

legislative power A legislature (, ) is a deliberative assembly with the legal authority to make laws for a political entity such as a country, nation or city on behalf of the people therein. They are often contrasted with the executive and judicial powers o ...

s over the entire territory of a state. Through the process of political unitarization, local regions within an emerging unitary state are deprived of any form of contract with the centralized government. Thus, the remaining regional powers, if any have been left at all, are not protected by being entrenched in the constitution of the unitary state; they can be reduced even more, or completely abolished, by the acts of the central government.

References

Literature

* * E. H. Kossmann (1971), "The Crisis of the Dutch State 1780–1813: Nationalism, Federalism, Unitarism", in: Britain and the Netherlands, Dordrecht: Springer, pp. 156–175. * * Danilo Vuković (2001), "Democratic consolidation and social consensus – cleavage between unitarists and separatists in Bosnia and Herzegovina", in: South-East Europe Review for Labour and Social Affairs, 1/2001, pp. 95-111. {{refend

External links

Philip Camara (2016): Federalism's advantages over unitarism
Political terminology

History

See also

References

Literature

External links