Question

What is the main difference between a federal form of government and a unitary form of government? Explain with an example.

Answer 1

Hint: Federal form of government is in which the power is divided between a central authority and various constituent units of the country. But the unitary system of government there is only one level of government. There are no provincial state governments as we in India have.

Complete answer: In a federal form of government, the central government shares its powers with the various constituent units of the country.
 In a federal form of government, the central government shares its powers with the various Constituent units of the country whereas in unitary form of government either there is only one level of government or the sub-units are subordinate to the central government.
In the federal form of government, the central government cannot order the state government to do something or take any action whereas the central government can pass on orders to the provincial or the local government.
The UK, France, Japan, China, Italy, Belgium, Norway, Sweden, Spain have a unitary model of government while the US, Switzerland, Australia, Canada, Russia, Brazil, Argentina have federal models of government.

Note: In a federal form of government, the central government shares its powers with the various constituent units of the country.eg In India, power is divided between the government at the Centre and the various State governments. In a unitary form of government, all the power is exercised by only one government. eg.In Sri Lanka, the national government has all the powers