Unitary, federal and quasi-federal government

1. Unitary government

In a unitary state all powers of government are vested by the constitution in a single central government. Local or regional bodies exist, but they are created by the centre, derive their powers from it and may be altered or abolished by it. Dicey called it “the habitual exercise of supreme legislative authority by one central power.” Garner: where the whole power of government is conferred by the constitution on a single central organ, from which local governments derive whatever authority they possess.

Features: a single centre of authority; local units as agents of the centre; usually single citizenship and a single legislature (though it may have two chambers); the constitution may be written or unwritten, rigid or flexible.

The United Kingdom. Parliament at Westminster is sovereign over the whole kingdom. The Scottish Parliament, the Senedd in Wales and the Northern Ireland Assembly, set up by devolution statutes in 1998, exercise real powers, but they rest on Acts of Parliament which Parliament can in law amend or repeal. The Northern Ireland Assembly was suspended by Westminster several times. This is devolution, not federalism. Local councils are likewise statutory.

France. France is the classic centralised unitary state, built up under the monarchy and Napoleon. Its units are regions, departments and communes, with an appointed prefect in each department representing the State. Decentralisation laws from 1982 gave elected councils more power, and the 2003 revision wrote into Article 1 that the organisation of the Republic “shall be decentralised”, but the units remain creations of national law and Paris keeps the final word.

Merits: strong, uniform and quick government; single policy and law for the whole country; economical (no duplication of governments); suited to small and homogeneous countries; flexible in emergencies. Demerits: overload and red tape at the centre; neglect of local needs; danger of despotism, since there is no other level of government to resist; weak civic participation; unsuited to large and diverse countries.

2. Federal government: meaning

K.C. Wheare (Federal Government, 1946) defined the federal principle as “the method of dividing powers so that the general and regional governments are each, within a sphere, co-ordinate and independent.” Neither level is subordinate to the other; each derives its powers from the constitution, not from the other. Dicey described a federal state as “a political contrivance intended to reconcile national unity and power with the maintenance of state rights.” The word comes from the Latin foedus, a treaty or covenant.

3. Formation: the two methods

1. By integration (aggregation, “coming together”): independent states agree to surrender part of their sovereignty to a new central government while keeping the rest. The USA (thirteen former colonies, from the Articles of Confederation to the Constitution of 1787), Switzerland (cantons, from a loose confederation to the federal constitution of 1848) and Australia (1901) were formed this way. The units are strong and residuary powers usually stay with them.
2. By disintegration (devolution, “holding together”): a unitary state divides itself into units and gives them constitutionally protected powers. India, whose provinces were units of a unitary British administration before the Government of India Act 1935, and Canada (1867) are examples. The centre is strong and residuary powers usually stay with it.

The method of formation explains why American States can claim to be older than the Union, while in India Parliament can redraw State boundaries by simple law (Article 3).

4. Essential features of a federation

1. Dual government: a central and a regional government, each acting directly on the citizen.
2. Division of powers by the constitution. In the USA, the powers of the Union are enumerated and the rest reserved to the States (Tenth Amendment). Switzerland does the same for cantons (Article 3). India lists Union, State and Concurrent subjects in the Seventh Schedule, with residuary power in the Union (Article 248).
3. A written constitution, since the division must be fixed and known.
4. A rigid constitution: neither level can alter the division alone.
5. Supremacy of the constitution over both levels.
6. An independent judiciary to settle disputes between levels: the US Supreme Court, the Indian Supreme Court under Article 131. In Switzerland the Federal Supreme Court cannot strike down federal statutes; the people, through referendum, act as the check.
7. Bicameral legislature with a chamber representing units: the US Senate (two per State), the Swiss Council of States (two per canton, one per half-canton). India's Rajya Sabha represents States, but by population, not equally.
8. Often dual citizenship (USA, Switzerland), though India has single citizenship.

5. Merits and demerits of federalism

Merits: reconciles unity with diversity; suited to large countries with many languages, religions and regions; brings government closer to the people; checks the concentration of power; allows experiment at the regional level (the American States are called laboratories of democracy); trains citizens in self-government; makes possible a union of states that would not accept a unitary state.

Demerits: weak where the centre must act quickly, especially in foreign affairs and war; conflicts of jurisdiction and frequent litigation; expensive duplication of governments; lack of uniformity in law and policy; danger of secession (the American Civil War of 1861–65); rigidity in adapting to change; regional loyalties can override national ones.

6. Unitary and federal compared

7. Quasi-federal government: a special note

Wheare described the Indian Constitution as “quasi-federal”: a unitary state with subsidiary federal principles rather than a federal state with subsidiary unitary principles. A quasi-federal government has the form of a federation (dual polity, division of powers, written constitution, judicial arbiter) but with a strong centre and powers that allow the centre to act in a unitary way. India is the usual example; Canada is sometimes given.

The unitary features of the Indian Constitution:

• Article 1 calls India a “Union of States”, and States have no right to secede.
• Parliament can create States and change their boundaries by simple majority (Article 3).
• Residuary powers lie with the Union; the Union List is longer and Union law prevails in the Concurrent field (Article 254).
• Parliament can legislate on State subjects in the national interest (Article 249) and during an emergency (Article 250).
• Emergency provisions (Articles 352, 356, 360) can turn the system unitary.
• Governors are appointed by the President; all-India services; single citizenship; an integrated judiciary; a single Election Commission and Comptroller and Auditor-General.
• The States depend on the Union for finance through the Finance Commission and grants.

Other writers use other labels. Granville Austin called it “co-operative federalism”; Ivor Jennings “a federation with a strong centralising tendency”; Morris-Jones “bargaining federalism”. Dr Ambedkar told the Constituent Assembly that the Constitution could be both unitary and federal according to the requirements of time and circumstances. The Supreme Court in S.R. Bommai v. Union of India, 1994 INSC 111, held federalism to be part of the basic structure.

How this is examined

Four question forms recur: “What is federal government? Explain its features, merits and demerits” (16 marks); “Discuss the differences between unitary and federal governments” (10 marks); and short notes on unitary government, quasi-federal government, or the merits and demerits of federalism. In the federal essay, always cover the two methods of formation with the USA, Switzerland and India as examples; the syllabus names them.