Thus, the simplest form of government is a unitary state. In Latin, "unitas" means unity.
A unitary state is a simple, single state, the parts of which are administrative-territorial units and have no attributes of state sovereignty; it has a single system of supreme bodies and a single system of legislation.
The historical roots of the unitary form of state structure should be sought together with the origins of the state. Since it was this form that was characteristic not only of the first states, but also for the next millennia remained the only one. Without exception, all ancient and medieval state formations had this form of state structure. Examples of this are the Roman Empire, ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia, medieval England and France. Nowadays the unitary state continues to exist, but this phenomenon is not as significant and comprehensive as before. However, the fact that the largest number of States in the world is unitary in nature should not be rejected. To date, there are on average six unitary States per federal State. Therefore, it is too early to say that unitarianism is losing ground.
Unitary form is usually typical for small (as small territory is relatively easy to manage by conventional administrative methods), as well as for monarchical states (due to traditions). Examples are Greece, Ireland, Peru, Cuba, etc. Perhaps, only China is knocked out of this number of unitary states, as its territory occupies the third place in the world in terms of its area.
In addition, a unitary form of government is characteristic of state entities that are subjects of any federation. Thus, any republic within the Russian Federation is a state with a unitary form of government.
Unitary states can have both unicultural (France, Sweden, Norway, etc.) and multinational (Great Britain, Belgium, etc.) composition of the population.
But let's return to the very notion of unitarism. What is this? This question does not give rest to millions of citizens, especially recently with the emergence of pockets of separatism in different countries of the world. This is a single state formation, which is divided into administrative components, each of which has no sovereignty and is subordinate to the central authorities. In turn, unitary states are also divided into several types.
The main criterion for classifying the types of unitarism is the degree of subordination of administrative-territorial units of a unitary state to central authorities. Thus, it is singled out:
1. Centralized unitary state. Unitary state units of this type include countries where the functions of power are exercised at the local level only by those representatives of power who are approved and coordinated by the central authorities. At the same time, a centralized state may grant some autonomy to lower local governments. The most striking examples of unitary states with a centralized structure today are Turkmenistan. In addition, there are signs of centralization in Africa, where local power belongs to tribes and clans. It is worth noting, however, that such states are rarely found today.
2. Decentralized unitary state. Decentralized states include those countries where the constitution provides for the separation of central and local governments. That is, in fact, the subjects of state formation can have quite a wide autonomy, and at the same time have their own parliament, administrative structures and government. These privileges are mostly enjoyed by large regions that were once independent or had sufficient autonomy to deal with specific issues. In addition, these regions are often linked by common historical, economic, and geographical interests. Subjects of the decentralized state can independently resolve a number of issues, including economic problems, education, health care, public order and municipal services. In fact, the subjects turn into separate unitary state countries, which are united for some reasons into a single entity. France and Spain can be referred to the countries with a pronounced decentralized structure.
In some sources, we can also see such types of unitarism, the criteria for division of which is the number of autonomies. Depending on this, we can distinguish between states with one autonomy (e.g. Tajikistan), states with several autonomies (Spain), states with different levels of autonomy (China).
To be continued in the next part.