5.1: Federal vs. Unitary Forms of Government
States can choose to arrange power in different ways. In a federal system, government power is shared between a central government and smaller subunits of government. For instance, in the United States, the federal government in Washington, D.C. shares power with each of the 50 states. As this article describes, most of the world’s governments are unitary, which means that the central government may delegate power, but does not share its power.
States with federal systems include the United States, Australia, Germany, Canada, Russia, and India. All of those states are relatively large and geographically or ethnically/nationally diverse. According to this Lumen Learning section, why is federalism a logical choice for states with these characteristics? What are some of the drawbacks of federalism?