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A unitary state is a 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 sub-state units). Such units exercise only the powers that the central government chooses to delegate.
A federated state (also state, province, region, canton, land, governorate, oblast, emirate, or country) is a territorial and constitutional community forming part of a federation. [1] A federated state does not have international sovereignty since powers are divided between the other federated states and the federal government.
However, unitary states often also include one or more self-governing regions. The difference between a federation and this kind of unitary state is that in a unitary state the autonomous status of self-governing regions exists by the sufferance of the central government, and may be unilaterally revoked.
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 delegated to it by the federation and mutually agreed upon by each of the federated states.
Two extremes of federalism are notable: 1) at one extreme, the strong federal state is almost completely unitary, with few powers reserved to local governments; 2) at the opposite extreme, the national government may be a federation in name-only, while actually operating as a confederation, (see "pathway" graphic re regional integration or ...
The United Republic of Tanzania, formerly the United Republic of Tanganyika and Zanzibar, was the union of Tanganyika and Zanzibar, and maintained a two-part federal system. Currently it is a unitary state with Zanzibar retaining a degree of autonomy as a federated state.
A state may be a unitary state or some type of federal union; in the latter type, the term "state" is sometimes used to refer to the federated polities that make up the federation, and they may have some of the attributes of a sovereign state, except being under their federation and without the same capacity to act internationally.
The "Type" column indicates a federation (which includes lower-level units that exercise some sovereignty), unitary state (where the highest-level entity is the only sovereign), or regional state (unitary with substantial delegation of power)