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The United States is one of the only nations in the world with such a style of government, although its structure and adaptability make it perhaps the best national power structure, especially for a country the size and diversity of the United States (Manis). Most other governments of the world are unitary, meaning that the centralized government as complete sovereignty, and can alter or abolish lower government institutions at will (though this is usually limited by due process) (Manis). A confederacy, by contrast, is a system where centralized power has to be "internalized" by each constituent element before the law or laws take effect in that locality (Knutsen, sec. 1). Throughout history, confederacies have proven unstable, often splintering into entirely independent sovereign nations, which is one of the reasons the great federalism experiment was born in the United States in 1787 (Manis; 70).
Government systems generally arose out of historical precedent -- most nation were ruled by monarchies at one time, which were really just less democratic forms of unitary...
Confederacies do not work because due to their splintered structure they tend to break up or experience sluggish government due to infighting (Knutsen, sec. 2). Unitarian governments can be very adaptive, but might change too quickly, especially when power is consolidated in the hands of a few or even a single person, and such governments are also quite prone to corruption. The United States' federal system, however, allows it to change quickly enough to adequately respond to situations, but with enough oversight by the states to forestall drastic and disastrous unilateral shifts.
Works Cited
Manis, J. "Unitary Hawaii: Over-Centralization as a Style of Government." Lava.net, 2002. Accessed 25 January 2009. http://www.lava.net/~manis/unit.htm
Knutsen, J. "Confederations and Federations." BasicLaw.net, 2004. Accessed 25 January 2009. http://www.basiclaw.net/Principles/Confederations%20and%20Federations.htm
Works Cited
Manis, J. "Unitary Hawaii: Over-Centralization as a Style of Government." Lava.net, 2002. Accessed 25 January 2009. http://www.lava.net/~manis/unit.htm
Knutsen, J. "Confederations and Federations." BasicLaw.net, 2004. Accessed 25 January 2009. http://www.basiclaw.net/Principles/Confederations%20and%20Federations.htm
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