Define Federalism and Distinguish Among Federalist Unitary and Confederation Governing Structures

Federalism, Unitary, And Confederation

Federalism: Federalism is a political system of governance in which powers are divided among two levels of government, i.e., a central government and governments based in smaller political units, usually called states, provinces, or territories. In this system of government, the smaller political units surrender some of their political power to the central government, relying on it to act for the common good. (Davidson, Encarta article)

Comparison of Federalist, Unitary and Confederation Governing Structures

Other types of government structure are Unitary and Confederation. In a Unitary system, virtually all powers are held by the central government, although it may delegate some of its powers to local or city governments but such delegation is discretionary and for administrative purposes only. A confederation is similar to a federation but with far less power given to the central government. In confederations, the local governments retain most of the powers and form a weak central government.

The United States, although founded as a confederation under the Articles of Confederation, became a federal republic when it adopted its constitution in 1789. Other countries that have a federal form of government include Canada, Australia, Brazil, Germany, India, Malaysia, Mexico, Nigeria, and Switzerland. The division of the extent of power between the central and local governments varies from country to country but in most federal countries defense, foreign affairs and currency are controlled by the central government. ("Theories of..")