American Government Essay

There are three types of government, which are Unitary, Confederate, and Federal system. A system of government distributes power to different parts and levels of the state or community. The amount of power that the central government holds it what determines the system of government a state has, and each of the three systems of government have disadvantages and advantages.

The Unitary is a system of government holds all the power, and is the highest degree of centralization. In this system of government the same set of laws apply throughout the nation, and create national policy. The advantages of this system of government is that people and businesses know exactly what to expect from the laws, no matter where your location is. Since the government is in control there will usually be a more efficient use of tax dollars. There are also fewer conflicts amongst the government. For example, in a federal system, federal and state butt heads over certain laws that one or the other disagrees with. Since there is only one central government in a unitary government, they don't face those types of conflicts. The disadvantages to this system is that all demands, needs, requests and complaints go through one centralized system, so it is slow in resolving local problems. A unitary government lacks diversity. This system only has one history or culture just like unitary has one central government. This means there is no culture preserve or museums for certain individual regions.
        Federalism is a system of government that distributes power between a central national government, and local state governments that are connected by the national government. Federal governments is best for large countries where there’s a diverse group of people with diverse needs, but a common culture that unites them together. The advantages of this system is that it is much easier to manage as a government when power is given to other local officials. State and local officials are closer to the problems in their areas, so it makes sense for them to make certain policies to solve those problems. Federalism maintains a connection by giving power to the states, and it also gives people more access to leaders and opportunities to get involved in their government. Disadvantages of this system is that there is an overlap of the boundaries among national and state governments, which makes it hard to blame for failed policies. Federalism cannot function well without the involvement of citizens. The ignorance of citizens can have a huge effect on how the government is ran, since federalism has a lot of power to affect people’s lives.