A system of government in which ultimate political authority is legally concentrated in a central government that may create, modify, or revoke the powers of subnational units by ordinary law; subnational institutions, where they exist, exercise authority derived from and subordinate to central authorization rather than from constitutionally protected sovereignty.

Principle

Central legal supremacy means that subnational autonomy is derivative and revocable: administrative decentralization or devolution can grant significant local discretion but remains subject to the central government’s constitutional or statutory supremacy and political control.

Demonstration

Illustrative scenario → The central legislature passes national standards for health policy and later amends the law to reassign certain implementation tasks to local governments (Recognition). Local authorities implement policies under central guidance; when national priorities change, the centre alters local responsibilities by ordinary legislation (Action). Consequence: higher national policy uniformity and easier legal reconfiguration of responsibilities compared with constitutional federal arrangements.

Misapplication

Error: assuming that any decentralized service delivery implies a unitary state is non‑centralized. Why plausible: visible local functions suggest autonomy. Semantic error: conflating administrative decentralization (which affects delivery) with constitutional division of sovereignty—the former does not guarantee legally protected subnational sovereignty.

Consequence

Unitary systems causally facilitate centralized policy consistency, simpler legal authority lines, and administrative reorganization, while potentially producing local mismatch between policy and local preferences and concentrated decision‑making power.

Reversal

Extensive devolution or statutory protections for local governments can create quasi‑federal governance in practice; emergencies, constitutional reforms, or supranational obligations can also shift effective central control and alter expected dynamics.

Boundary

Clearly within: political systems where central authority is supreme and subnational powers are delegated by statute. Boundary case: devolved unitary states with strong, enduring devolution—application depends on the legal entrenchment of devolved powers. Clearly outside: federations with constitutionally protected subnational sovereignty.

Semantic Tension

Central control and uniformity versus local responsiveness and experimentation; unitary structures favor the former but may sacrifice alignment with local preferences and innovation.

Synthesis

A unitary state is defined less by the presence or absence of local actors than by the constitutional relationship: central supremacy that makes subnational authority contingent rather than a constitutionally independent source of sovereignty.